Our Tyne': Iconic Regeneration and the Revitalisation of Identity in NewcastleGateshead

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Urban Studies, Vol. 42, Nos 5/6, 913– 926, May 2005

‘Our Tyne’: Iconic Regeneration and the
Revitalisation of Identity in NewcastleGateshead

Steven Miles
[Paper first received, September 2004; in final form, December 2004]

Summary. The landscape of the north-east of England, both urban and rural, is perhaps most
notable as a deindustrialised landscape. Indeed, the world in which we live is determined
as much by what it was as by what it is. Perhaps this is no more evident than in the case
of NewcastleGateshead which is often portrayed as an exemplar of the revitalising benefits of
culture-led regeneration. The, as yet unproven, success of NewcastleGateshead Quayside is
founded upon a massive financial investment in iconic projects. But under what conditions is,
if at all, such iconography succeeding? This article addresses the impact of flagship regeneration
projects and their role in radically rearticulating the meaning of place and space in a so-called
post-industrial world. It is suggested that the success of investment in iconic cultural projects
depends above all upon people’s sense of belonging in a place and the degree to which culture-
led regeneration can engage with that sense of belonging, whilst balancing achievements of the
past with ambitions for the future.

The de-industrialisation of cities has created a                  radically rearticulating the meaning of place
set of circumstances in which policy-makers                       and space in a so-called post-industrial
throughout Europe and beyond have despe-                          world. As Hunt points out
rately sought to explore the possibilities for
                                                                       The architectural critic Jonathon Glancey
a post-industrial future. For many such
                                                                       suggested that Victorian cities had created
cities, cultural investment in capital-intensive
                                                                       an urban culture on the back of their trade
projects which make radical statements about
                                                                       and industry, but today it is the other way
where a city’s future might lay, offer a prom-
                                                                       around. Instead of culture springing from
ised land, but one that is ultimately often
                                                                       the inner workings of our cities, we see it
unrealisable. The development of Newcastle-
                                                                       as the way to make our cities work (Hunt,
Gateshead offers an example of an iconic
                                                                       2004, p. 350).
culture-led project that appears, at least on
the surface, to be succeeding. But can invest-                    In what follows, it will be suggested that the
ment in iconic projects deliver what policy-                      success of investment in iconic cultural pro-
makers ask of them? More pointedly                                jects depends above all upon people’s sense
perhaps, at what level, if at all, do such pro-                   of belonging in a place and the degree to
jects engage with the identity of a city and                      which culture-led regeneration can engage
its people?                                                       with that sense of belonging, whilst balancing
   This article will address the impact of flag-                  achievements of the past with ambitions for
ship regeneration projects and their role in                      the future.

Steven Miles is in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone
Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool, L69 72A, UK. Fax: 0151 794 2997. E-mail: s.miles@liverpool.ac.uk. The author wishes to
acknowledge the insights and comments provided by Professor Christopher Bailey and Peter Stark.
0042-0980 Print=1360-063X Online=05=05-60913 –14 # 2005 The Editors of Urban Studies
DOI: 10.1080=00420980500107326
914                                        STEVEN MILES

Context                                             Regardless of the demise of the Fourth Grace,
                                                    the optimistic tone here is a telling reflection
The impact of iconic developments on the
                                                    of how those involved in the production
re-emergence of deindustrialised commu-
                                                    of iconic cultural developments tend to per-
nities is a matter of continued policy debate.
                                                    ceive such projects. But it remains unclear
John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister has
                                                    how far the realities of urban regeneration
suggested that
                                                    can match up to the expectations both the
  There’s a quiet revolution taking place in        Arts fraternity and policy-makers have of cul-
  our leading cities. Places that were once         tural investment on this kind of scale.
  the engine room of the industrial revolu-            In recent years, the world’s waterfronts
  tion, employing millions in mills, factories,     have provided a particular focus for culture-
  ports and shipyards, are learning new ways        led regeneration. Marshall (2001, p. 3)
  to create wealth in a global economy where        describes the waterfront as space “in the city
  brain has replaced brawn (DCMS, 2004,             which allows expressions of hope for urban
  p. 12).                                           vitality”. He goes on to point out that in
                                                    cities such as London, New York, Vancouver,
But there is undoubtedly a danger in assuming
                                                    Sydney and San Francisco waterfronts have
that cultural investment can provide some
                                                    historically been the staging-points for the
kind of an alternative future for all deindus-
                                                    import and export of goods, but that this is
trialised cities. This reflects a broader debate
                                                    no longer the case in our information-satu-
in which commentators such as Richard
                                                    rated, service-oriented economies
Florida have suggested that creativity has an
increasingly significant role to play in the          These waterfront redevelopment projects
social and economic development of our                speak to our future, and to our past. They
cities and that                                       speak to a past based in industrial pro-
                                                      duction, to a time of tremendous growth
  regional economic growth is driven by the
                                                      and expansion, to social and economic
  location choices of creative people—the
                                                      structures that no longer exist. . . .
  holders of creative capital—who prefer
                                                      Through historical circumstance, these
  places that are diverse, tolerant and open
                                                      sites are immediately adjacent to centers
  to new ideas (Florida, 2002, p. 223).
                                                      of older cities, and typically are separated
From this point of view, quality of place has         from the physical, cultural and physiologi-
overtaken quality of life as the factor in deter-     cal connections that exist in every city.
mining why creative people live where they            They speak to a future by providing oppor-
live. The suggestion might therefore be that          tunities for cities to reconnect with the
iconic projects provide tangible evidence of          water’s edge (Marshall, 2001, p. 5).
the quality of place. They are, in effect,
                                                    Much of the debate around the significance of
symbols of a place in which creative people
                                                    iconic projects of this kind are tied up with
can feel they will belong. This certainly
                                                    concerns as to whether or not such investment
appears to be the feeling surrounding Liver-
                                                    can effectively ameliorate the consequences
pool, recently awarded ‘Capital of Culture
                                                    of deindustrialisation. In this context,
2008’ with Egbert Kossak, one of Europe’s
                                                    McGuigan (1996) identifies a series of urban
leading regeneration experts, commenting that
                                                    regeneration schemes frequently led by flag-
  The Fourth Grace will do for Liverpool            ship cultural projects during the 1980s in
  what the Opera House has done for                 cities such as Baltimore and later, in the UK,
  Sydney. Liverpool has won praise from             Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff
  around the world for preserving its histori-      (see Cowell and Thomas, 2002; Bassett
  cal buildings. The time is right for a new,       et al., 2002). The problem with these sorts
  iconic building which will represent the          of developments, according to McGuigan is
  future (Liverpool, 2004, p. 1).                   that they actually
‘OUR TYNE’                                           915

