Culture and Sustainability in European Cities

Svetlana Hristova is Associate Professor in Sociology of Culture and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts in the South-West University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, and Chair of the ENCATC Thematic Area "Urban Management and Cultural Policies of City."Milena Dragićević Šešić is Head of UNESCO Chair in Interculturalism, Art Management and Mediation, and Professor of Cultural Policy and Cultural Management, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies at the University of Arts, Belgrade, Serbia.Nancy Duxbury is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and Co-Coordinator of its Cities, Cultures and Architecture Research Group. She is also Adjunct Professor of the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada.

• Foreward / Series Introduction Introduction Part 1: Culture and Sustainable Development of European Cities - What are the Issues? 1. Cultural Sustainability in Small and Medium-sized Cities: What Are the Issues? 2. Civic Urbanity: Looking at the City Afresh 3. We, European Cities and Towns: The Role of Culture for the Evolving European Model of Urban Sustainability 4. Culture, Quality of Life and Sustainable Urban Development Part 2: Europolis as a Project - Envisioning More Sustainable Cities 5. European Cities as Cultural Projects: Where is Culture in Urban Sustainability Policy? 6. Culture in development strategies of small and medium-sized European cities: A comparative analysis 7. Cultural Policy-making by Networking: Local Cooperation and Global Competition in Small and Medium-sized Italian Cities 8. European Capitals of Culture and urban diplomacy Part 3: Culture for Sustainable Development in Urban Policies and Practicies 9. A place in the city: Recognizing creative inclusion 10. Cultural access and activation: Civic participation in local sustainable communities 11. Provincial Poland: Sustainable development and culture in small and medium-sized towns 12. Culture, sustainable development, and innovation: The case of Norrby, Sweden 13. The town is the venue: "Place-making" at the heart of cultural policy Part 4: Making the city resilient: Building Communities through artivism 14. Mobilizing urban neighbourhoods: Artivism, identity, and cultural sustainability 15. Land, people, and art: An attempt to renew social identity in the Czech Republic 16. Strumica, the city I want to live in! 17. Artistic/design practices, art education, and sustainable development: A question of design or of mutual transition?

"‘Imagining Europolis' comes at a moment when more than ever we need - at EU level - to collectively build a common civic space where European citizens can discuss and reflect on crucial issues for the further development of our European project. The book clearly contributes to this endeavour. My thanks to the authors!"–Sylvain Pasqua, Senior Expert in EU cultural policies in the European Commission, Coordinator of the "European Capitals of Culture" scheme of the European Union"This is a very timely book, that gathers many distinguished contributors on a hot topic such as sustainable culture-led development in small and medium-sized European cities – the true backbone of Europe. Research, fresh ideas and experiences in this field are much needed in the Europe of today. Warmly recommended reading."–Pier Luigi Sacco, Professor of Cultural Economics, IULM University, Milan; Member of the technical-scientific Committee on Cultural Economics of the Italian Ministry of Culture and Heritage"The complex cultural dimensions of the urban condition today and of the theory and practice of sustainability are topics hampered by commonplaces as well as wishful if not incantatory thinking. The essays in this truly significant volume on European cities break exciting new ground, however. They provide a rich template for far more informed and fruitful debate."–Yudhishthir Raj Isar, Professor of Cultural Policy Studies, The American University of Paris; Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney. "‘Imagining Europolis’ shows compellingly how a number of the continent’s small and medium-sized cities offer key creative, imaginative and participatory models for a culture-based sustainable urbanism while clearly theorizing ever-present tensions and faultlines. In its models for sustainable city co-creation the book offers valuable lessons for cities everywhere, including the urban behemoth Cosmopolis."–Greg Young, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Sydney, Australia