Urban Art Forum
Including Culture In Development A step-by-step guide
Published by: Urban Land Institute Edited by: Sarah Jarvis, Placeworks Copyright: Urban Land Institute October 2019 Contact: Jacqui Collins, Business Development and Member Networks, Urban Land Institute T: +44 (0) 20 7487 9582 E: jacqui.collins@uli.org
Acknowledgements: Steering Group: AECOM, Christopher Choa, Eime Tobari Built-ID, Savannah de Savary Contemporary Art Society, Fabienne Nicholas Ed Watson & Associates, Ed Watson Futurecity, Sherry Dobbin Greater London Authority, Rachael Roe International WELL Building Institute, Victoria Lockhart Launch Pad, Sarah Elson OPDC, Frederique Jungman PLP Architecture, Hala El Akl PLP Labs, Alex Davidson Sound Diplomacy, Shain Shapiro Urban Land Institute, Liz Waller Case Study Contributors: AECOM, Jonathan Rose Argent LLP, Anna Strongman Art Night, Fatos Ustek Bow Arts Trust, Marcel Baettig British Land, Rosie Glenn and David Lockyer City of London Corporation, Simon Glynn Fletcher Priest Architects, Nicholas Worley Found in Music, Julia Jones JLL, Alexandra Jezeph Makerversity, Krissie Hayman S Mark Gubb, Artist Michael Pinsky, Artist Outset, Creative Land Trust, Candida Gertler Peabody Housing Association, Adriana Marques Quintain, James Saunders RESOLVE Collective, Gameli Ladzekpo Salter Property, Gary Salter Sara Barker, Artist Somerset House, Marie McPartlin and Karishma Rafferty Something & Son, Andy Merrit Somewhere, Karen Guthrie St Edward, Travis Crawford Stanhope PLC, Henry Williams and Ron German University of Cambridge, Jeremy Sanders UP Projects, Emma Underhill Wembley Park, Claudio Giambrone Diagrams and maps by PLP Labs
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Contents
Foreword 1 Introduction Part I
Six Steps to Success Top Tips from the Case Studies
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Part II
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Team
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Case Studies
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Foreword by Christopher Choa and Hala El Akl It’s not surprising, perhaps, that the places people most want to visit, live and work in are those that delight or engage them. We would go further. We believe the reason many of these buildings and spaces are successful is the same: culture and art lie at the very heart of their DNA. We are the Urban Art Forum, a cross-sector group of passionate and experienced built environment professionals, brought together by Urban Land Institute UK. Our more than 45,000 members have delivered game-changing developments around the world, successfully harnessing culture to create places that are resilient and inclusive, attractive and popular. This guide has been compiled with contributions from the Mayor of London’s Culture and Creative Industries team and complements the other existing guidance promoting the creation and protection of London’s rich and diverse cultural infrastructure, such as the Cultural Infrastructure Plan and Map. We know culture is increasingly important in the shifting property and policy landscape. The reasons you want – or have been asked – to include a cultural element in your development will often be environmental or social as much as economic. But if you have never worked with artists and creative collaborators before this can seem daunting. Where do you begin? Whether it’s by experienced developers, or public sector agencies newly tasked with developing assets, we are regularly asked this question. To answer it, we have drawn together
conversations, analysis, and understandings – of great developments and those that are getting it wrong. We have developed this guide: the Urban Art Forum’s first publication. Adding an element of art or a cultural use to a development is widely seen as a way to make it distinctive and add value, but imitating what has apparently worked elsewhere misses the point. Our key message is simple: The cultural opportunity for a development should not just be bolted on or copied – in successful developments cultural opportunities respond to a specific, shared vision, meaningful to the site and the goals of all its stakeholders. To get the most from cultural engagement you must root it in your project from the start, so it is as carefully agreed and appraised as any other aspect. And yet so often this stage is overlooked entirely. We hope this guide will help more places successfully build in the joys, challenges and distinctiveness of culture, and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed knowledge and ideas. Above all, we invite you get in touch and share your own experiences of creating great developments with culture at their heart.
Hala El Akl ULI UK Urban Art Forum Chair
Christopher Choa ULI Global Trustee
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Introduction
1. What does this guide do? Aimed at developers, this guidance provides support with the process of identifying and agreeing the right cultural opportunity for a development site, from public art to cultural infrastructure.
