‘‘Capital of Culture - you must be having a laugh!” Challenging the official rhetoric of Liverpool as the 2008 European cultural capital’

Major cultural events are increasingly seen by local stakeholders as important opportunities to stimulate urban regeneration, city branding and economic development. The European Capital of Culture programme is a prominent example. Since 1985 over thirty cities have hosted the title and today it remains a highly sought-after prize. This paper analyses competing interpretations of the success of Liverpool's hosting of the European Capital of Culture in 2008. It unpacks contrasting views of Liverpool08, from the official triumphant message of urban regeneration and economic renaissance to more critical analyses that problematise important elements of the event and its social and spatial impacts. In so doing, it challenges the hyperbole of culture-led transformation to reveal different geographies of culture, different cultural experiences and different socio-economic realities; it also offers an additional cultural reading of Liverpool in 2008. Through the example of Liverpool this paper shows how local culture is politicised, manipulated and sanitised in order to stimulate urban regeneration and construct a spatial re-branding of the city.

De grands événements culturels sont de plus en plus perçus par les rentiers locaux comme des opportunités importantes pour stimuler la régénération urbaine, produire la devise des villes et le développement économique. L'initiative La Capitale Européenne de la Culture est un exemple proéminent. Depuis 1985, plus de trente villes ont accueilli le titre et maintenant il reste un prix largement recherché. Cet article analyse des interprétations en concurrence du succès de l'accueil de Liverpool de la Capitale Européenne de la Culture en 2008. Il déballe des vues contrastées de Liverpool08, du message officiel et triomphal de la régénération urbaine et de la renaissance économique à des analyses plus critiques qui problématisent des éléments importants de l'événement et ses impacts sociaux et spatiaux. De cette façon, il conteste l'hyperbole de la transformation menée par la culture pour révéler des géographies différentes de la culture, des expériences différentes de la culture et des réalités socioéconomiques différentes; il offre aussi une interprétation culturelle différente de Liverpool en 2008. Au travers de l'exemple de Liverpool cet article montre comment la culture locale est politisée, manipulée et aseptisée pour stimuler la régénération urbaine et construire un relookage spatial de la ville.

Cada vez más, los inversores locales vean a los eventos culturales como oportunidades importantes para estimular regeneración urbana, el desarollo económico y la branding a una ciudad. El Capital Europeo de Cultura es un ejemplo prominente. Desde 1985, más que treinta ciudades han presentado el título y hoy sigue siendo un premio deseable. Este papel se analiza interpretaciones competitivos del éxito del Capital Europea de Cultura 2008 en Liverpool. Se deshace las perspectivas opuestas del Liverpool08, del mensaje triunfante de regeneración urbana y renacimiento económico, a analices críticos que problematizan elementos importantes del evento y sus impactos sociales y espaciales. Al hacer esto, se cuestiona el hipérbole de la transformación cultural para revelar geografías diferentes de cultura, experiencias culturales diferentes y realidades diferentes socio-económicas; también ofrece un entendimiento cultural adicional de Liverpool en el 2008. Através el ejemplo de Liverpool, este papel demuestra como la cultura local está politizada, manipulada, y desinfectado para estimular regeneración urbana y construir una nueva branding de la ciudad.

Informalilty in the Social and Culture Life in the City Centre of Nairobi

We live in a world of advanced technology, stiff global competition and rapid transformation of all facets of life and as a result architecture has not been spared. These transformations affect the social relations, cultural consumption and political economy that have influenced the manner in which people perform in and out of space in the city centres. The residents have adopted strategies for negotiating through the spaces sanitized by authorities and other agents. The public spaces provide the background materials for informal urban practices that are sometimes deemed illegal yet are necessary for animating the city spaces. Cities market themselves ecstatically beyond the baroque with a more visible presence of the contending parties through trademarks, public relations invasively advertised in streets, monuments (signature buildings or projects), and language. This paper comes out of a research carried out in Nairobi in February and March 2007. It examined how the notions of globalisation are reflected in the life in the city centre; the impacts on the quality of life of users of the city centre and how informal urbanism has developed as copying strategy to deal with the transformations due to liberalization and globalization.

