VIRTUAL Lisbon Livable Cities

Abstract

The cultural identity of a city is defined through layers of interactions, representations and practices, inscribed in the spaces and interstices between its architectural structures. Intangible cultural heritage highlights everyday practices associated with and defining a particular place; a measure of its livability. Far from being intangible, such cultural practices are lived in and through human interaction; tangible since they emerge from materiality, presence and sensory experience, where the urban space itself is a sensorium. This paper focuses on food and culinary traditions associated with particular urban spaces and recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. It considers the ways in which these practices define the city as a site of livability and embody its cultures and communities. Culinary practices are also narratives about cultural identities, with migrant or mobile food signifying both an `old’ and `new’ home. As key components of the nostalgia of `belonging’ are taste and smell, activities such as food festivals, markets and the culture of street food serve to embody a sense of place and (re)create the experience of the whole (David Sutton, Remembrance of Repasts). Drawing on cultural geography, cultural studies and architectural theory, the paper will explore selected culinary practices and visual representations of `food’ as an indicator of the livable city: the Fiesta of the Patios in Cordoba; breakfast culture in Malaysia, and hawker culture in Singapore.