Rethinking Cultural Policy

Culture Shock is a new paper by Demos calling for change in cultural policy, its function and delivery in the light of the changes taking place in technology, society and cultural production and consumption. You can download the paper here

Beautification or Regeneration?

Thousand of volunteers dig in for I-70 project in Indianapolis
Could this be how the Big Society looks like? The killer answer is in the comment at the bottom of this article

Mercer 2010 Quality of Living Survey

European cities still dominate the top ten ranking for quality of living with Canada, Australia and New Zealand also featuring.
Vienna scores highest for overall quality of living, while Calgary the Eco-city league's top dog.
Watch the short video discussing the criteria for city ranking.
Ranking tables and descriptions are to be found here.

The Other Side Of Branding

For all those cities that are battling for pole position in the urban league... David Brier says...

Get Real with the Creative City

Firm Intentions: Cities, Private Sector Jobs & The Coalition is the title of a new report by The Centre for Cities calling for more realism from the Coalition and cities across England pursuing sectors such as green industries or creative clusters. The document focuses on evidence that only a small number of cities will be able to develop specialist clusters in sectors identified as “growth” industries.  These are more likely to emerge as a result of a natural or historic advantage – such as life sciences in Cambridge, with its highly qualified workforce and its University – than government intervention which has been found to be limited.
 The report also identifies a “reality gap” at a time of shrinking public expenditure. 70% of cities in England believe they have a creative industries sector worth investing in, 46% of cities, a green or low carbon sector and 59% of cities, an advanced manufacturing cluster.  More than one in four of England’s cities plan to support the emergence of all three, despite funding constraints.
Download the report here: http://www.centreforcities.org/firmintentions

Cultural Planning in Canada

The internationally renown cultural planner Greg Baeker has just launched an edited publication called: Rediscovering the Wealth of Places (published in Canada by Municipal World). The book focuses on methods and case studies for the effective integration of culture in planning across municipal departments of Canadian cities. It is a practical and intelligently written ‘how to’ guide providing conclusive proof that municipal cultural mapping processes are often the key to effective policies for building creative advantage. By the way, just in case you were wondering, this applies to cities large and small both in Canada and outside! Well worth getting hold of it!

Gentrification and Its Discontents - Magazine - The Atlantic

Gentrification and Its Discontents - Magazine - The Atlantic

The International Architecture Showcase - Mimetic City

Between 19 June and 4 July the British Council, in partnership with the Architecture Foundation and more than 34 London-based embassies, presented a programme of exciting new work by practices from different countries on the theme of 'The Welcoming City'. The International Architecture Showcase featured exhibitions, installations, film screenings, debates and lectures hosted by diverse institutions across London, with the aim of challenging perceptions and opening minds to new possibilities in urban living. Check out the Mimetic City Istanbul event, a collaboration between Kerem Turker of Rada Design and Noema Research and Planning.
http://www.lfa2010.org/event.php?id=352&name=turkey_mimetic_city

Ostrava 2015

The Czech city of Ostrava is currently preparing a bid for EUCOC 2015. On May 13 and 14, Lia Ghilardi and Colin Mercer visited the city and lead a series of talks and workshops on Cultural Planning and Mapping designed to help the city to focus on its cultural and creative economy priorities and aims.
In addition to that, on June 24-25 Ostrava will host a major conference on the soft factors influencing regional development. Check it out!

Danish Architects ADEPT and Noema Prequalify

ADEPT and Noema have prequalified for the Køge Kyst parallel competition. This large culture-led development of a new central urban area is one of the biggest urban projects in Denmark at the moment. The team has proposed a very innovative approach to embedding culture in the regeneration of the harbour and the station area. Køge Kyst competing proposals are top secret until mid-April and the picture on the left belongs to another project by ADEPT!

Norwich in the final 4!

It has just been announced that the City of Norwich is one of the four shortlisted for the title of the first UK City of Culture 2013. The other shortlisted cities are Birmingham, Derry and Sheffield.
We are pleased to say that Noema is currently working with Norwich on the next stage of the bid. Watch this space!

2010 EU Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

2010 is the EU Year for combating poverty and social exclusion. Last year’s international economic and financial crisis is very likely to have long-term consequences for growth and employment across the EU and elsewhere. In this scenario, the piloting of proactive and enlightened new forms of urban governance at local level will be increasingly vital for cities large and small. We believe that the dissemination of urban and social innovation’s good practices is a key step in helping civic leaders and communities to find better solutions to the problems presented by the current crisis. This is why, as well as the development of practical projects and initiatives, our contribution to the EU Year against poverty will be each month to feature inspiring examples of social and urban innovation that have made a real change to the lives of the vulnerable and the excluded.