Culture increasingly seen as path to economic growth

With a little imagination and some creative interpretation of guidelines on how to spend EU aid, some cities and regions are pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and turning themselves into cultural - and money-making - hotspots.

Nantes is one of them. Twenty-odd years ago, the western French city had a huge industrial scar at its centre after the closure of its shipyard. The 15 hectare space on the Ile de Nantes was ugly, barren and a reminder of a busier past.

Today, it is an...