What may culture contribute to urban sustainability? Critical reflections on the uses of culture in urban development in Oslo and beyond

Culture and capital play vital roles in urban change. This paper provides a discussion of the relation between culture and capital, followed by a discussion of their relation in the urban context, including an empirical example from Oslo, Norway. Emphasis will be put on the role of culture in the creative city thesis and how culture relates to the concept of urban sustainability. A critique of neoliberal and instrumental uses of culture in the creative city thesis is also undertaken. Policies on culture-led urban regeneration often pay more attention to economic motives than to culture itself. The paper calls for establishing a reflective cultural policy that is not subsumed to economic sustainability, and for the need to escape the anthropological conception of culture as a whole way of life.     

Creative Industries,Inequality and Social Development: Developments,Impacts and Challenges in Cape Town

Creative industries are often regarded as avenues for urban regeneration, economic development and job creation. The growth of creative industries is linked to post-Fordist economic restructuring in cities. As a result, the economic base of cities has moved away from manufacturing to knowledge-intensive and service-based industries. While countries in the Global South generally contribute marginally to the global economy, some countries are seeking to enhance their competitiveness in the global environment and gain from opportunities presented by the creative economy. Policymakers in the Global South have therefore adopted creative industry policies, and often link these to social development outcomes. However, this presents various challenges. The literature indicates that creative industries can exacerbate existing inequalities and marginalise working class residents. Furthermore, the benefits of creative urban renewal do not necessarily reach poor communities. This paper contributes to debates regarding the role of creative industries in the urban economies of cities in the Global South. This reflects on the impacts of creative urban renewal, and the implications for social development and policy. It also considers recent development and challenges around creative industry promotion in Cape Town, with specific reference to the city-fringe neighbourhood of Woodstock.     

Culture counts: An empirical approach to measure the cultural and creative vitality of European cities

How can we measure culture in urban areas? Can empirical metrics on culture function as an urban planning tool for cities' well-being? This paper fits into the research path examining the role of culture as a resource for development, with a specific focus on empirical measurement aspects. A novel dataset (The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor – CCCM) gathering 29 indicators for 168 cities in 30 European countries is presented. The CCCM measures the presence and attractiveness of cultural venues and facilities (Cultural Vibrancy), the capacity of culture to generate jobs and innovation (Creative Economy), and the conditions enabling cultural and creative processes to thrive (Enabling Environment). Results show that cultural and creative assets are diversely distributed across European cities, which offer local authorities the opportunity to design context-specific development strategies. In particular, many medium-sized cities appear to have, on average, more cultural capital assets per inhabitant than larger cities. On the basis of these findings, we draw conclusions on the conceptual and methodological relevance of the CCCM and advance proposals on how to further use the CCCM data to drive culture-led and evidence-based urban policy design.     

Post-socialist context of culture-led urban regeneration – Case study of a street in Novi Sad,Serbia

In West European cities, culture has evolved to become a crucial ingredient of regeneration projects, in which stakeholders' cooperation is of utmost importance and economic and social benefits are often well balanced. In contrast, the majority of second-tier Central and East European cities, primarily non-holders of the European Capital of Culture title, still seem to struggle with clearly defining the relationship between culture and urban regeneration, precisely determining the responsibilities of the key actors and making the distinction between social and economic goals in regeneration projects. In this paper, the authors join the emerging discussion on the post-socialist context of culture-led regeneration through a case study of a street in the old core of Novi Sad, Serbia. In an effort to contribute to understanding various challenges that Serbian cities have been facing since the fall of communism, they seek to identify cultural effects of a very distinctive process of transition. They also investigate the interplay between the citizens' cultural preferences, visions of urbanity, private sector's interests and usage of urban space, and discuss the impacts of spontaneous utilization versus exploitation of space and culture. Furthermore, they analyse the outcomes of culture-led transformation conducted in the absence of cultural strategies and in-depth regeneration policies and marked by the laisser-faire attitude of the local authorities. Having completed the analysis, the authors propose the means for redefining the relationship between culture and regeneration in second-tier Serbian cities, yet also in other CEE cities of similar size, emphasizing the role of culture, responsibilities of the local authorities, significance of bottom-up approaches and relevance of place context.     

Culture and creativity: A case study from the West of Ireland

Taking the dynamics of second tier city of Galway as a case study, this paper sets out to answer two simple and related questions: How important has culture been to the city’s economic and social development, and how integral is culture in maintaining the city’s economic and social sustainability? In order to provide answers, we look at the city’s development in relation to an emerging body of literature concerning creative cities. We focus on production of culture and gauge its assimilation into the economic life of the city by looking at various facets of the city’s economic structure, including the technology sector.The aim of this paper is to look at cultural policy in Ireland under three interrelated domains: Technology; Institutions; and Spatial Culture (encompassing the place of public performance in urban morphology). The case study of a second tier city provides interesting insights for policy and practice as well as cultural/creative activity arising out of place specific circumstances. The paper explores the changing role of culture and concludes by drawing attention to the tensions surrounding the perceptions of ownership of culture and questions to what impact this will have regarding the city’s sustainability into the future.     

