Strukturwandel mit Kultur

Culture and structural change Culture as a stimulus for innovation in Lusatia Culture is still neglected in discussions about the design of structural change in the Lusatia lignite region. Why is this, and what opportunities do innovative cultural instruments offer for future-focused design of the transformation process? With all of their objectives, programmes and structures, the states and regional players in Lusatia are essentially concerned with innovation. A new, highly innovative Lusatia is to be created, which will be seen as a model region. It is striking, however, that culture plays a surprisingly small role as a driver of innovation. In the current discourse, culture barely features as a direction-setting theme. This is a dilemma. Because the strength of forward-looking regional development lies precisely in the combination of openness to experimentation and innovation and bold cultural strategy. The surprising potential of culture as an innovation tool is well known. In this context, reference is often made to the wealth of experience in Saarland or North Rhine-Westphalia. But looking reflexively to the west is not what is needed here. From Lusatia, taking a broader view and looking to nearby Eastern Europe is more helpful, in order to use the diversity of experience there and gain new insights for culture-informed structural change in Lusatia. The key question for the future is: How can the renewal of Lusatia be achieved? One could calmly point out that there is a lot of time and money available to find the answer. But that’s what many people thought in 1990, too – and then there was a lack of forward-looking ideas. Perhaps the issue also lay in wanting to create ‘blossoming landscapes’ with racetracks and airships instead of opening up spaces for opportunity utilising well-placed cultural formats.