³7KH'LVFXUVLYHFRQVWUXFWLRQRIWKH0HUFKDQW&LW\DVDFUHDWLYHKXE ,QVWLWXWLRQDODQGFUHDWLYHSUDFWLWLRQHUV¶SHUVSHFWLYH´ Elena Garrán López S 1134525 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Glasgow Caledonian University for the Degree of Master of A rts in C reative and Cultural Business. Glasgow, 30th August 2012 i Declaration I declare that this dissertation is my own work and that it was composed by myself. Following academic conventions, I have made due acknowledgement of the work of others. Signed: Glasgow, 30th August 2012 ii Abstract The use of culture as a catalyst for urban and social regeneration is a strategy that many post-industrial cities are using around the world. In this regard, the city of Glasgow is considered a paragon of the implementation of this philosophy, resulting in a noticeable makeover of the city in the past 30 years. However, this approach arises some controversy amongst academics and local communities, thus this way of managing culture is related very often with gentrification and social exclusion phenomena. This research it an attempt to look at the impact of this approach in the well-known area of the Merchant City. In 2001 Glasgow City Council undertook a plan of urban and social regeneration, encapsulated in two main programs: the Merchant City Townscape Heritage Initiative and the Merchant City Five Year Action Plan, a programme funded by Scottish Enterprise and the Heritage Lottery Fund and led by the Glasgow City Council. The analysis of these plans form the core material that underpinned this research. In doing so, the institutional, practitioners and residents perspective toward the regeneration plan has been analysed using semi-structured interviews. In addition, this research has tackled relevant themes toward this topic such as the concepts of place-making and the use of culture for the regeneration of cities, stressing the construction of cultural quarters to accomplish these strategies. The role of major sport and cultural events has been also mentioned. It is important to highlight that this research is an overview of the current situation resulted from the Merchant City Action Plan strategy, stressing the social impact of the plan and discussing the dichotomy between top down and bottom up approaches. This research is an attempt to prepare the field for a more profound analysis covering broader aspects and a larger amount of actors. iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge first of all the invaluable commitment and help provided by my supervisor, Dr Douglas Chalmers, throughout the process of this dissertation. Without his advice and motivation this dissertation would not have been possible. Equally important have been the help of the interviewees in this research: Liz Davidson, Nina Baker, Karen-Claire Voss, Andy Green, Stewart Ritchie, Chris Biddlecombe and the anonymous member of the City Council have been extremely kind with me, enlightening my knowledge and giving me inspiration, not only for this dissertation, but also for my future professional career. I would also like to thank the members of the Merchant City and Trongate Community Council, who hosted me during one of their meetings and happily interchanged experiences and opinions with me. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Ewelina Glowienka for being a supportive and inspiring friend who has always been there for me in the moments when I needed her the most, Amy Hunter for her time and great help in the early stage of this research and Stuart Kennedy for his help in polishing my English and his support in the last sprint of this journey. iv Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Glasgow, a city without a heart? ............................................................................................ 3 1.2. Aim and objectives of this research project ....................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review............................................................................................................. 8 2.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Place-making in post-industrial cities ................................................................................. 11 2.1.1. Role of Sport and Cultural Events: The ECoC 1990 and the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow ............................................................ 14 2.2. Culture-led regeneration strategies: The glorification of the Creative Class. .. 16 2.2.1. Cultural Quarters. Some questions raised by the case of the Glasgow Merchant City as the construction of a Creative Hub. ..................................... 19 2.3. Glasgow Merchant City against the background of Glasgow as a dual city ...... 22 2.3.1. Managing culture: an alternative bottom up experience .............................. 24 Chapter 3: Research Methodology ............................................................................................... 28 3.0. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 28 3.1. Defining research ........................................................................................................................ 28 3.2. Research approach ..................................................................................................................... 28 3.3. Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 29 3.3.1. Discourse analysis: Merchant City as a construction. ..................................... 29 3.3.2. Qualitative data collection: Semi-structured interviews to institutions and practitioners ........................................................................................................... 30 3.3.3. Sample ............................................................................................................................... 31 3.4. Limitations and difficulties ............................................................................................. 32 Chapter 4: Findings .............................................................................................................................. 33 4.1. Analysing the institutional discursive construction of Merchant City as a Creative Cluster. ................................................................................................................................... 33 a. How the THI and Merchant City Action Plan defines its aim .............................. 33 b. Creating identity. The role of the Creative Class ....................................................... 34 c. How the Merchant City fits into the general regeneration strategy of Glasgow ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 4.2. Identify and define the nature of the creative practitioner network established in the area .............................................................................................................................................. 36 v a. Who are the creative practitioners? ............................................................................. 37 b. Where are they? .................................................................................................................... 38 c. Role of the Trongate 103 and WASP Studios ............................................................ 38 4.3. Evaluate the perception of the creative practitioners and the residents towards the Merchant City as a creative quarter . .................................................................................... 40 4.3.1. Practitioners .................................................................................................................... 41 a. What did the artists expect? ..................................................... 41 b. What is their opinion at the moment ..................................... 42 c. What is their perception of the Merchant City as a Creative Cluster? ............................................................................ 43 4.3.2. Residents .......................................................................................................................... 44 a. What did the artists expect? ..................................................... 45 b. What is their opinion at the moment ..................................... 45 c. What is their perception of the Merchant City as a Creative Cluster? ............................................................................ 46 4.4. Examine the possible social impacts this strategy might be bringing to the Merchant City .................................................................................................................................... 47 a. Gentrification ................................................................................. 47 b. Social inclusion/exclusion. Is the Merchant City Action Plan managed in a top-down or bottom up fashion? ....... 49 4.5. Collating the interviews with the policy documents. ................................................. 51 Chapter 5: Conclusions .....................................................................................................................