World Cities and Culture
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WORLD CITIES CULTURE REPORT MAYOR OF LONDON 1 World Cities Culture Report 2014 Contents Mayor’s foreword 5 Madrid 107 World Cities Culture Forum 6 Montréal 111 Executive summary 9 Moscow 115 Introduction 21 Mumbai 119 New York 123 World cities and culture Paris 127 The world is not flat 25 Rio de Janeiro 131 What is culture? 26 Seoul 135 How world cities shape culture 29 Shanghai 139 Cultural strategies for world cities 32 Singapore 143 Challenges and responses 33 Stockholm 147 Sydney 151 What the data tells us Tokyo 155 The cities in the report 35 Toronto 159 About the data 38 Where next for the research? 41 Appendix 1: Data tables 163 Cultural heritage 43 Appendix 2: World Cities Culture Literary culture 49 Forum Events 2012–2014 241 Film and games 52 Appendix 3: List of policy questions 256 Performing arts 57 Credits 259 People and talent 61 Cultural vitality and diversity 65 Data tables In summary 71 Figure 1. City definitions 36 Figure 2. Cultural heritage 46 City portraits Figure 3. Literary culture 50 Amsterdam 75 Figure 4. Film and games 54 Bogotá 79 Figure 5. Performing arts 58 Buenos Aires 83 Figure 6. People and talent 62 Hong Kong 87 Figure 7. Cultural vitality and diversity 68 Istanbul 91 Johannesburg-Gauteng 95 London 99 Los Angeles 103 Mayor’s foreword I am thrilled to be launching the World Cities Culture Report 2014 – the most comprehensive report of its kind ever written. The line up of cities involved is extraordinary: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos offering both a mirror and a chance to escape? Aires, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, This report shows that the dynamism, scale and Los Angeles, Madrid, Montréal, Moscow, Mumbai, diversity of our world cities make us central hubs New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seoul, in global culture. We are able to support a range Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and and depth of cultural activity that other cities cannot Toronto. These cities have come together not only match, which means in turn that we, more than other to examine, but to champion the importance of places, are able to harness the power of culture to culture in world cities. contribute to wider social and economic goals. The first version of this report brought together Through this project, we have discovered that twelve cities and was launched at a summit in our cities have more in common than we might have London held at the same time as the 2012 Olympic thought, and that culture is critical to our success. and Paralympic Games – a choice that was entirely It is central to how we address future challenges – deliberate. Out of the inaugural event in London whether it is the role of the creative industries in was born the World Cities Culture Forum a fitting driving jobs and growth in Seoul or Buenos Aires, legacy for the London Games. bridging communities in Rio de Janeiro or Toronto, Following the London Games, I wrote to my or maintaining the international reputation of counterparts in cities across the world, inviting them New York. to join this new Forum. I would like to thank the London Cultural The response has been overwhelming. The Strategy Group for generously supporting the project, Forum now boasts 27 members from across the world, and BOP Consulting, the project consultants and with more cities lined up to join in 2015. This new co-ordinators, for drawing together such a compelling version of the report includes 12 of the additional picture about the importance of culture in our cities. cities who have joined us since the first World Cities Culture is what makes each of us unique. It is Culture Summit. what gives us our distinct flavour. It is hugely exciting Why has there been so much interest from cities? that cities are coming together in this new way Perhaps it is because no one would ever want to live and I anticipate a bright future for the World Cities in a city without culture? Perhaps it is because culture Culture Forum. is the fuel that drives the urban metropolis? Perhaps it is because artists, literary thinkers, designers Boris Johnson and directors feed our souls and our imaginations, Mayor of London 4 The Olympic Rings on London’s River Thames at Tower Bridge Photo: © Kois Miah 5 World Cities Culture Forum The World Cities Culture Forum was founded in 2012 The Forum programme includes: by London, New York, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, and Istanbul. The Forum builds on the • an online platform for sharing and disseminating World Cities Culture Report initiative set up by the data, information and effective practice Mayor of London. (www.worldcitiescultureforum.com) • an annual summit, hosted on a rotating basis It has quickly emerged as a powerful new voice in by member cities the global cultural policy debate and now includes • a World Cities Culture Report – published every 27 members from around the world. The organisation three years as