Aesthetic Energy of the City. Experiencing Urban Art & Space

In this book, metaphorically referring to the concept of energy, we wish to point out that it is possible to talk about aesthetic energy and that this concept is very useful in the discussion on the subject of the city. We ask representatives of various specialisations about the possibility of obtaining and maintaining aesthetic energy, therefore different research perspectives and seemingly distant objects of research – from architecture and urban space through street art and parkour to aesthetic theories – appear in individual chapters. The reflections of authors always revolve around the aesthetic object or the aesthetically experiencing entity. We finish the book with statements made by practitioners – culture organisers from nongovernmental organisations who use art to transfer energy to people and recover aesthetic energy of places. These kind of manifestos also illustrate the circulation of aesthetic energy: private organisations protect public/social values, draw attention to the condition of public places and recover these places for the individual, personal aesthetic experience. We hope that as a result of our own, mutually corresponding, though sometimes polemical positions, we will give birth to work that will be directed towards the aesthetic development of cities and the improvement of the quality of our experience.