Managing Multiple Divergences

The European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 shows all signs of becoming Europe's cultural mega-event of the early 21st century. The highly complex planning process and its implementation by numerous actors stretch over a period of almost 10 years, with most of it carried out by the RUHR.2010 GmbH since early 2007.

A research project by the Department of General Sociology at Dortmund Technical University will look at the mega-event RUHR.2010 as a project whose central idea "Change through culture" calls forth and provokes numerous initiatives, actions and reactions by both individual and organizational agents.

While they appear to align with the mega-event's central idea, the individual agents also pursue their parochial interests, which frequently diverge. The study will imagine how these - ongoing or potential - conflicts of interest can be managed and how compromises can be found to bridge them.

Initial research has shown that this management will mainly have to be undertaken by the RUHR.2010 GmbH whose activities therefore will have to be the focus of the ethnographic research and detailed analysis. Methods used include "over the shoulder" surveys of complex organizational activities and interviews with people involved in and responsible for RUHR.2010.

The project is financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft from July 2009 to June 2011. It will be managed by Prof. Dr. Ronald Hitzler from Dortmund Technical University's Department of General Sociology.

You can find additional information at:
www.hitzler-soziologie.de/Projekte/Kulturhauptstadt