2. Why does culture enrich development? Culture takes many forms, including dance, film, exhibitions, festivals, street art, theatre, digital manufacture, historic sites and more. Culture is about people, and it can engage them in all kinds of development.
Including culture within development has often been understood as starting with a list of cultural possibilities and forcing one of them to fit the development. This guide presents six steps that will achieve far richer results, backed up by case studies learning from diverse developments.
Whether the goal is to involve existing communities in neighbourhood regeneration or to draw audiences to new cultural infrastructure, such as studios and workshops where culture is ‘produced’, or galleries, parks or theatres where it is ‘consumed’, this engagement through culture is good not only for investors and developers, and their design and marketing teams, but also for local communities, planning authorities, people working in creative industries and the artists and cultural professionals who will help bring the development to life.
It complements and can be read alongside other detailed guidance already available about public art and cultural infrastructure.1
As well as providing new spaces, developments can also protect existing cultural infrastructure. Both are essential to ensure London remains the global capital for arts and culture, the ambition set out the Mayor of London’s Cultural Infrastructure Plan.
1, see Further Resources, p.52
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‘Think about the story you want to tell about your development – art can tell that story vividly.’ Rosie Glenn British Land
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3. When should you use this guide? Having a clear route through the crucial earliest stages of a development – in design terms preceding RIBA Stage1 – ensures the right people are round the table, and are able to have a more informed, productive dialogue on their priorities, vision and opportunities. This will produce a creative brief that is both achievable and meaningful. A clear message from the case studies is that the earlier the discussion begins, the more options will be available and the more cost-effectively they can be integrated into a scheme. However, nothing is set in stone – sometimes the concept of a cultural opportunity will appear later in a development, or change to reflect changing circumstances – and the steps outlined here can accommodate that too. Following these six steps throughout the development process will help keep discussion about the vision objective, stakeholders aligned and the cultural engagement ambitious.
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Each stakeholder will make different contributions, described in the table opposite, and each will have different needs and motivations. Acknowledging these differences can be helpful – for instance an investor may want to mitigate risk, a planning authority look for a positive impact on the wider neighbourhood, an artist might seek to raise challenges and questions – but more important is for stakeholders to think of themselves from the outset as a partnership, finding shared aims for the development and agreeing the cultural objectives to achieve these. This partnership, not any one individual, will be the cultural commissioner, agreeing the vision and goals that underlie and drive the cultural opportunity for the development.
The steps described are essential for all of the stakeholders. For the developer, investor and community this route provides a constructive and productive way in which to engage with artists and cultural providers; for the curator and artist it will ensure a well-thought through commission, with a client who will be open to challenging and even provocative ideas.
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4. Who will be involved? While the developer will be involved throughout, several other people will also work closely with the development at different stages. To unlock the cultural opportunity for a development a partnership of stakeholders should work alongside a creative professional – or ‘cultural collaborator’ – who will help identify the right match in terms of the artist and the project. The diagram to the right identifies at least nine potential people who will sit round the table at various times. These include the investor, architect and planning consultants, communications and branding professionals, the planning authority, local community, the artist, people working in creative industries and cultural professionals. These other stakeholders will be involved more or less at different stages. It is important everyone understands the whole process for this collaboration to work.
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Stakeholders’ Roles What to bring and what to gain by sitting at the table together: Contributions
Benefits
1 Local Authority
Provides connections to the Local Plan and other initiatives and programmes
Protects local economy and community, ensuring greater wellbeing and social health
2 Developer
Informs masterplanning of sites, offers opportunity for creative industries, offers their market research to inform future uses and users
Creates successful and distinctive places; embeds in the community
3 Local Community
Performs as expert on place, needs, history, existing opportunities and audiences
Brings enhanced provision, experiences, and wellbeing; increases exposure, access and engagement with culture
4 Creative Industry
Informs dynamic spaces to work, incubate and trade
Brings new sites; creates work with other creative partners to make place
5 Artist/Institution
Give insight into the needs of their sector; what public spaces are appealing; what institutional space is needed
Makes and displays work; engages new audiences to gain permanent institutional homes
6 Investor
Informs financial and social targets for success to shape choices
Creatively benefits and capitalises on diverse needs; provides opportunities to gain new investors
7 Design Professional
Creates cohesive design that makes exciting buildings and public realm
Offers greater potential for innovative design by participating early on
8 Communications and Branding
Articulates the vision that can guide development and mark a sustainable and authentic sense of place
Creates a distinctive narrative and identity
9 Cultural Professional
Identifies the shared opportunity and delivers meaningful translation between all stakeholders
Offers skilled guidance in selecting partners and approaches that will benefit over the immediate and long terms
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5. How does the guide work? Part I shows, in six steps, how understanding the needs and objectives of all the stakeholders will lead to successfully identifying and defining the right cultural opportunity: the right solution will come naturally from these shared goals. This is illustrated with evidence, starting with Ten Top Tips from the personal experience of some of the interviewees.
