Exhibition at the Case à chocs in Neuchâtel: June 26 – September 10

Cities have always been cosmopolitan. In cities we find people, things, ideas, lifestyles that have come from abroad. In recent years these global relations have expanded and cities have become increasingly cosmopolitan. This is what this exhibit is about: it looks at how cities are growing to be more interconnected and made out of parts of elsewhere.

Cosmopolis takes you to three cities on three continents, Hanoi, Ouagadougou and Palerme. These cities were on the margins of global exchange for part of the 20th century. That situation changed 20 years ago. They all opened up to the outside world. That is why these three cities are interesting ‘laboratories’ to see how cities actually globalise.

Largely globalised and situated in a country which has been prosperous for a long time, Neuchâtel acts as a control city in this exhibition. Its forms of globalisation will be confronted with the ones found in our three urban laboratories.