This paper reports on a research project completed with graduate students of the adult-education programme at the Leuven University in Flanders, Belgium. The research focused on cultural policies and practices in urban contexts that try to facilitate the learning of democratic citizenship in non-formal settings. In the first part we introduce some theoretical notions regarding the relationship between artistic practices in public spaces and pedagogy. The question here is how artistic interventions in urban environments can have an educative effect on people who participate in such experiences. In the second part we interpret some of the changes that take place in the urban context of a provincial city in Flanders and the related cultural policies and practices with the help of the theoretical concepts on public spaces and pedagogy.