Beyond Derry or Londonderry: Towards a framework for understanding the emerging spatial contradictions of Derry–Londonderry—UK City of Culture 2013

Abstract

Those tasked with Derry's governance are currently engaged in an attempt at reordering perceptions and understandings of that city as an archetypal contested/divided city. A key strategy employed to this end is the rebranding of the city, which has coalesced around Derry–Londonderry's designation as the inaugural UK City of Culture (2013). This paper explores how rather than assessing this re-imagination through the totalising frameworks of success or failure, the idea of the city as constituted by competing and contradictory narratives proves more useful for accessing some of the nuances, which have characterised the regeneration process.

Key words:

• entrepreneurial governance
• urban branding
• cultural-led regeneration
• post-industrialisation
• post-conflict
• spatial dilemma

Notes

1 According to local legend, it was Niall McCuaghan, General Manager of the City's Playhouse Theatre, who proposed the idea of the city seeking a cultural designation; his initial proposition was an application to compete for the title of European Capital of Culture (ECoC).

2 ‘The World in One City’ was a principal marketing slogan for Liverpool's ECoC year.

3 This bold proclamation has been made by several politicians, including SDLP Mayor Martin Reilly and Sinn Fein DCAL Minister Carál Ní Chuilín and other key actors.

4 Interview broadcast on BBC 2 Clipper Homecoming Festival.

5 This idea is one of the proposed step changes outlined in the Derry–Londonderry UK City of Culture Bid Document.

6 Author's photograph, quotation taken from the Londonderry Port website: http://www.londonderryport.com/marina.htm (accessed 14 November 2013).

7 http://www.cityofculture2013.com/festival-tv/derry-lononderry-voices-bid-video-just-say-yes/ (accessed 27 March 2014).

8 NISRA (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) data suggests that despite a relatively low unemployment rate, almost 40% of Derry's population is economically inactive, leading to the city's more accurate characterisation as plagued by worklessness.

Additional information

Peter Doak is a Doctoral Researcher in the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen's University, Belfast.