In her book Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change, published in 1982, the New York City-based urban sociologist Sharon Zukin writes about the role of artists in making “loft living” comprehensible, even desirable and provides a sociological analysis of the role of artists in urban settings, their customary habitat.

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Zukin focuses on the transformation, beginning in the mid-1960s, of New York’s cast-iron district into an “artist district” that was eventually dubbed Soho. In this book Zukin lays out a theory of urban change in which artists and the entire visual art sector—especially commercial galleries, artist-run spaces, and museums—are a main engine for the repurposing of the post-industrial city and the renegotiation of real estate for the benefit of elites.

By the 1970s, art suggested a new platform to politicians who were tired of dealing with urban poverty. Many cities, especially those rustbelt ones lacking significant cultural sectors, established other revitalization strategies. The search for more and better revitalization, and more and better magnets for high earners and tourists, eventually took a cultural turn, building on the success of artists’ districts in post-industrial economies.