European perspectives:
what is the role of
cultural planning strategies
in enhancing local quality of life?
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
The components of ‘quality of life’
The limits of many existing quality of life studies
The remote origins of cultural planning
In ancient Greece, Rome and the Italian
Renaissance
The revolutionary contribution of
Patrick Geddes: botanist, sociologist, biologist, planner
1)planning is not a physical science but a human
science: Folk, Work and Place;
2)survey before plan;
3)the importance of ‘civic renewal’
The emergence of the modern concept
and practice of cultural planning in the US
In the 1970s and 1980s
Wolf von Eckhardt’s formulation
Robert McNulty and Parthers for Livable Places
The work of the Comedia group in the UK
since the late 1980s:
cultural industries strategies
the rediscovery of the night-time economy
the creative city debate
the intercultural city
the work of Lia Ghilardi and Noema
other applications of cultural planning to
urban lighting and city marketing
the first Masters courses in cultural planning
Australian experiences:
the work of Colin Mercer
the Integrated Local Area Plans (ILAPs)
The adoption of cultural planning approaches in
other parts of the world
Some criticisms of cultural planning:
often cultural plans are reduced to arts plans
and creative city strategies to creative industries strategies
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Some interpretations of cultural planning
‘Cultural planning’ as thinking culturally (and artistically) about public policy: a
culturally sensitive approach to urban and regional planning and to
environmental, social and economic policy-making
‘Cultural planning’ as ‘the strategic and integral planning and use of cultural
resources for urban and community development’ (Colin Mercer)
‘Cultural planning’ as ‘cultural plumbing’
Cultural planning and the development of citizenship
‘Cultural planning’ or ‘planning culturally’?
‘Cultural planning’ or ‘culture-based local development’?
Artist-led cultural planning
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Artists and cultural planning
Konst and konstig
Artists are generalists (and that’s a good thing)
John Latham and the APG
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Learning from the processes of cultural production,
which tend to be:
holistic, interdisciplinary, lateral:
importance of collaborative working
e.g. cittadellarte, Biella, Italy
(www.cittadellarte.it)
PROJECT (an initiative by the Arts Council, CABE and
Arts & Business in the UK; www.publicartonline.org.uk)
Comedia (www.comedia.org.uk)
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Cittadellarte and its offices:
Education
Ecology
Economy
Work
Politics
Spirituality
Communication
Architecture
Food
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Collaborative projects in urban lighting:
Luci d’artista, Turin
Lyon
Valon Voimat (Forces of Light) festival, Helsinki
Light Night, Leeds
See Zenobia Razis Reflections on Urban Lighting
Comedia, 2002
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Learning from the processes of cultural production,
which tend to be:
innovation-oriented, experimental, not narrowly
instrumental:
need to open up policy systems to young talent, and to set up pilot
projects and R&D budgets
need to reassess ideas of ‘success’ and ‘failure’
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Learning from the processes of cultural production,
which tend to be:
critical, questioning, challenging:
welcoming conflicts and contradictions as a creative resource e.g. ‘Cities on the Edge’ project, Liverpool European Capital of
Culture 2008
Projects on the Third Reich legacy, Linz European Capital of
Culture 2009
Museo della mafia ‘Leonardo Sciascia’, Salemi, Sicily
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
cultured, and critically aware of history, local
distinctiveness and of traditions of creativity and
cultural expression:
*documenting local distinctiveness (also through
cultural cartography)
*creating a local ‘image bank’
* drawing inspiration from local traditions of creativity
and innovation
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
A ‘cultural planning’ approach to
place marketing
Chris Murray Making Sense of Place
(Comedia, 2001)
Revealing and discovering, not designing and
selling, place identities
Going beyond product marketing
Celebrating complexity and layering
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Some data from Murray’s research
Local people - friendly 163
Local people - other references 15
Local culture - diversity 157
Local culture - homogeneity 495
The present 223
The past/heritage 1,134
Uniqueness (non-specific) 218
Uniqueness (specific) 61
