THE NEXT LAYER OF INFRASTRUCTURE

How Growing Cities Translate Prosperity into Quality of Life

As communities grow, infrastructure evolves. Roads, clinics, schools, and utilities are the first reference points in conversations about growth. While they are essential, they are only the foundation.

Above that foundation sits another layer of civic infrastructure that determines whether a city simply functions or actually prospers.

Nanaimo is in a period of sustained growth. Population is increasing, major investments are underway, and the city’s role as a mid-Island hub continues to deepen. These dynamics are expanding the city’s economic capacity and bringing with them a responsibility to ensure that this translates capacity into forms of prosperity that people can see and experience in their daily lives.

Growth creates the conditions for prosperity, but whether that prosperity becomes visible, accessible, and shared is a matter of choice.

Understanding the Next Layer 

As cities build economic strength, their investment decisions begin to shift. Infrastructure becomes less generally about supporting production and more focused on the purpose behind that production.

Some of the most important investments at this stage are less obvious. Social infrastructure – cultural institutions, libraries, recreation spaces, and other civic assets – does not capture the same attention as transportation or utilities, but they play a defining role in shaping long-term wellbeing.

If these investments are evaluated only through an economic lens, much of their value is missed. A more complete approach is necessary to assess their return across multiple forms of community capital: economic, human, social, cultural, and place-based.

The Economic Case

Social infrastructure is not separate from the economy. It is part of how it functions.

Across Canada, arts and culture contribute more than $130 billion to GDP, support over one million jobs, and generate billions in tax revenue annually. In British Columbia alone, the sector contributes more than $10 billion to GDP and supports more than 120,000 jobs. These are not marginal figures; they place cultural activity alongside other major sectors of the economy.

The pattern holds at the local level. Nanaimo’s arts and culture sector was estimated to generate more than $150 million in total economic output more than a decade ago. Even then, it supported over 1,300 jobs and contributed significantly to local GDP and tax revenue. This is a well-established sector of the local economy that we can expand through investments in social infrastructure.

A cultural institution such as a public art gallery generates returns across three interconnected channels. 

1. It creates direct economic activity through employment and operations, supporting roles in programming, operations, education, and administration that anchor stable, skilled jobs in the local economy. 
2. It drives visitor spending, pulling into the city regional and out-of-town audiences who extend their time downtown and spread their spending across restaurants, retail, and accommodation.
3. It produces ecosystem effects, anchoring a broader creative economy where studios, designers, producers, and independent artists cluster around institutions that provide both a platform and a market.

The visitor economy is particularly important. Research consistently shows that arts and culture audiences spend beyond the price of admission. Benchmark studies in North America estimate average event-related spending at approximately $38 per person, rising to more than $60 for visitors from outside the region. Applied at even modest attendance levels, the implications are significant: at 25,000 visits, that translates into nearly $1 million in additional local spending; at 50,000 visits, the figure approaches $2 million. The numbers don’t include additional revenue from ticket sales, memberships, retail, food service, or facility rentals.

At a regional scale, Creative Coast’s 2022 Arts Impact Assessment determined that through more than $900 million in direct economic activity, Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands’ arts and culture sector contributes $675 million in GDP and supports more than 20,000 jobs. That same research found that 91 percent of attendees spent money at local businesses before or after cultural events, resulting in strong agreement from business owners that the local arts sector makes the community a better place to do business.

A wider body of research suggests the returns extend far beyond direct economic activity alone. A national Canadian study examining galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) found that for every dollar invested in non-profit cultural institutions, society receives nearly four dollars in benefits – a level of return the study noted is comparable to government investments in transportation infrastructure. The same research estimated the annual societal value of Canada’s GLAM sector at $8.6 billion and found that Canadians would collectively be willing to spend an additional $4 billion annually to maintain access to these institutions if required. Far from being peripheral amenities, social infrastructure is widely understood as a meaningful contributor to quality of life and community wellbeing. 

