Human Capabilities in Contemporary Cities. The Urban Social Engineering and its Limits

Abstrakt

<p style="text-align: justify;">The paper addresses the question of opportunities for the development of human capabilities in contemporary cities. I begin with an analysis of the social participation in the arts and cultural productions. The method applied is based upon the conception of capabilities, underlying the idea of the Human Development Index; an analysis of the available cultural statistics, as well as a study of two revealing case studies, that of Bilbao, Spain, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, US, as distinct and alternative examples of the employment of arts as a stimulus for the urban growth and regeneration. The ndings suggest that the current urban policies are not conducive to an equal access to the arts of the urban dwellers. The proposed explanation of this phenomenon is based upon my own perspective of the political aesthetics, which includes, inter alia, the concepts of the public agoraphobia, commodication and interpassivity. I then proceed to make a more general point about the unavoidability and ingenuity of the urban social engineering, but at the same time I stress the limits of its effectiveness in contemporary large metropolises. In conclusion I argue in favour of the citizens' participative approach in the urban social life, and formulate a policy recommendation according to which small and medium-sized cities are possibly better suited to satisfy the need for the enjoyment of the arts in a more egalitarian way.</p>