The paper seeks to inquire into the digital infrastructure of Aarhus 2017 through the concept and slogan of ‘Rethink’. With the use of empirical data from digital sources such as Twitter, Facebook, hyperlinks and Google’s search engine, we show how the concept of ‘Rethink’ is constructed and distributed across the webspace surrounding Aarhus 2017.

Drawing on Actor-Network Theory and the sociology of engagements, we describe the creation of ‘Rethink’ as a process of translation and investment. In order to monitor the impact of ‘Rethink’ we turn to the web in order to track how professionals as well as lay people use the concept on various platforms. This way we can interrogate the scope and depth of the various uses of ‘Rethink’.

Our preliminary conclusion is that the very concept of ‘Rethink’ has already contributed to a revaluing of culture. ‘Rethink’ is performative in opening new ways for social actors to value culture as an instrument of change

On a more general note we propose that digital methods hold fruitful potentials for measuring and approaching the value of European Capitals of Culture (online as well as offline) in ways that differ from usual methods such as surveys, focus groups etc.

 

Daniel Frantzen & Søren Frandsen are both master students at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. Their research interests lie in the merits of digital methods for exploring emergent urban phenomena.