Belfast Sound Map

For all of us working on place and people's perceptions  mapping, this is a great and creative piece of work. I love it!

Swedish Municipal Cultural Planning

Cultural Planning is now firmly embedded in both policy and practice in Sweden. For those who can read Swedish, here is a very useful Handbook compiled by the Cultural Planning Network together with the Association of Swedish Municipalities. To get the Handbook please go to: www.sklkommentus.se

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.

PICNIC 09 – Amsterdam

What are the great breakthroughs that will change our lives in the coming decade? Will they improve our economy, deal with the environment and make our lives more livable? What are the alternative urban, social, digital, scenarios for our future?
PICNIC ’09 tackled all this and more.
If you have missed this truly unique three-day event, go to:
http://www.picnicnetwork.org/search/5905/en

Testing the benefits of Cultural Planning

Fablevision and the University of Strathclyde have, over the last three years, delivered a CPD course in Cultural Planning methodology aimed at public, private and voluntary sector practitioners. The report compiled by FairPley on behalf of the National Cultural Planning Forum contains an evaluation of both the course and the projects developed in Scotland using the Cultural Planning approach.

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The Helsingborg + Competition

In 2008, the municipality of Helsingborg in the South of Sweden launched a competition for proposals about the regeneration of a large former industrial district in the South of the city. The process adopted for the selection of the winning teams was unique in that it involved the setting up of an Expert Group which worked over the past six months with Helsingborg's key stakeholders to evaluate 5 proposals by different teams.

The Expert Group featured, among others, experts in the public realm (Gehl Architects) and cultural planning (Noema Research and Planning). On the 18th of March the Expert Group delivered their report to the Jury and a decision will be made over the next few weeks.

This 'Open Source' innovative approach to planning is an excellent example of how by drawing on the expertise of professionals from various disciplines civic leaders can deliver quality of life, distinctiveness, sustainability and competitiveness for their cities.
For more information on this ongoing process, contact Hakan Asmoarp, or Kristoffer Nilsson at Helsingborg's Planning Department.

Cultural Planning and Place Making in Stockholm

Noema has joined the Gehl Architects team (Copenhagen) in an international competition to design a new neighbourhood for Stockholm. The team has used the principles of Cultural Mapping to propose a new vision for sustainable living. See the Brief for the competition at Link

Cultural Planning and Cultural DNA: A Sustainable Approach to Placemaking

A large gathering of members of the Union of Baltic Cities took place in Turku (Finland) on the 24th to the 27th of September 2008. The main subject of the event was the discussion of how to find the cultural DNA of places. Inspired by Lia Ghilardi, participants (mainly from the planning and urban development disciplines) spent two days documenting the distinctive character of Turku. The results of this work will be disseminated in a report which will be ready in December.
For information, please contact: Samuli Saarinen, Environmental and City Planning Department,
Master Plan Office,Turku
samuli.saarinen@turku.fi

Cultural Planning in Norwich

Noema has been working with Norwich Culture Office and the Local Strategic Partnership on a series of workshops to train key stakeholders to use Cultural Planning as a tool for finding creative ways of improving the delivery of services.

I have invited Marion Catlin (Cultural Development Officer, Norwich City Council) to present the results of the work done in Norwich to my students of the MA in Cultural Policy and Management at City University, London.



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Gävle Conference

The auditorium was full on the opening day of Konstcentrum’s seminars on cultural planning and art in public space. Artists and people working in cultural fields from all over Sweden mixed with interested local residents and international guests.
Lia Ghilardi, founder and director of Noema Research and Planning Ltd in London, talked about her method of mapping places from a cultural perspective. She began by cautioning against large architectural flagship projects which are often at risk of becoming " a second-life architecture for fantasy cities"...

Read more at: www.gavlekonstcentrum.se

Creative Cities Forum, Peking University

Abstract: This paper deals with the issues associated with the use ofculture in urban regeneration and place-shaping and, through the use of practical examples of implementation, discusses cultural planning as a method for the delivery of integrated and sustainable cultural and urban development policies.

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Culture at the Centre: A strategic approach to successful and sustainable community-based regeneration

Author: Lia Ghilardi
This is a summary of the document.

The report has been written on behalf of the National Cultural Planning Steering Group (N.C.P.S.G.).The aims of the document were: to assess the relevance and application of Cultural Planning as an overarching vision for cultural and community regeneration in Scotland; to propose Cultural Planning as a successful strategic tool for real community engagement in Community Planning, and to consolidate the understanding and participation of mainstream funders and decision makers. The report highlights some of the examples of existing good practice in the practical application of Cultural Planning as a basis for regeneration strategies at community and city levels. It also indicates the considerable potential of the approach if it were to be adequately supported at a national policy level in Scotland and makes some recommendations for implementation.

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Kulturplan Oresund

In April 2006, The INTERREG - Kulturplan Oresund project has published a complete guide to Cultural Planning strategies. The Handbook, written by Lia Ghilardi especially for the project, contains an illustration of the methods and pracitcal issues involving the implementation of cultural strategies in different policy contexts.

The Danish version of the Handbook is available in published form (ISSN 1901-581X) in Kultur Pixi No.1, April 2006. Copies of the publication can be obtained by emailing: post@horisont-amba.dk

More information about the Kulturplan Oresund project can be found here.