How is Europe’s public space changing? Researchers examine the growing influenceof the far right

How and why is the radical right gaining influence in public spaces and shaping political decision-making across Europe? This is one of the central questions of the international R²CULT project. Since June this year, the University of Ostrava (UO) has joined the initiative alongside the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research and the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography. Researchers will compare developments in six European cities that have held the title of European Capital of Culture while also facing significant economic or social challenges. The selected locations include Chemnitz in Germany, Trenčín in Slovakia, and Veszprém in Hungary.

Previous studies have primarily examined the impact of the radical right on issues such as migration, foreign policy, and European integration. The R²CULT team argues, however, that similar shifts are taking place within European countries themselves and increasingly affect areas that may not appear politically contentious at first sight, including culture, urban development, and regional policy.

“We will examine how far-right political positions are reflected in the design and delivery of cultural projects, which strategies these parties employ to build support at the local level, and how closely their objectives correspond with the views of local residents and civic initiatives. Our analyses will concentrate on cities located in so-called neglected regions. The results may help improve our understanding of the constraints and opportunities associated with implementing cultural policies in the Moravian-Silesian Region,” said Ondřej Slach, principal investigator at the UO and Scientific Director of the Social Lab within REFRESH.

The project, Mainstreaming the Radical Right at the Urban Scale: An Investigation of the Discourses and Policies in the European Capitals of Culture (R²CULT), will continue until April 2029. Funding is provided by the Czech Science Foundation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).