How cities have tamed counterculture

L'Usine in Geneva (Source: wikimedia) - An unprecedented study by EPFL researchers spanning three cities - Geneva, Lisbon and Ljubljana - has revealed how, over the past 40 years, urban cultural policy has blunted the subversive force of counterculture. The change has been so dramatic that, today, art is reduced to a regulated form of profit-making entertainment within a defined space. Twenty years ago, squats, vacant land and brownfields were a common feature of European cities. Now, these spaces have disappeared, taking the cultural activities they once harbored with them. A new book by researchers at EPFL's Urban Sociology Laboratory (LASUR) takes stock of this dramatic shift, exploring what role - physical or symbolic - remains for unprofitable, experimental and subversive activities today. In other words, where does counterculture fit into the modern-day city? The researchers look at three cities - Geneva, Lisbon and Ljubljana - focusing on the period between 2013 and 2017. They find that, just as municipal authorities are championing creativity and supporting varied year-round arts programs in their cities, they are simultaneously stifling, regulating and institutionalizing counterculture like never before.