Performative Citizenship: Public Art, Urban Design and Political Participation

Through a vast array of languages, contemporary participatory public art explores urban problems, challenges the dominant representations of emerging issues, such as migration and global warming, proposes to citizens and policy-makers new ways of thinking about territory renewal, and aims to reorient the decisions taken in territory governance, either denouncing them or supporting their improvement. From Sardinia to Queensland, New York to Bologna, Hasselt and Genk to L’Aquila, Rio de Janeiro to Utrecht, this book collects essays and case studies concerning heterogeneous territories, economies, political systems, cultures, and societies. By establishing a cross-disciplinary dialogue between dif¬ferent academic fields that deal with the political spheres of public art and urban design, the book aims to understand the ways in which these projects may enhance citizens’ participation in the decision-making processes, within both the spheres of institutionalized territory politics and the political spheres of public art and spatial planning.