November 12, 2024

Cities and Urban Cultures

Carlos Fortuna

The rise of cultural production initiatives in urban peripheries, on the one hand, highlights the demand of these territories for cultural rights, but, on the other hand, exposes the effects of socio-spatial segregation on the ways of thinking and practicing culture at the margins of the urbanized city. Recognizing the spatial dimension as a determinant factor of the culture produced at the margins, this thesis aims to review cultural policies based on the cultural production in urban peripheries, specifically in the cities of Lisbon and São Paulo. It starts from the hypothesis that, despite the particularities of urban contexts in the global North and South, peripheral territories share common challenges in the cultural field, derived from a socio-spatial positioning profile governed by global dynamics of capitalist urban space production. Based on a qualitative approach, the research seeks to deepen the understanding of the specificities of cultural production in the outskirts through the analysis of specific initiatives in the two cities studied. The method employed is fundamentally empirical and starts from identifying convergences and divergences among the practices analyzed, following common guidelines and using data, interviews, and on-site experiences. As an analysis strategy, it suggests the construction of "dialogues." Inspired by the concepts of Gilles Deleuze, this methodology intends to emphasize not the interlocutors, but the relationships and connections formulated "between" them, aiming to provide new perceptions from the encounter, exploring intersections and highlighting a unique and collaborative "becoming". These dialogues, woven in pairs, emphasize three central dynamics of cultural production in peripheries: (i) the access to artistic production, (ii) the consolidation of cultural circuits, and (iii) the development of cultural management models. Based on the construction of these dialogues, cultural production in peripheries is analyzed in its distinct - yet complementary - dimensions, the theme of the "local" is deepened through a multi-scalar approach, and finally, some guidelines are established, aiming to promote a cultural policy specifically attentive to the effects of socio-spatial conditions on the culture produced in segregated urban territories. The outcome outlines a framework of general guidelines intended to contribute to the deepening of the debate on cultural policies as a situated practice.

Keywords: cultural policy; cultural production; culture; periphery; place-based dimension