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The urbanization process that develops in parallel with the increase in population, get volume in vertical level on the ground today just like the underground expansion of urban spaces in antique ages, in parallel with the intensification of spatial expansion, leading to new problems and research questions in urban spaces. Because the increase in the number of people per square meter as a result of vertical concentration on the ground makes the streets or the land we step on become a more rentable market. While this market has been filled with classical artisan businesses so far, street economy actors serve the population (consumer) where artisans are not sufficient for meeting the demand in highly populated streets. This situation confronted law enforcement and street sellers in cities for decades or may be centuries, and urban peace and harmony often deteriorated. In the integrated urban areas, in addition to a series of urban problems, the registration of the informal economy and the adaptation of the street economy actors to the urban identity and esthetics have become the problems that await priority solutions. Street economy is an aesthetic and ergonomic fact of living cities, in accordance with this microeconomic reality, sustainable legal regulations are essential. Such that, these legal regulations should be established on a solid basis not only in certain countries but also in all countries in the world.

This chapter examines the notion of spatial justice and its applicability in the context of informality. In the first part it examines the concept of informal urbanism in the context of informal settlements and experiences with upgrading programmes. Drawing on critical evaluations of some of the most well-known upgrading programmes, the chapter in the second part then theorises the notion of spatial justice. I argue for a multidimensional, fragmentary, context- and culture-specific concept, which encompasses equity, empowerment and recognition. As an operationalisation of the notion of spatial justice developed in this chapter and a conclusion to it, a framework is proposed to underpin the assessment of spatial justice in public space based upgrading programmes in informal settlements. It contains aspects regarding the quality of the material space, the integrity of its production process, issues of management and regulation as well as the use of space.

The purpose of this chapter is twofold: in the first part, we will provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art urban and visual studies across the domains of visibility, urban aesthetics and the legitimate use of the urban. We will show that what we see is foremost what is accessible and legitimate as a vision, while the urban provides multiple realms of invisibility that are often neglected or rendered invisible. Art, architecture, urbanism and place-making will be used as examples of these dynamics.

In the second part of the chapter, we will present a research study on the decolonial practices of re-signification of colonial urban traces. Despite the dominant representation of Italians as ‘good people’ (a local version of ‘white innocence’), in recent years, Italy has witnessed a new interest stemming from bottom-up local movements dealing with colonial legacy in the urban space. We will show a research example (‘Decolonising the City. Visual Dialogues in Padova’) based on participatory video, arts-based methods and walking methods.

In this paper, we investigate the connection between ethics and aesthetics with a supporting case from the international tourism industry. Researchers in sustainable tourism have ignored, resisted or simply been reluctant to include the aesthetic perspective in the analysis of sustainable development, social responsibility or climate adaptation. The consequence is that we know very little about the ways aesthetic affects ethical considerations among guests and travellers. A more comprehensive reconciliation of the ethical and aesthetic dimensions may lead to the recognition that a stronger emphasis on aesthetics can enhance the guest’s experience of sustainable tourism within a responsible experience economy. We argue that this economy can thrive under sophisticated capitalism.

In contemporary cities, private actors, such as luxury fashion houses, increasingly participate in projects, affirming themselves as relevant players in urban transformation. Based on the case of “SouPra” district (Milan, Italy), this chapter focuses on the effects of the opening of a fashionable artistic venue on the tourism development. It explores the promotional actions implemented by tourism entrepreneurs after the opening of the Prada Foundation. The analysis leads to two main results: actors in tourism exploit the urban brand conveyed by Prada, which becomes an integral part of the city branding. Fashion houses also act as marketing devices, producing new urban narratives that influence both the tourist and the real estate market.

Recent interest in the multimodal accomplishment of organization has focused on the material and symbolic aspects of materiality. We argue that current literature invokes diverse “multimodal imaginaries,” that is, ways of conceiving the relation between the material and the conceptual, and that the different imaginaries support a plurality of perspectives on materiality. Using the empirical case of a large urban renewal project in São Paulo, Brazil, we illustrate three different multimodal imaginaries – the concrete, the semiotic, and the mimetic – and indicate how each imaginary determines the way in which the site in question is discursively constructed. After outlining the different approaches, we discuss their theoretical implications, advantages, and constraints, setting an agenda for future studies of materiality in organizational and institutional contexts.