Re-creating our cities

The Creative City is a pamphlet from the Demos think-tank dealing with different aspects of improving urban life, drawing examples from cities around the world. It is an attempt to demonstrate that, through innovative ideas, and ones which are not necessarily costly, problems ranging from crime to bad aesthetics can be tackled.

For instance, in Valencia a sheet was hung across the main square to shield it from the sun; Shanghai introduced singing competitions in housing estates; and pedestrianisation has proved successful in breathing life into city centres such as Groningen in the Netherlands:

'Pedestrianisation has attracted people to move back into the city centre, increased property and land values and has enhanced the turnover of shops.' Another similar success is in Naples where the municipal administration decided to pedestrianise the seafront at weekends, and it instantly became the city's most popular public promenade.

The Creative City shows how the initiatives of a few people can make all the difference to the revival of a town. One example given is that of a mountain town in Northern Italy that had been declining as the population moved to larger urban centres in search of work. The remaining inhabitants and some invited artists were encouraged to paint murals depicting scenes from local life throughout the town. 'In this way the previously unknown town became part of the tourist route. New restaurants opened and the town began to revive.'

In a review of this pamphlet, Peter Hall has argued in the Independent that throughout history the renewal of cities and urban creativity has come from its outsiders. How, he asks, can we begin to unlock the lost creative talents of our lost urban generation 'now wasting itself on drug raves or football violence'?

Peter Hall's book on the creative city in history will be published by Harper Collins in '96.