文化创意产业与城市品牌营销的研究——以无锡市为例

文化创意产业作为新兴的"朝阳产业",近年来发展极为迅速,也越来越受到世界各国及各地区的高度重视。随着城市化的不断加深和城市竞争的日益激烈,城市品牌营销也受到了国内外各大城市的普遍关注。而文化创意作为城市品牌营销的核心要素和原创力时代的核心竞争力,在城市品牌营销中起着不可小觑的重要作用。无锡市具有"中国品牌经济城市"之称,近几年在经济转型的背景下对文化创意产业的发展非常重视,以此来增强城市品牌的竞争力。文章就无锡市如何通过文化创意产业的发展成功营销城市品牌提出了一些独到的见解。     

Sustainability issues in the industrial heritage adaptive reuse: rethinking culture-led urban regeneration through Chinese case studies

Targeted at the fragility of culture-led regeneration as a result of market frustrations and policy instability, the paper proposes a sustainable perspective to re-examine the prospects of culture-led urban regeneration projects at the local level through the taxonomy of three signatures—The Beijing 798 Art Zone, The Shanghai M50 and The Guangzhou Xinyi International Club are chosen as different, yet representative cases of industrial heritage transformed creative clusters. By comparing the development trajectories and statuses of these pioneer culture-led regeneration projects, the paper reveals the mechanism and confirms the model of practice for the reincarnation of industrial heritage by creative clusters in the local context of the cities. Ultimately, the analysis of this model indicates that the reuse of industrial heritage is an effective approach in response to the cultural demands of the post-industrial era; however, it brings forth the inevitable challenges beyond economic dimension, from a sustainability perspective. The analysis further identifies those underlying reasons of unsustainability and provides recommendations in order to explore the full potential of the “cultural value” of urban regeneration.     

迁入者与创意街区的社会建构——基于一种绅士化的视角

面向新经济时代,大城市的经济复兴、都市更新和城市转型表现出与创意产业的紧密关联。创意产业的发展使得城市传统空间被重新利用,形成一种空间转换。在创意街区的社会建构过程中,迁入者引发内城的社会分化与文化重塑,导致文化价值的生产和消费转换创造出新的社会空间意义。城市绅士化使得迁入者通过对内城空间的再发现,一方面提升了传统空间的文化与社会价值,使得空间增值,另一方面更多经济资源的导入,使得市场与商业力量最终驱逐了创意与艺术,导致创意人群的疏离、创意街区的异化和创意城市的发展悖论。     

Sustainable urban qualities in the emerging city of Doha

Various urban qualities are required for sustainable urban development, which is a particular challenge in the case of emerging cities such as Qatar’s capital, Doha. Therefore, this paper seeks to introduce a framework concerning how to investigate urban qualities and their production in space in order to clarify the challenges and limitations of planning for sustainability. The paper is based on analyses and evaluations of GIS data as well as a series of interviews with 10 planning experts at the Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Planning and a series of questionnaires received from 350 inhabitants. After introducing the basic framework as a model, the three dimensions of sustainability – ecological efficiency, economic growth and social equity – are analysed in relation to the urban qualities needed for producing them. In conclusion the general challenges in establishing sustainable urban development mechanisms in Doha are discussed.     

从“浮士德式”到“法尔式”（仿制文化）的出现——中国城市设计面临的挑战

经济的发展和城市化规模的扩大向中国城市设计提出挑战。国家政策及全球资本的诉求驱动中国经济发展,但这种＂浮土德式＂发展缺少真实性且无可持续性,只是一种仿制,直接导致城市设计脱离实际,仅为＂仿制景观＂。这种仿制在西方国家同样存在,甚至新兴经济体国家也有这种倾向。而房地产开发迫于建设的压力,使这种趋势难以逆转。因此通过考量文化的延续性、建筑设计的宜居性和中国城市发展的可持续性,参照其他发展中国家的设计案例,以期为中国城市设计师提出合理的城市设计目标。     

The traditional shopping street in Tokyo as a culturally sustainable and ageing-friendly community

This paper reviews the cultural sustainability discourse and discusses how community culture, community cultural capital and the elderly play a key role in helping communities sustain themselves over time. It argues that the elderly are resources, transmitters and multipliers of culture and a key driver in promoting ‘ageing-friendly’ cities. In particular, it investigates how creative, bottom-up urban design and place-making initiatives by the elderly take shape in diverse urban contexts. It takes two traditional shopping streets (shotengai) in Tokyo as case studies and seeks to clarify in the highly-developed, high-density, high-rise, large-scale urban context, how the two low-rise, small-scale shotengai have been sustainable and thriving over centuries; and how community culture and the elderly have played a role in developing and sustaining them. Through urban historical study, site surveys and street interviews, the paper addresses these enquiries and suggests ways to achieve a more ageing-friendly community in an Asian context aiming towards social and cultural sustainability.     

