3,067 coded governance entries derived from 9,480 municipal documents across 100 U.S. municipalities. The dataset examines how cities classify, regulate, and support independent cultural venues through public systems. It was developed by Lockhart, Chewi at Harvard Dataverse and updated in June 2026.
Use Cases
- Analyzing municipal classification systems based on venue recognition and proxy classification variables.
- Studying regulatory treatment of cultural venues based on land use and zoning system data.
- Comparing institutional support frameworks based on nonprofit eligibility structures and tourism classifications.
- Evaluating governance fragmentation using comparative governance indicators like the Gap Score framework.
- Mapping economic development and emergency recovery program impacts on cultural infrastructure.
Strengths
- 3,067 coded governance entries provide a substantial basis for analysis.
- Data is derived from 9,480 publicly accessible municipal documents, suggesting a detailed source base.
- Coverage includes 100 U.S. municipalities, enabling broad comparative research.
- Includes embedded codebook and methodological companion documentation for clarity.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the selected 100 municipalities.
Provenance
- Source
- Harvard Dataverse
- Collection Method
- Constructed through a structured seven-bucket discovery framework analyzing municipal documents.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-05 11:36:54; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- 100 U.S. municipalities