Architecture and Construction Management at Queens University Belfast:Regional Cultural Centre

The Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny is a new 2000sqm arts center containing theatre, galleries, workshops and ancillary offices. The site is set back from the street, on high ground with good views. The form and envelope of the building was derived from geometrically connecting the site with the town’s two other main public buildings, the Cathedral (1901) and new Civic Offices (2002, also designed by MacGabhann Architects). This geometrical connection or vectors informed the geometry and shape of the building. This urban matrix of geometrically connecting three corner stones of society, namely the ecclesiastical headquarters, the administrative head quarters and the art centre helps to improve the town planning and urban design of the disparate and chaotic development that Letterkenny has become.
The large cantilever, which houses a 300sqm gallery, is aligned towards the Civic Offices, marks the entrance, and signifies a change of direction of the pedestrian route past the building, like a modern day obelisk.
The circulation routes and stairs internally provide views towards the civic offices and cathedral, thus reinforcing the connection between the three buildings and helps visitors make some sense of Letterkenny as an urban center. The main stairs and vertical circulation are contained behind the large glazed foyer, which is framed to be viewed externally like a proscenium stage, with visitors to the building passively acting their routes through the building.

The Cultural Heritage of Pilgrim Itineraries: The Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago comprises a lattice of European pilgrimage itineraries which converge at Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. This Working Paper introduces the historical and contemporary representation of these routes as a heritage complex that is imagined and codified within varied cultural meanings of a journey undertaken. Particular attention is given to the Camino Frances and the Via de la Platawhich contrast as mature and formative pilgrimage settings. Within this spatial sphere, the analysis deals with the Camino de Santiago as official heritage, as development instrument, as civil society, and as personal experience. The paper concludes by critically reviewing a previous conceptualisation of pilgrim route-based tourism, derived from fieldwork completed in 1994. Some substantive additions to that model are then advanced which arguably fit better with the many context changes that have occurred over the past two decades.

Angels with dirty faces? European identity, politics of representation and recognition of Romani interests

The contradiction between acknowledgement of cultural differences and their accommodation in public has been a constant theme in studies of diverse societies. This review essay discusses five volumes that grapple with questions of Romani inclusion and the problems Roma face across Europe. The volumes under review point to problems faced by Romani communities and analyse the various legal, political and social challenges that situation of the Roma poses to institutions of contemporary societies. The essay reviews the challenging nature of the status of Roma as we move away from the one-sided towards more reciprocal relationship engagement of state with society in general, and the multiply excluded groups, in particular. The essay finds that the role Roma play in these relationships is either over-, or under-estimated by the literature, largely as a result of limited opportunities to acknowledge and, in effect, accommodate Roma who are rarely understood as actors in their own right.

The Cultural Heritage of Pilgrim Itineraries: The Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago comprises a lattice of European pilgrimage itineraries that converge at Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. This article introduces the historical and contemporary representation of these routes as a heritage complex that is imagined and codified within varied cultural meanings of a journey undertaken. Particular attention is given to the Camino Frances and the Via de la Plata, which contrast as mature and formative pilgrimage settings. Within this spatial sphere, the analysis deals with the Camino de Santiago as official heritage, as development instrument, as civil society, and as personal experience. The article concludes by offering a contemporary conceptualization of the evolving Camino de Santiago cultural heritage complex.

The Long Aftermath: Cultural Legacies of Europe at War, 1936-2016

In its totality, the “Long Second World War”—extending from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the end of hostilities in 1945—has exerted enormous influence over European culture. Bringing together leading historians, sociologists, and literary and film scholars, this broadly interdisciplinary volume investigates Europeans’ individual and collective memories and the ways in which they have shaped the continent’s cultural heritage. Focusing on the major combatant nations—Spain, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Russia—it offers thoroughly contextualized explorations of novels, memoirs, films, and a host of other cultural forms to illuminate European public memory.