Accessible and Inclusive Public Space: The Regeneration of Waterfront in Informal Areas

Public open spaces play an important role in achieving equity and inclusion in cities. They are vital elements that shape the urban life and public realm in communities. This paper deals with waterfronts as key spaces in the urban, social, and economic structure of the city, with reference to informal areas where accessibility poses a severe challenge. The paper discusses the interactions between water front uses, potential interventions and the local community’s aspirations, while tackling land properties, and participation issues during the decision-making process for regenerating inclusive public spaces.

Within this context, the authors present, debate, and analyze the case of Al Warrak Cornish project in the Northern Sector of Giza Governorate in Egypt. They discuss three main aspects in water frontage urban development including: water front as an accessible public space, regeneration as a process, and participation as a tool. This is emphasized through the application of an international policy, namely the three – legged approach that was adopted by the ASUD program in UN Habitat since 2013 (Achieving Sustainable Urban Development) including: Design, regulations, and finance to support developing contexts, aiming at regenerating the waterfront urban area, with the presence of informal urbanization, through the methodology of collaborative and participatory planning.

The findings of this research present a methodological decision-making approach for the formalization of the local spatial development framework for waterfronts in informal areas with a focus on the participatory approach. This approach aims at achieving sustainability, and maximizing the economic valorization resulting from the regeneration of informal water frontage areas, balanced with the existing and neighboring community socioeconomic needs. It further highlights the process of reaching common objectives among all stakeholders, especially if they are from different social strata.

The paper concludes that this emblematic project possesses significant implications regarding issues of spatial justice, combining conventional road infrastructure with urban regeneration and community energizing as critical aspects of mediating and articulating success in such contexts.     

The role of the private actor in cultural regeneration: Hybridizing cultural heritage with creativity in the city

Building on the most relevant literature on cultural regeneration and creative cities, this paper provides an integrated framework to investigate the factors exploited by private actors to stimulate the hybridization of urban cultural heritage with creativity and the strategies adopted to engage stakeholders in bottom-up cultural regeneration processes. Two recent Italian cases of cultural regeneration driven by private actors, which exemplify two sharply contrasting urban extremes, have been chosen to validate this integrated theoretical framework of cultural regeneration in the city. Both have been recognized nationally and internationally as examples of best practice: IlCartastorie Museum in Naples and the Farm Cultural Park, Favara. Our results show that private actors mainly draw upon the innovative thinking of the creative class and innovative approaches to stimulate cultural regeneration. The evolutionary processes, and the resulting models of cultural regeneration, are shaped by the visions of these private actors, which are, in turn, influenced by specific urban conditions. In Naples' highly touristic inner city, the managerial innovation of the IlCartastorie Museum is fostered by the Foundation's pro-tourism growth strategy aimed at increasing both social inclusion and the organizational value of the actual museum. In Sicily, Favara's socio-economic marginalization means that its transformation into a creative city has to be supported by a strategy conducive to social inclusion and sustainability, which conjoins the explicit strategy of the private actor with an implicit emerging community strategy. Preliminary managerial recommendations and suggestions for effective private engagement and community involvement in cultural regeneration and creative city building are given.     

论创意阶层与城市发展

当代社会,知识与创意正在替代传统自然资源和有形劳动成为城市经济增长的主要源泉,而创意型人才则自然而然成为城市可持续发展的决定性力量.创意阶层作为工人阶层、服务阶层之外兴起的又一个新的社会阶层,是培育基于学习、革新和时尚生活方式的新城市经济动力.从地理上看,创意阶层具有独特的区位偏好,创意阶层往往集中在那些能够提供宽松的社会氛围和各种就业机会的多样化城市和区域,创意阶层的密集度与地方多样性呈正相关.从城市发展来看,创意阶层的相对密度与地方经济增长呈正相关,一个城市和地区对于移民、艺术家、同性恋、波希米亚风以及社会经济和种族融合的开放程度与其经济质量的高低有着密切的关系,而创意阶层的集中程度与地方创新和高科技产业生长也有一定的相关性,创意阶层集中的城市往往也是创新和高科技产业发达的创意中心.     

