Cultural policy for what? Kiel’s cultural policy between city development, social cohesion and intrinsic values

Kiel is a special case in terms of cultural policy: Unlike in most other medium-sized German cities, cultural policy has become highly relevant and is linked with the idea of positioning Kiel as an “creative city”. There seems to be an unanimity that the city of Kiel as a whole has a great deal of potential for creativity, which, however, has not yet been exhausted. The following text gives an overview and tries to find out where this unique position of Kiel comes from. It has identified the strategic decision to apply a creative city approach, while focusing on creative industries as a milestone, taking a wider approach to the creative city, increasingly fostering citizen driven initiative. Explanatory approaches are offered by the political integration into a multi level system, the socio-cultural character of the city, as well as the influence of the institutes of higher education.