Stadtluft Macht Frei? Partecipazione urbana e rurale nella formazione di storie e memorie/ Stadtluft Macht Frei? Urban and rural participation in shaping histories and memories

In the increasingly multicultural world of today, attempts at defining the role of urban memory and identity have become complex involving many stakeholders, from city governments promoting and financing established players such as museums or bourgeois cultural associations to local bottom-up, informally organised initiatives taking care of urban space and linking different urban subcultures to mainstream urban identities (the recent surge for example of garden guerillas which fits in the interest shared by more official stakeholders in different forms of urban gardening and short circuit supply systems). Various groups in urban society have to navigate this complex and diverse field, and initiatives that stimulate the promotion of heritage, which hitherto have primarily been limited to top-down organisations. The contribution introduces some important questions about differing ideas about urbanity, suburbanity and rurality are expressed