Interaction between a Museum and a City in Europe

Abstract

The article examines different viewpoints on the museum’s role in the transformation of urban identity. The review of existing research aimed at mapping and exploring the museum-city interaction and its features throughout history. The selected studies were categorized and analysed according to the field they cover (urbanism and architecture, economy, sociology and museology). The analysis has shown that the interaction between the museum and the city can be traced throughout history and that it experienced its first rise in the mid- 1970s with the construction of the Pompidou Centre, and then in the late 20th and early 21st century, influenced by modern phenomena of globalization and migration. Due to the new way of interaction, museums have changed their architecture and purposes, repositioning themselves as a new tool for urban transformation. A tentative conceptual framework and methodology were set up based on research literature to evaluate the interaction between the museum and the city. Further research is necessary to explore and define those interactions and tools that will encourage the role of European museums in promoting and transforming urban areas.