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Some of Murray’s suggestions
Integration
Participate to innovate
Reconnect place marketing to place development
Retrain the professionals
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Inspiring initiatives in European cities
Artist-led lighting strategies (Turin, Essen)
Festivals as catalysts (Mantua, Modena, Rennes)
Contemporary architecture and public art in historic environments
(Graz, Nimes, Munster)
Innovative transport systems (Perugia, Grenoble)
Linking art and new technology (Karlsruhe)
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Inspiring initiatives in European cities
Artist-led lighting strategies (Turin, Essen)
Festivals as catalysts (Mantua, Modena, Rennes)
Contemporary architecture and public art in historic environments
(Graz, Nimes, Munster)
Innovative transport systems (Perugia, Grenoble)
Linking art and new technology (Karlsruhe)
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Inspiring initiatives in European cities
Artist-led lighting strategies (Turin, Essen)
Festivals as catalysts (Mantua, Modena, Rennes)
Contemporary architecture and public art in historic environments
(Graz, Nimes, Munster)
Innovative transport systems (Perugia, Grenoble)
Linking art and new technology (Karlsruhe)
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Cultural planning in rural areas:
Greg Baeker and the ‘creative rural economy’ idea,
Canada
the work of Littoral Arts Trust and of the Rural Cultural
Forum in the UK
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Differences between ‘cultural planning’ and
‘cultural policy’:
the two approaches are complementary
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Researching and mobilising local cultural resources
A definition of local cultural resources:
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Arts and media activities and institutions
Sports and recreation
The tangible and intangible heritage
The local ‘image bank’
Places for sociability
Intellectual and scientific milieux and institutions
Creative inputs into local crafts, manufacturing and
services activities
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Researching and mobilising local cultural resources
A definition of the urban ‘image bank’:
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Media coverage
Stereotypes, jokes and ‘conventional wisdom’
Cultural representations of a city
Myths and legends
Tourist guidebooks
City marketing and tourism promotion literature
Views of residents, city users and outsiders
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Understanding urban mindscapes and imaginaries
One gestalt of the urban imaginary?
Klaus Siebenhaar’s marketing strategy for Berlin
The politics of symbolic contestation
The production of official urban mindscapes
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
The importance of mapping
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entrepreneurial opportunities & desires, not just needs
obstacles & constraints, not just opportunities
gatekeepers, gateways, networks & collaborations
local talent & creative & innovative milieux
the uses of time
different moral, aesthetic,philosophical, organizational and
policy concepts and styles
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The importance of making innovative links between different
types of cultural resources
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The value of ‘hidden’ assets: the Budrio ocarina septet and
festival
Some issues in urban cultural strategies and local quality of life
today
An uneasy coexistence of urban cultural policy rationales from
different historical periods
1)
2)
3)
4)
the intrinsic and civilising value of
access to culture (1940s-1950s)
the transformative potential of ‘cultural democracy’ and active
participation (1970s)
culture as a tool for economic development and place
marketing (1980s-1990s)
cultural actions to change the behaviours of individuals and
communities (1990s): examples from Colombia
The standardisation and corporatisation of city centres
The ‘anywhere’ shopping mall
Urban sprawl
The dull new public realm of ‘anywhere’ out-of-town
shopping centres
Urban sprawl and leisure activities
Citadels of entertainment, from film to fitness
(Marc Augé, Non-Places)
CHANGE
Urban cultural strategies and the economic crisis
The ‘triple’ (credit, energy and climate) crunch
(New Economics Foundation)
A new focus on production and skills?
Creative cities for the world (Charles Landry):
beyond destructive forms of urban competitiveness
New priorities:
reducing the negative impacts of unemployment
finding new uses for redundant buildings
fostering a climate of resilience, exploration and
innovation
The need for alliances between cultural planning and the
environmentalist movements?
