The cultural city and inclusivity: Exploring marginal communities’ use of culture oriented apps

City branding aims to form a city identity that can be sold to a multitude of people. For Rotterdam, part of its identity is “the cultural city” and this is now also being communicated to publics through city apps. It is widely agreed upon that cultural visitors are older, whiter, come from a higher social class than is commonly obtained and have a higher income and education. However, Western cities like Rotterdam also need to cater to marginal communities that hold opposing demographics. This research investigates whether mobile phone apps can be an avenue to circumvent the conventional divides and become a more inclusive city by roping in those who are not yet participating in the cultural city. For this purpose (1) three focus groups were conducted with young, low-income, non-Western residents of Rotterdam to have a conversation about cultural events and activities, (2) a content analysis of official policy documents and statistics about the cultural city was performed, and (3) Rotterdam’s two official cultural city apps were analyzed. It was found that the policy intentionally does not target marginalized communities to engage with the cultural city. Thus, these disadvantaged people who may already feel disconnected from Rotterdam’s cultural offering are being even more excluded from the city due to its city branding goals. Nevertheless, the results show that mobile phone apps may indeed form a path to cultural engagement. For the cultural city to become a more inclusive city emphasis is placed on social media. All participants use Facebook (as an app or website) and some have found creative ways to make use of other media apps (e.g. YouTube) to engage with the cultural city on their own terms.