Projects

In a post-industrial world – where seemingly random and rapid movements in flows of capital can alter radically the place preferences of businesses and people – the question of what are the best ways of driving the economy of cities to the point where they can be in control of their destiny is key.

Over the past twenty years, economists, political commentators and urban experts have remarked on the relevance of creativity and the ability to attract, retain and support the skills powering a “creative economy”.

Thus, provision of amenities, cultural programmes and culture-led regeneration schemes have become the default option for places, but results have been mixed. By grounding their developments on local capacity and context some cities have benefitted, while those that “engineered” creative enclaves with unimaginative governance were often forced to abandon their plans.

My work focuses on putting more thought into how to help civic leaders and communities to co-create the conditions through which local cultural and creative resources can make a bigger contribution to local development. By using short-term, low-cost and scalable interventions and iterative processes of place making, the projects below show how culture can truly deliver for cities.

This selection of projects dates from 2010 until today (for older ones please contact me).