EDITORIAL

 

Editorial

 

Walter RodriguesI

[I]ISCTE-IUL, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal. e-mail: walter.rodrigues@iscte.pt.

 

 

The digital revolution which has been going on for the past decades has decidedly gone over from the first to the second stage. This comes through on the Internet with the transition to the web 2.0 or, in other words, the ultimate transition from mass media domination to self media domination. It is the shift from the @generation to the #generation, with all the resulting deep communication and social changes it brings about, as reflected in the book review published in this issue of CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios.

Among other changes introduced by this generational transition, there is the extreme amplification of dematerializing possibilities of a set of activities, economic transactions, cultural exchanges and social relationships that previously demanded the materiality of places, thus apparently substantiating the already age-old Manuel Castells thesis on the decreasing centrality of spaces of places, and increasing role of spaces of flows. The new scientific publishing rationale is suggestive of this trend regarding the challenges posed by this technological change.

Nevertheless, and as paradoxical as it may seem, this tendency has far from extinguished the importance of spaces of places, in social life and in the exercise of citizenship; rather, it shows a regeneration and reconfiguration trend for physical, concrete places, creating synergies between spaces of immaterial flows and spaces of tangible places in the public space and, particularly, on the streets. The different articles composing issue 29 duly express this apparently paradoxical tendency for refocusing on the street, as well as on overall public spaces, and the multiple interventions aiming at their regeneration or reshaping.

The first article, by Rosana Martins and Holy Ryan, on instruments for visibility and the subjectivities of the so-called art-action phenomenon, tackles street art manifestations, as well as their role in urban life and the very action for political and social transformation of Brazilian cities. The second article is authored by Manoela Rufinoni. It focuses on port areas, analyzing the intervention on the Genoa port and the preservation challenges from an urban history perspective. The third article, by Anna Lúcia Vieira e Silva, Vitor Araujo, Frederico Gonçalves and Livia Freire, approaches the role of the street in the setting-up of an action-research project, a experiment in tune with academic research and university outreach activities. The fourth article is proposed by Abraham Araújo and Alexandra Antunes, reporting an architectural study with a view of a possible rehabilitation intervention in an ensemble with heritage relevance. Lastly, the fifth article by Jane Victal and Vitor Cordova introduces an anthropological approach to the Brazilian caipira, through one of its most typical musical expressions, resisting all social and urban changes in upstate São Paulo urbanized areas, the Cururu. Wrapping up issue 29, Paula Guerra leads us from the street to the cyberspace, in her review of the recently published work by Carles Feixa on youth in the digital era, De la Generación@ a la #Generación.

 

Walter Rodrigues

Editor