Residents’ Satisfaction with Cultural City Life: Evidence from EU Cities

This paper investigates the determinants of residents’ satisfaction with the cultural facilities supplied in their city. This topic is relevant from a policy perspective since the active participation of citizens to the cultural life of their town is crucial for the sustainable utilization of tangible cultural assets. By using the results of a large survey study conducted in 63 EU cities, the present paper shows that the exploitation of the urban cultural assets for the attraction of tourists and visitors is likely to produce a positive externality on residents’ satisfaction with the cultural life of their city, but just up to a certain threshold of tourist pressure. Above this threshold, a further increase in the number of tourists is associated with a reduction of residents’ contentment.