Cultural commons and urban dynamics: a multidisciplinary perspective

Today, cities are being intensively reshaped by unexpected dynamics. The rise and growth of the digital economy have fundamentally changed the relationship between the urban fabric and its resident community, overcoming the conventional hierarchy based on production priorities. Moreover, contemporary society discovers new labour conditions and ways of satisfying needs and desires by developing new synergies and links. This book examines cultural and urban commons from a multidisciplinary perspective. Economists, architects, urban planners, sociologists, designers, political scientists, and artists explore the impact and implications of cultural commons on urban change. The contributions discuss both cases of successful urban participation and cases of strong social conflict, while also addressing a host of institutional contradictions and dilemmas. The first part of the book examines urban commons in response to institutional constraints from a theoretical point of view. The second and third parts apply the theories to case studies and discuss various practices of sustainable planning and re-appropriation in the urban context. In closing, the fourth part develops a new urban agenda as artists imagine it. This book will appeal to scholars interested in the social, economic and institutional implications of cultural and urban commons, and provide useful insights and tools to help local governments and policymakers manage social, cultural and economic change.

"This volume has been made possible thanks to the joint effort and trust of many people and institutions. Its source is the international project Innovate Heritage whose founders Caterina Benincasa and Elliat Graney-Saucke supported and diffused the conference “Cultural Commons and Urban Dynamics. A New Economic Paradigm for a Complex Social Map”, held in Catanzaro on 11 and 12 October 2019 and funded by the University of Catanzaro “Magna Graecia”, whose Chancellor is Professor Giovanni Battista De Sarro, and the Department of Laws, Economics and Sociology, whose Director is Professor Geremia Romano." - Seite v.