国外慢城市生活研究进展及启示

近10年来,国外发达国家在慢餐、慢城、慢活等倡导性运动的基础上演绎出慢城市生活的研究,与低碳城市、人文城市、社会城市等理念一道成为城市研究的新领域。本文回溯了国外慢城市生活研究的缘起、慢城市联盟框架及实质,结合中国城市发展的实际,提出了以慢城市理念为基础的城市生活空间及阶层化生活行为方式的城市研究,目的在于抗衡我国城市化快速发展阶段的城市重经济发展轻社会生活及空间剥夺等生活不公平现象,构建人本、包容的城市生活空间及发展方向。     

Managing change: Seattle’s 21st century urban renaissance

ABSTRACT

Evolution of the urban planning and historic preservation disciplines has resulted in an “uneasy alliance” in practice, one further complicated by the back-to-the-city movement and increased development pressure in older urban neighbourhoods. In Seattle, as in other U.S. cities, the pace, intensity and scale of redevelopment has caused dramatic spatial and social transformations. Although research has shown that older built fabric provides economic and social benefit for cities, neither regulations created by planners for guiding redevelopment nor strategies created by preservationists for retaining urban heritage have been successful in reconciling these different, yet interconnected, sets of values. We engage three Seattle neighbourhood case studies to clarify and evaluate policies, programs and strategies used by planners and preservationists for reimagining neighbourhood transformations. This work suggests a need for more creative, integrative collaboration between the two fields to simultaneously engage – and reconcile – social and economic tensions caused by urban redevelopment.     

The Film Industry and South African Urban Change

Internationally there has been considerable discussion on the role that creative industries play as a strategy by which post-Fordist cities can revive stagnant urban economies. Among those sectors of the economy that form part of the creative industries, the filming sector counts as one. On the whole, these debates have been conducted with reference to the post-industrial cities of the north. Little attention has been placed on the role of the filming sector in the developing south generally, its spatial distribution, and its relationship to other economic and social geographies in those urban places. The paper provides a spatial analysis of the filming industry in urban South Africa and relates it to general economic and social geographies in two South African cities that have identified the filming industry as a key development strategy. In addition, an agenda for future research, in particular pertaining to urban South Africa is outlined. It is concluded that there is a broader urban planning and geography project at hand. Questions need to be asked about how the filming industry interacts with other government programmes and the ongoing transformation of physical and symbolic spaces in urban South Africa.     

Local experiences of urban sustainability: Researching Housing Market Renewal interventions in three English neighbourhoods

Ideas and thinking about sustainability and sustainable development have permeated over the last decades into most disciplines and sectors. The area of urban studies is no exception and has generated an impressive body of literature, which aims to marry ‘sustainability’ and ‘urban development’ by grounding the many interpretations of sustainability in an urban setting. This has taken many forms and inspired a range of initiatives across the world including ‘healthy cities’, ‘urban villages’, ‘millennium communities’ and the ‘mixed communities’ movement. Moreover, urban regeneration has come under considerable scrutiny as one of the core mechanisms for delivering sustainable urban development. At the most basic level, it can be argued that all urban regeneration contributes to a certain extent to sustainable development through the recycling of derelict land and buildings, reducing demand for peripheral development and facilitating the development of more compact cities. Yet, whether urban regeneration bears an effect on urban sustainability is an underresearched area. In addition, little is known about these impacts at local level. This paper aims to extend our understanding in these areas of research. We do so, by taking a closer look at three neighbourhoods in Salford, Newcastle and Merseyside. These neighbourhoods underwent urban regeneration under the Housing Marker Renewal Programme (2003–2011), which aimed to ‘create sustainable urban areas and communities’ in the Midlands and North of England. Approximately 130 residents from the three areas were interviewed and a further 60 regeneration officials and local stakeholders consulted. The paper looks at the impact of urban regeneration on urban sustainability by examining whether interventions under the Housing Market Renewal Programme have helped urban areas and communities to become more sustainable. It also discusses impacts at local level, by probing into some of Housing Market Renewal's grounded ‘sustainability stories’ and looking at how change is perceived by local residents. Furthermore, it re-opens a window into the Housing Market Renewal Programme and documents the three neighbourhoods within the wider context of scale and intervention across the whole programme.     

城市文化与城市精神:规划中的辩证统一

城市文化是城市的气质,是一种具有独特性、空间性和综合性的文化形式;城市精神是城市文化主流意识的凝炼。随着城市社会经济的不断发展和全球化进程的不断深化,城市文化价值日益成为引导城市发展的主动力,具有地方特质、以传统的历史文化为核心的城市文化与城市精神是一个城市发展和参与竞争的关键,在进行城市规划时应首先进行基于城市文化的城市精神概念规划,两者是相互联系的辩证统一体。