La industria cultural en las ciudades de méxico: Los ‘servicios simbólicos intensivos en conocimiento’ (sic-simbólicos)

Abstract

In this paper we reflect on the potential of the “cultural industry” to boost the economy of Mexican cities. Cultural activities have been promoted in large cities to revita-lize their economies. In some cases, cultural activities contribute to the local economy with high percentage of their employment and income. These activities also represent a niche that attracts visitors, leave profits, and have become its symbolic brand. The main objective is to study the participation and changes of cultural activities in the economic structure of the 384 cities of the National Urban System (nus) between 2004 and 2014. Methodolo-gically, such activities have been defined as ‘knowledge-intensive services’ (kis) that produce ‘symbolic’ elements: mass media, culture and design. The results indicate that not only large cities have significant kis-symbolic concentration; medium-sized and small ones do as well. This result opens possibilities to implement public policies that focus on the development of kis-symbolic in the local economy.