The meaning of culture in a globalised world

1. The meaning of culture in a globalised world

2. The phase of ‘globalisation’ now coming to an end has • been a process of: • economic restructuring (growth of construction, retail, • finance, tourism, commercial sport, the creative industries) • intensification of flows (of capital, media messages, people) • standardisation • erosion of local distinctiveness • growing popularity of standardised metropolitan models • (also for small and medium-sized cities)

3. Some processes of urban change, and their implications for European cities

4. The standardisation of city centres: towards ‘anywhereville’? The ‘anywhere’ shopping mall

5. Related concepts: cloned towns Starbucksification malling the geography of blandness the throwaway, disposable city From Charles Landry The Art of City Making

6. Urban sprawl The rhetoric of environmental sustainability, the tyranny of car dependency and the ‘obese city’

7. The rise of out of town ‘citadels of entertainment’ Non-places or places for social interaction? New cultural programming strategies and partnerships

8. The rise of out of town ‘citadels of entertainment’ The sad centrality of car parks in ‘shedland’

9. Possible responses: The Cittaslow movement The ‘Keep Louisville Weird’ campaign The UK’s localism and ‘Big Society’ agendas Tax relief for independent shops Urbanism plans to protect distinctiveness

10. Other processes of change Less leisure time for people in work: the problem of work-life balance The fast city and the values of slowness (see www.slowmovement.com)

11. Information overload and its consequences New roles for public libraries?

12. ‘Night-time economies’: the dream of a convivial café culture, and the reality of the ‘alcoholic agora’ (and its costs) Conflicts between revellers and residents in city centres

13. Some issues in urban cultural strategies today • An uneasy coexistence of policy rationales from different historical periods • the intrinsic and civilising value of • access to culture (1940s-1950s) • 2) the transformative potential of ‘cultural democracy’ and active participation (1970s) • 3) culture as a tool for economic development and place marketing (1980s-1990s) • 4) cultural actions to change the behaviours of individuals and communities (1990s)

14. Some issues in urban cultural policy today ‘Newism’ and the neglect of the (tangible and intangible) heritage, and the rhetoric of historical continuity

15. Some issues in urban cultural policy today: the rhetoric of high quality architecture, and the reality of blandness “I have learnt from my mistakes, and I can now repeat them almost exactly” (Peter Cook)

16. CHANGE

17. Urban cultural policies in the context of the economic downturn 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

18. Urban cultural policies in the context of the economic downturn 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 An ideological attack on culture?

19. Lower cost of premises for cultural activities More opportunities for experimental artistic interventions Less bureaucracy and red tape: a more positive attitude to risk? 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

20. Silo Mentality

21. Urban cultural policies and social inclusion The problems generated by focusing funding on consumption activities, flagship buildings and city centres Multiple deprivation in many other inner urban and peripheral areas Social exclusion: the importance of access policies, ‘soft boundaries’ and public space networks

22. Urban cultural policies and social inclusion Strategies for community engagement ‘New commissioning’ Participatory budgeting Invitation policies Importance of the ‘porosity’ and permeability of cultural institutions

24. The growth of immigration and multi-ethnicity National approaches to managing ethnic diversity are being questioned Corporate multiculturalism (UK, Netherlands) The search for alternative concepts - e.g. integration and community cohesion

25. The growth of immigration and multi-ethnicity National approaches to managing ethnic diversity are being questioned Civic cultural integration (France)

26. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres The debate around the concept of ‘interculturalism’ and its applications Definitions What makes a city intercultural? The value of conflict Does immigration make towns and cities more standardised or more distinctive? Cultivating ‘cultural literacy’: creating new local glossaries

27. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres The debate around the concept of ‘interculturalism’ and its applications The temptation of ‘theming’ ethnic quarters Exploring shared histories and heritage 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 (www.coe.int/interculturalcities)

28. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Comedia’s international action research project “The Intercultural City: Making the Most of Diversity” The Intercultural City, by Phil Wood and Charles Landry, London, Earthscan, 2008

29. 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, urban design and public art Reshaping collective memory to include “the other” Transforming mentalities through public awareness and education initiatives: initiatives in Berlin, Rotterdam and Tuscany

31. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Some issues raised by the Intercultural City 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 , Berlin and Manchester Diversifying the airwaves

32. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Urban ‘cultural planning’ as a possible response to aspects of the present crisis The work of Partners for Livable Places (US), Colin Mercer (Australia), Comedia (UK) ‘Cultural planning’ as ‘thinking culturally (and artistically) about public policy’ or as ‘the strategic and integral planning and use of cultural resources for urban and community development’ (Colin Mercer)

33. 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)

34. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Cittadellarte and its offices: Education Ecology Economy Work Politics Spirituality Communication Architecture Food

35. 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

37. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres

38. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Towards collaborative approaches to place marketing Chris Murray Making Sense of Place (2001) Revealing and discovering, not designing and selling, place identities Going beyond product marketing Celebrating complexity and layering

39. 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

40. 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’

41. 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 Proposal for Mafia Museum, Salemi, Sicily

42. 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

43. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Inspiring initiatives in small and medium-sized European cities Festivals as catalysts (Mantua, Modena, Rennes) Contemporary architecture and public art in historic environments (Graz, Nimes, Munster) Making historic layers more legible (Burgos) Innovative transport systems (Perugia, Grenoble) Linking art and new technology (Karlsruhe)

44. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Cultural policy issues in small and medium-sized European cities (based on the work of Bas van Heur) Small cities as ‘less than’ big cities: a self defeating narrative Creativity as “the search for innovative moments in existing local economies” Greater focus on quality of life, the natural environment and older people Is social conservatism necessarily the other side of the coin of social cohesion? The importance of urban alliances and networks (cittaslow, HERO, Alpine Space, Eco Kommun

45. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres Differences between ‘cultural planning’ and ‘cultural policy’: the two approaches are complementary

46. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres The strategic main lines of a local cultural policy Cultural policy proper (sectoral policies on arts, museums, libraries, media, other aspects of the cultural industries) Cultural planning approaches to: youth policy place marketing and tourism promotion physical planning local economic development The relationship between sectoral/vertical and Integrated/ horizontal functions

47. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres • Researching and mobilising local cultural resources • A definition of local cultural resources: • 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

48. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres • Researching and mobilising local cultural resources • A definition of the urban ‘image bank’: • 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

49. 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

50. Rethinking Policy & Planning approaches to creative spaces in urban & rural centres • The importance of mapping • 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 • The importance of making innovative links between different types of cultural resources