Renew Who? Benefits and Beneficiaries of Renew Newcastle

Abstract

Critical urban literature has for over a decade raised concerns about the fixation with the use of ‘culture’ and ‘creativity’ to catalyse urban renewal. The concerns range from discomfort with the boosterist hype of such strategies, to questions regarding their impact on cultural producers and outcomes for wider communities. This article reports on a case study of the Renew Newcastle arts-led urban regeneration programme, a temporary use and creative activation initiative which is being rapidly replicated throughout Australian cities despite limited evaluation of its activities. The research questions the achievability and sustained compatibility of the programme's objectives for local physical and social activation, economic development, and support of the arts and creativity. A mixed-methods approach is used to explore social and economic change in Newcastle since Renew began, and the perceived role of the programme within this. The research finds that Renew is making variable contributions to its objectives which are to some extent incongruent. The findings contribute to the growing literature on arts-led regeneration that shows that many contemporary theorisations of the process are overly celebratory.

近十年来，关于城市研究的重要文献一直对以“文化”和“创新”的概念推进旧城改造的固定模式存有疑虑。有人对这种策略的夸大宣传感到不安，也有人质疑这类策略对文化生产者以及更大范围人群的影响。本文介绍一项艺术引导的旧城改造项目，翻新纽卡索。这个临时但富于创造性的思路尽管没有经过充分评估，却很快在澳大利亚城市中风靡一时。这一项目的目标是在物理上和社会上激活城市、推动经济发展、支持艺术和创新。但本文对这些目标的可行性和持续兼容性提出了质疑。我们用混合方法考察纽卡索自改造项目开始以来的社会和经济变化，以及人们对项目在其中所扮演的角色的感知。研究发现改造项目对多少有些矛盾的各种目标做出大小不一的贡献，再度说明当代对于类似项目的理论化多有溢美之嫌。

Keywords::

• Urban renewal
• Newcastle
• creative spaces
• activation
• gentrification