This October, Futurecity became the first Cultural Placemaking Content Partner of MIPIM UK Summit. We curated content across panels that covered topics like commercial property investment trends, development challenges and opportunities between Oxford and Cambridge, and development trends post-Brexit (read more here).
Futurecity Partner Sherry Dobbin was part of the panel discussing ‘Cultural infrastructure and placemaking: Its role in positioning a city as a destination and value creation’. She shares her notes on the topic below.
MIPIM UK Summit asked…How can new developments in cultural infrastructure and placemaking shape the future of UK cities?
We are in a time in which there is tremendous obligation & incentive for private sector to provide culture and cultural space.DCMS just announced an additional £250m for Cultural Investment, with £90m towards Cultural Development Fund and £125m for regional cultural providers. Though, UK public arts investment has fallen 11%—meaning private investment has had to step in more than ever. London Mayor’s 2019 Cultural Infrastructure Plan asks private sector to use Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy; explore opportunities for cultural operators to purchase freeholds and offer peppercorn and below market rent; develop community asset transfer policies; prioritise capital investment; and offer opportunities to cultural infrastructure operators to access low-cost finance.
The ACE, Kings College and Mayor of London IMPROVING PLACES guide outlines how BIDs & Town Centre Management should be more involved in supporting culture and coordinating with their businesses, cultural entities and councils. International interest in 24/7 economy and presence of Night Czars raises the pressure to set the activity you want before it sets one you may not want.
We know that culture breeds additional investment.
Cultural partners often access additional funding and local government support and attract private investment. Futurecity has leveraged this model over the past decade, building up strong precedents for the sector. Aligning private galleries to take ownership of stations and showcase the leading artists working in public realm for Crossrail ‘Culture Line‘ to draw private investment into public infrastructure. That strategy was formed as a result of the successful model for Sculpture in the City model of leveraging businesses and galleries to give visibility to a rotating exhibition of public art. Thinking of big vision can also large public sector grants for connecting community, place and culture as the Culture Strategy for Basildon Town Centre, which established a vision of young people, digital and tech incubation to underpin an Arts Council England Creative People and Places grant for £1.2m.
We know that culture helps tourism.
Liverpool experienced 34% increase visitors to the city during its year as city of culture in 2008, equating to £255m in additional tourist spend. Culture is linked to 42% of inbound-tourism related expenditure in London and accounts for £7.3bn per year in visitor spend.
There are more studies outlining how Culture increases economic values: A study of new or refurbished museums in four small/medium-sized American cities, (Kenosha, Toledo, Beacon and North Adams) showed impact on property prices of between 20%-50% increases with the effect tapering the further from the museum it became.
Throughout the UK, £1 public investment in culture generates £5 in tax revenue, and competing developers are adding Cultural Placemaking at the initial bid stage.
#BusinessGetsCulture
So HOW do we afford this? As systems are difficult to change, we need to see cultural allocation as part of existing budgets for design, marketing/branding, and anchor tenants, rather than an additional or separate provision.
Cities and the property Sector need to flip the thinking to see the cultural sector as content-providersfor Destination Attraction; Identity of Place; Design of Place or Activation of Place. Think of the colleagues as your Artistic producers & presenters; creative industry entrepreneurs for dynamic work place; fresh approach to social engagement entrepreneur; and your quality Nightime Economy participants and producers.
The Cultural Sector needs to view Growth or Regeneration development as longterm partners who provide access to communities and presentation platforms, as well as homes. Together, we can align shared objectives and form strategic solutions. In great partnerships, everyone feels as though they have ‘gotten away with something.’
Just copying a case study will not breed the same result; the challenge is knowing what made it special and what ‘culture’ is right for your place. On 23 October at London’s City Hall, we launched with Urban Art Forum, a committee of Urban Land Institute, ‘Including Culture in Your Development,’ a step-by-step guide that non-arts professionals can use to identify the type of cultural engagement for their vision of success. And this practical document helps stage you through a process to figure out what type(s) of cultural approaches may be right for your place. This is not London specific.
You can create one-off marketing events or create expensive temporary marketing suites, or you can consider investing in a cultural anchor, invite and partner with creative industries to create in your development, district or city. The collaborators will be able to tie into your community and they will continue to create and change with the contemporary trends of the time; keeping the place and visitors dynamic.
Artists and designers will always create new ways to see place, so, think of cultural investment as the gift that keeps on giving.
How can new developments in cultural infrastructure and placemaking shape the future of UK cities?
