POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES AND THE NEW URBAN SCHEMES OF THE LATE 20TH CENTURY

Public domains express the characteristics and diversity of our cultures. Though we seldom consciously notice our urban fabric, we experience it everyday, both individually or in a community, and it allows us to perceive our role and identity in a specific cultural environment. In the second half of the 20th century, triggered by post-war economic and social transitions and guided by the existential relationship between culture and mankind, many cities embarked on major urban restructuring in an effort to stimulate and regenerate impoverished communities.

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This study investigates the role and importance culture adopted in the execution and outcomes of urban regeneration schemes in the post-industrial landscapes of Rotterdam and Glasgow. Having extensively grown from their manufacturing industries, these two non-capital cities were particularly affected by de-industrialisation. They present successful examples of the 20th century global acknowledgement of culture’s renewal benefits on urban communities. Furthermore this depicts governments’ persistent employment of a diversity of cultural manifestations in regeneration strategies, from flagship events to large scale permanent infrastructure.

 

The paper carries out a case-study analysis of cultural quarters, waterfront development and urban village typologies of urban regeneration found in Rotterdam and Glasgow, as means to evaluate the manifestation of culture in the cities’ urban planning schemes. These allow to draw conclusions on the most common models of good practice, their potential and their weaknesses. The conducted research determines positive outcomes from culture’s extensive involvement and a most integrationist approach as a most successful model of culture’s employment in urban regeneration strategies. Ultimately, following the review of the different strategies, this paper further presents assumptions on the importanceof future application, and possible lessons for UK policies and strategies.