The Voice of the Invisible Cities.

Within contemporary debate, there is much dialogue about the revitalization of rural areas and small cities, where larger agglomerations seem to be the magnets for cultural and creative resources. Previous works and reports addressed the difficulties that marginal areas are encountering. The current economic contingency enhances the accumulation of resources and the formation of agglomerative phenomenon. Megalopolises are going to attract more and more capitals to the detriment of small centres and rural areas unable to propose competitive alternatives. It provokes the centralization of institutions, wealth, social capitals, and labour forces, leaving peripheries culturally, socially and economically starving. A number of academic works within and outside the cultural economic field research the impact of culture on these realities, trying to understand how the cultural sector and the touristic industry can be relevant solutions, especially for those regions with high cultural impact, as in the South of Italy. Despite the relevance of these studies, many of them approach the topic instrumentally. Indeed, most of these areas are trying to apply the right cultural strategy to stabilize the local economy. Culture and creativity seems to be powerful criteria for promoting endogenous processes of economic development and urban revitalization. However, they are often instrumental quantitative approaches, as much as best practices and models, unable to understand local dynamics and valorise local cultural and social qualities. The risk is eroding even more local cultural and social capitals, creating artificial areas instead of a stable creative environment. This study would like to introduce a qualitative point of view to the topic. Retracing the path marked by philosophers, economists and sociologists as Putnam, Klamer, Aristotle, Nussbaum, and McCloskey. This thesis tries to make the reader aware of the importance of speaking in terms of qualities and values, instead of instrumental goals. This approach is therefore applied to the stabilization of rural areas, explaining the importance of the cultural, social and civic capital into an urban economy, and so investigating those political and bottom-up processes that contribute to establish a creative environment. The research takes into account the case of Matera, a rural city in southern Italy, which achieved the important European Capital of Culture award.