Exercising Power in the City

Author(s):  
Veronica West-Harling

This chapter shows the exercising of power in action in the public space. It looks at who ‘owns’ this, the Christianization of it in Rome, and the increasing role of the papacy in appropriating and in running it, revalorizing it as part of Rome’s Christian past and present, expressed through pilgrimage. This appropriation is contested by the secular aristocracy, which in turn appropriates the public space and rewrites the topography of the city in the tenth century. The use of the public space as an area of either social cohesion or conflict is studied, through the ceremonies, elections, oaths, processions, assemblies, justice and defence meetings; but also riots, conspiracies, and contested elections. This space of cohesion or conflict is fundamental to the creation of the unity and sense of identity of the city, especially around the patron saint or, sometimes, around or indeed against an imperial ruler

Author(s):  
Mykhailo Zubar ◽  
◽  
Oleh Mahdych ◽  

Taras Shevchenko is one of the most researched and discussed figures in Ukrainian society. In each historical period receptions and assessments around Shevchenko` personality differentiates, depending on the public circumstances or prevailing trends in humanitarian discourse. These perceptions swayed between positive and critical judgment. Authors identified several key perceptions of Shevchenko in Ukrainian public space, for instance, «national hero», «father of the nation», «poet», «revolutionary democrat». In their opinion, modern Ukraine still faces the search for Shevchenko` new image. New forms of public honour (commemoration) are being developed, including through museum exhibition projects. Authors also analyze the significance of the museum narrative expositions and exhibitions for the creation of new public images, giving the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue», which took place in the Taras Shevchenko national museum from November 4th to January 31th in 2021. Curators attempted to explore how personal experience in the city changed due to the process of urbanization from the XIX-th century and how the urban space influenced the shaping of the Taras Shevchenko figure. Specifically, in the XIX-th century, cities ultimately transformed into an environment, which created trends, emphases of the global public development that influenced Shevchenko, since exactly in the city he gained domestic freedom, profession and widened his social circle. The city gave him a sense of understanding of the culture, its influence and importance not only for consumer purposes or acceptance but also for the creation of new meanings. According to the authors, this approach allows us to better understand the significance of Taras Shevchenko, his connection to modern Ukrainian realities and world context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-106
Author(s):  
Débora Machado Visini

O presente artigo investiga as intervenções urbanas – pertencentes a um grupo composto por muitas manifestações artísticas realizadas no espaço público – que dialogam com a cidade. Compreendidas como práticas artísticas e socioespaciais, as intervenções urbanas do coletivo lesbiano Velcro Choque (Brasil) são analisadas a partir das potências que surgem com a ocupação das ruas da cidade e da esfera pública, já que tal ato coloca em cheque normas e narrativas históricas, que serão apontadas a partir do viés da crítica feminista da cultura. Conforme mostra a prática do coletivo, o artivismo associado aos feminismos e às dissidências sexuais e de gênero podem oportunizar a criação de subjetividades libertárias e formas de existência e resistência através das produções coletivas nas artes visuais.Palavras-chave: Cidade. Intervenção Urbana. Feminismos. Artivismo. AbstractThis paper investigates urban interventions – belonging to a group composed of many artistic manifestations carried out in the public space – that dialogue with the city. Understanding the urban interventions as an artistic and socio-spatial practice, the production of the lesbian collective Velcro Choque (Brazil) will be analyzed based on the potency that emerges with the occupation of the streets and the public sphere, since this act can put in check historical norms and narratives, which will be pointed out from the bias of the feminist critic of the culture. As the practice of the collective shows, artivism associated with feminism, sexual and gender dissidences can create opportunities for the creation of libertarian subjectivities and forms of existence and resistance through collective productions in the visual arts.Keywords: City. Urban Interventions. Feminisms. Artivism.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-284
Author(s):  
Néstor García Canclini

Abstract Ever since the expansion of video-politics, television canalises citizens' criticism and demands regarding political authorities, conceiving of citizens as spectators. Social networks magnify this type of involvement, promising horizontality and social cohesion. Political parties have become reduced to elites that distribute power and benefits among themselves, disengaging from voters, except during electoral periods. Our opinions and behaviours are captured by algorithms and subject to globalised forces. The public space where citizenship should be exercised is becoming opaque and distant. Citizenship is radically diminishing while some social movements are reinventing themselves and winning sectorial battles: for human rights, for gender equality, against authoritarianism. Yet the neoliberal approach to technology maintains and deepens greater inequalities. What are the alternatives to this dispossession? Hackers and dissenters? What is the role of the vote in a State-society relationship reprogrammed by technologies and the market?


