ProductCity: the city as a product

Abstract

The Third International Conference of Young Urban Researchers, aimed to bring together professionals, artists, general public, and researchers to talk about cities. The TICYUrb covered a big number of topics regarding the urban life, urban sociabilities and urban uses. In ProductCity we intended to go deeper, how the city is used, owned, sold, understood and transformed in terms of economic and symbolic value. Cities have always been privileged places of production and transaction of material products and intangible goods (culture, norms, values). These aspects contribute to the polarization of political, economic and institutional power and affirmation of an arena of social demands necessary for the consolidation of democracy. Currently, a set of multiple transformations and practices of territorial exploitation, arising from the context of economic crisis and financial globalization, are translated into the increasing centrality of the urban as a space for accumulation of capital and consumption. At the same time, socio-economic inequalities and environmental impacts are intensified and accelerated, extending beyond the geographic boundaries of urban or territorial borders. Considering this dual possibility of reading between the city as a space that activates flows, productive systems and 'varied goods' (or as merchandise itself) and the city as a space for democratic affirmation and social demand. In this track, we invited works around touristification, gentrification, the now-called shared economies; city- branding, privatization of the urban space, mega-events; production of degenerated ecologies, etc.