Cultural Quarters and Regeneration: The Case of Wolverhampton

摘要

In recent decades, cities throughout the UK have increasingly looked to culture-related uses to help bring about regeneration outcomes (Landry et al., 1996). The UK Government has also taken a pro-active stance on the encouragement of cultural industries (Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 1999), and local authority cultural regeneration strategies have been encouraged (Scottish Executive, 2000). A range of policy approaches has been applied locally, including the widespread designation of 'cultural quarters', often within a broader set of 'city quarters'. However, such approaches to regeneration may be contested, since they may result in negative effects such as erosion of distinctiveness, and there is confusion over the rationale for, and potential of, cultural quarters in particular. This article uses a case study of Wolverhampton's Cultural Quarter to explore the questions of why and how such mechanisms are applied, and what is their potential in terms of delivery of regeneration outcomes. In so doing, the article problematises the notion of cultural quarters, which all too often forms part of an under-theorised orthodoxy of practice, transmitted by a process of serial replication. The article is structured as follows. First, conceptual frameworks relevant to city quartering, culture-led regeneration and 'cultural quarters' are considered; second, a case study of Wolverhampton's Cultural Quarter is set out; third, an analysis of the critical issues and problems is provided; and finally, broad conclusions are suggested, of relevance to policy and practice elsewhere.