Urban Spaces and Cultural Representations
In the last decades it became evident, mostly in the area of social studies, but also in the area of urban studies and in artistic contexts, that the human itineraries, and all of the dynamics and movements within and through the city, are the constitutive elements of the polycentric and mediatic organism which constitute the contemporary urban space.
In studying the contemporary city as a pluralistic cultural, economic and political system, a variety of interpretative procedures provide insights on how individual and collective intervention shape space and how space reflect these interventions.
The approach we intend is one that looks at cities, namely European cities, as sites of invention of new spaces of political, social, artistic and cultural intervention. Stress is placed on the everyday as a site of resistance, revolution and transformation. We intend to approach the subject by situating theory within specific historical contexts and geographical areas. The city in the contemporary contest has a specific importance, a new role, almost a special identity made of creolized visions and traditions, language and culture.
Our main objective is to consider the multiple fluctuations which define cities today, either inside (borders within the city) or outside (city borders). They point to different forms of artistic and literary creation which contribute to spatial formations and the definition of urban identity.