Journal Des Anthropologues, N° 162-163

Résumé

Culture, a polysemic and plastic word, is now emerging as a tool of globalized urban policies. These policies aim to promote the competitiveness of cities, even if it means excluding disadvantaged populations and legitimising this exclusion by resorting to the consensual register of art and culture. In the midst of this process, one can wonder to what extent cities are transformed by this "culturalization", and vice versa, to what extent culture is shaped by its urban future. The papers in this issue focus on the actors and consequences of these dynamics: how do urban and cultural policies, and the projects which result from them, affect the practices and representations of not only those who design cities, but those who inhabit them on a daily basis as well? How do the different groups who make up the city, and in particular artists and cultural actors, respond to or participate in these projects? What are their degrees of commitment, opposition or compromise to projects that aspire to change the image of cities?