Street life and street culture: Between Early Modern Europe and the present

Street Life and Street Culture involves art historians, architectural historians and theoreticians, planners, public officials, artists and critics, film-makers, a sound artist and an actor, to create an interdisciplinary, international community drawn from the UK, USA and Europe. We are considering how streets shaped and informed the daily lives of urban communities in the past, and how this historical experience relates to contemporary realities. Six major themes linking the Early Modern urban experience and today are the focus of our studies:

• the relation between ephemeral performances and permanent urban change
• the street as locus for celebration, religion and rituals
• the performative siting of violence, punishment and protest
• surveillance, policing and control
• gossip and the circulation of news
• street sounds.

Our events will take place in the UK and Europe. Outputs will include sound recordings, films, as well as symposia, research papers and a conference.

In February 2011, we received additional funding from the AHRC to continue the activity of our network, this time bringing the conversation we have initiated with historians to policy-makers and other stakeholders.