Language and collaboration Several of the case studies show how important a cultural professional, such as a curator, can be in mediating between the artist and the client partnership. One reason to work with creative collaborators is their ability to take seemingly contradictory or complex issues around a scheme’s identity, or priorities for development, and use these as a rich context for their work.
Part II brings to life this practical guidance of the steps with detailed examples from real developments, told by the people who worked on them and exposing challenges and solutions they experienced. The case studies are constructed as interviews from the perspectives of both the built environment commissioner and the artist/curator, and show how successful projects benefit each participant as well as the audience.
Exchanging ideas is essential for healthy collaboration and everyone should be aware that language they usually take for granted could sound like intimidating jargon to others. People who have never been involved in commissioning before may find it difficult to describe what they would like from a development. So while artists can and should be provocative or playful, they, and curators, should be able to present concepts plainly and openly so everyone understands the ideas behind them.
Step 2
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Part I
Six Steps to Success Ten Top Tips
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Six Steps to Success
These six steps set out a shared and achievable route to finding the right cultural match for a development. Getting Step 1 right – identifying and agreeing the vision – is key to what follows. It is where mistakes most often happen, so this step is explained in more detail to help get it right. Major developments will often have a requirement for a cultural element as part of their planning permission – and several of the case studies, including RELAY in King’s Cross, and the North West Cambridge Residency Programme, refer to these 106 agreements, as well as to a desire to go beyond the usual developer approach. The key is for all stakeholders to trust that this does not have to be a competitive negotiation. Following the six steps outlined here will result in finding commonalities – where shared objectives overlap – so the cultural opportunity will emerge without anyone compromising their objectives.
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Step 1
Agree a vision of success
Step 2
Establish benchmarks and measurements
Step 3
Select the cultural engagement
Step 4
Build an inventory of resources
Step 5
Create the strategic opportunity and engage a cultural professional
Step 6
Agree the cultural brief
Step 1
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Step 1 – Agree a vision of success
Objective: Identifying everyone’s priorities for the impacts and characteristics of the development will help create a clear vision of success. Question: What do you want to achieve? Key actions: 1. Form a working group. The people who will be delivering the project should start thinking and working as a partnership as soon as possible. This group is likely to include different people at different times throughout the development timeline. 2. Map priorities. Explore and capture in bullet point form the outcomes all stakeholders need the development to achieve. This should include the relevant planning and policy context for the site in local plans and cultural strategies. Is the site in a Creative Enterprise Zone, for example? This may require existing cultural infrastructure to be retained or new cultural infrastructure to be included in the development. Be as transparent and open to each other’s ideas as possible. 3. Identify the types of impacts and characteristics. An open, objective conversation can start to find natural intersections of priorities. Should the development’s impacts be economic, social or environmental, including natural or man-made? Are there particular requirements around quality, identity, health and wellbeing or community building? (There are some ways to help think about this on the following pages.) 4. Explore how culture can help achieve the priorities. This will help ensure culture is not seen as ‘additional’ later on. Aim to explain the type and role of cultural content or activity in the development as expressively as possible. More complex districts will require a wider cultural placemaking strategy and delivery plan.
Step 1
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5. Capture these goals and priorities in a loose, descriptive vision (see an example on the following pages). As this is for internal consumption only at this stage, there is no need to be too restrictive. However, make it clearly specific to this site, and not too generic. Consider using a facilitator to help explore and capture priorities. 6. Record all of the suggested ambitions and outcomes identified. Even if some of these are not included in the final vision, they will add detail to the eventual artist or cultural brief and help cultural collaborators trust you share similar values in what you both hope to achieve. 7. Keep options open as far as possible and continue to refine in the following steps. There is no need to make it a tightly drawn narrative just yet: the ‘cultural opportunity’ may well be an action, or programme, or artwork that links the disparate elements together.
