Cultural Preservation: How Does Culture Define a City’s Identity and Should We Care?
Setup
Cities’ identities are made and remade over time by their cultures, but is a city’s cultural identity integral to its survival? When infrastructure is crumbling, public education funding has flagged, and the world of art and culture is accessible on any device with an Internet connection, is there still a specific, irreplaceable value inherent in the cultural identity of a metropolis? And even if there is, when the issue becomes one of numbers—and specifically one of money or jobs—how are we to know what kind of attention and support that value deserves with our public and private dollars? Hear points of view from politics, journalism, philanthropy, and the arts.
Explore More
Society

Of course, Black history shouldn’t just be a month-long nod on our yearly calendar — it is inextricable from American history and fundamental to the very soul of our nation an...















Jump in by watching our ten most popular talks of all time. From black holes to jazz and civil rights to psychology hacks, we've collected the talks that remain audience favor...

Politics are a frenzy right now, with bombshell headlines dropping so often that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Even when you can cut through the noise, what you hear is...









From the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion rights to public health's role in addressing gun violence to the devastating human toll of the war in Ukraine, this year's Aspen Id...





The nature of beauty, and whether it’s objective or subjective, is the subject of timeless philosophical debate. Do perceptions of beauty vary culturally and generationally, o...

Psychologist Marisa Franco explains the biggest misconceptions that are hurting our friendships, how relationships shape our personalities and sense of self, and why friendshi...

