Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Milan

Notwithstanding the rise of on-line bookselling, “real” bookshops still are important. Not just because of the actual selling of books, but also in creating concrete spaces where people can go to, wander around, look at the covers and the pages of books, get inspired and curious and stumble onto unexpected finds. They are increasingly also third spaces where people meet, drink coffee or have lunch. Culture is indeed capital – a resource on an individual level as Pierre Bourdieu has observed. It, however, also serves as a marker and a mechanism for inclusion and exclusion thus creating urban spaces where people with more or less shared interests can meet and get together. On a city level, we may see the emergence of a mosaic of such specialised third spaces contributing to the creation and reproduction of (sub)cultures.