08 October 2007
Finding ways to be ‘distinctive’ is emerging as a major new agenda amongst the UK’s towns and cities.
A new paper from The Work Foundation today says that in ‘distinctiveness’ — the discovery of specialisms and characteristics that help cities build and sustain a cohesive identity — an alternative strategy to the apparent homogenisation of Britain’s towns and high streets is opening up.
Neil Lee, a researcher at The Work Foundation and the report’s author, says: ‘So far, the devolution of powers to local cities and regions has been marked by too many copy-cat development strategies, resulting in charges of clone town Britain with uniform cul-de-sacs and chain store-dominated streets. But the most economically and socially successful cities artfully use their distinctiveness to craft a compelling offer to people and companies. Distinctiveness becomes a conscious, explicit strategy of redevelopment.
‘It may seem a statement of the obvious to say that place-making relies on using points of difference to competitive advantage, but until recently cities have not always had the time or money to establish original strategies which reflect the characteristics of their towns and places.
‘And ironically, even local differentiation tends to be plagiarised rather than learnt from: the Angel of the North makes public art flavour of the month one minute; Manchester’s Canal Street spurs a rash of gay-friendly developments; the high-end shops of Leeds make other cities believe lots of boutiques selling candles are the only answer to attracting wealthy, middle class consumers. Distinctiveness works best when the unique history of a location is used to build a compelling proposition. Local authorities need to have both the capacity and the power to grab the potential of distinctiveness and turn it to their advantage.’
The paper argues there are three main types of distinctiveness:
- Functional distinctiveness: this relates to forming a distinct functional niche within an urban or economic system. Successful cities have an economic specialism — Cambridge’s high tech sector or Edinburgh’s financial services industries, for example — that enable ‘knowledge spillovers’ between clusters of firms in the same or related fields. But they are not wholly dependent on one industry, jeopardising the sustainability of a city. Furthermore, the paper argues cities should not be conceived of as independent entities, but instead thought of in terms of how they relate to other towns and cities within the broader spatial economy.
- Physical distinctiveness: this relates to the mix of iconic structures, the unique history and the quality of the built environment. To some extent, cities are dependent on their history and location — they are ‘path dependent’. Yet improving the quality of the built environment, mixing attractive buildings and imaginative use of public space, can help make the most of what heritage does exist. Too often, one ‘iconic’ piece of public art is teamed with large amounts of low quality housing, leading to cynicism.
- Intangible distinctiveness: this refers to the image-making activities of cities as they try and foster an identity. There are three key ways of doing this — signature events and sport — such as Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium; image marketing and branding; and using the creative and cultural sector to raise a city’s profile and suggest a high quality of life (Hay-On-Wye’s literary festival is one example). The paper argues that the best pieces of town hall-derived brand-building, which foster a sense of civic pride and identity, are not merely empty rhetoric, but point to an underlying reality. Glasgow’s ‘(S)miles Better’ campaign redeemed an off-putting slogan with a sustained drive to clean up stained city buildings and a determined effort at regeneration.
Neil Lee says: ‘Like all strategies, distinctiveness needs careful handling. It is easy for distinctiveness to fall victim to gimmicks or to unrealistic thinking. Yet when it is used as a catalyst for regeneration, and used to fit into wider economic strategies, distinctiveness has the capacity to transform the success of a city. The example of Bilbao is one indication of what is possible. Bilbao built the Guggenheim, but it was successful because it was accompanied by the redevelopment of the airport and the building of a new metro system. Place-marketing always works best when it points to an underlying, concrete reality of difference.’
Notes to editors
- ‘Distinctiveness and Cities — Beyond ‘Find and Replace’ Economic Development’ by Neil Lee is available from The Work Foundation.
- Neil Lee is available for interview.
- The paper was produced as part of the Ideopolis II research programme sponsored by: The Arts Council, the Department for Communities and Local Government, The London Chambers of Commerce and Industry Commercial Education Trust, Manchester City Council, Norwich City Partnership, One North East and The University of Bristol.
- Media enquiries to Stephen Overell on 00 44 (0) 207 976 3507 or 07970 765251 or Lucy Jeanes on 00 44 (0) 207 976 3508.
- The Work Foundation is an independent research, advocacy and consultancy organisation.