Urban activism and the rethinking of cities’ cultural policies in Europe

The decade after the 2007-2008 global economic and financial crisis had profound and multifaceted impacts on European societies. Political cultures and values are being reshaped, emphasising generational differences (as in the case of the 2016 EU Referendum in the UK), growing lack of trust by voters in politicians and other elites (academic experts, journalists, established artists) and the weakening of political rationality. A crisis of legitimacy is thus affecting politicians (particular those belonging to centre-left and centre-right parties), academia and traditional cultural institutions.. We are witnessing what some observes describe as a return of ‘tribalism’ in people’s political behaviour (where instinct and emotion play an important role) and the emergence of new ‘culture wars’ between the locally rooted ‘somewheres’ and the supposedly rootless and cosmopolitan ‘anywheres’. A climate of hostility targets in many cases artists, intellectuals and the European Union, while sentiments of ethno-nationalism, xenophobia, racism and nostalgia arise.

In this context, current cultural policies (especially at national government level) in many cases focus on nationalistic heritage, and display a tendency towards further commodification and aggressive branding, the denial of multiculturalism and dissonant heritage, the reduction of the role of culture in public policy and the marginalisation of the arts in school curricula. Cultural activist responses after the 2007-2008 crash were characterised by autonomous actions aiming at prefiguring alternative futures, for instance with reference to the post-capitalist ‘commons’. Responses to the present political crisis include elements of critical cultural programming in some European Capitals of Culture, the growth of ‘festivals of ideas’ and the emergence of transnational, European-oriented, festivals.

Within this framework, the chapter explores other possible responses emerging from cultural planning as a cultured, collaborative, critical and innovation-oriented approach to urban cultural policy. These include, for instance, bottom-up and collaborative approaches based on the mapping of local cultural resources, critical listening and dialogue, accelerating generational changes, reclaiming the idea of patriotism as locally rooted yet internationally oriented. Mass cultural participation is also an important to be discussed, as emerged in the evaluation of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Stimulating intercultural exchange may be pursued through intercultural architectural experimentations, neighbourhood-based place marketing and the development of intercultural festivals.

Bottom up cultural planning actions could pursue a better link between culture and urban renewal, devise more international urban and regional cultural strategies, build more on intercultural exchange, and attempt to bridge creativity and innovation. Cultural planning approaches could also be founded on a more political perspective, contributing to generating new alliances and new forms of advocacy for cultural investment. Finally, it is crucial that cultural planners continue to be a stimulus, but also a nuisance, by challenging established thinking and practices.