ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Media, Creative, and Cultural Industries
This article is part of the Research TopicCultural and Creative Industries as Drivers of the EU’s Triple Transition: Needs, Challenges, and Future SkillsView all 5 articles
Cultural and creative actors in non-urban areas: Enacting local stewardship as a regenerative approach
Provisionally accepted
- 1Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
- 2Bifröst University, Reykjavík, Iceland
- 3University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
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Cultural and creative actors in non-urban areas contribute to local regenerative actions through practices of stewardship and place-based creativity. This article focuses on how a key principle of regenerative development, "stewardship of the resources of place, identity, and unique potential," is conceived and enacted. The study aims to deepen understanding of how regenerative forms of local development that nurture social, cultural, and ecological vitality can emerge from grassroots initiatives. Drawing on 12 case studies from six European countries within the Horizon Europe IN SITU project, the analysis employs a comparative qualitative approach informed by reflexive monitoring reports. Research findings confirm that cultural and creative actors operationalize regenerative micro-processes by engaging simultaneously in heritage stewardship, encouraging place-inspired creative work, building the capacity of locally-based creators, reinforcing connections to place through a local socioeconomic focus, and using and improving public space. The analysis reveals a dynamic understanding of heritage as a living resource that is actively re-contextualized to drive new social and economic aspirations. Furthermore, creative processes and outputs are anchored in local identity yet generate transferable knowledge and methodologies. The actors' intentions and dedication to creatively address key local issues through their projects demonstrates the potential of cultural and creative actors to contribute as drivers of local change and transition in meaningful ways. This potential is challenged, however, by precarious situations in which the pragmatic sustainability of livelihoods and the fragility of initiatives are common concerns.
Keywords: Cultural and creative actors, Stewardship, Regenerative approaches, rural, socioeconomic development
Received: 06 Oct 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Duxbury, Silva and Hildibrandsdóttir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nancy Duxbury
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