CULTURAL PLANNING ISBN 87-7830-106-8 Center for Urbanism
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CULTURAL PLANNING ISBN 87-7830-106-8 Center for Urbanism The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture CULTURAL PLANNING Center for Urbanism The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture 1 Cultural Planning Report from Conference at Center for Urbanism, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture April 2004 Edited by: Cover photos by: Katrine Østergaard Paul Collard: Co-editors: Angel of the North Bo Grönlund The Biscuit Factory Gustavo Ribeiro Jens Kvorning: Graphic design: Bilbao Katrine Østergaard Rotterdam Dublin Printed by: Ruhr Jespersen Offset Published by: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages School of Architecture for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publica- September 2005 tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permis- ISBN 87-7830-106-8 sion of the publisher. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4-5 Foreword by Jens Kvorning 7-10 The Cultural Turn in Contemporary Urban Planning by Martin Zerlang 13-24 Cultural Planning in Post-Industrial Societies by Franco Bianchini 27-39 Cultural Planning in Newcastle-Gateshead by Paul Collard 41-50 Culture City / Cultural Planning by Trevor Davies 53-60 Urban Restructuring and Cultural Planning by Jens Kvorning 63-74 Panel Discussion 76-79 About the Authors 3 Foreword by Jens Kvorning The Centre for Urbanism focuses on forms of planning and cultural events? If this is what the concept cultural planning is planning strategies which under processes of globalization about, then it is relegated to a peripheral – if not uninteresting and de-industrialization promote relevant urban transformation – position in relation to the planning strategies which can pro- processes. From that perspective, cultural planning emerges as mote positive interventions in the network city. an area of particular interest. In England, cultural planning has gained a particular meaning Cities and culture have always been connected. In the last and has been associated with a practice which is by and large twenty years, in the light of globalization and the network so- about a frontal attack on the planning approach initiated by the ciety, a lot has been said about culturally based development Thatcher Government in the beginning of the 1980s. A number strategies and culturally based planning, and there is a rich of traditional planning tools were removed and cities were left body of literature which discusses that phenomenon both on a with reduced means to control local development. Cultural plan- theoretical level and in connection with planning practice. ning emerged as a form of resistance to this situation – or to put it in a less dramatic way, as the result of a search for pos- But to link culture and planning directly and instrumentally as it sible operational initiatives in the absence of planning tools. The is done through the concept of cultural planning raises a number term cultural planning thus covers diverse types of approach of questions. Can we plan for culture? We probably can, but do and practice. we not move along a tendentious and authoritarian road if we attempt to do so? Should we understand cultural planning as a The type of thinking which really makes cultural planning inter- practical initiative, which promotes the coordination of planned esting in relation to urban transformation strategies is that which 4 introduces the requirement, that all decision-making concerning in Denmark. But he has also through his education and his ap- planning be discussed and examined in the light of their cultural proach to cobbling events with urban development strategies impacts. Through this formulation, which has been put forward placed himself in the hyphen of cultural-planning. by Franco Bianchini, a meaningful link can be made between culture and planning. The present publication is based on a transcription of video re- cordings of the conference Cultural Planning. This has given a Franco Bianchini has in the last 20 years been a constant and particular character to these proceedings, which we hope will curious observer of cultural planning and one who has attempt- make them more accessible and readable. ed to theorise and problematise that phenomenon from his po- sition as a university professor and consultant. The compilation of the present volume has been done by Katrine Østergaard assisted by Bo Grönlund and Gustavo Ribeiro Paul Collard is a practitioner with a solid theoretical basis, who through his long carrier in the field of culture management, has implemented a very interesting strategy in the process of trans- formation of Newcastle-Gateshead – notably in the self-under- standing of the region – from the epitome of the industrial city to a post-industrial city. September 2005 Center for Urbanism Trevor Davies is the most experience cultural events planner Jens Kvorning 5 6 The Cultural Turn in Contemporary Urban Planning by Martin Zerlang Culture has become a keyword in contemporary urban planning. The definition of culture which is implicit in the new concept of Most big cities and many smaller towns have invested consider- cultural planning differs from these old definitions in that culture able amounts of energy and money in cultural institutions such no longer automatically associates with tradition. In fact, one as museums, concert halls and libraries as well as in cultural may suggest that today attention to cultural matters has been events such as parades, jazz festivals and drama weeks. Just determined by a revolution in our ‘way of life’. The sociologist a few decades ago art museums belonged to the culture of the Anthony Giddens has described what he calls the ‘disembed- elite, but today museums have become mass media, and politi- dedness’ of modern life and he claims that this experience of cians use culture to further the cause of their cities. But why has being unable to rely on tradition has made ‘reflexivity’ the pre- culture become so important in contemporary urban planning? dominant attitude towards modern society. Culture and plan- The concept of culture which was shaped in the 19th century ning would be an odd couple in a society with stable values, quickly developed in two directions. To some culture was high but in an uprooted modern world it is only logical that culture culture, that is: art, ideas, literature, music, or to use a famous becomes an object of reflection and planning. expression by Matthew Arnold, ‘the best that has been thought The cultural turn of contemporary planning may be interpret- and said’. To others culture was common culture that is cus- ed as an effect of a number of more or less concomitant ten- toms, beliefs and practices of a people, or to use a famous ex- dencies of development. Most important among these are 1) pression by E.B. Tylor ‘a whole way of life’. Common to both deindustrialization, 2) globalization, 3) individualization, and 4) definitions is the importance of tradition – conscious tradition in mass education. culture as ‘the best that has been thought and said’ and uncon- As to the process of deindustrialisation, it is evident, that this scious tradition in culture as ‘a whole way of life’. is one of the most important forces behind the new emphasis 7 on culture in planning. If the experience of disembeddedness ences and facilitate exchanges in a global economy. originated in the development of industrial society with its in- As a third force behind the focus on culture in urban planning, ternal exodus from country to city and its external exodus from one must point at the process of individualization. Industrialism Europe to America, this experience has been repeated at a itself put a high prize on the individual, and the sociologists of new level with the spectacular process of deindustrialisation. industrial society tried to analyze what would hold the indus- The American rust-belt and the German Ruhr District have un- trial society together if it was based on private property and the dergone changes which have transfigured the whole industrial initiative of the individual. Èmile Durkheim suggested that the landscape into a picturesque landscape of ruins, and some ‘mechanical solidarity’ of the pre-modern society, where people of the ruins have become converted into new functions, play- acted and felt according to their status as peasants or artisans grounds, theme parks etc. Similarly the Docklands in London or merchants rather than as unique individuals, was followed by and the Harbour of Copenhagen have become areas of luxury the ‘organic solidarity’ of the industrial society, where the divi- and leisure. And if the old factories and industrial plants have sion of labour would make the individual specialized and spe- not been demolished, they have been rebuilt into theatres, mu- cial, but at the same time dependent upon society. According seums or the like. to social position this organic solidarity would manifest itself in Deindustrialisation is related to the process of globalization trade unions, in holding companies, in corporations and simi- which must be considered as another powerful force behind the lar associations, and even though the individual would have ‘a ‘cultural turn’. Globalization has been defined by Anthony Gid- sphere of action that was specific to him, and in consequence dens as ‘the intensification of worldwide social relations that link a personality’ (Lukes: 153), it is evident that each of the social distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped classes would foster recognizable types of personality – a blue by events occurring many miles away and vice versa’. More collar worker, a white collar worker, an industrialist, a bohemian likely than not these ‘localities’ are cities rather than nations.