Participation matters. The political spheres of public art and urban design

This essay aims to advance a multidisciplinary reflection on the different forms of civic engagement and political participation proposed by contemporary public art and urban design, as fields wherein citizens may experiment with diverse methods of participation in the transformation of the territories of societal life. The chapter draws upon a two-year research program on Italian contemporary participatory public art and urban design entitled Governare ad Arte (‘To Govern Artfully’), which was funded by the Sardinia Region. By establishing a cross-disciplinary dialogue between different academic fields — sociology, political science, cultural and media studies, rhetoric, architecture, urban studies, design, curatorial and artistic research — and across diverse geographic contexts — from Sardinia to Queensland, New York to Bologna, Hasselt and Genk to L’Aquila, Rio de Janeiro to Utrecht — the authors reflect on how heterogeneous experiences deal with contemporary territorial governance. In so doing, they contribute to advancing the cross-disciplinary debate on political participation and performative citizenship.