Europe is not elsewhere: The mobilization of an immobile policy in the lobbying by Perm (Russia) for the European Capital of Culture title

Abstract

Alongside the increased mobilization for mega-events, multiple immobilities and partial mobilities can be witnessed. Although the literature on the ‘mobility turn’ and the scholarship on urban policy mobilities both acknowledge the existence and importance of immobilization and immobility, immobility is under researched and relegated to a passive position. (Im)mobility is neither a thing nor a characteristic of things: a country or city are not mobile in themselves but in relation to (im)mobilization processes. By using the case of the lobbying by Perm (Russia) for the European Capital of Culture (a cultural policy and mega-event reserved for European Union member states), this paper focuses on the politics and practices of (im)mobilization and on the membership in awarding institutions as one of the factors which limit the mobilization of mega-events. Based on semi-structured interviews with key actors and archival research examining official policy documents and media accounts, the paper documents the politics, channels and practices of the mobilization of an immobile policy. The mobilization of immobile policies works by trying to overcome the constitution of policies as (im)mobile and the factors which limit mobilization, in this case the identity-building and region-building project of the European Union. The European Capital of Culture is a highly mobile policy within the European Union, which was constructed to produce ‘Europe’ as a political, economic and cultural space. The ‘role of elsewhere’ and of the informational infrastructure (reports, models, experts, consultancies, etc.) which was developed for a smoother circulation inside the geographical scope of the policy, permitted it to travel outside, and enables the creation of new policies and events modelled on an immobile policy.