  articulate the interests and tastes of the         2001’ Balsas (2004) concludes that too
  postmodern professional and managerial             much emphasis was put on attracting public
  class without solving the problems of a            investment to regenerate public space, repla-
  diminishing production base, growing               cing infrastructures and modernising cultural
  disparities of wealth and opportunity, and         facilities, but at the expense of more funda-
  the multiple forms of social exclusion             mental institutional capacity building and
  (McGuigan, 1996, p. 99).                           civic creativity.
Sharon Zukin (1991), meanwhile, refers to
‘quixotic’ urban renewal projects that simply        Communities of Culture?
remain unproven as far as their economic             The development of cities such as Bilbao and
benefits might be concerned. Miles and               Porto represents both a localisation of global
Miles point out that new cultural institutions       and economic social forces and a location in
such as Tate Modern, the Guggenheim in               a world capitalist order as Zukin (1991)
Bilbao and Barcelona’s Museum of Contem-             points out. The success of such developments
porary Art play a prime role as facilitators of      is perhaps dependent upon the degree to which
cultural display, but perhaps more problemati-       the reinvention of the urban landscape fits in
cally, as signs of urban affluence                   with, rather than being foisted upon, the iden-
  Flagship cultural institutions, frequently         tity of the place concerned. For this reason, the
  financed as public sector investments to           notion of community is crucial. Authors such
  attract private-sector renovation of the sur-      as Harvey (1990) have described how the
  rounding area, tend to be engines not of           post-modern condition has led to the ‘end of
  democratisation of culture but of gentrifica-      community’, while Delanty (2003) highlights
  tion . . . This is not all bad, in that run-down   the role of the global city in displacing
  areas can be transformed, but it may dis-          urban communities. It could be argued that
  place a residual population unless it is ade-      in a global age cultural investment can at
  quately protected, and establishes a               least potentially provide a means of revitalis-
  connection . . . between cultural space and        ing communities by providing them with a
  wealth accumulation (Miles and Miles,              new so-called post-industrial future that can
  2004, p. 53).                                      help them readjust to the new economic con-
                                                     ditions in which they find themselves. As
The social impacts of culture-led regeneration       Delanty suggests
are not necessarily always positive. Even in
                                                       Community is communicative in the sense
those circumstances where positive impacts
                                                       of being formed in collective action based
are assumed, causality is always uncertain.
                                                       on place, and is not merely an expression
In this context, Vegara (2001) refers to the
                                                       of an underlying cultural identity
“miracle of Bilbao” in a necessarily tentative
                                                       (Delanty, 2003, p. 71).
fashion. Back in 2001 the industrial decline
of Bilbao was undoubted, but Vegara could            From this point of view, local identities are
only at this time go far enough to predict con-      socially constructed rather than just being
fidently that the conditions were such that          identified with a locality simply because it
Bilbao “could” arise form the ruins of its           happens to be there.
industrial past, not least as a result of the          But culture-led regeneration will not auto-
impact of the Guggenheim Museum. The                 matically engage with local communities.
broader sociological impact of cultural invest-      An alternative interpretation would indeed
ment on this scale remains intangible and new        be that a lot of culture-led investment inevit-
lessons are constantly having to be learned.         ably produces placeless forms of cultural
For example, in his discussion of the regener-       representation (Dicks, 2003). From this per-
ation of Porto in the aftermath of its steward-      spective, culture-led regeneration projects all
ship of the ‘European Capital of Culture             too often rely on formulaic development
916                                        STEVEN MILES

