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Urban public space continues to be the focus of debate regarding its conceptualization and how it is designed, (re)produced and managed. Nowadays public spaces are facing new challenges conceptually and practically. This book focuses on two of them: mobility and aestheticization.
Mobility and flows are considered to be key characteristics of the post-modern era. While for some scholars it means the «end of place», others are trying to re-conceptualize it by bringing together notions of space, place, mobility and identity. Still surprisingly few authors address the concept of public space in this respect. Principles of aesthetic and diverse forms of aestheticization seem to have affected urban space and culture throughout Modernity, forming a dimension where power and conflict around urban space are performed. In this book nine authors with social science and arts backgrounds from six countries discuss how these processes shape the life of modern cities, and where the social sciences should move for a better understanding of them.
List of contents
Contents: Oleg Pachenkov/Lilia Voronkova: Urban Public Space in the Age of Mobility and Aestheticization, and the Necessity of an Interdisciplinary Approach - Giulio Mattioli: Sharing Space with Strangers in Moving Public Places: Social Mixing and Secessionism in Mobility - Tobias Scheidegger: Architectural Visualizations as Promoters of Urban Aestheticization. A Visual Culture Approach - Clara Fohrbeck: Public Art Spaces: The Dilemma of Economic Growth and Social Inclusion in an Aesthetised Urban Context. A Case Study of Initiative «Intermediae», Matadero Madrid, Spain - Laura Panait: Tracing Art in Urban Public Space: the Resistive Aesthetics of Cultural Actors in Post-Communist Romania - Celia Ghyka: Contemporary Art: Between Action and Work. The Cases of Krzysztof Wodiczcko and Jenny Holzer - Jekaterina Lavrinec/Oksana Zaporozhets: Shaping Spaces of Shared Experience: Creative Practices and Temporal Communities.
About the author
Oleg Pachenkov is senior researcher at the Centre for Independent Social Research (CISR, St. Petersburg, Russia), and director of the Centre for Applied Research (CeAR) at European University in St. Petersburg. His main fields of interest are urban studies and interdisciplinary projects, bringing together social scientists with architects, designers, urban planners and artists working with the urban environment, street art and public art.