a compendium of data and analysis provides its members with the opportunity to discuss • an ongoing series of collaborative research and and examine culture at a city-to-city level. The policy events and publications. World Cities Culture Forum is intended to become the cultural equivalent of the G20 for world cities. For a detailed description of the Forum’s It aims to: 2012–2014 events, including the participants, please see Appendix 2. • highlight the critical contribution of culture to the economic and social success of world cities • build an evidence base about the many and wide-ranging ways in which culture impacts on a world city and its inhabitants • foster learning from each other by examining common challenges and dilemmas and comparing approaches to cultural investment and development • define a future cultural research agenda for world cities. opposite: The ArcelorMittal Orbit, a unique fusion of art, architecture and engineering, conceived by Anish Kapoor/Cecil Balmond and funded by ArcelorMittal to provide an iconic new addition to London’s skyline 6 Photo: London Legacy Development Corporation Executive summary World Cities Culture Report 2014 cities: gives a much more rounded picture of culture’s Amsterdam, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Hong role in, and value to, world cities. Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los The research is examined in more depth over Angeles, Madrid, Montréal, Moscow, Mumbai, the course of this report. There are, however, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seoul, a number of messages which emerge clearly. Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto World cities are as important in culture as they are in finance or trade The World Cities Culture Report 2014 is a major global World cities, by virtue of their scale, dynamism initiative on culture and the future of cities, set up by and diversity, are the cities most able to support the Mayor of London. It is a celebration the widest range of cultural activity. Their large of world cities as crucibles of human creativity audiences (both residents and tourists) and strong and endeavour. From ancient Athens, Renaissance private business sectors (a source both of funding Florence and Elizabethan London to modern for the arts and a market for creative goods) means New York’s Broadway or Mumbai’s Bollywood, they are able to ‘specialise’ in culture, supporting cities have been the places where culture develops the high fixed costs of cultural infrastructure, and moves forward. as well as the other ‘soft’ infrastructure of This report examines the cultural offer of 24 of commissioning, distribution, management and the world’s greatest cities. It gathers evidence on production. Their diversity allows them to sustain 60 cultural indicators, assessing both the supply of a great variety of art forms, while their dynamism and demand for culture, and reports on the thinking – their constantly changing populations and their of cultural policymakers in those places. The level international connections – make the world cities of detail of the cultural data collected across the hubs of new cultural ideas and knowledge, and cities is unprecedented, and represents the primary also great centres for ‘hybridised’ art forms, created achievement of this research. when ideas are blended together. The report’s findings However, what makes the project even more make clear that the world cities play a crucial role valuable is its exploration of attitudes to cultural in global culture. policy making in the world cities. The potential for culture to contribute to economic and social develop ment is understood by all the cities, but it plays out in different ways depending on the particularities of each place. Bringing an analysis of policymakers’ priorities together with the data 8 Soweto Theatre, Johannesburg Photo: Peter Hassall 9 Culture is at the heart of public policy In a globalised world, culture gives world cities in world cities a distinctive appeal Policymakers across the cities see culture as a central In the era of globalisation, world cities are part of delivering the priorities and strategies of increasingly competing with each other, rather than urban government. New York put it nicely, suggesting with other cities in their countries, for such things that culture is the ‘no. 2 strategy’ in all fields; there as the headquarters of multinational firms, or the will be a strategy to address a question directly, right to host major international sporting and cultural but there is always a recognition that culture too events. Cultural prowess and economic success are has a major role to play in support. In Johannesburg, increasingly seen as interlinked. Those cities with efforts to build social and community cohesion historically strong cultural offers, such as London, in the wake of apartheid have been strengthened New York and Paris, see culture as a vital part of by the development of a new heritage infrastructure their economic strength.