Urban Culture and Public Art

In present
times, in which the concept of creative cities, big cultural or sport events and branding campaigns are central discussion
points of every citys planning policy and strategic decisions, it seems pertinent to address how public space is evolving
and being used. Art and creativity, both as institutional and spontaneous cultural expressions, are not only ultimate
purposes, but also instruments to build individual and collective identities within the urban landscape and to generate
other developments.
Public space is facing a context of over exposition, over visibility and over connectivity, that dramatically changed the
experience of citizenship. We are continuously and remotely connected and tracked in the urban landscape and we
have mediated forms of perceiving space, think for example of Google Earth. These changes determine that public space
is not the same place of encounter and recognition as it was before. Therefore we must readdress the nature and level at
which physical public space is being reshaped and to what extent its symbolic social importance is being undermined by
an overweight of infrastructures and fat functionality. Also, it must be reconsidered how public space is determined by the
institutional and spontaneous interventions of individuals, whose artistic character is nothing but a resource to
communicate at a political and social level, especially in a time when individuality is so amplifed by all kinds of media.
The above-mentioned provides the background of the proposal of a new dynamic of discussion within the Public Open
Spaces Working Party, hopefully establishing a view on how social, cultural, economical, spatial and artistic matters
intersect and infuence each other.
Topics
Some proposals of the topics that can be discussed are:
New social models conditioning new housing typologies and new ways of living and interacting in the
urban space
How new family and living paradigms (for e.g. single parents, high mobility of workers qualifed professionals in
transitory addresses, etc.), together with new ways of socializing and interacting are conditioning the perception and
transforming the understanding of public space. Phenomena like the technologically mediated urban gatherings (fash
mobs, meet up communities, etc.), the presence of control media (municipal CCTVs, for instance) or the tendency
towards part-privatization of public space (e.g. in gated communities) determine radical changes in the experience of
collectiveness and in the use of public space.
Urban landscape as a particular place for interaction and identity building
The fact that urban landscape is the privileged scenario for socialization structurally opens it to spontaneous cultural
manifestations. With that, cities provide space for fulflling the need for interaction and identity building.
Artistic/cultural planning: a tool to manage other resources and generate other developments
There are diferent scales at which this issue might be addressed: at a small scale, by planning a cultural/artistic program
at, for instance, a square, you can regulate/promote social cohesion, improve economic revenue in a certain area,
catalyze the development of public transportation and mobility fuxes at diferent times of day, etc; at a big scale, the
strategic importance of big cultural events can be a key point in building up a medium and/or long term strategy of
development and investment for a city.
Planning as an ongoing process: envisioning public space after it is built (the need for a dynamic
program for those same spaces)
In sequence to the foregoing point, planning must be seen from a long term and dynamic point of view, considering the
use of public space after it is built as a response to a specifc program (e.g.: European Capitals of Culture and the follow
up to the intensive cultural programs).
Public spaces and their physical and functional response to peoples activities throughout the various
time cycles (days, seasons, generations, etc.)
Again addressing the need for a responsive planning that considers the dynamic nature of the use of public space,
having places structured in a multi-functional way so that they can embody diferent activities during the day, the month,
the year, and other time cycles, and are also fexible and adaptable enough to be open to change and to the
unpredictability.
Formal and informal uses of public spaces: institutional and popular appropriations of shared spaces
Questioning how to manage the complementarity of and confrontation between programmed and commissioned events
on public spaces and spontaneous cultural and social manifestations (popular celebrations, kids play, demonstrations,
etc.).
Examples
Some examples:
Public squares that are taken over by skaters (as Plaa dels Angls in Barcelona), making it difcult for people
to cross it, to access MACBA (Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum) and creating conficts when other activities are
programmed and skating is not permitted).
Dealing with urban conficts: for instance in the outskirts of Paris, during the recent riots, the squares and streets
were a place of performance both by those protesting and the police forces.
A more general example: streets/squares/parks appropriated for open street (illegal) markets/selling.
Public Space, symbolic meaning and collective identity: public art as a rhetoric language
The need to readdress the concept of monumental heritage and discuss the criteria for commissioned pieces of
public art by planning departments (often framed within the parameters of urban/housing plans).
Creative Industries and Cities: a new approach to the understanding, planning and government of urban
settlements.
This new concept of an operative creativity has introduced a material and strategic value to the word, and made
art and culture an area of investment and planning with unprecedented importance and autonomy.
Working programme
The working party will aim at building an operative think tank that from these topics might draw conclusions that go
beyond theoretic speculation and propose practical responses to the problems being arisen. In order to achieve this
overall goal we are also open to discussing best practices and debate methodologies. So far were planning on
undertaking:
Analysis of case studies
o Cities investing in cultural activities and resources as catalyzers of broad transformations (e.g.:
envisioning European Cultural Capitals of Culture);
o Big events as ways of branding cities identity: post-event strategies and sustainability (e.g.: post
Olympic games cities)
On-site visits and workshops: urban culture tours; observations of permanent (e.g.:piazzas) and transitory
(e.g.: ephemeral art interventions, seasonal artistic festivals, etc.) uses of public space;
Direct invitation to artists with work produced/shown in public spaces to present and discuss the requirements
and specifcities of such programs;
Multidisciplinar round tables with public planners, public cultural programmers and freelance curators/producers.
We hope the pertinence and nature of the subject might interest a large range of professionals and thinkers, and that not
only new conclusions but also new ways of approaching and discussing these issues can be shaped. At this point all
interested people should feel free to make suggestions regarding the content of each topic of discussion as well as with
the modus operandi to be adopted by the working party.
Dont hesitate to send your information request and/or information to:
ines.salpico@gmail.com
and Renee Nycolaas
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The Politics of Cultural Programming in Public Spaces