Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Differing diversitiesand that is precisely where more research is needed. This calls for not only arenewed interest in sociology – since it is through the work of sociologists such asUlrich Beck, Michel Maffesoli, Gilles Lipovetsky, or Manuel Castells that wehave been able in the recent past to unravel how the new social subjects are shapedin contemporary urban society – but also a need to think more pragmatically abouthow new, more “tolerant” urban spaces 1 can be created through policies. It is herethat, perhaps, cultural planning needs to be more closely scrutinised as a viablemodel of small-scale, locally rooted policy frameworks. The risk is that this kindof approach could, if not handled with a good degree of political tolerance for failure,end up by paradoxically promoting more closed social spaces, inward lookingand trapped in the logic of rediscovery of local distinctiveness as a weapon for survivingeconomic global competition.ReferencesAgamben, Giorgio, 1993, The Coming Community, Minneapolis: University ofMinnesota Press.Beck, Ulrich, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash, 1994, Reflexive Modernization,Cambridge: Polity Press.Bhabha, Homi K., 1997, The Location of Culture, London: Routledge.Bianchini, Franco and Lia Ghilardi Santacatterina, 1997, Culture andNeighbourhoods. A Comparative Report, Strasbourg: Council of EuropePublishing.Bianchini, Franco and Michael Parkinson (eds.), 1993, Cultural Policy and UrbanRegeneration. The West European Experience, Manchester: ManchesterUniversity Press.Castells, Manuel, 1989, The Informational City. Information Technology,Economic Restructuring and the Urban-Regional Process, Oxford: Blackwell.–––––, 1994, European cities, the informational society and the global economy,New Left Review, No. 204, pp. 18-32.Council of Europe, 1997, In from the Margins. A Contribution to the Debate onCulture and Development in Europe, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999, Local Cultural Strategies. DraftGuidance for Local Authorities in England, London: DCMS.Giddens, Anthony, 1991, Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the LateModern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.Giordan, Henri, 1994, Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Societies,Discussion Paper Series No. 1, Paris: Unesco.__________1. See Sennett, 1994: 358.MOST132