The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities (Paperback)

Professor Alison L. Bain

ISBN 10: 1788214927 / ISBN 13: 9781788214926

Published by Agenda Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2023

About this Item

Paperback. Cities are synonymous with the production and consumption of culture. It is their material and human cultural infrastructure that also makes them archives and works of art. The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities critically re-examines the relationship between the urban and its cultures. It expands our understanding of the concept of urban cultural infrastructure and highlights the foundational role of culture to the materiality and sociality of urban life and the governance of cities.The book begins with a theoretical overview of the cultural and infrastructural turns in urban studies scholarship. It then explores definitions of cultural infrastructure and its "hard" and "soft" dimensions before critically considering the vulnerabilities generated in the cultural sector by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chapters are organised in four thematic sections focusing on aspects of producing, performing, consuming and collecting culture, which feature detailed case studies from 17 cities across the global North and South.This book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of urban studies, but also to policy-makers planning and creating cultural infrastructures as well as those working in cultural institutions and creative industries. This collection of essays offers a fresh perspective on infrastructure, inviting readers to (re)consider the ways that culture is produced and expressed within cities by examining the geographies of its spaces, venues, performances and embodiments. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781788214926

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities (Paperback)
• Publisher: Agenda Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1788214927
• ISBN 13: 9781788214926
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Cities are synonymous with the production and consumption of culture. It is their material and human cultural infrastructure that also makes them archives and works of art. The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities critically re-examines the relationship between the urban and its cultures. It expands our understanding of the concept of urban cultural infrastructure and highlights the foundational role of culture to the materiality and sociality of urban life and the governance of cities.


The book begins with a theoretical overview of the cultural and infrastructural turns in urban studies scholarship. It then explores definitions of cultural infrastructure and its “hard” and “soft” dimensions before critically considering the vulnerabilities generated in the cultural sector by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chapters are organised in four thematic sections focusing on aspects of producing, performing, consuming and collecting culture, which feature detailed case studies from 17 cities across the global North and South.


This book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of urban studies, but also to policy-makers planning and creating cultural infrastructures as well as those working in cultural institutions and creative industries.

About the Authors

Alison L. Bain is Professor of Geography in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Ontario. She is co-editor of Urbanization in a Global Context (second edition 2022) and author of Creative Margins: Cultural Production in Canadian Suburbs (2013).

Julie A. Podmore is Affiliate Assitant Professor in Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University, Montreal and Professor in Geosciences at John Abbott College, Montreal. She is the coeditor of Lesbian Feminism: Essays Opposing Global Heteropatriarchies (2019).