plans producing standardised results; what          urban boosters, or which constructs an ideal-
Short (1989) calls the new international            ised middle class of what a city should be,
blandscape “sterile and lacking in imagin-          but one that genuinely engages with the
ation” (Owen, 1993, p. 15). Such cities are         people that make a city what it is.
only distinguished from each other on artifi-
cial grounds—grounds constructed symboli-
                                                    NewcastleGateshead Quayside
cally by the marketeer
                                                    In order for a genuine public debate to take
  The ready-made identities assigned by city
                                                    place and in order to understand the impact
  boosters and disseminated through the mass
                                                    of culture-led regeneration and in particular
  media often reduce several different visions
                                                    the relationship between iconic projects and
  of local culture into a single vision that
                                                    a sense of place and space, it is essential to
  reflects the aspirations of a powerful elite
                                                    contextualise the historical and sociological
  and the values, lifestyles, and expectations
                                                    conditions under which such circumstances
  of potential investors and tourists. These
                                                    arise. This approach is not one that sits very
  practices are thus highly elitist and exclu-
                                                    happily with the short-termism associated
  sionary, and often signify to more disadvan-
                                                    with an approach to cultural policy that
  taged segments of the population that they
                                                    seeks to ‘prove’ the cultural case (Bailey
  have no place in this revitalized and gentri-
                                                    et al., 2004). An approach that prioritises the
  fied urban spectacle (Broudehoux, 2004,
                                                    meaning attached to iconic developments
  p. 26).
                                                    may prove far more beneficial in determining
Dicks (2003, p. 82) points out that the under-      why a development is successful. This article
lying rationale behind flagship redevelopmet        will therefore focus on the findings that are
projects is, in the above context, to generate      beginning to emerge from a 10-year longitudi-
new consumer demand by attracting new visi-         nal project, the Cultural Investments and Stra-
tors and shoppers to the city and thus “is rarely   tegic Impact Research (CISIR)1 project funded
directed primarily at improving the quality of      by Gateshead Borough Council, Newcastle
life of existing residents”. Dicks discusses the    City Council, The Arts Council, England,
redevelopment of Cardiff Bay as an example          One NorthEast and Culture North-East,
of regeneration that could be accused of            which is concerned with the social, economic
distancing the project from its locality and        and cultural impact of cultural investment
thus from the existing local culture. Mean-         on NewcastleGateshead Quayside. Although
while, Broudehoux goes on to argue that a           just 3 years through its 10-year course, this
city’s cultural capital cannot be easily mani-      research is beginning to indicate that iconic
pulated, insofar as inappropriately blatant         projects can serve a significant ideological
image construction will inevitably give rise        function, at least if at the right place in the
to tensions and political conflicts. In effect,     right time, as far as they play a key role in
the representation of a city must do more           not simply reflecting a sense of local identity
than simply construct a ‘pseudo-place’              but in actually rearticulating and reconfigur-
(Augé, 1995).                                      ing that identity in complex and paradoxical
   It will be suggested in this article that an     ways.
economically driven vision of culture-led              NewcastleGateshead Quayside has in
regeneration may serve to underestimate the         recent years undergone a remarkable trans-
diverse meanings which all social groups            formation. Millions of pounds of public and
potentially invest in a development like that       private investment have revitalised the Quay-
on NewcastleGateshead Quayside. It is in            side both in the eyes of its people and, perhaps
this context that Bianchini and Schwengel           even more so, in the eyes of the outside world
(1991) call for a genuinely public debate           (Minton, 2003). This revitalisation centres
about the reimagining of cities, a debate that      around three iconic pieces of architecture:
is not left to the marketing strategy and           the BALTIC Contemporary Art Gallery built
‘OUR TYNE’                                          917

