Culture and Civil Society Vital for the EU Urban Agenda
PHILIPPE EYNAUD
With more than 70% of Europe’s population living in urban areas, cities are playing an increasingly crucial role across the continent. Because of globalisation, cities are competing with each other to position themselves as attractive players in order to boost their local economies. With this competition comes growing responsibility for local authorities.
Culture is a key asset for the EU Urban Agenda
Culture is at the very heart of urban policy and city challenges[1] and emerges as a successful driving force in urban strategies.[2]
First, culture is a key element of urban attractiveness. Art creation, cultural events and museums all contribute to the compelling and unique appeal of the urban offering. To illustrate this potential we can look to Solin (Croatia) where a disused quarry has been transformed into a vibrant cultural space; or to Marseilles (France) where participatory artworks offer opportunities for empowering inhabitants and renewing local identity through co-creation with artists.
Second, culture is more than just a marketing tool. In a broader sense, culture also improves the linking of artistic creativity, craftsmanship and industrial activities and achieving global public services in cross-cutting fields such as health, education, science, tourism and urbanism. It can be illustrated in Nicosia (Cyprus), where the Pop-Up festival re-invents the city every year by blending culture, entertainment and entrepreneurship; by measuring air quality with scientists in Liverpool (England); or in the 2018 European Capital of Culture hosted in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands) where citizens are participating in an integrated approach to address poverty reduction, education and employment.
Finally, by tapping into local know-how and production capabilities, inventing new trends, designing new spaces, looking to improve the quality of life, culture is a key element of innovation and sustainable urban development.[3] It can be done simply by making creative use of public space through free software interfaces, as has been done in Barcelona (Spain); or by building a local community around the redesign of a park in Chisinau (Moldova).
In a nutshell, culture is a catalyst for differentiation, revitalisation and change in the EU Urban Agenda.
Culture also has to be considered in all its diversity. Most cities are home to a huge range of communities from different cultures and therefore have to address diverse issues. This trend is growing with the number of incoming migrants and refugees. This increases the need to provide access to culture as a means for connecting people, creating collective identity and ensuring a safe environment for everyone. One example of this can be found in Dortmund (Germany), where the Mayor’s office formed a civil society and citizen interest unit to improve communication with all residents, including marginalised groups, and to foster the integration of large migrant populations. Another example is located in the suburbs of Stockholm (Sweden), where Subtopia manages a central hub for social entrepreneurship in which the migrant population of the neighbourhood are involved.
A greater say for citizens making positive urban change
To support balanced economic and social development, it is essential to engage citizens and focus on human economy.[4] Indeed, this allows greater social inclusion and a close association between culture and civil society. It is a precondition for blending cultures and encouraging popular cultures in order to bridge the urban divide. To tackle urban challenges, modern cities are giving their residents a greater say in local policies and decisions through democratic governance.[5] In Bologna (Italy), for example, the local administration has entered into a co-design process with citizens, social innovators, entrepreneurs, civil society organisations and knowledge institutions. The result is a 30-page regulatory framework that introduces the principles of civic collaboration and horizontal subsidiarity. Across Italy, 165 collaboration pacts have been adopted involving more than 20,000 people. Drawing on this framework, the city of Bologna is now working on the advancement of the social, economic, political and urban transition.
Because global issues demand global answers and changes in behaviour, the involvement of civil society is essential to creating a more sustainable style of development. In the 21st century, good governance is synonymous with the engagement of citizens and an inclusive, collaborative, circular economy. In order to be broad-based and stable, urban development has to be rooted in civil initiatives. To give one example: in Totnes, a small town in the south-west of England, residents and the local authorities are exploring collectively how to be engaged in the city in a more sustainable way. They have created working groups with themes such as energy, food, business and livelihoods, health and well-being, building and housing, and inner transition. In this small town, the Transition Network and the Totnes Development Trust were born. There are now similar transition projects in 200 towns in the UK and 350 globally. The project network has published the Transition Handbook and the Transition Training Programme in order to share their successful transition model. Another example is POGON, which is the first public cultural institution based on civil-public governance in Zagreb, Croatia. This initiative is now spreading across different Croatian cities and is even crossing national borders into the South East Europe region. Such governance models offer a chance to meet the needs of local communities more effectively and to deepen democratic processes.
[1] AECID (2009) Cities, cultures and developments: A report that marks the fifth anniversary of Agenda 21 for culture. Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments, AECID, 15 October 2009.
[2] Working group of EU member states experts on cultural and creative industries (2012) European Agenda for Culture: Work plan for culture 2011–2014, Policy Handbook, April 2012.
[3] UNESCO, Global Report on Culture and Sustainable Urban Development, http://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/sites/creative-cities/files/Concept_Note_Report_150518.pdf
[4] Laville J.L. Hart K. (2010) The Human Economy. Polity Press: Cambridge.
[5] Laville J.L., Young D., Eynaud P. (2015) Civil society, The Third Sector, Social Enterprise: Governance and Democracy. Routledge: Oxfordshire.
This article was first published in Build the City magazine in June 2016. The publication highlights 26 practice examples of new forms of engagement of civil society with local authorities — so called civic-public partnerships.
Philippe Eynaud is full professor at IAE Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Sorbonne Business School). He was guest editor of a special thematic issue for Voluntas Journal on civil society governance as a new field of research. He was in the steering committee of a European consortium on Innovative platforms for social services (Innoserv). He is the author of several academic papers and has contributed to different collective books. He has co-edited a book entitled “Civil Society, the Third Sector, Social enterprise: governance and democracy” published by Routledge.
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