Social sculpture as a driver for social cohesion. How is this principle understood in relation to creative practices and the glocal cultural policies in Mexico City?

This research is a debate about how social sculpture is being grounded through creative strategies tackling diverse social problems in Mexico City. This is exposed through a set of social-artistic practices and thoughts of a group of cultural agents working at the community level. Along with the discussion is a critical analysis of the local translation of global discourses about culture and development conceptualized mainly in the Agenda 21 for Culture. Also the expanded concepts of arts and social sculpture, fostered by the artist Joseph Beuys in the 1970s, are un-packed and brought to the field of development studies as a drivers for social cohesion. The triangulation between practices, concepts and a reflexive interpretation is understood a way of doing development (Escobar 2007). As a methodology it places this research in the poststructural margins (Strega 2005) where a counter-hegemonic knowledge may emerge. The open debate proposed along this paper is about rooting creativity and reflecting on the culture of development.