for £46 million; the Sage Gateshead Music          common good. The Quayside has long pro-
Centre designed by Foster and Partners at a        vided a focal point for the region and, indeed,
cost of £70 million and the Gateshead Millen-      appears to be becoming increasingly important
nium Bridge built at a cost of £22 million         in this respect. However, the marriage between
which in combination have served to redefine       Newcastle and Gateshead is largely symbolic
an area of industrial decline. The BALTIC is a     in nature and one issue this research will seek
new contemporary arts centre that overlooks        to address is the degree to which the renaming
the River Tyne. The Arts Council National          process is ‘owned’ by the people of Newcastle
Lottery funded project saw the conversion,         and Gateshead.
by Gateshead Borough Council, of a 1940s              According to DCMS figures, the total of
grain warehouse into the largest gallery for       around £250 million investment by Gateshead
contemporary art in the UK which aimed to          Council on the Quayside in order to construct
attract 400 000 visitors annually. Originally      this world-class arts, leisure and residential
conceived as an art factory, a place for           development has in turn generated over £1
artists from all over the world to work, the       billion in private-sector funding. Given the
BALTIC has no permanent collection and             public reception of the Quayside develop-
boasts five generous spaces for contemporary       ments, common-sense would suggest that the
exhibitions. Opened to the public in December      NewcastleGateshead Quayside represents
2004, The Sage Gateshead is not envisaged          something of a success. In policy circles,
purely as a music venue. It is also a home         NewcastleGateshead is often heralded as an
for the Northern Sinfonia and Folkworks as         example of the immense potential of invest-
well as a Music Education Centre. The rein-        ment of this kind (Minton, 2003). However,
vention of Gateshead Quay, which also              it would of course be grossly misleading to
includes residential developments and two          assume that the iconic nature of these devel-
international hotels, is linked to the Newcastle   opments guarantees success or that investment
side of the Tyne by the Millennium Bridge,         at a similar level will automatically kick-start
the world’s first tilting bridge which was         regeneration elsewhere. There is, indeed, a
opened in September 2001 and won the               body of work that questions the ‘just add
RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 2002.      culture and stir’ school of thought (Evans,
In combination, these developments have            2001; Gibson and Stevenson, 2004; Jones
given new life to NewcastleGateshead Quay-         and Wilks-Heeg, 2004).
side, providing the region with a renewed             Most importantly, the culture of a place is
public focal point. It is, however, important      an essential ingredient to the success of
to remember that the development of the            culture-led regeneration (Jayne, 2004). The
Quayside has not been without its political        DCMS (2004, p. 22) itself recognises that
tensions.                                          the initial economic surge produced by a
   The history of the relationship between         large project “can be difficult to sustain
Newcastle City Council and Gateshead               unless it is part of a wider regeneration and
Council has not always been an easy one.           unless it is formally rooted in the community”.
The notion of NewcastleGateshead is in             The NewcastleGateshead example serves to
itself a construction of the destination-market-   illustrate how complicated such a relationship
ing agency Newcastle Gateshead Initiative,         can be, not least in its construction of public
intent on cashing in on both the reputation        space which frames
of Newcastle upon Tyne as a regional capital
and party city, and the cultural iconicity on        a vision of social life in the city, a vision
the Gateshead side of the Tyne. The develop-         both for those who live there, and interact
ments on the Quayside have undoubtedly               in urban public spaces every day, and for
played a key role in highlighting the potential      the tourists, commuters, and wealthy folks
benefits to be had from the two councils             who are free to flee the city’s needy
putting their local rivalry to one side for the      embrace (Zukin, 1995, p. 259).
918                                       STEVEN MILES

The relationship between iconic develop-           A Centre of Urban Sociability
ments on the Quayside and the wider commu-
                                                   The Quayside is a space that is well accus-
nity lies at the heart of the CISIR project. The
                                                   tomed to change. However, at its heart
cultural dimension of the research programme
                                                   appears a long tradition of sociability. Over
has included a series of major surveys carried
                                                   the remainder of the research programme,
out by Market Research UK which seeks
                                                   the meaning of the Quayside will be addressed
information on cultural values and attendance
                                                   from a variety of angles, but the first step
among the local population and how these
                                                   along this path was constituted by a series of
factors relate to broader social and economic
                                                   group interviews undertaken with older resi-
indicators on a national basis. However, the
                                                   dents of Newcastle and Gateshead who were
degree to which statistical data can inform
                                                   identified through Age Concern. The inter-
our understanding of the actual meaning of
                                                   views were limited to older people in order
culture-led regeneration is doubtful, not least
                                                   to address the meanings attached to the
because changes in attendance are often used
                                                   historical development of the Quayside in
to justify public funding in the arts.
                                                   as focused a fashion as possible. The aim
    In terms of measuring the apparent willing-
                                                   of these interviews was to tap into the role
ness of the population of NewcastleGateshead
                                                   of the Quayside as a key urban space and to
to take ownership of development on the
                                                   address the meanings with which people
Quayside, it is worth noting that CISIR
                                                   have endowed that space over time. Questions
respondents were advised that expenditure
                                                   of historical and cultural change are funda-
on the bridge, the BALTIC and the SAGE
                                                   mental to the meanings that underpin
Gateshead amounted to £250 million about
                                                   people’s relationships with the Quayside as
half of which came from public expenditure.
                                                   the following quotations from older residents
Sixty-six per cent of NewcastleGateshead
                                                   of NewcastleGateshead indicate. The Quay-
respondents in 2003 thought this was a
                                                   side has always been a social space
reasonable amount, an insignificant drop
from 69 per cent who felt the same in 2002.          Everybody spoke to everybody down on the
This compares with 27 per cent who felt this         Quayside in the ’40s. Perfect strangers. It
expenditure was too high in 2003 and 23 per          didn’t matter. But nobody did anything
cent in 2002—further evidence that the devel-        about the quayside. It was a disgrace! But,
opment has strong public support. Indeed, 95         there was an excitement about it. It was a
per cent of respondents in NewcastleGateshead        change to get out of the house.
in 2003 felt that the Quayside was improving
                                                     You saw all life down there in all its stages!
the national image of the area while 89
per cent felt that the developments were           For decades, the Quayside was a focal point
creating local pride in the area. But of           for family outings. One Gateshead resident
course the above data do not in themselves         who used to live in Washington recalled
prove anything. Granted, the CISIR project         how an annual visit to the Quayside was one
is beginning to unearth evidence that the          of the most exciting events of the year
Quayside is starting to have a significant
                                                     It was a great adventure. My family would
impact on people’s attitudes to culture (Bailey
                                                     be waiting to hear about what had gone on.
et al. 2004). However, as Evans (2004)
suggests, it remains notoriously difficult            The Quayside was an industrious place but
to define and to quantify the social impacts       also a place characterised by comradeship and
of cultural activity. In order to delve            repartee: “[We] always enjoyed pay day
beneath the surface of cultural investment,        because [we] got paid in the pub”. The Quay-
it is indeed necessary to address the meanings     side was a vibrant place, perhaps personified
with which local people endow the                  above all by Paddy’s market which was the
Quayside and have endowed the Quayside             main attraction on a Sunday afternoon. Mem-
over time.                                         ories of the Quayside were overwhelmingly
‘OUR TYNE’                                           919

