ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to identify the major political, economic and ideological motives behind assemblage. Besides the actors, assemblage theory encourages us to examine the agency of the actants. The chapter explains how nonhuman 'actants' and imaginaries on creative hubs, in their turn, incubated new social and economic practices. It analyses early modern travel behaviour from a new angle. In the eighteenth century, the lure of Rome, Naples and Venice was slowly but surely fading, while the metropolises and other cities in northwestern Europe gradually gained ground. New travel patterns were not only heading north; they also proved less time consuming, more seasonal and open to a wider cross-section of society. One way to tip the balance is to construct flagship architecture and sensational landmarks or open new museums, thereby enhancing the 'cultural hardware'. The concepts of 'hardware', 'software' and 'orgware' proved especially valuable.