The Community Wellbeing Case

The economic case explains why these investments are viable. The community wellbeing case explains why they matter. Social infrastructure is where prosperity becomes tangible, with returns visible across multiple forms of capital.

Human capital is strengthened through learning and development. Gallery-based programming connects schools, youth, and lifelong learners to creative and critical thinking, extending beyond the institution into the broader community. National research examining galleries, libraries, archives, and museums estimated the educational value generated through these institutions  more than $3 billion annually in Canada alone, reinforcing the role social infrastructure plays in lifelong learning and youth development. 

Social capital is built through connection and shared experience. Public galleries often function as “third places” – spaces that are neither home nor work – where people gather without obligation. Cultural participation is associated with reduced social isolation, stronger community identity, and improved mental health outcomes. Research on cultural engagement and healthy aging found that engagement with the arts, including visits to museums and galleries, was associated with a 48 percent lower risk of developing depression in older adults.  Separately, a national Canadian study examining galleries, libraries, archives, and museums estimated the wellbeing effect of participating in these institutions as equivalent to receiving a $1,440 annual monetary bonus. 

Cultural capital is expressed through identity and belonging. Galleries provide a platform for local and Indigenous artistic expression, allowing communities to see themselves reflected and to participate in a shared cultural life. Like other civic amenities, they are intergenerational by design, creating conditions for common experience across age, background, and income in ways that few other public institutions can.

Place-based capital shapes how a city functions and feels. Social infrastructure anchors activity in downtown areas, increases foot traffic, and supports the clustering of complementary businesses. Over time, it contributes to a stronger sense of place – one that is active, legible, and connected to local identity.

Taken together, these returns describe something broader than economic impact. They show how prosperity becomes visible, accessible, and shared across a community.

Nanaimo as a Regional Leader

Nanaimo already functions as a mid-island hub. Residents from across the region travel here for healthcare, education, and commerce. Social infrastructure tends to follow this same pattern: it concentrates in regional centres because it requires scale, meaning larger audiences, sustained programming, and the capacity to host significant exhibitions and events. 

As Nanaimo’s role deepens, the institutions that support it must evolve as well. An expanded gallery offering would not only serve local residents but also strengthen the city’s ability to function as a cultural centre for the broader region by supporting programming and participation that extend beyond municipal boundaries.

A Multi-Capital Investment

A public art gallery is not a single-purpose facility. It is a form of social infrastructure that operates across multiple forms of community capital at once.

• It generates economic activity.
• It supports learning and development.
• It builds connection and shared experience.
• It strengthens cultural identity.
• It contributes to the vitality and function of the city itself.

In that sense, it represents a clear expression of the next layer of civic infrastructure, translating economic capacity into shared civic value.

Proof in Practice

It is important to note that this is not a theoretical model. Nanaimo has already demonstrated how social infrastructure performs over time.

The Port Theatre, established through a community-led investment in the 1990s, continues to generate sustained economic and social returns nearly three decades later. This year alone, the venue is hosting 300+ events, and the globally acclaimed Van Gogh exhibition is projected to generate approximately $5 to $6 million in local economic impact, drawing in people as far away as Seattle. This is the long-term value of civic infrastructure: consistent use, repeat visitation, and ongoing contributions to both the local economy and community life.

The Decision Ahead

Growth is not an outcome in itself; it is an input. The real measure of value is whether the prosperity it generates reaches people, shapes daily life, and compounds over time into something a community can recognize and celebrate.

Nanaimo is at a point now where the economic conditions are present, and our collective challenge is to translate them into lasting civic value. Investment in social infrastructure is one of the clearest ways to do that, leveraging economic capacity into human, social, and cultural capital. Through its capacity to make prosperity visible, accessible, and shared, a new gallery would be a powerful addition to our next layer of infrastructure. Not because it is exceptional, but because it is typical of what growing cities choose to build.

The question before us is not whether Nanaimo can afford to invest this way, but whether we understand the purpose of growth.