positive as were opinions about more recent        The Quayside may have been ‘dirty’ and
developments: “And what is the BALTIC,             ‘rotten’, but that was in a sense irrelevant
the BALTIC then was a flour mill, but to me        because it belonged to the people of Tyneside
it is a tourist attraction now. It’s lovely”. It
                                                     It was very dirty, it was just a dirty old hole,
is indeed worth remembering that for a
                                                     excuse me. But it was our Tyne you know.
period the Quayside was, according to these
                                                     It was where Tyneside people were brought
respondents, pretty much derelict and
                                                     up. And they knew this.
unloved, a row of unremarkable warehouses
and sheds—“In the 1960s I used to be a city        In many ways, as it is perhaps today, the Tyne
guide and I used to be ashamed if it was my        was a ‘focal point’ for the people of Tyneside.
turn to go down by the Cooperage because it        It was indeed, “the heart of Tyneside, the city
was such a filthy horrible site to show            grew up from there”. It is under these circum-
people”. Things have changed considerably,         stances that the Quayside retains its aura as a
many of the older people having visitors           symbol of the north-east.
who expressly want to see the Quayside                Culture-led regeneration does not inevit-
                                                   ably lead to the construction of a ‘blandscape’.
  It is just a tourist attraction now because
                                                   Critics of developments on the Quayside in
  people want to go there. I send cards to
                                                   the 1990s may have been justified in describ-
  my family in Canada with the bridge on
                                                   ing the mixture of office, bars and restaurants
  and early on in the year I had my sister-
                                                   on the Newcastle side in this fashion.
  in-law and my niece and they wanted to
                                                   However, in combination with the iconic pro-
  go down and see the bridge and wanted to
                                                   jects across the river, the Quayside offers
  go and see the BALTIC. My sister-in-law
                                                   something very different. The Millennium
  was not Canadian she was English as well
                                                   Bridge, the BALTIC and the Sage Gateshead
  and she had an idea of what it was like
                                                   are symbols of the future rooted in the past.
  before she left and she wanted to go and
                                                   This is no better expressed than in the case
  compare and see what she thought of it.
                                                   of the BALTIC which was built in the shell
  We went on a day trip. It made my day            of a disused flour mill. As Moore and Abbas
  when I went down there and saw the               (2004) and Forrest and Kearns (1999)
  bridge it was the first time I had been          suggest, the physical environment has an
  down and it just made my day the way the         important role to play in fostering community
  whole area had changed.                          morale and indeed for building bridges
                                                   between generations and groups in a local
Even given their undoubted fondness for the
                                                   community. The iconic projects on the Quay-
past, for these older people the Quayside is
                                                   side provide an avenue through which this
symbolic of a new improved Newcastle-
                                                   potential can conceivably be realised.
Gateshead
  [In those days] everything had to be loaded
                                                   Behind the Quayside
  in the right way otherwise it would prob-
  ably go down there or go down there you          It is not enough to say that investment on
  know but it had to be done in a proper           iconic projects on the Quayside feeds into
  manner. But as I say it is progress in a lot     the identity of the people in the region. What
  of ways but apart from feeling sad about         is it, under these circumstances, about the
  not having this kind of thing now I do           identity of the north-east that makes the
  think it has improved and we are making          Quayside developments work in the way they
  use of the Quayside now and making               do? As Byrne (1999) indicates, the North’s
  money for Tyneside and Gateshead which           cultural identity is very much the product of
  is amalgamated now which they weren’t            the mixing of immigrant populations from
  at one time. It was dirty old Gateshead          Ireland, Scotland, Cumberland, Yorkshire,
  and rotten Newcastle it was.                     Scandinavia and other places in England
920                                      STEVEN MILES

