SUMMARY FOR ARTICLE

This article examines four defining characteristics of city cultural policy: the concentration of cultural resources in downtowns and cultural districts; a policy infrastructure focused on nonprofit organizations, cultural industries and tourism; the narrow policy scope and political influence of city-level cultural agencies; and the decentralized and under-institutionalized authority and oversight in the public cultural sector. at the local level that infrastruc- ture includes agencies not primarily associated with the cultural sector as it is conceived in the us such as parks and recreation departments local libraries and library sys- tems schools and school districts. the us conference of mayors -point plan called for the formation of a federal cabinet-level secretary for culture and tourism: us cities where this practice has become an identied barrier to neighborhood the arts humanities and museums are critical to the quality of life and livability of americas cities. the need for residents to speak up for their neighborhoods is made more pressing by the city-le- vel cultural policy systems described here: where neigh- borhood cultural assets go unrecognized where there is no agency or ofce invested with responsibility to see that the cultural lives of neighborhoods are being served by lo- cal government and where policies that impact neighbor- hood culture are implemented by departments with no cultural agenda. responsible for thoughtfully considering and planning for the impacts of law and policy on cultural activity they lack efcient ways to resolve conicts.