Culture and leisure
As Murakami puts it, “the sky grew darker, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time, into deeper and deeper shades of night.” Murakami remarks highlight that the possibility of the night that made the sky seem so mastery shades.
The role of local government in promoting creative culture as a lever for development. The night-time economy can have significant impacts on the health and well-being of individuals. Though the creative industries are broadly defined, they are important to state economies. Embedding a strategy to promote culture in plans and strategies can also make a difference to the success of an area’s night economy. The plans, while implemented and written by policymakers and planners, require political vision and leadership to be successful. The recently released draft London Plan contains a chapter for culture and heritage in addition to City Hall’s existing Supplementary Planning Guidance on culture and the night-time economy.
Culture and leisure are vitality essential to peoples’ quality of life and a city of small size must offer a level of cultural and leisure facilities that meet the needs of its growing population, and the broader needs of the sub-region. A strong cultural/leisure sector comprises a holistic mix of:
Individual skills and the opportunity to enhance and develop these,
A range of accessible, affordable and high-quality culture and leisure facilities where people can develop their skills and interests,
An active private sector involvement,
A strong and pro-active voluntary and community (not for profit) sector,
A public and statutory sector that provides support and resources, where required, for sustainable cultural development.
Anyway, these are keys to the creation of a thriving, vibrant city and helps to create a place where people want to live, work and visit. The 1980s saw the gradual recognition of this changing role of culture in the city (and elsewhere). Local government, arts organizations, business people, both companies and umbrella groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, community groups, training organizations and, of course, local artists began to create, often informal coalitions around the elaboration of (formal and informal) cultural strategies aimed at the “refresh” of the city centre and the city as a whole (Myerscough, J. et al. (1988) The Economic Importance of the Arts in Britain).
This role of culture in “regeneration” has been defined in terms of its input into the built environment, in terms of the economic benefits of the arts and cultural industries sector, and in terms of the re-imaging of the city on the national and international stage. According to “A change of scene” Regeneration has been defined as the transformation of a place (residential, commercial or open space) that has displayed the symptoms of environmental (physical), social and/or economic decline (Local Government Association (2000), A change of scene. The challenge of tourism in regeneration). What has been described as breathing new life and vitality into an ailing community, industry and area [bringing] sustainable, long term improvements to local quality of life, including economic, social and environmental needs.
Robert Hughes (Chief Executive of Kirklees Council) says his own blunt evaluation of regeneration programs that don’t have a culture component is they won’t work. Communities have to be energized, they have to be given some hope, they have to have the creative spirit released. It is right that all these should be included. Still, it is increasingly recognized that, just as the deep resources of a city lie within the skills and creativity of its people (to which cultural strategies must be central), the creative vibrancy of a city lies in the involvement and the identification of the people within its scope.
It is not only the raised horizons as to what it is possible to do that are important but also the decision to do it correctly.
