Cultural Led Regeneration Essay

Cultural-led regeneration has become an important part of revitalising of old economic and socially deprived cities since it came into existence around 1980s. Cultural-led regeneration is a process that focuses on using methods based on culture and cultural activities as a catalyst to restore cities and regions which have been economic and socially affected due to de industrialisation. The Department for culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) mention in the report titled ‘The contribution of Culture to Regeneration in the UK’ which described regeneration as ‘breathing new life and vitality into an ailing community, industry and areas bringing sustainable, long-terms improvements to local quality of life’ (Evans and Shaw, 2004). Culture-led regeneration programmes are implemented in order to foster a new image for a city or region (Doucet, 2007), this regeneration process helps to establish a new hyped up profile for the city and region and aids in boosting the economic and socially suffered city’s morale.
In the UK many cities and regions underwent cultural-led regeneration as they experienced colossal economic changes and in turn lost their industrial bases and jobs, thus it created a need for them to reinvent themselves through cultural-led regeneration. When the city of Glasgow won the European capital of culture title in 1990, it encouraged other regions as Liverpool and Manchester to establish their own cultural identity. This essay will discuss whether Cultural-led regeneration (CLR) has transformed the region of Tyne and Wear and how it has impacted the