Re-development, re-generation, re-naissance

Cities, the greatest cultural artefacts of human social organisation, change in time, as the societies that produced them experience different phenomena of economic, social, cultural and political transformation. The current view in the urban literature is that at present, cities, especially in the developed world, are undergoing a dramatic change from what has generally been termed „the industrial, modern city‟

to a post-industrial, post-modern city‟ (Fox-Prezeworski, Goddard and de Jong eds.,1991; Couch, Fraser and Percy eds., 2003; Gordon and Buck, 2005; Sklair, 2008; Doucet, 2010; Zukin, 1995).

This phenomenon was triggered by a decline in the industrial functions of urban centres that previously dominated the world stage on the background of the globalisation of labour and capital, quality-based competition on various levels from individual companies to entire cities and flexibility of production (Gordon and Buck, 2005). Other current global transformations, including the innovations in transport and information technologies, the increase in leisure time, a culture of growing consumerism, neo-liberal politics and deregulation have led to a general shift in the function of cities from centres of production to centres of consumption.

In a climate of heightened urban competition, many cities have pursued strategies to re-brand or re-invent themselves to attract increased flows of capital, labour and tourism. Starting with the famous „I love NY‟ campaign in the 1970s, other cities have pursued similar marketing strategies such as „I amsterdam‟ in the Netherlands, in 2004 (Figure 6.1) or the present Glasgow „Scotland with Style”

brand, discussed in the second part of this chapter.

As pointed out earlier in Chapter 4, many Western cities were faced in the post 1950s years with grave problems such as the poor conditions of the industrial housing estates or the growing demand for transport infrastructure in a climate of rising car use.

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Broadly, „urban regeneration‟ is the umbrella term used to describe the policy response from local authorities to tackle these various urban problems, the UK but also in

In Britain, different related terms have reflected various urban

Reflecting the shifts in planning theories and political regimes, the approach moved from a public sector driven physical strategy based on zoning policies and large-scale developments, in the 1960s and 1970s to more economic focused initiatives in the 1980s, on the background of Thatcherist entrepreneurialism. The market driven approach has slowly changed in the last decade, with the emphasis being placed on partnerships, sustainable goals and community involvement in the current urban renaissance paradigm. This was put forward by the new Labour government that came to power in 1997 in an attempt to revitalise British cities and tackle the negative effects of the property-led urban regeneration practiced in the previous Conservative period (Colomb, 2007). Both the report Towards an Urban Renaissance (Urban Task Force, 1999) and the Urban White Paper that followed

Figure 6.1 The “I amsterdam” campaign of have been good at for centuries and it is (partly) the means by which we are perceived and admired throughout the world.”

From The Making of the City Marketing of Amsterdam, published by the City of Amsterdam in 2004

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it, Our Towns and Cities (DETR, 2000) showed the new government‟s commitment to focus on improving the „liveability‟ of British cities. This was based on principles such as a good quality public realm, sustainable development, co-operation among the different stakeholders involved in urban renewal, social well-being and economic growth (Carmona, 2001; Holden and Iveson, 2003). Carmona (2001), in an effort to unpick the traits of the urban renaissance, describes the concept as being based on three main aspects:

 a change from anti-urban feelings to more positive attitudes towards cities and city living;

 re-investment in urban environments to provide not only economic but also social and environmental infrastructure and

 positive and integrated management and leadership to enable the above.

Opposed to the previous market-led regeneration, based on strengthening local economies and pushing forward any type of economically viable development (Healey, 1992), New Labour‟s urban agenda was hailed as a design-led regeneration (Carmona, 2001; Punter, 2007), focusing on making better places for people and on creating more attractive urban environments:

“In the original Urban Task Force Report, we set out a vision: a vision of well designed, compact and connected cities supporting a diverse range of uses – where people live, work and enjoy leisure time at close quarters – in a sustainable urban environment well integrated with public transport and adaptable to change.” (Urban Task Force, 2005)

Consequently, public space has become a key concern in urban regeneration with a civilised and attractive environment being seen as a way of tackling anti-social behaviour and incivilities (Colomb, 2007). Thatcherism also left a very divided British society and a good quality public realm was seen as a way of bringing people back together in an effort to regenerate communities and reintegrate neighbourhoods:

“A reformed and revitalized public domain is presented as a visible task that New Labour can undertake to sweep away the dark days of Thatcherite individualism.” (Holden and Iveson, 2003; p. 58)

Another reason behind the promotion of public space in the post-industrial cities is related to the fact that regeneration is concerned mostly with deprived and

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dilapidated areas and an attractive public realm is considered able to change the negative image associated with these urban environments and help create a positive image for the entire city (Raco, 2003).

Although projects all over the UK were built reflecting these principles, the success of the British urban renaissance in creating a democratic, inclusive and vibrant public realm has been highly disputed. Holden and Iveson (2003) argue that the new public realm is exclusionary and gentrified and they point out a crucial paradox at the heart of New Labour‟s design-led urban renaissance:

“...a good-quality public realm is seen to be necessary for fostering social cohesion and community, and yet improvements to the prior formation of social cohesion and community, which are found to be wanting in many existing towns and cities.” (Holden and Iveson, 2003; p. 66)

In practice this has led to the ubiquitous question: should public places be built only after a certain community has been established in an area or should public places be built first to help create such a community? Other critics of the urban renaissance suggested that the new developments included an increasingly privatised and controlled public realm, as described in Chapter 3. In this context, the decision was made that the case studies chosen for this research were new public places created as a result of this contested British urban renaissance, in the particular case of Glasgow. Apart from wanting to test the Star Model and measure the publicness of public places, it was also thought useful to find out how public are these new public places created as part of the broader phenomenon of urban regeneration, in the particular case of the UK. As the spectrum of urban renewal is very broad, covering various areas of the city, the research looks at public sites developed in a specific form of regenerated urban landscapes – the former industrial waterfront. The next part will present the key characteristics of this specific type of development.

6.2.2 Waterfronts as key sites for urban regeneration and the creation of new