Erasmus University Rotterdam, HafenCity University Hamburg, Escola Universitària ERAM University of Girona, Stockholm University – HERA project
Principal investigators: Prof. Dr. Lisa Kosok (Project leader), Prof. dr. Paul van de Laar, Dr. Judit Vidiella Pagès,
PhD candidate: Vincent Baptist MA
Pleasurescapes is a Humanities-led collaborative research project that explores the relations between public spaces, culture and integration by means of popular culture. We ask for the ways how public pleasurescapes in European port cities have unfolded cultural and social forces of integration in the past and present and thereby fostered traits of modern European urban practices.
Four cities and their pleasurescapes are of special interest for us and will be researched empirically: Hamburg (DE), Rotterdam (NL), Barcelona (ES) and Gothenburg (SE). Despite their national differences, they show intriguing transnational convergence. Therefore, our project will reveal the fundamental societal importance of pleasure culture – a to date underestimated factor for societal integration, innovation processes and cultural industries.