New release: Selfculturalisation of the city. by Andreas Reckwitz
27. April 2009
[Die Selbstkulturalisierung der Stadt]
About transformation of modern urbanity in the “creative city” [Zur Transformation städtischer Urbanität in der „creative city“]. In: Mittelweg 36, 18,2 (2009), 2-34.
Since the 1990s, urban development has employed the concept of “creative cities”. Taking this label as its point of departure, this contribution explores the transformation of Western urbanity since the 1970s as the replacement of models of bourgeois and functional cities with notions of culturally-oriented governmentality.After discussing the concepts proposed by the protagonistsof the “creative city” (Florida, Landry), the article develops parameters for a cultural sociology of the city and for a historical sociology of the transformation of urban life. These sections form the basis for an analysis of the characteristics of contemporary, culturally-oriented cities (art scene, creative industries, transformation of high culture, consumer culture, aesthetisized neighborhoods, solitary architectural works), the development of which has itself become an area of conflict. (Abstract)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Reckwitz is principal investigator of the Center of Excellence and at the present fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz. His research is about “Genealogy and Practice of the Creative Subject.”