Cultural welfare, performing arts and urban regeneration: new aspects to consider for social inclusion

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the impact and value of culture in the context of urban regeneration processes. In particular, it proposes to reinterpret urban regeneration from a culturalist perspective. To this end, and on a strictly theoretical level, it is first discussed the object of the sociology of culture, in order to demonstrate the importance of social practices and cultural participation in the definition of social imaginaries and in the definition of everyday life, including the economic dimensions of production and consumption. Assuming the social value of culture, and not only its artistic value, and also assuming the close relationship between urban regeneration, culture and territory, the concept of cultural ecosystems, which emerge within communities, is then developed. On the basis of these theoretical premises, the text presents the results of a research study on the application of the Faro Convention in Italy. These results allow to suggest some dimensions of analysis from which to derive non-economic indicators that can be used to evaluate cultural policies from a perspective that goes beyond the classic welfare model and on the basis of the experience acquired in the context of some projects financed by the European Community that have given rise to good practices and models of excellence that can be replicated in the field of social innovation also linked to interculturality.