Urban Design, Public Space and the Dynamics of Creative Milieux: A Photographic Approach to Bairro Alto (Lisbon), Gràcia (Barcelona) and Vila Madalena (São Paulo)

Abstract

Drawing on some results of a broader research project, this paper aims to discuss the relation between urban design and creative dynamics in cultural districts. Appropriation and production of public spaces in three ‘creative quarters’ are analyzed, through a photographic approach, covering material aspects, human appropriation and symbolic dimensions in these areas. Discussing the boundaries of public spaces and their relevance for creative activity (through the conviviality and sociability they promote), it is argued that urban design characteristics and specific place morphologies significantly influence the appropriation of these areas and the development of specific creative dynamics.

Notes

^1. The concept of territorial system can be seen at the light of the territorial innovation models debates, cf. Moulaert and Sekia (2003), Crevoisier and Jeannerat (2009).

^2. Bairro Alto, Almada, Alcântara and Martim Moniz areas in Lisbon; Gràcia district, 22@ urban renewal operation, and Palo Alto association in Barcelona; Vila Madalena district, São Paulo Fashion Week event and SESC experience in São Paulo (cf. Costa 2012 for details). Nearly 70 in-depth interviews were carried out, complemented with other fieldwork methodologies, in these case studies.

^3. These three main dimensions are the result of a broad interdisciplinary discussion amongst the members of the project team. Although bearing some similarities to the conception by Lefebvre (1991), distinguishing (1) spatial practices/the ‘perceived’; (2) space representations/the ‘conceived’, and (3) representational spaces/the ‘lived’, this is not completely equivalent. A strong diversity and complexity is assumed within each of the categories (physical/social/symbolic), linked to a wide variety of legitimization and reputation-building factors, involving a variety of power/domination mechanisms in all of them (Costa, Latoeira and Lopes 2010; Costa 2012).