Agenda

Culture and territories: Lessons from Three Decades of International Practice
With Prof. Lia Ghilardi, Director of Noema, a UK-based organization working internationally to deliver place mapping and strategic cultural planning projects.

May 12, 2026 | h. 15.00
San Giobbe - Aula Volpato

After more than thirty years of international work across cities and regions, Lia Ghilardi offers a critical reflection on the evolution of urban cultural policies. The talk examines how culture-led urban development has increasingly been shaped by instrumental logics, where culture is mobilized to serve predefined economic or political goals through "best practices" and replicable models. Drawing on her extensive practice, Ghilardi challenges the tendency toward easy standardization. She argues for a "situated approach": working with rather than over communities, recognizing culture as a dynamic, plural, and sometimes contradictory force. Here, culture is reclaimed not merely as an instrument of development, but as a vital force for human growth and social innovation.