who were attracted to the area by the prospect      and political geography         of   England
of high wages. The banks of the River Tyne          (Wrightson, 1995, p. 29).
once housed shipbuilding, chemical works,
coalmining and other heavy industry that lay      According to this view, pride qualified by
at the heart of the industrial might of the       anxiety breeds truculence. Perhaps it is in
north-east (MacPherson, 1993). However,           this way that cultural initiatives such as
deindustrialisation brought with it urban         those we have described have apparently had
decay as Power and Mumford (1999) point           such a fundamental impact on local peoples:
out. In discussing the Newcastle example,         the NewcastleGateshead Quayside gave the
Power describes a situation in which Newcas-      people of the region something tangible with
tle had entered a cycle of escalating physical    which they could reassert their collective
decay in which houses were progressively          identities. The sociability generally associated
being abandoned and boarded up. The               with the people of Newcastle also plays an
causes of such a development, as Hall             important role here. Newcastle, for instance,
(2002) points out, were complex but charac-       was recently voted one of the world’s top 10
terised by the long-term structural decline of    party cities by the Weisman Travel Agency.
the economy, notably during the 1970s and         Lancaster points out that the working classes
1980s, and thus long-term unemployment,           have been the ‘leading’ class in Newcastle
with poor-performing schools perpetuating         for two centuries, the local élite having aban-
the problem, plus social disorder and even        doned the city for the mansions of the Tyne
gang warfare. This was a particular problem       valley. The end product of all this is a noisy
in west Newcastle, despite signs that the city    and confident city and a city that is having
centre itself was by the turn of the millennium   to adapt to social, economic and cultural
beginning to show signs of something of an        change: a city that fulfils many of the key
urban renaissance with a thriving city centre     requirements of successful city-making
                                                  (Hall, 1998). As Lancaster puts it
  attracting not merely tourists and night-
  time visitors but also now residents who          Cities never stay still, they are always chan-
  were colonizing converted warehouses              ging, consciously or unconsciously trying
  and new apartment blocks: urban renais-           to be something else. Cities are places
  sance and urban collapse were standing            where people strive to overcome the nega-
  side by side, sometimes as little as a mile       tive effects of past and current circum-
  apart (Hall, 2002, p. 418).                       stances and struggle to create meaning,
                                                    joy and hope in the place that history has
Global circumstances and the deindustrialisa-       located them (Lancaster, 1995, p. 7).
tion of the north-east created a set of circum-
stances in which regional particularity had to    It is this sense that the emphasis needs to be
be transferred from production to consump-        placed on the relationship between individuals
tion and this was an essentially divisive         and their physical and social relationships,
process (Vall, 1999). In this context, Keith      because it is this relationship that underpins
Wrightson’s thesis that Northern identity is      the transactional nature of place. From this
about pride and truculence is insightful          perspective, places are in a constant state of
                                                  flux as the town ‘rubs off’ on its residents in
  A northern upbringing frequently involves       a processual fashion. From this point of
  the inculcation of an unusually powerful        view, individuals actively construct and
  set of attachments to place; a deep rooting     construe the experience of their immediate
  in a particular physical, social and cultural   environment which is more than simply the
  environment. At the same time, however,         product of broader cultural processes, but is
  those loyalties are strongly inflected,         about the relationship between people and
  almost from the outset, by awareness of a       place (Bonnes et al., 2003; Twigger-Ross
  questionable place within the larger social     and Uzzell, 1996).
‘OUR TYNE’                                           921

   Many commentators struggle to grapple            give the people who lived there other
with the identities of spaces and places and        regions of identity beyond their own
how those identities are played out through         poverty. Essentially, the last few decades
history and NewcastleGateshead is no excep-         of prosperity have righted the injustice
tion in providing a significant challenge to        these city people suffered, but at the cost
sociologists, geographers and historians alike      of the breakup of their group life (Sennett,
(Minton, 2003). But the example of Newcas-          1970, p. 53).
tleGateshead Quayside also raises the possi-
bility that investment in culture is not simply   From this point of view, city life is less
about regenerating the local economy, but         unpredictable and more coherent than it was
can actually serve to revitalise the identities   in the past and, while this might be a good
of the people of a city and even of a region;     thing in terms of the efficiency of the city, it
that it can provide new ways for those            is not so good for us as human beings.
people to look into themselves and out of         Above all, a new centring on home and
themselves. In other words, it can reinvigorate   family has created a situation in which social
the relationship between cultural, place and      spaces are conceived as intimate and small
personal identity and offer a permanent           and therefore based around the home. In
legacy. Such a realisation has significant        short, Sennett argues that the essence and
implications for the ways in which policy-        diversity of urban life have been undermined
makers engage with and indeed place expec-        leaving a situation in which our cities are
tations upon iconic cultural projects. As         crying out for new forms of complexity.
Hunt puts it                                         The argument being presented here is that
                                                  yes, in some respects the iconic cultural devel-
  The most successful cultural enterprises        opments represented on the Quayside and
  rightly announce themselves with an archi-      taken at face value are inevitably socially
  tectural statement, but they also draw on       exclusive. The apartment buildings that have
  indigenous traditions which appeal to the       been developed immediately behind the
  city’s self-identity. Yet all of them suffer    BALTIC are more accessible to some social
  from a common dependency upon lottery           groups than others. At least some of the art
  and state funds which ensures that so           presented in BALTIC is inevitably more
  much cultural regeneration is dangerously       accessible to some social groups than others.
  dependent upon political fashion and            In many respects then, this project is inevita-
  consumer trends. Grand-standing, high-          bly one formed around the building-blocks
  prestige developments funded by outside         of economic and cultural capital. However,
  quangos usually falter if there is no local     those building-blocks can potentially produce
  talent or support networks behind them          new forms of complexity and diverse experi-
  (Hunt, 2004, p. 348).                           ence that may transcend this superficial
In his book The Uses of Disorder, Richard         exclusivity. Moreover, perhaps iconic devel-
Sennett (1970, p. 51) argues that in reconcep-    opments such as that on NewcastleGateshead
tualising the city we should not be seeking to    Quayside can successfully tap into and recon-
restore utopian visions of a small intimate       figure aspects of place identity. Perhaps the
urban sociability, but should rather seek to      Quayside will work because it offers a
find “some condition of urban life appropriate    diverse range of new experiences, juxtaposing
for an affluent, technological era”. Sennett      aspects of the arts, night-life culture and pride
argues that in an ever-elaborate bureaucratic     in place, that mean different things for differ-
and technological world, the social dimen-        ent social groups and different identities.
sions of urban life have rather been neglected    Lefebvre (1991) argues that the success of a
                                                  city image depends upon the degree to
  There were hidden threads of social struc-      which the physical image of a city and its
  ture in . . . poor city areas, threads that     rhetorical image complement each other.
922                                        STEVEN MILES

