What may culture contribute to urban sustainability? Critical reflections on the uses of culture in urban development in Oslo and beyond

Abstract

Culture and capital play vital roles in urban change. This paper provides a discussion of the relation between culture and capital, followed by a discussion of their relation in the urban context, including an empirical example from Oslo, Norway. Emphasis will be put on the role of culture in the creative city thesis and how culture relates to the concept of urban sustainability. A critique of neoliberal and instrumental uses of culture in the creative city thesis is also undertaken. Policies on culture-led urban regeneration often pay more attention to economic motives than to culture itself. The paper calls for establishing a reflective cultural policy that is not subsumed to economic sustainability, and for the need to escape the anthropological conception of culture as a whole way of life.

Keywords:

• culture
• capital
• the creative city
• neoliberalism
• urban sustainability

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editor at the Journal of Urbanism for their useful comments on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.