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Step 1
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Finding shared priorities
At first, stakeholders’ priorities for the impact of the development might seem too disparate. To help identify common objectives, try overlaying three broad headings of social, economic and environmental goals into the discussion to find where priorities overlap:
Social goals can include bringing a new identity to an existing area, building a sense of place in a new or abandoned area, uniting different communities or introducing new or different activity in the area. Economic goals can include bringing economic benefits to the development, the local or wider area, and the existing or new community. Environmental goals can include setting out environmental and sustainability targets that the development must achieve, developing a brownfield site or creating new, natural public realm. Examples of a vision: ‘The development will create an appealing shared landscape (environment) that encourages more cross-community activity (social)’, or ‘the development needs to raise economic value in the area through challenging negative perceptions of provision (economic).’
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Types of impact
As well as broad objectives, consider the impact for the success of the development, for example in terms of:
Quality
Targeted Occupiers
Some developments will need to ensure the scheme is associated with high quality in terms of materials, design, etc., and this will also impact the type of cultural engagement identified.
Developments may want to attract new occupiers or consolidate existing activity with a strengthened identity, e.g. a creative or knowledge campus.
Activity
Community Building
The frequency, times of day, duration and type of activity may be key for a development.
Priorities for social sustainability can include knitting an existing community with new communities, the tenure and affordable housing mix, provisions for all ages, increasing cultural diversity growth and mixing of business with residential uses.
Perception Shift
Health and Wellbeing
New schemes may need to develop an identity before construction begins, while redevelopments and regeneration projects may wish to shift perceptions.
Well-designed green space or new leisure facilities will contribute to mental and social wellbeing, which can be considered alongside physical health – see the example on the following pages.
A focus on health and wellbeing Cultural interventions improving physical and social environments can bring health and wellbeing benefits to individuals and the community. Public art, for example, can bring people together through a shared experience in one place, and neighbourhoods can transform with a new sense of identity and pride. These are some recent examples where cultural interventions have brought direct benefits for health and wellbeing.
The process While developing your brief for both project and cultural intervention, consider how to support health and wellbeing in the following ways: 1. Improving daily environments Interventions can be designed to improve environmental factors known to undermine health, such as poor air quality, lights that disrupt sleep patterns, or harsh acoustics1, and support people in managing stress by strengthening our connection to nature.2 A vibrant green wall at Edgware Road Underground station in London provides a calming respite at a busy traffic junction. Planting has been selected to lower particulate levels nearby, a key health concern at this specific junction3, and greenery is known to improve mental health as well as reduce blood pressure and stress.4 2. Inspiring healthier long-term behaviour Providing real-time feedback to raise awareness on personal habits or local public health issues can help people adopt healthier options, and reinforce these into long-term choices. The piano stair in Odenplan subway station Stockholm – a simple intervention that translated footfall on each step into a musical pitch – inspired 66 percent more people
than usual to choose the stairs over the escalator.5 Trees in a park in Lille, France were given lungs that ‘breathed’ in and out with an animated flickering of light, the rhythm of which responded to ambient air quality. Being able to see quick shallow breaths during peak traffic hours made obvious the direct link between busy roads and degrading air quality, encouraging citizens to consider the community health impacts of their own transport choices.6 3. Building social networks Loneliness and social isolation are harmful to physical and mental health, with studies reporting a lack of social connections to be as damaging to health as 15 cigarettes a day, and increasing risk of cognitive decline, depression and dementia.7 Initiatives that
1-9, see References, p.53
help people form and maintain meaningful relationships are therefore valuable health and wellbeing interventions. Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park combines water, light, and glass to create a unique meeting point and reflection space – a buzzing hub for families and visitors and a welcome cooling respite in hot weather. Alongside, two illuminated totems display the faces of 1,000 Chicagoans of all ages, genders and ethnicity, reinforcing the inclusivity and diversity of the city.8 The Endless Stair, dRMM Architect’s temporary installation on the Tate Modern’s lawn as part of London Design Festival 2013, ignited the community’s imagination and became a natural magnet for visitors.9
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Step 2 – Establish benchmarks and measurements
Objective: Introducing a way to evaluate success early on will build the business case, help meet policy requirements and optimise the development’s impact. Question: How will you measure success? Key actions: 1. Establish existing benchmarks. Understand the situation now, and the difference between the benchmark and the vision. Documenting negative origins of the development or undervalued identity can provide rich context to inspire cultural collaborators. 2. Align measures for evaluation. To understand the shift in value, use, or design of the development, agree how to measure change. Consider some of the suggested outcomes that did not make it into the vision: they could be useful as Key Performance Indicators. 3. Indicators can help identify the nature of the cultural opportunity. The type of measurements chosen will also help the cultural collaborator understand what stakeholders expect from the cultural opportunity for the development. 4. Make measurement appropriate to communicate progress. To measure quality, track commentary by cultural influencers and references in case studies or other schemes’ Request for Proposals; for activity, measure footfall, demographic profiles, social media analytics and surveys; perceptions shifts can be measured through financial return on investment, the profile of new audiences and tenants, and businesses attracted to the area; a knowledge campus can be measured by performance ratings; health and wellbeing can be tracked at an individual level by biometric data from wearables (privacy permitting) or for the community by public health metrics; community building could include frequency of use of communal spaces, number of community organisations and increasing diversity of profile.
