This number includes five articles, presented also at the Conference on Social Theory, Politics and the Arts in Oregon in 2005, which investigate the connections between cultural development and cultural planning, drawing mainly on examples from the United States and Canada.

Worth noting is the article by Babkova who presents a case study of policy transfer, discussing how the European Capital of Culture programme was used as a model for a similar project in Russia, the Volga Capital of Culture. Both programmes set out to achieve economic development and urban regeneration, but show also major differences. Whereas the EU programme, for example, focuses on large-scale cultural tourism, the Russian programme rather aimed at cultural participation at local and regional level.