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Bruno Costa ◽  
Luis Miguel Lopes Teixeira

A compreensão da atual realidade europeia no contexto da criação artística para o espaço público revela uma pertinência acrescida numa altura em que novos domínios da criação artística conquistam espaço na agenda europeia. Com o desenrolar deste estudo, pretendeu-se verificar e contextualizar uma nova realidade europeia no contexto da promoção e difusão de artistas e espetáculos, com impacto, ainda, ao nível da criação. As novas orientações rumo à perspetiva transnacional levam a uma tendência de criação de redes e parcerias, mas qual o papel das redes? Com recurso à compilação bibliográfica, pretendeu-se reunir as condições necessárias para a compressão do estado da arte e da criação artística para o espaço público.Palavras-chave: Artes de Rua. Artes Performativas. Redes Internacionais.ABSTRACTUnderstanding the current European reality in the field of artistic creation for the public space is becoming more pertinent at a time when new areas of artistic creation are gaining space in the European agenda. With the development of this study, it was intended to verify and contextualize a new European reality in the domains of promotion and diffusion of artists and performances, with impact, at the creation level. The new orientations towards the transnational perspective lead to a trend to create networks and partnerships, but what is the role of networks today? By bibliographical compilation, it was intended to gather the necessary information for the understanding of the state of art from artistic creation to public space.Keywords: Outdoor arts. Performing arts. International networks.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Guilat ◽  
Antonio B. Espinosa-Ramírez

In its Historical Memory Law (October 2007), Spain recognized victims on both sides of its 1936–1939 Civil War and established entitlements for victims and descendants of victims of the war and the Franco regime that followed (1939–1975). The law requires authorities to remove Francoist symbols and signs from public buildings and spaces, rename streets and squares, and cleanse the public space of monuments and artifacts that glorify or commemorate the regime. By allowing exceptions on artistic, architectural, or religious grounds, however, the law triggered persistent public struggles over monuments, memorials, and outdoor sculptures. This article examines the implementation of the law in the city of Granada, via a case study relating to the removal of a sculpture honoring the founder of the Spanish Fascist movement, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The controversy over the statue sparked a debate in Granada about the implementation of the law in the public space and raised questions about the role of text, material and visual culture in redesigning Linguistic Landscape by articulating contested memories.


Author(s):  
Catherine Johnson ◽  
Matthew Griffis

This paper examines the role of the public library in building strong communities. It reports on a study that asked patrons through interviews and questionnaires about their use of the library and explores whether this use has had an effect on the creation of both community and individual social capital.Cet article examine le rôle de la bibliothèque publique dans le renforcement des collectivités. Seront présentés les résultats d'entrevues auprès d'usagers et d'un questionnaire portant sur l'utilisation de la bibliothèque ainsi qu'une exploration de l'effet de cette utilisation sur la création d'un capital social collectif et individuel. 


Author(s):  
Sanja Janković ◽  
Danica Stanković

Most certainly, architectural objectives are the basis of the physical structure of a city, yet they are distinct morphological and typological units, they are free spaces with exceptional values and characteristics. Buildings that form the spaces of cities often change, build and disintegrate, but the permanent motive of the city space remains - an empty, unfinished part, as a constant sign of history. On the hierarchical scale of the urban environment, important elements are ephemeral structures, permanent or temporary. A possibility for empty space to be revived is the installation of artistic or ephemeral utilitarian structures. This paper presents the role of such micro-urban interventions that enrich the public space and contribute to its revitalization. Ephemeral architecture is especially suitable as a space for the presentation of artistic ideas and for incorporating new technological contents. The aim of the paper is to highlight a view about the importance of ephemeral structures by analyzing and studying the case studies. Special emphasis is placed on examples of completed projects of the pavilions of unique forms and the use of ship containers as a space for introducing artistic ideas. The main contribution of this paper should be a proposal of using ephemeral structures in urban space revival by promoting art and establishing a social contact.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Kluke

This paper explores the changing role of the public library, and determines its impacts on communities and cities. It also examines the relationship between libraries and planning policies, and the extend to which they inform the success of public libraries. The analysis centres on the design of modern public libraries, and the community and economic contributions they provide. Through analyses of the Vancouver Public Library, the Seattle Public Library, and the Toronto Public Library, it is evident that public libraries provide significant contributions within the communities they serve. Well-designed library buildings provide an important public space, and provide people with access to information and technology needed to participate in the knowledge economy, in turn producing significant economic gains for the city. This research finds that planning policy alone is unable to ensure the success of a city`s public library system. Support from the public and municipal leaders, combined with strong policy directives, is needed for a city`s public library system to succeed.


Author(s):  
Juan Luis Rivas Navarro

In the current socio-economic context, and particularly in the cities of southern Europe,one of the essential objectives of urban planning is the production of a public space as acollective good that qualifies, shapes and makes sense of urban functions. In thecomposition of "the public" the role of collective urban facilities is key. A tour of certainbases that could help redefine the understanding of public urban facilities is proposed. Theaims are to make the opportunities profitable and the instruments for its correct urbaninsertion flexible, to rescue benefits from the private sphere and to reactivate thegeography and the harmonic readings that the landscape inherited. They are all argumentsthat are exposed and fed by the project and planning experiences in the city of Granada.They offer a readjustment of the meaning of the project and introduce the possibility ofmore useful urban facilities.


2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-91
Author(s):  
Jussi Wacklin

Public drinking has aroused long-lasting debates in St. Petersburg/Leningrad and Helsinki. Taverns, pubs, restaurants but also streets and parks as well as workplaces in the city have been the main arenas of public drinking. My central concern is the impact of policy and police regimes on public drinking. The state was heavily involved in controlling public drinking in both cities; it simultaneously monopolized and regulated the alcohol trade and condemned drunkenness. The suppression of public drinking places was common for both cities. Still, the high number of arrests for public drunkenness in open spaces and the growth of total consumption indicate that drinkers moved to open urban spaces or to private places. Police control of the public spaces and the weakening role of the licensed drinking facilities as a place for neighborhood clientele affected the sociability of drinking and the uses of public space in general.


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