Abstract

The article underlines the importance and role that craftsmanship can have within the projects and processes of those cities that decide to activate medium and long-term urban transformations through the lever of culture, arts and creativity. The theme is treated, in particular, through the analysis of the main activities and programs of the fourteen Italian cities that are part of the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities and which focus on seven creative clusters, including art & craftwork. This is followed by a reading of the project bid books relating to the finalist cities for the Italian competition for the title of European Capital of Culture 2019, then assigned to Matera, with the aim of tracing those initiatives capable of enhancing craftsmanship, not only artistic, and its contribution to the city’s challenges outlined by the project. The analysis reveals how UNESCO creative cities and cities involved in Capitals of Culture projects focus on people and distinctive skills, including artisanal and entrepreneurial skills, which become the main cultural and creative infrastructures of the city. Another significant aspect concerns the consideration of culture and creativity in terms of active resources, a considerable part of a broader urban ecosystem where places, people, practices, stories, traditions, innovations and symbolic value are intertwined. Craftsmanship, therefore, can fully be considered a significant strategic element of the city’s cultural and creative endowment. It is able to contribute to enabling the positive engines of change and relaunch, to virtuously modify the destiny of the city and build a prospective and fertile vision for the future. Keywords: Culture, City, Craftsmanship, Urban Transformation, Creative City.