Reclaiming Place: Cultural Initiatives in Cretan Villages as Enablers of Citizen Involvement, Local Development and Repopulation

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter is based on Giortes Rokkas (Rokkas festivities), a cultural event organised by all the inhabitants of two small villages in Crete every summer since 2013. It highlights the meaning and importance of the rural in cultural policy topography discussing a model that 1. uses cultural policy and practice as means to reclaim and redefine association with place and encourage mobility towards depopulated, rural areas; 2. uses non-innate/exogenous culture to activate community mobilisation, reinforce inhabitants’ sense of place and create a distinctive local identity; and 3. showcases how cultural initiatives can emerge by non-experts and thrive despite a lack of systematic policy support.