Reinventing a Small, Worldly City

The Cultural and Social Transformation of Cardiff
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4724-4738-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 250 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 953 g

Focusing on Cardiff, the capital city of Wales in the UK, this book reflects on a contemporary small European city – its development, characteristics, and present struggles. Following a century in which it was dubbed the world’s ‘coaltropolis’, the decline in demand for coal meant that Cardiff endured an acute process of de-industrialisation. In seeking to address this and the related high levels of unemployment, it has experienced a process of cultural and social reinvention since the 1980s, and more significantly after Wales turned into a devolved nation in the late 1990s. Cardiff’s development from a small port into a capital city is examined and special attention is paid to the city’s cultural and social transformation in recent decades that has relied on the expansion of specific cultural clusters and tourism, which have been decisive for the transformation of its cultural identity and in shaping the city’s individual and collective memories and identities.

Cardiff epitomises a quintessential case of urban reinvention, cultural regeneration, and social transformation, lying between two apparently contradictory paradigms: the need to respond to global demands and the effort to maintain its cultural distinctiveness and Welsh roots. Therefore, it sets the scene for a wider reflection on small cities, especially in the European setting, and what generally characterises these cities: their liveability, cultural creativity and community empowerment, as well as the fact that they facilitate mobility and social interaction. These worldly cities, the book contends, present interesting opportunities and challenges at the urban, economic, social and cultural levels that rely on more human-scale, people-based approaches to cities, thus defying existing urban hierarchies and categorisations.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gonçalves, Ana

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Regional- & Raumplanung Stadtplanung, Kommunale Planung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction, 1. Small Cities and Cultures, 2. Cardiff: The Making of a City, 3. A City in the Making: Culture and Society, Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Ana Gonçalves is an Adjunct Professor at the Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE), Portugal and a Senior Researcher in the Tourism, Culture and Space (TERRiTUR) research group at the Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon. She holds a European PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies awarded by the University of Lisbon. She has been a speaker at various international conferences and has published several articles in the fields of urban cultural studies and tourism. She has been the recipient of a number of research grants awarded by various renowned organisations.