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Step 3 – Select the cultural engagement
Objective: As well as knowing what success will look like, agree what type of engagement experience the development should create. Question: What is the right type of cultural experience? Key actions: 1. Agree the type of engagement experience. How and when should people experience the cultural activation? This can range from instant excitement and surprise, through sustaining curiosity and dialogue, to long-term or even indefinite activity. 2. Decide how long it should be in place. The duration can be permanent, temporary or pop-up. This will help identify the type
of creative production, infrastructure or activation.
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What kind of engagement?
If you want...
Then you want ...
... to make a statement or commitment
... something permanent.
to the local community or the wider area, in recognition of someone, to show long-lasting commitment to the quality of the space, or to provide long-term provision of cultural infrastructure or investment:
Permanent activity, installations or infrastructure can be use as a landmark, wayfinding symbol or destination, such as a sculptural commission embedded into the architecture, landscape or street furniture. If the build has a long timeline the cultural work may precede the development as a way to announce a new place developing. Permanent provision can include new cultural facilities or brokered relationships with existing cultural institutions to demonstrate commitment both to this place and the wider city.
... to encourage dialogue and curiosity
... something that is temporary.
to engage local communities in ongoing or seasonal engagement with the development, or to be dynamic in responding to contemporary trends and moments in the life of the city, including virtual dialogue:
Consider work displayed
for a specified period of time that encourages people to experience it more than once. This may be by seasonal programming, responding to weather and light, creating a festival
or a series of temporary street furniture or other design amenities on-site.
... instant energy and excitement
... something that is pop up.
to create immediate engagement, gain or as a counterbalance to challenging press or circumstances:
This activation should be very contemporary, with a clear start and end date creating a sense of urgency, with a limited run encouraging the audience to take advantage of an exclusive opportunity. Performance or design challenges and prototypes are appropriate here.
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Step 4 – Build an inventory of resources
Objective: Having established when and how often, understanding the financial budget and human resources available will help clarify the right cultural opportunity and attract the right match of creatives. Question: What resources do you have? Key actions: 1. Understand the financial resources, time and space. While a small budget and tight time will not work for large-scale visual permanent works, it can certainly be sufficient to create temporary engagement, such as a performing arts programme. Consider what space may lie just beyond the boundaries. 2. Investigate who is available to facilitate the process and offer assistance. Who else will be needed? Consider all financial, human and in-kind resources, as well as help from partners. There may be overlap across stakeholders so several resources could be shared. A full inventory of resources will help inform the brief for
the cultural opportunity. 3. Don’t rule anything out yet. Creative partners will want to understand the resources available, so it is important not to narrow the proposal down too far at this stage and exclude unexpected solutions later. 4. Review why are you doing this. Consider the potential outputs according to resources that exist, although this is ideally done in person as stakeholders can often find unexpected opportunities when discussing face-to-face. Bringing this audit back together with the vision can also help strengthen conversations at the next step.
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Inventory of resources
Who and how?
What human resources do you have to facilitate the process and offer as assistance? Who will you need to add? Who will be able to provide this for you?
