Cultural policy and urban regeneration in Western European cities: lessons from experience, prospects for the future

Abstract

This paper reviews the uses of cultural policy and planning as tools of urban regeneration in western European cities. Following a brief assessment of the evolution of European cultural policy in recent decades, the paper studies the origins and development of the European City/Capital of Culture programme and explores the experience of cities considered to have succeeded in re-imaging and regenerating themselves through cultural activity and special events. The paper ends with a reflection on the notion of cultural planning and its potential as an integrated alternative to urban cultural policy, and offers recommendations for further development within the UK context.

Keywords:

• cultural policy
• regeneration
• city marketing
• European City/Capital of Europe
• city planning
• urban policy

Notes

 This definition includes arts and media; cultures of youth, ethnic minorities, and others; heritage (including gastronomy, dialects …); local and external perceptions of a place; natural and built environment; diversity and quality of leisure entertainment; repertoire of local products and skills in the crafts … (Bianchini, 1999, p. 41).

 I appreciate the suggestions made by an anonymous reviewer to emphasise this point.

 Strathclyde Regional Council co-funded the 1990 celebrations with a strong social and educational agenda, which resulted in a very extensive community programme spanning Glasgow's outlying estates. However, this programme lacked visibility during the year and, partly due to local government reorganisation in 1996, failed to influence the city's urban cultural policy in the long term.

 Strathclyde Regional Council had been working on a ‘Post 1990 Cultural Policy’ for the region since 1988. This policy document continued to evolve until 1993 and was to be adapted into a cultural policy for the new – restructured – Glasgow after 1996. However, this initiative did not survive local government reorganisation and was officially terminated in 1997.

 The support to music, film and design production has since become a priority within Glasgow regeneration services. Appropriate funding was however not made available until the mid to late 1990s and many of the schemes have suffered from periodical funding cuts.

 I thank Matthew Reason for his advice here.