The city for the others: iconic cultural facilities in the production of the city

Abstract

Since the last decades of the twentieth century, strategies for the production of the city have secured a prominent place in urban policies. More specifically, there are numerous territorial marketing strategies to promote an outward image of the city. Territorial marketing per se is a way of looking at the city from outside and, above all, for “the others,” i.e., not for those living or working in it every day, but for those who have a direct or indirect relationship with the city as (current or potential) visitors or investors. The purpose of this article is to pose some basic questions that will allow us to reflect on how important culture has been in this kind of strategy, in particular through the construction of iconic cultural facilities.