24/10/2019
This October, Futurecity became the first Cultural Placemaking Content Partner of MIPIM UK Summit. We curated content across panels that covered topics like commercial property investment trends, development challenges and opportunities between Oxford and Cambridge, and development trends post-Brexit (read more here).
Futurecity Partner Sherry Dobbin was part of the panel discussing ‘Cultural infrastructure and placemaking: Its role in positioning a city as a destination and value creation’. She shares her notes on the topic below.
MIPIM UK Summit asked…How can new developments in cultural infrastructure and placemaking shape the future of UK cities?
We are in a time in which there is tremendous obligation & incentive for private sector to provide culture and cultural space. DCMS just announced an additional £250m for Cultural Investment, with £90m towards Cultural Development Fund and £125m for regional cultural providers. Though, UK public arts investment has fallen 11%—meaning private investment has had to step in more than ever. London Mayor’s 2019 Cultural Infrastructure Plan asks private sector to use Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy; explore opportunities for cultural operators to purchase freeholds and offer peppercorn and below market rent; develop community asset transfer policies; prioritise capital investment; and offer opportunities to cultural infrastructure operators to access low-cost finance.
The ACE, Kings College and Mayor of London IMPROVING PLACES guide outlines how BIDs & Town Centre Management should be more involved in supporting culture and coordinating with their businesses, cultural entities and councils. International interest in 24/7 economy and presence of Night Czars raises the pressure to set the activity you want before it sets one you may not want.
We know that culture breeds additional investment.
Cultural partners often access additional funding and local government support and attract private investment. Futurecity has leveraged this model over the past decade, building up strong precedents for the sector. Aligning private galleries to take ownership of stations and showcase the leading artists working in public realm for Crossrail ‘Culture Line‘ to draw private investment into public infrastructure. That strategy was formed as a result of the successful model for Sculpture in the City model of leveraging businesses and galleries to give visibility to a rotating exhibition of public art. Thinking of big vision can also large public sector grants for connecting community, place and culture as the Culture Strategy for Basildon Town Centre, which established a vision of young people, digital and tech incubation to underpin an Arts Council England Creative People and Places grant for £1.2m.
We know that culture helps tourism.
Liverpool experienced 34% increase visitors to the city during its year as city of culture in 2008, equating to £255m in additional tourist spend. Culture is linked to 42% of inbound-tourism related expenditure in London and accounts for £7.3bn per year in visitor spend.
There are more studies outlining how Culture increases economic values: A study of new or refurbished museums in four small/medium-sized American cities, (Kenosha, Toledo, Beacon and North Adams) showed impact on property prices of between 20%-50% increases with the effect tapering the further from the museum it became.
Throughout the UK, £1 public investment in culture generates £5 in tax revenue, and competing developers are adding Cultural Placemaking at the initial bid stage.
#BusinessGetsCulture
So HOW do we afford this? As systems are difficult to change, we need to see cultural allocation as part of existing budgets for design, marketing/branding, and anchor tenants, rather than an additional or separate provision.
Cities and the property Sector need to flip the thinking to see the cultural sector as content-providers for Destination Attraction; Identity of Place; Design of Place or Activation of Place. Think of the colleagues as your Artistic producers & presenters; creative industry entrepreneurs for dynamic work place; fresh approach to social engagement entrepreneur; and your quality Nightime Economy participants and producers.
The Cultural Sector needs to view Growth or Regeneration development as longterm partners who provide access to communities and presentation platforms, as well as homes. Together, we can align shared objectives and form strategic solutions. In great partnerships, everyone feels as though they have ‘gotten away with something.’
Just copying a case study will not breed the same result; the challenge is knowing what made it special and what ‘culture’ is right for your place. On 23 October at London’s City Hall, we launched with Urban Art Forum, a committee of Urban Land Institute, ‘Including Culture in Your Development,’ a step-by-step guide that non-arts professionals can use to identify the type of cultural engagement for their vision of success. And this practical document helps stage you through a process to figure out what type(s) of cultural approaches may be right for your place. This is not London specific.
You can create one-off marketing events or create expensive temporary marketing suites, or you can consider investing in a cultural anchor, invite and partner with creative industries to create in your development, district or city. The collaborators will be able to tie into your community and they will continue to create and change with the contemporary trends of the time; keeping the place and visitors dynamic.
Artists and designers will always create new ways to see place, so, think of cultural investment as the gift that keeps on giving.