Paper short abstract:

Focus of this research is the way urban and regional policy makers in Siberian cities conceptualize cultural development in relation to the role technological systems should play in these strategies (formalized in current days official strategic documents of Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Tyumen regions).

Paper long abstract:

Focus of this research is the way urban and regional policy makers in Siberian cities conceptualize cultural development in relation to the role technological systems should play in these strategies (formalized in current days official strategic documents of Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Tyumen regions). Our starting point is macro-level application of SCOT approach to discourses of policy-makers applied in agenda setting and resource allocation for urban cultural development. Through what concepts and arguments strategic meaning of modern technology is legitimized in field of city culture? How technological "hardware" of the city is understood and used for "downloading" cultural "software"? We analyze value statements ("quality of life", "traditional values", "cultural rights and participation" etc.) and discourses (culture, economy and creative industries, postindustrial society, sociology of creative class etc.) used to legitimize the role technology should play in urban cultural development. One critical idea we discuss is misconception of city culture as an artistic field (cultural "software") disconnected from the complexity of city as technological system (is transportation and mobility out of cultural production?). And if we switch from naïve SCOT perspective to ANT, would it help to re-conceptualize urban cultural development? We discuss contribution of STS perspectives to urban cultural policy making.