Thesis title: Spazi e tempi della cultura. Le Capitali italiane della Cultura alla prova della ricerca sociale e della valutazione d'impatto
The thesis investigates two lines of analysis, one linked to the study of the concept and role of culture from a diachronic perspective, through a historical-interpretative examination of the term, and the other linked to the assessment of the impact generated by cultural policies and initiatives.
Taking into account the complexity and cross-cutting nature of the topic, the research strategy makes use of a variety of tools that communication studies and methodological studies in the strict sense use in their advanced research.
These tools allow us to grasp different aspects related to the same topic, placing them in a dialogical perspective with each other along the space-time dimensional axes.
The aim is to reconstruct the conceptual roots of the term “culture” as a key to understanding contemporary societies, investigating, in a second analysis, the transformative power that culture can exert on territories.
The first part explores the term “culture”, tracing its historical and evolutionary interpretation on a political and institutional level, using quantitative and qualitative textual analysis techniques aimed at restoring new semantic universes linked to the term culture and new concepts in transformation (Hartog, 2022).
The second part investigates the relationship between territory and major events, through the study and comparison of the political initiatives “Italian Capital of Culture” and “European Capitals of Culture” which, through competition between different territories, aim to promote projects and activities that enhance cultural heritage, encouraging participation, inclusion and development.
The analysis, supported by a wealth of literature in the field, highlights the methodological approaches adopted at national and international level, clearly showing the plurality of processes and tools that can be used through accurate summary tables that identify opportunities and critical issues and proposing a taxonomy of applications for the evaluation of territorial, communication and impact practices.
The third part of the thesis investigates impact assessment practices, introducing the topic of social impact measurement and evaluation (SIME), which is the subject of ongoing and lively international debate, even in non-academic contexts (Bianchini, 2013; Zhong, 2013; Grodach, 2013), proposing a conceptual framework for impact measurement aimed at investigating the activities, processes and impacts of the “Italian Capital of Culture” initiative with a mixed methods approach that is both analytical and dynamic.
The empirical core of the thesis focuses on the case study “Procida Italian Capital of Culture 2022”, which was the subject of surveys and in-depth interviews in the field, analysed using NVivo software, clearly revealing the plurality of visions and the multidimensionality of the relationships between culture, inclusion, economy and governance.