Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Genoa, this paper explores how, in the face of high unemployment rates, creative members of the middle class contribute to urban revitalization through forms of symbolic labor that foster consumption not just in but also and most importantly of the city.

Paper long abstract:

Consistent with dynamics unfolding in many of Europe's postindustrial cities, since the late 1980s Genoa has undergone a revitalization process meant to transform it into a city of culture. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted since 2002, this paper explores how, against the backdrop of consistently high unemployment rates, creative members of Genoa's middle class have contributed to urban revitalization processes through the production of symbolic goods and cultural services that foster consumption not just in, but also and most importantly of, the city. Through an analysis of the professional trajectories and the experiences of the festival organizers, artisans, and walking tour guides who contribute to transforming Genoa into a city of culture, I argue for an approach to middle-class urbanity that goes beyond the traditional focus on this class' propensity for docile consumption to explore its agentive participation in the process of worlding a city through immaterial labor practices.