Public sphere in times of governance: public action, disputed building and local cultural system in a Northern city of Italy

Borghi and Meschiari consider institutional processes within cultural management. After discussing the role of culture in the construction of the public sphere and the arguments in favour of public intervention in culture, they analyse the controversy relating to renewal of a disused foundry in Modena (Italy). The foundry was a place replete with memories and meanings mostly relating to the struggles for employment in the 1960s and, more recently, to the deindustrialization of the urban landscape. The public debate on the potential of that space inevitably drew attention to the building’s historical, emotional and political value resulting from a stratification of meanings and uses over time. Consequently, the decision-making process was informed by different positions which claimed different destinations, thus opening up multiple and conflicting possibilities for the foundry. In this sense, culture acts as the organizing principle which drives urban restoration and governance practices.