Does education contribute to the creation of sustainable art cities?

This paper seeks to investigate the debate about the role of education, particularly developed in the panel “Regulation and protection of heritage and landscape between globalisation and localism” held at the Conference Città d’arte 3.0. Il futuro delle città d’arte in Italia at Palazzo Te, (2016, Mantua). Among the issues discussed, the fundamental role of education, which indeed should be included in the development of both art cultural policies and of protection systems at all levels, from schools to universities, was specifically underlined. The main question that this paper intends to answer is: how does education contribute to the creation of sustainable art cities? My methodology will investigate international and national case studies, which provide evidence on education as a supportive element in policies regarding cultural sustainable development. It will analyse core themes (some of them interconnected) that I will try to address.