OECD Culture and Local Development.pdf - PACA

4. THE CULTURAL FABRIC OF CITIES
Beyond these elements (many of which were discussed in the preceding chapters),
we must note the variety of underlying approaches to implementing these strategies.
While there is an element of culture in most urban renewal strategies, it does not always
play the same role. If we consider monuments on one hand and public art on the other,
the former will be expected to change radically the look and feel of the city, to
residents and outsiders alike, while the latter has more to do with improving day-today
life and communication among the city’s inhabitants. Beyond the specific
contributions of different forms of cultural expression, culture can either give rise to
or support urban renewal strategies.
Culture as an end in itself in urban strategies
The first case can be illustrated by American or English cities that, with their
inheritance of sizable industrial or port facilities, have sought to transform them for cultural
and recreational purposes and use them as spearheads for redevelopment efforts.
Baltimore and Nottingham are prime examples. While the Baltimore case is well known,
and has been taken as a model by several European cities (such as Liverpool and St
Nazaire), Nottingham has not attracted the same attention. The renovation of one of
its southern suburbs, the Lace Market, which was once a centre of the lace industry,
marked the starting point of a thorough urban renewal. In 1989, a public-private
partnership created the Lace Market Development Company and set out to renovate
the district from a cultural and an economic viewpoint. The project involves renovating
heritage (which is why English Heritage was involved in the partnership), reorganising
the lace industry, and introducing daytime and nighttime recreation activities (Crewe
and Beaverstock, 1998). The key to the city’s redevelopment was the revival of the lace
industry, and the new design skills that then spread to other sectors. Today there are
probably more than 15,000 people working in design and related activities.
As this last example shows, it is rare for culture to serve as the sole basis for urban
redevelopment. In the case of Baltimore, recreational development was just as
important as culture in supporting the renewal strategy. In the case of Nottingham,
the modernisation of management methods and the development of lacemaking
skills went hand-in-hand with heritage work, as it did in Calais, where we find exactly
the same experiment. In fact, the only cities where the pure version of this strategy
might be found would be some of the “art cities”, where heritage renovation and related
activities, such as the artistic trades, play the central role.
Moreover, a strategy based almost exclusively on culture is unlikely to be sufficient
for long. In La Rochelle, the development of port facilities and the university campus
broadened the city’s development prospects, which could not rely solely on restoring
its physical heritage. Paradoxically, we may say that a strategy of this type, where culture
plays the central role, will be more feasible for a smaller city, where the tourism
dimension will be seen as its salvation.
134 CULTURE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - ISBN 92-64-00990-6 - © OECD 2005