Street Performance, Public Space, and the Boundaries of Urban Desirability

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 17. Urban Landscapes

Abstract

How do cities determine who has the right to station themselves in public space? This paper examines this question by analyzing the evolution of Barcelona’s approach to regulating street performance, with a particular focus on regulations pertaining to ‘living statues’. Building on the insights of previous scholarship on symbolic boundaries, it identifies two main aspects of boundary definition – external demarcation and internal differentiation – that have been central to the regulation of busking in Barcelona and other urban contexts. It additionally highlights several key sources of boundary definition and transformation, including: 1) local tradition; 2) city branding; 3) conflict, competition, and claims-making; 4) organizational logics; and 5) policy sharing or modeling. My findings speak to more general questions regarding how cities determine the boundaries of ‘urban desirability’, as well as why and how such boundaries change over time. They also further our understanding of the strategies that individuals and groups located at the margins employ in attempting to position themselves favorably in relation to such boundaries.

Author

• Avi Y. Astor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona