Get documents about "Culture+Place = Wealth Creation
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culture
Culture+Place
= Wealth Creation
Glen Murray and Greg Baeker
Authentic urban environments bub- cultural and industrial revolutions that
bling with lively cultural and entertain- preceded it. The first wave of the new
ment options are magnets that attract economy was the information revolu-
and retain creative people. This creative tion that saw the introduction of per-
workforce in turn generates wealth in an sonal computing, mass communication
expanding knowledge economy. To in- and the Internet. The second phase is
crease their capacity for wealth genera- the emergence of creative economies
tion, cities must build culturally rich ur- rooted in culture and design.
ban environments by better integrating Wealth creation is now driven less by
three kinds of urban planning: land use, the exploitation of resources of the land
economic and cultural planning. or the efficiency of manufacturing pro-
cesses, and more by the exploitation of
Glen Murray Our Urban Age our imagination and intellect. Innova-
For the first time in human history, tion is the driver of the new economy.
more people live in urban places (cities)
than not. In Canada, the depth and Place-Based Wealth Creation
scope of change confronting us today is Jane Jacobs defined cities simply and
massive as shown in Table 1. profoundly as places that produce
Table 1 – Transition to a Creative Economy
1867 1967 2007
Political System British Empire Nation State Cities and Regions
Economy Agriculture and Manufacturing and Culture and
Resource Extraction Industrial Processing Creativity
Greg Baeker
Rural/Urban 0/20 40/60 20/80
Population
The economic revolution now under- wealth. If they cannot generate wealth,
way is as transformational as the agri- they cannot sustain the employment and
quality of life needed to attract and re-
tain people.
Glen Murray <gmurray@navltd.com> is Principal of AuthentiCity, an urban policy practice Success in attracting and retaining a
of Navigator Ltd. Glen is the former mayor of Winnipeg and today a widely respected urban
strategist best known for his record and commitment to build culturally dynamic urban centres. global and mobile class of creative
Dr. Greg Baeker <gbaeker@navltd.com> is a Senior Consultant with AuthentiCity. He workers and entrepreneurs is now a crit-
is a recognized expert in integrated cultural planning approaches to city building. Greg ical factor in determining which cities
served in senior leadership positions in the cultural sector for 25 years.
Municipal World SEPTEMBER 2006 13
will flourish, while others languish. One
of the central paradoxes of our global Table 2 – Understanding Urban Economies
age is that place matters – it has be-
Concept Author Key Ideas
come more, not less, important.
As shown in Table 2, four thinkers Home Grown George Latimer · 80 percent of future investment and economic
Economies growth is driven by assets already in the city
have contributed greatly to our under-
standing of urban economies, and how · Rather than leveraging these assets, economic
to leverage growth in these economies. development offices spend too much time
chasing a small number of business/industry
Together, these ideas point to the relocations
need for urban wealth creation strate-
gies based on connecting land use, eco- Place Marketing Philip Kotler · Strategic marketing of place is key to building
vigorous local economies
nomic and cultural planning in more
powerful and effective ways. · Cities must invest in essential public
infrastructure and market distinctive local
features and assets
Cities and Culture
Of the three types of planning, per- Industry Clusters Michael Porter · Economic success depends on geographic
concentrations of interconnected companies,
haps the least understood until recently suppliers and research infrastructure
is cultural planning. This is surprising
· Cluster strategies are needed to map existing
given the history of planning. Planning strengths and assess gaps/weaknesses
as a modern profession was the product
of late 19th and early 20th century vi- Creative Richard Florida · Creativity and culture are the new economic
Economies drivers
sionaries such as Patrick Geddes and
Lewis Mumford, whose views of cities · Quality of place is a now core competitive
advantage because business and investment
bore remarkable similarity to those ar- follow people – not vice versa
ticulated by Jane Jacobs and others
many decades later.
Cities were understood as cultural en-
tities, places that were shaped by their These traditions still have a strong approach built on the following
natural and human heritage, and a prod- hold on planning departments in many principles of systems thinking:
uct of the values and beliefs of their citi- cities. But, recent years have seen a þ The whole is not only greater, but
zens. Geddes believed that planning was “re-placing” of the planning profession. different, than the sum of the parts.
more a human than a physical science re- Jane Jacobs was a major force in this re- þ We must understand systems be-
quiring three types of expertise: planners orientation, drawing attention to the fore intervening.
must be anthropologists (specialists in complex human ecology of cities. She þ Systems knowledge requires un-
culture); economists (specialists in local advocated more organic, place-based derstanding connections and inter-
economies); and geographers (specialists and context-specific planning models. relationships among elements of
in the built and natural environment). the system.
Sadly, the professionalization of ur- From Cultural Silos This whole systems perspective on
ban planning that occurred in the 1950s to Cultural Systems cultural development runs counter to the
and 1960s, and its institutionalization as Today, a growing number of leading discipline-based policy and planning
a function of local government, under- municipalities in Canada and abroad are frameworks (eg., separate attention to vi-
mined these more holistic views. The turning to the larger vision of cities and sual arts, performing arts, museums, etc.)
primary focus was on the administration culture advocated by Geddes and that has tended to drive thinking in the
of land and the efficient delivery of mu- Mumford. To realize this vision, they past. Its place-based (rather than disci-
nicipal services. If cultural assets were are embracing integrated cultural plan- pline-based) focus is consistent with the
acknowledged by planners, they were ning approaches. Cultural planning is a call for place-based policy frameworks
narrowly defined, most often in terms place-based approach to local and re- across all aspects of public policy by the
of facilities and spaces – museums, gal- gional cultural development pioneered recent report of the External Advisory
leries, theatres, concert halls, parks and in Australia in the early 1990s. It is an Committee on Cities and Communities.
recreational facilities.
