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Thinking Culturally About Place and People: The Cultural Planning Approach. Lia Ghilardi Kent Cultural Summit III, 19 th April 2010, East Malling Conference Centre. © 2010 noema research and planning ltd. ‘Work of art’.
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Thinking Culturally About Place and People: The Cultural Planning Approach • Lia Ghilardi • Kent Cultural Summit III, 19th April 2010, East Malling Conference Centre © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
‘Work of art’ • “The city in its complete sense, then, is a geographical plexus, an economic organisation, an institutional process, a theatre of social action, and an aesthetic symbol of collective unity.” • Lewis Mumford © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Ecosystems and not machines • Patrick Geddes: “Planning has to start with a survey of the resources of a natural region (whose ingredients are Folk-Work-Place), and of the human response to such a natural region.” • Jane Jacobs: “The city is as an ecosystem composed of physical-economic-ethical processes interacting with each other in a natural flow.” © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Fast forward to the 1980s...1990s... and now • Focus on urban improvements and regeneration as a tool for economic repositioning of localities • Concentration on iconic cultural statements • Convergence between the economic and cultural dimensions © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
generalised anxiety (policy anxiety too) © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
people, place, policy Urbs and Civitas © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Integrated approaches • need for methods and tools capable of linking: • Culture, place and economic development • Cultural resources to quality of life agenda • Local distinctiveness with diversity (the new, and the ‘other’) • Culture and citizenship © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Cultural Planning • Cultural Planning is a culturally sensitive approach to local development • It uses a broad definition of culture: “Culture is what counts as culture for those who participate in it.” Thus it helps us to step out of the confines of the ‘arts agenda’. © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Cultural Planning • Cultural Planning implies an understanding of the local cultural ecology, resources and place DNA • It’s about distinctiveness, managing cultural resources and matching them to local needs © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
“A timeless way of building places and communities” • People-centred - by mapping local communities’ different components and diverse resources • Positive - it focuses on assets rather than deficits • Holistic and cross-boundary (across departments, services, disciplines, professions) • Proactive Local stakeholders collaborate and jointly create a vision of what's best for a locality • A creative process leading to the shared delivery of imaginative solutions © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Tools: Urban and cultural DNA mapping • WORK / FOLK / PLACE • Place (landscape, history, architecture, urban texture, perceptions, etc) and institutions (cultural, educational, health, etc) • People (memory, social networks, informal networks, perceptions of place, affiliations, lifestyles, etc) • Economy (traditional skills, contemporary creative industries, current dynamics, issues, potential, etc) © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Cultural Planning - culture at the centre • Supports, adds value and builds on local cultural ecology • In touch with local needs and aspirations • Local leadership • Joined up approach • Creative process demanding imaginative solutions • Builds communities from the inside out © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
In my experience • I have used Cultural Planning for the following tasks: • Place marketing/branding • Economic strategies (creative industries mapping and support) • Urban renaissance plans (identify the key cultural elements of masterplans) • Community integration strategies (mapping of community organisations’ aspirations, needs, resources) • Cultural plans • Public art projects (place identity analysis) © 2010 noema research and planning ltd
Examples of implementation • EU Capitals of Culture - Glasgow, Liverpool, Lille (scope and mechanisms of delivery) • Elements of Cultural Planning - Norwich, Perth (Perthshire), North Kent, East Kent, Newcastle Gateshead (broader understanding of culture, embedding culture and mechanisms of delivery) • Cultural Plans - Vancouver (creative thinking and building communities from inside out) • Living Places a tool (Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit) © 2010 noema research and planning ltd