Perhaps NewcastleGateshead Quayside will            example at least hints at the fact that this
succeed in traversing the rhetorical to             need not always be the case. One interpret-
provide a new form of urban sociability.            ation of the Quayside is as a centre of
   Landmark sites such as that on Newcastle-        consumption, playing to the aesthetic sensibil-
Gateshead Quayside have a significant sym-          ities of the middle classes (Pollard, 2004). But
bolic and material power. They make a power-        that is one interpretation amongst many. It
ful statement about a place and that place’s        could equally be argued that global forms of
intentions. But that statement is not, as we        consumption that appear on the surface to be
might assume, imposed upon the people of a          imposed are actually renegotiated at the
city. Its meanings are at least potentially         local level (Evans, 2001). It is in this sense
open to negotiation and it is the nature of         that the Quayside has emerged as a focal
that negotiation that researchers need to deci-     point for the ‘imagining’ of Newcastle-
pher if research into iconic culture-led regen-     Gateshead; an imagining that has developed
eration is to teach us any genuine lessons.         into a mobilising force in the public realm of
There is no one public space, as Zukin              governance in Newcastle and Gateshead
(1995) suggests. Urban space is experienced         (Healey, 2002). Politically, the Quayside has
space and just because one space provides cul-      been a catalyst for revitalising a climate of
tural opportunities that may appear to fit more     political collaboration between two rival
readily into the habitus of a particular social     councils. The challenge now is to maintain
group, does not necessarily mean to say it rep-     momentum; to use these iconic projects as a
resents a form of oppression to another. It may     foundation upon which culture-led regener-
indeed provide a means, however symbolic, of        ation can undermine those aspects of social
escaping from that oppression. Ultimately,          polarisation that are so often the inevitable
landmark sights and in particular, waterfront       consequence of post-industrial developments
regeneration schemes are the product of a           of this kind. But this is only the beginning of
complex of local, cultural, economic and his-       the story. If social polaristation is to be
torical factors (Bassett et al., 2002). As Breen    avoided, the iconography of the Quayside
and Rigby argue                                     needs to precipitate a permanent legacy
                                                    which taps into the cultural lives of all social
  Waterfront redevelopment and expansion
                                                    groups. The BALTIC and the Sage Gateshead
  is, in short, the best current example glob-
                                                    are at least vocal in their determination to
  ally of the resilience of cities, of their
                                                    appeal to a broad range of social groups,
  ability to adapt to changed circumstances,
                                                    notably through Sage Gateshead’s efforts to
  to adjust to new technological impacts, to
                                                    incorporate all forms of musical performance
  seize opportunities and to forge new
                                                    and through both organisations’ education
  images for themselves, as well as to create
                                                    programmes. Whether success is achieved in
  new or altered neighbourhoods for their
                                                    this regard, only time will tell.
  inhabitants. . . . Urban waterfront projects
  do not always succeed. But where they
  do, they have a dramatic and visible              Conclusions
  impact that is capable not only of enriching
                                                    The meaning of ‘culture’ and the impact of
  a city’s economy but of improving its
                                                    cultural provision on place is in a sense intan-
  collective self-image (Breen and Rigby,
                                                    gible. Of course human beings endow places
  1996, p. 11).
                                                    with meaning and thus identity is a socio-
Healey (2002) has also suggested that civic         spatial phenomenon (Neill, 2004). Liggett
attention and thus cultural identity are drifting   (1995, p. 252) therefore suggests that rep-
away from grand public plazas and architec-         resentational space is heavily loaded and
tural monuments. Nowadays, the football             deeply symbolic: calling upon shared experi-
club or the retail precinct is the centre of        ences and interpretations at a profound level.
civic attention. But the NewcastleGateshead         From this point of view, iconic projects
‘OUR TYNE’                                           923