Urban cultural strategies and the economic crisis
Decline of community facilities
Impact of reductions in availability of benefits
Less money for culture-led regeneration projects
Lower priority to artistic and creative practices
in schools
Lower cost of premises for cultural activities
More opportunities for experimental artistic interventions
Less bureaucracy and red tape
Possible new funding partnerships
New ‘sub-cultural’ and internet-based
forms of participation
Growing cultural hybridity
New types of cultural institutions, beyond divides
between culture and commerce, production and display
Urban cultural strategies and social inclusion
The problems generated by focusing funding on consumption
activities, flagship buildings and city centres
Multiple deprivation in many inner urban and peripheral areas
Social exclusion: the importance of access policies, ‘soft boundaries’
and public space networks
Community artists: from revolutionaries to trainers?
Social and cultural inclusion strategies for economic development
Urban cultural strategies and social inclusion
The danger of reverting to culture for the few
Strategies for community engagement
‘New commissioning’
Participatory budgeting
Invitation policies
Social interaction, not community cohesion
Importance of the ‘porosity’ and permeability
of cultural institutions
The multi-ethnic and multicultural city
National approaches to managing
ethnic diversity are being
questioned
Corporate multiculturalism (UK,
Netherlands)
The search for alternative concepts e.g. integration and community
cohesion
The multi-ethnic and multicultural city
National approaches to managing
ethnic diversity are being
questioned
Civic cultural integration (France)
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
The debate around the concept of
‘interculturalism’ and its applications
Definitions
Cultivating ‘cultural literacy’:
creating new local glossaries
Holistic cultural/social/health centres:
the Peepul Centre, Leicester
European initiatives: the EU’s Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008)
and the Council of Europe’s
Intercultural Cities research project
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
The Intercultural City, by Phil Wood and Charles
Landry, London, Earthscan, 2008
The fragility of intercultural projects in the
recession
The rise of anti-immigration parties and movements:
Marine Le Pen, Wilders, Lega Nord, Jobbik
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Some issues raised by the project:
Creating an Intercultural Civic Identity and Culture
Creating intercultural architecture and urban design
Reshaping collective memory to include “the other”
Shaping collective self-image through intercultural public
art strategies
Transforming mentalities through public awareness and
education initiatives
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Some issues raised by the project:
Counteracting Ethnic Segregation in Urban Space
and Public Life
The strategic siting of cultural infrastructure:
examples from England, Austria and Portugal
Countering ethnic stigmatisation through place marketing:
Hyson Green, Nottingham
From multicultural to intercultural festivals: examples from
Rotterdam, Edinburgh and Berlin
Diversifying the airwaves
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Can the crisis be an opportunity for innovation?
The continuing problem of the relatively low political
status of culture
The limitations of evidence-based advocacy
The need for political mobilisation
Culture as a ‘soft option’ for public expenditure cuts
Towards new forms of elected urban cultural
leadership and strategic partnerships in which the cultural sector plays a key role (e.g.
Culture Montreal)?
Towards new European NGOs to campaign for investment
in urban culture?
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Can implementation problems be overcome?
Training needs
Institutional arrangements for effective partnerships
Emerging professional specializations:
the ‘cultural cartographer’
the intercultural mediator
the ‘culture and social policy’ specialist
the creative enterprises support specialist
the ‘culture and place marketing’ specialist
the ‘culture and property development’ specialist
the cultural planner
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Can implementation problems be overcome?
Training needs
Institutional arrangements for effective partnerships
The need for international cultural strategies
The fragility of existing cultural planning experiments:
1)conceptual confusion
2)competition for resources
3)cultural mapping is difficult to use well, for public policy,
cultural programming and business development
Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres
Problems with NOT doing cultural planning:
containers without contents
unsustainable flagship projects
Professor Franco Bianchini
School of Cultural Studies and Humanities
Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology
Leeds Metropolitan University
E-mail f.bianchini@leedsmet.ac.uk
or Bianchin@aol.com