THINKING CREATIVELY ABOUT PEOPLE AND PLACE

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THINKING CREATIVELY ABOUT PEOPLE AND PLACE
City of Norwich Partnership Annual Forum 17
January 2008 Lia.ghilardi_at_btinternet.com
Lia Ghilardi Noema Research and Planning
www.noema.org.uk
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Culture-led Regeneration

Bilbao Forever?
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The magic of Barcelona!

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Urban Development
Tendency Package places to appeal to investors
and visitors. Disregard distinctiveness.
Gentrification of city centres. The
result Spatially, socially, economically,
culturally fractured places, deprived
neighbourhoods.
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Thats where we end up!

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Creativity into policy making
The process of building cities today has become
so institutionalized that people seldom have an
outlet to put their intuition to use anymore.
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Planning Culturally

Urbs and Civitas
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Cultural Mapping and Planning
Learning from examples of implementation in North
America and Australia, we apply an approach to
urban sustainability and place shaping
called Strategic Cultural Planning
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Cultural Planning
Cultural Planning as a culturally sensitive
approach to urban development and regeneration.
It takes a holistic view of place making, it
uses local distinctive resources and
interdisciplinary collaboration to knit
experimental projects together. A way of
empowering people to initiate improvements to
their local neighborhoods.
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The Cultural Planning Approach
The cultural planning approach will have at its
core the distinctive cultural resources of a
place feeding into actions in all aspects of
local development
Community Development
Housing
Economic Development
Education and Training
Resources
Physical and Environmental Planning
Tourism and Place Marketing
Health
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A definition of cultural resources
A cultural resource is anything that contributes
to the culture of a particular place or people.
It may be something tangible - a heritage
building, or it may be intangible - a feeling of
place.
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A definition of Cultural Resources
Historical, artistic, archaeological and
anthropological heritage (e.g. folk traditions)
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A definition of Cultural Resources
But also local festivals and rituals, local
dialects the diversity and quality of leisure
cultural, and entertainment facilities the
cultures of youth, ethnic minorities and
communities of interest and the repertoire of
local products and skills in the crafts,
manufacturing and service sectors.
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A definition of Cultural Resources
The local Cultural DNA
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Roots of Cultural Planning
Roots in Patrick Geddes, (Scottish biologist)
Planning has to start with a survey of the
resources of such natural region (whose
ingredients are Folk-Work-Place), and of the
human response to such a natural region (1925)
Jane Jacobs The city is as an ecosystem
composed of physical-economic-ethical processes
interacting with each other in a natural flow
(1965)
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Characteristics
An understanding of local communities different
components and diverse needs. Opportunities for
local people to collaborate and jointly create a
vision of what's best for the community. A
process rather than a product ( atimeless way of
building places and communities)
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Characteristics
A way of empowering people to put creativity at
the centre of the process of place shaping. It
allows professional planners, designers, and
engineers to move beyond the habit of looking at
and shaping cities through the lens of single
goals or professional disciplines. Joined up
thinking at micro- level.
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Cultural Planning - Strategies
Key Ingredients
Cultural mapping - A cultural mapping is an
assessment of the resources of a place. This is
best done by using quantitative and qualitative
methods. Strategy building - This is a holistic,
community-based, process aimed at long term
development.
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More specifically...

• I ask myself
• What is distinctive about this place?
• What are the distinctive resources of this place?
  
• Are there resources we did not know we had?
• How can we maximise such resources?
• What policies, schemes, initiatives are already
  there?
• How can we ensure those initiatives are joined
  and that we avoid duplications? What are the
  obstacles to change?

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Cultural Mapping - How?

• One tool Cultural Mapping Checklist
• Over 150 questions about
• Place (landscape, history, architecture, urban
  fabric, street names)
• People ( memory, social networks, informal
  networks, perceptions of place)
• Economy (traditional skills, contemporary
  creative industries, current dynamics, issues,
  potential, etc.)

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Cultural Mapping - How?
Other tools Create maps and cross reference
them. E.g. Use survey maps, transport maps,
zoning maps, business maps, tourist maps,
historic site maps, cultural maps etc. MENTAL
MAPS are also important Mental maps can be
used to learn how people perceive their
environment. Often neighborhoods become home to
succeeding layers of communities so it is good to
be able to map such cultural layers.
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The Swedish Case

• Cultural Planning in the Södra Smaland region
• January 2005 - Two weeks after Storm Gudrun
• State of Play
• Low awareness of cultures potential (but the
  experience economy important).
• Policy framework for cross-sector work
  relatively underdeveloped.
• Heavy reliance on tourism as an economic
  resource.
• Professionals locked in their disciplines.

