PASCAL has taken a close interest in the role of cultural policies and institutions in building cohesive and sustainable Learning Cities with a rich quality of life since the 10^th PASCAL International Conference in Ostersund on the subject Heritage, regional development, and social cohesion. When the Learning Cities Networks (LCN) program was established in 2014 a Cultural Policies Network was established as one of the five Networks to carry on this interest.

I am leading Strand 2 of the 13th PASCAL conference together with Victoria Hollows of Glasgow Life and Balazs Nemeth from the University of Pecs. For this strand PASCAL welcomes papers on the overall role and impact of cultural policies and institutions in building sustainable Learning Cities in the social and economic contexts confronting cities around the world, as well as papers on the roles of cultural institutions such as museums and libraries. We are particularly interested in innovations that enhance the significance and impact of culture in different contexts such as papers on the role of heritage in new ways and innovations such as assessing the role of satellite museums in regional development.

For more details please see the STRANDS section of the PASCAL 2016 Conference website. We very much look forward to your abstracts which should be submitted by 1 February 2016.