Cultural Heritage and the City

This course explores how cities develop their own unique cultures. It is offered as part of the 'Exploring Culture and Heritage,' program conducted by the European University Institute (EUI) through Future Learn, an online education platform. EUI is an international organization which produces high level research and provides doctoral and post-doctoral academic training in the social sciences.

Cultural heritage is usually discussed in national or religious terms: we speak of Italian culture, Greek civilization, Islamic art, and so on. But today cities are creating their own heritage through museums, galleries, markets of artistic goods, and urban networks. Cities project themselves as cultural hubs representing and connecting entire regions, for example Doha and the UAE, Singapore and Southeast Asia, Los Angeles and North America. Using these and other examples, through this course participants will be introduced to the key concepts of urban cultural heritage.

Some of the topics covered in the course are:

• Cultural heritage policies
• Heritage in urban strategies
• Heritage and urban development
• The role of civil society
• European capitals of culture