Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The main goal of this class is to provide students with conceptual and methodological basis adequate to the understanding of the relationship between urban life and cultural dynamics. We will privilege a twofold perspective, historical on the one hand as well as oriented to contemporary societies in order to integrate the most recent views on cultural economy with consumer studies and class analysis. This course will make understandable the most recent urban cultural regeneration policies with the help of basic sociological categories such as inequalities, social actors and social classes.

By the end of this class, the student will be able to: handle most conceptual and analytical concepts, also comparative ones, within urban cultural studies. The student will also acknowledge the history of urban culture concept starting from the early works in social sciences. He/she will also be trained in methodological and substantive issues dealing with social classes, identities, consumption patterns and the making of the urban realm. He/she will also be skilled in the ongoing relationship between the new cultural economy and urban inequalities. Moreover, the student will be able to evaluate and discuss critically urban cultural regeneration policies.

Final evaluation

 The final examination for students who did not attend on a regular basis the course is an oral exam.

The students that attended the course will be evaluated on the basis of an oral presentation during the lessons and a written text, in accordance with the professor. This final paper will be submitted 10 days before the scheduled exam and will be judged as the second part of the whole exam.

This class is divided into two thematic blocks. In the first one, we will provide students with the main elements in the reconstruction of the debate within “urban culture”. We will be drawing on both classical thinkers and contemporary approaches. On such an historical and intellectual ground we will successively highlight the most recent debates on cultural economy, on consumer behaviors and on lifestyles. We will especially dwelve into the theoretical and conceptual issues of public space.

 

The second thematic block will be addressed to the discussion of gentrification dynamics, with a special emphasis on the production of the convivial and public city. Using urban ethnography tools we will look at the ways in which the contemporary public space is conceived, designed and experienced. A special attention will be devoted at the issue of consumption within public spaces and the role of conflicts among residents and users.

Attending students will find all relevant informations in the syllabus that will be provided at the beginning of the class

For non-attending students:

- Scott, A. 2011, Città e regioni del nuovo capitalismo, Bologna, Il Mulino.

- Semi, G. 2015, Gentrification. Tutte le città come Disneyland?, Bologna, Il Mulino.

- Zukin, S. 2013, L’altra New York, Bologna, Il Mulino.

Erasmus students will have the possibility to rely on textbooks either in English or in French upon request

International and Erasmus students may prepare for examinations and take them in English and French