Cities and museums of cities. Hybrid discourses and social ecosystems Add New Links

Abstract

Cities and museums are chameleon-like, hybrid artefacts that operate in a world that is nowadays immersed into a kind of ‘great unsettling’. Urban identity, citizenship and civic engagement, belonging, urban networks, cooperation and connectivity, activism and innovation in various forms from environmental sustainability initiatives to the cultural incorporation of immigrants are key matters for reflection and action within this context. If David Harvey, as a social historian, sets in his study on rebel cities the age-old question ‘what kind of city we want’, this article aims to re-address the question within the context of museums and exhibitions that deal with contemporary urban utopias, dystopias and networks of urban experiences and ask what kind of city museums we need in contemporary societies. It discusses how museums of cities are living systems of tremendous scale and potential which embody a hybridity of cultures and employ an array of modalities that tell different stories of the world. It also reflects on urban museology through a systems thinking lens and sets new questions on key social issues about cities and museums of cities.