Today, a growing number of leading municipalities in Canada and
abroad are turning to the larger vision of cities and culture ...
14 SEPTEMBER 2006 Municipal World
Examples of
Good Practice
Large Urban Centre ning in an integrated wealth creation strategy.
Vancouver – Vancouver is widely recog- An initial cultural mapping process has been
nized as one of the leading cities in North completed as a first step in this process.
America in planning for sustainability. It The work is consistent with the integrated
has also been a leader in cultural plan- community development vision set out
ning, successfully integrating the arts, the city’s True Growth Strategy.
culture and heritage into the daily Kingston – Kingston has launched
thinking and practice of all city de- an ambitious downtown renewal
partments. One result has been strategy anchored by a number
the creation of a culturally rich of major capital projects includ-
urban environment with high ing a new large venue enter-
standards in architecture, tainment centre, Grand
public space and urban Theatre restoration and
design. Market Square redevel-
Winnipeg – Winni- opment. An urban dis-
peg has estab- trict strategy is being
lished an inte- developed to link
grated down- these develop-
town framework ments with a cre-
and map. The ative economy
integration of tax credits and gap financing of strategy. A community roundtable with leaders
heritage building redevelopment, with free from higher education, business and cultural
transit, rezoning to multi-use districts, cultural sectors has been formed to support these ef-
programming, targeted streetscaping and the forts.
development of sports, cultural and educa-
Small/Rural Community
tional facilities in locations to leverage maxi-
mum economic impacts has lead to a signifi- Prince Edward County – In 2004, the
cant up-swing in property values, economic county completed an economic development
activity and tax revenues out of the down- strategy based on quality of place and focused
town. around four pillars: culture, tourism, agriculture
(in particular specializing in added-value agri-
Mid-Size Cities culture such as wineries) and industry/com-
Saint John – The City of Saint John and Up- merce. Since then a cultural strategic plan and
town Saint John (the business improvement a tourism strategy have advanced this inte-
area) are embarking on a new land use plan for grated economic development agenda. New
the uptown peninsula (including the waterfront) governance structures linking municipal, busi-
that will integrate cultural and economic plan- ness and community leaders are driving these
plans.
Municipal World SEPTEMBER 2006 15
Cultural Mapping þ the natural and built environment, tion, GIS produces powerful visual im-
Patrick Geddes got it right – stressing including public and open spaces; agery that assist in challenging
the need for planners to “map before you þ the diversity and quality of leisure, traditional mindsets.
plan.” Cultural mapping is the first step cultural, eating, drinking and enter- Confronted with a map of hundreds
and defining feature of cultural planning. tainment facilities and activities; of cultural resources, it is difficult for
It is a tool for deepening understanding þ distinctive local products and skills in civic or community leaders to ignore
of local cultural systems and engaging the crafts, manufacturing and services; culture’s “footprint” and to cling to a
Confronted with a map of hundreds of cultural resources, it is difficult
to ignore culture’s “footprint” and to cling to a more limited view of
culture as funding for the local museum or arts group.
communities in this process. þ local and external perceptions of a more limited view of culture as funding
Cultural planning embraces a broad place, as expressed in local stories, for the local museum or arts group.
definition of cultural resources in cities tourist guides, media coverage,
that are the focus of mapping. For etc.; and Conclusion
example: þ universities and private sector re- Today there is much talk of creative
þ the range of human resources con- search centres. cities. Good practices exist in Canada,
nected with the “pre-electronic” media Once cultural mapping is complete, successes that must be celebrated. But
(performing and visual arts, museums the next step in the cultural planning creative city agendas cannot simply be a
and heritage, etc.), as well as the cre- process is the identification of opportu- new name for traditional arts and cultural
ative and cultural industries (film and nities to leverage resources for larger strategies or an exercise in city branding.
video, sound recording, new media, economic and community benefit, build We are on the cusp of understanding
publishing, etc.); on and enhance the strengths of existing how to transform our cities with sus-
þ the learning strategies and human resources, and address gaps and tainable, wealth creation strategies
resource development systems nec- deficiencies. based on linking land use, economic
essary to develop local talent; and cultural planning. Many of the im-
þ not-for-profit arts and heritage or- Mapping and GIS portant concepts have been defined,
ganizations and libraries; Geographic Information Systems and numerous communities are moving
þ for-profit cultural businesses and (GIS) are now widely used to support to connect the dots and implement
creative industries; standard municipal planning processes. these powerful ideas. What lies ahead
þ heritage resources, including built They also provide tools for supporting is the refinement of methodologies and
heritage, historic sites and monu- cultural mapping and for capturing in- the development of practical tools to
ments, archaeology, local histories formation on cultural resources. Aside support this work – and to deliver
and traditions; from their utility in organizing informa- bankable results. MW
as published in
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16 SEPTEMBER 2006 Municipal World