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Småland Strategy - The Process
The Image The Romance of nature Autumn in
Småland  "Bold brush strokes depict nature in
warm red and golden-yellow tones. The air is
crisp Life is good here. Let autumn be a time of
enjoyment. Dinner for two at a country house. A
weekend at a spa warms the soul. A round of golf
will do the body good. The footbridge over the
swamp in the nature reserve leads to adventure
with the feeling of autumnal freedom for
ever." Småland - a wonderful place to live!
Yes, but for whom?
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The Process

• The reality
• Forests and lakes, nature and landscape
• A history of entrepreneurship
• A University (now the second largest academic
  institution in Southern Sweden)
• One airport in Växjö
• Lammhult 15,000 square metres of design
  furniture (the Kingdom of Furniture)
• Södra (leading Swedish forest management company
  )
• Heavy Vehicles production cluster
• Glasriket (the Kingdom of Crystal with 11
  glassworks with leading designers)
• Växjö the first city in Sweden to use biomass
  for heating in 1980
• Videum Science Park in Växjö (a ground-breaking
  centre of excellence for IT )
• Växjö region more than 500 IT companies
  (InternetCity)

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The Process
But also... The Home of IKEA!!!
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Mapping
Key guiding principles and outcomes Listen to
people Challenge assumptions Think more
creatively about the areas resources Connect
initiatives Turn weakness into strength (The
Storm Centre) The Storm Centre as a centrepiece
for local regeneration
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The Storm Centre

• A new building situated somewhere outside one of
  Kronoberg towns, with a strong interaction with
  the forest.
• Bold in its architectural features, built by
  using entirely sustainable materials and local
  glass and wood products.
• Aimed at both attracting visitors and educating
  young people (and other users) to weather
  patterns and extremes, but also a place for
  recording personal experiences of the storm.

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The Storm Centre

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Växjö - Resource Mapping

• The Lakes - Why not use them? - Leisure, bars,
  cafés, restaurants
• Better linkages between city centre and lakes?

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Växjö - Resource Mapping

• Green Credentials -
• Use as a brand?
• Attracting specialists?
• Links to the Storm House?

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Växjö - Resource Mapping

• Videum - Science Park - An important resource
• What are the links with the rest of the city?
• Why not an incubator for creative people right in
  the city centre?
• Why not have an University Department in town?

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Växjö - Resource Mapping
Why doesnt Växjö exploit the IKEA brand
more? Design democracy? Apply IKEA model to
liveable city/affordable housing experiments?
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Another example Copenhagen
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Denmark - Copenhagen

• The Metropolzonen Project
• Not just about architecture and not just about
  culture
• But about Copenhagen as a liveable place
• We are proposing
• Slow, step by step, experiments in integrated
  urban living
• Densification of the area (mix of uses,
  functions, work/live)
• Creative/cultural infrastructure better
  integrated into the urban fabric and more focus
  on the contemporary
• Incentives to work and live in the MTPZ
• Culture joined up to local strategic development

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In Italy
Mantua A small town with a heavy heritage
burden Started by thinking about a new tourism
strategy Conducted a cultural mapping Discovered
new resources related to the theme of
books Now a Literature Festival which is the
biggest in Italy Very successful and beginning
to change the image of the city
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Dundee
In Scotland, at city level there is a
potentially interesting example of
implementation. The Dundee Partnership an
umbrella organisation representing all major
stakeholders in the city and co-ordinated by the
City Council credited with delivering, or
enabling the following developments Dundee
Contemporary Arts, Dundee Rep, Sensation, The
Space and now the Cultural Quarter. Good cross
sector work with culture at the centre and a
focus on local needs Started as an economic
development partnership, subsequently subsumed
into the community planning process.
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Cultural Planning in Dundee
The past image of Dundee Poor health Lack of
confidence A depressed city Isolated
culturally, economically and geographically High
dependency Under achievement Apathy High
maintenance (Executive) Dundee?... Where? Ah,
the Dundee cake! A basket case!
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Dundee
2006 The reality after Mapping Key resources
Business Bio-tech start-ups, IT, digital media,
computer games, arts and creative
industries. Culture DCA, the Rep, the Space,
Festivals. Education Two universities and
Dundee College. Regeneration the Waterfront
redevelopment, the cultural quarter, the
expansion of the university.
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Dundee
2006 The reality A city in transition
Ambitious A bit of an upstart mentality
(which is good!) Determined to make the most of
its resources Comfortable with change Internal
networks beginning to work well Presence of
visionary individuals Learning by doing
mentality (not bureaucratic)
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The Process...

• Implement new and creative ways of consulting
• Set up ad hoc partnerships to deliver specific
  action plans
• Start small and grow step by step
• Mix big projects with small scale initiatives
• Monitor and evaluate success
• Disseminate information through the media
• But above all...Think creatively about your
  resources!!