provide a key source of cultural meaning.           as compared with the other and by common
Alternatively, Zukin (1991, p. 268) argues          characteristics shared by a particular social
that urban space structures people’s “percep-       or indeed geographical group. Hall goes on
tions, interactions, and sense of well-being        to describe cultural identity as a sort of
or despair, belonging or alienation”. In this       shared culture, a collective true self or
context, I want to suggest that the Quayside,       common ancestry which may take precedence
the oldest part of Newcastle and until the          over other aspects of identity. For this reason,
19th century the commercial hub of the city,        iconic developments cannot be understood in
represents an especially important represen-        isolation. As Hayden et al. put it
tational space for the north-east and thus
                                                      Restoring significant shared meanings for
plays a key role in structuring the above
                                                      many neglected urban spaces involves
emotions. In many respects the Quayside has
                                                      claiming the entire cultural landscape as
always been at the centre of the region, in
                                                      an important part of history, not just its
terms of the region’s industrial heritage, not
                                                      architectural monuments (Hayden et al.,
least given the iconography of the Tyne
                                                      1996, p. 109).
Bridge opened in 1929. Thus, the contention
that meanings can become more important             The Quayside development is therefore a key
than the facts in policy deliberation is a pres-    ingredient in what Moore and Abbas (2004)
cient one (Neill, 2004). But perhaps the key        describe as the yet unexplored symbiotic
point here is that policy-makers and local          relationship between culture and place, but
people alike align themselves to imagined           more specifically perhaps, the relationship
communities and in this case to an imagined         between cultural history and space.
post-industrial future. The Quayside offers            There is, of course, no straightforward
the possibility of an optimistic future in an       answer to the question, can culture make
otherwise pessimistic age. However, the opti-       cities work? The impact of cultural investment
mism engendered in such iconic develop-             in iconic projects is highly site-specific. There
ments is rooted in the foundations provided         is no magic formula for success. But the
by NewcastleGateshead’s industrial past.            important point here and one that deserves
   The cultural identity of a place is not simply   further investigation is that despite the politi-
the product of the moment, but of the evol-         cal nature of culture-led regeneration it does
ution and adaptability of time. For this            not necessarily produce a meaningless bland-
reason, questions of identity should lie at the     scape. Such a view represents an aesthetic
heart of the discussion of NewcastleGateshead,      simplification and not one that seeks to
and also in discussions of culture-led regene-      engage with the meanings with which
ration more generally. This is a point taken        people endow iconic projects such as that
up by Neill (2004), who refers to Hall, who in      on NewcastleGateshead Quayside. I am
turn argues that                                    not suggesting here that an approach to the
                                                    impact of iconic projects in the urban land-
  identification is constructed through
                                                    scape should be uncritical; far from it. But
  common origin and shared characteristics
                                                    any such analysis should be steeped in the his-
  with people and groups, or perhaps with
                                                    torical identities of people and places which
  an ideal, and the solidarity that emanates
                                                    can therefore provide a starting-point from
  from that ideal (Hall, 1996, p. 13).
                                                    which critical analyses can develop.
In other words, identity is processual, marked         Developments on NewcastleGateshead
by power relationships and uses a variety of        Quayside emerged from a spirit in which poli-
cultural building materials from history,           ticians, policy-makers and Arts activists were
geography, religion, sexuality and so on            determined to provide the region with the
(Castells, 1997). The construction of identity      world-class facilities they thought it deserved.
is as likely to be based on the symbolic            And yet Broudehoux paints a picture in which
as it is on the real: by imagined differences       city leaders manipulate
924                                         STEVEN MILES

  cultural forms and symbols to engineer con-        Vegara’s thoughts on Bilbao are especially
  sensus among city residents, foster local          pertinent here
  pride, and promote a shared sense of iden-
                                                          The greatest miracle that Bilbao is experi-
  tity . . . urban beautification also has a depo-
                                                          encing is a dramatic change in attitude.
  liticizing effect, and detracts attention from
                                                          The feelings of failure and pessimism
  social and economic inequities by reducing
                                                          brought about by prolonged economic
  the city to a surface assumed to be trans-
                                                          crisis and political conflicts have given
  parent and unproblematic (Broudehoux,
                                                          way to a collective optimism . . . The majo-
  2004, p. 27).
                                                          rity of the Basque community—the public
                                                          institutions, the private sector, and the
                                                          civil society—is now convinced that it is
In constructing such an image of iconic cul-
                                                          indeed possible to reinvent Bilbao and the
tural development, Broudehoux presents a
                                                          Basque Country in the new post-industrial
rather static image of city life and the mean-
                                                          age. This is the true miracle of Bilbao
ings people attach to it. The iconic projects
                                                          (Vegara, 2001, p. 94).
on NewcastleGateshead Quayside are land-
mark buildings that undoubtedly contribute           The degree of social and economic control
to the pride and confidence of people in the         that the south continues to exert over the
region; an essential element to any pro-             north may or may not be exaggerated, but
gramme of urban regeneration (Forrest and            the fact that London’s Millennium Bridge
Kearns, 1999). But to describe this process          wobbled and Gateshead’s did not is undeni-
as depoliticising underestimates the degree          ably real. It is real for NewcastleGateshead
to which the meanings which people invest            as a city seeking to establish a sense of itself
in developments of this kind are individua-          for consumption by the outside world, but
lised and place-specific. As Zukin (1995)            most importantly it is real for the people
puts it, public space constitutes a window           who have lived all their lives in one or other
into a city’s soul. NewcastleGateshead Quay-         of these two cities sitting either side of the
side tells you as much about the north-east’s        Tyne.
industrial past as its ambitions for a post-
industrial future. Although in its early days,
the CISIR programme aspires to understand            Note
the degree to which that future can be a             1.     The CISIR programme of research is being
reality for the people of NewcastleGateshead                conducted by colleagues at the Centre for Cul-
                                                            tural Policy and Management, Northumbria
and the north-east. The programme will con-                 University.
tinue to do so by seeking to analyse the way
meaning is constructed around the Quayside,
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