Today, we learned all about innovation and culture. We started the day with a lecture by Exequiel Banga, who spoke about his company, Codika Solutions, and innovation with an emphasis in healthcare. Afterwards, we toured the notoriously colorful neighborhood of La Boca, with its iconic rainbow metal and wood buildings and numerous depictions of the tango that was born there.
Exequiel said something that really stuck with me today during his lecture. When discussing innovation methodology, he noted that no matter what innovation one implements, it will always be replaced by newer technology in the future, however far away that may be. Culture is no exception to this rule of innovation, especially in a world where globalization alters, and eventually replaces, the traditions of societies. However, La Boca is an example of an attempt at preserving the original culture.
With globalization often comes gentrification. As new products and services come to an area, the rich get richer and spend their money ‘revitalizing’ poorer neighborhoods. While this may add economic value to an area, it pushes out many of the original residents who cannot afford the new changes, and in turn, it pushes out the dominant culture of the area with the influx of money. So, as beneficial as innovation and globalization are to progress and increasing quality of life globally, it comes at a high risk to culture. Is quality of life really increased if one’s culture is pushed to the margins in the process?
La Boca has been very successful at maintaining their culture, as they are a notorious cultural hotspot. However, this comes at the price of their economic situation. La Boca is seen as one of the poorest areas in the province, and this may be because they haven’t succumbed to the tide of globalization and benefitted financially from changing their identity. La Boca draws in a lot of tourism, but it isn’t as globalized as a city like Buenos Aires, and their economic situations are much different for it. It’s important for the original culture to be maintained and celebrated in a community, but at what cost? To me, it seems that globalization and cultural identity typically have an inverse relationship and it is hard to have more of one without giving up some of the other. But, I don’t think this needs to be the case.
La Boca doesn’t need to give up their culture in order to pursue innovation in the face of globalization. Exequiel said today that there must be a social change, where a community is willing to accept a new way of doing things, in order for innovation to take hold. Since La Boca is so rooted in its culture, this social change will not involve eliminating their colorful, spirited culture. Rather, any innovation that is to occur in the area should be altered so it can fit within the dominant culture to allow the community to prosper.