When?
At what point in the process do you want to engage? What is the duration? How soon do you need results? How long should the intervention last?
What?
What is the space that you have to offer? Are there several spaces? Are there off spaces that you think are useless?
Where?
Where is it? And in relation to what else? What lies outside the boundaries? What is near by? Where is it in the city? The nation? Beyond?
How much?
What financial resources do you have? What is the budget?
Why?
Review Step 1.
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Step 5 – Create the strategic opportunity and engage a cultural professional Objective: Confirming the strategic opportunity for the development will help identify the right creative professional. Question: Based on the strategic brief who is the right creative professional? Key actions: 1. Draw together information from the previous four steps and translate these into a rough strategic brief. Do not edit or position the cultural opportunity too narrowly yet. 2. Recheck and refine the information gathered from Steps 1-4. This will help to focus the offer, and the type of arts, cultural or creative collaborator. If additional resources or a longer time frame have emerged it may be better to look at several opportunities. 3. Compare your strategic opportunity to the case studies here, or by collecting others. Find out who helped create them – curators, commissioning agencies and artists – and seek some advice and feedback. See what can be learned, but also what will make your development authentic and distinctive. 4. Engage the right cultural professional. A curator or commissioning agency will help interpret the opportunity into an exciting creative proposal. A larger cultural strategy or masterplan may be necessary for a larger scale development, while different commissioners or artists may be more appropriate for certain offers. Also consider working with local, existing cultural organisations, whose expertise can help deliver your priorities.
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Step 6 – Agree the cultural brief
Objective: Working with the cultural professional to complete the cultural brief is the last step before identifying the right match of cultural opportunity and artist. Question: Is this the right cultural brief? Key actions: 1. Check all previous steps are in alignment. Like a combination lock, bringing all the previous steps into alignment should now release the solution that meets the needs identified for your development. 2. Work with the cultural professional. They will help ask questions against the information you have pulled together, assess if the choices match the resources, make additional suggestions and share with you greater information for case studies to interpret how those have come together. They will also identify any additional resources or narratives. 3. Refine and consider any final adjustments. Reviewing the steps at any point in the process can help refine and confirm the cultural opportunity. More clearly defined ambitions for the development’s impacts will help the appointed artist respond positively and creatively to the brief.
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Types of cultural output and what they can achieve While the initial visioning for your development – Step 1 – should be freely open to all possibilities, it can help to understand the broad range of cultural outputs possible. The five types of output outlined here range in terms of time span from the permanent creation of artworks, or space for creative industries to pop up, temporary events. Each can bring different social, economic and environmental benefits, as considered in Step 1 on p.16. Detailed explorations of real examples of each of these are included in the Case Studies section, offering the chance to examine in more depth the experiences of those who have delivered real developments. Case studies are mentioned for each type where they are particularly useful. Further information about London’s Cultural Infrastructure can be found in the Mayor of London’s report, Cultural Infrastructure Plan – A call to action.
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1. Objects and artworks What and why: Artistic commissions offer the chance for artists and designers to respond to the character of a place and reflect this in artwork that has relevance to the local context. Examples include: Public sculpture, murals, digital artwork, collaborations embedded in buildings and creatively designed, functional features such as gates, street furniture, wayfinding. Achieves: Can help create a new identity for a place, or change or reinforce an existing one. Timespan: Permanent. Case studies: 1. Vista, 2. Angel Court 2. Cultural infrastructure – cultural production What and why: Places of creative production are where work is made, usually by artists, performers, makers, manufacturers and people working with digital processes. Provision for this type of cultural infrastructure can include subsidised space with support to attract creative activity, or spaces created to attract creative industries paying market rent. Examples include: Artist studios, music recording studios, performing arts rehearsal spaces, creative incubators or permanent space for meanwhile uses. Achieves: Can bring vibrancy and diversity to the development and the wider area, build economic value through creative clustering and add a wider range of tenants. Timespan: Permanent – i.e. sale of freehold – or long term lease of at least a 25 years. Case studies: May be both cultural production and consumption. 1. Somerset House Studios, 2. Creative Land Trust
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3. Cultural infrastructure – cultural consumption What and why: These are places where culture is consumed or experienced, including buildings where creative work is showcased, exhibited or sold, as well as spaces and infrastructure to attract cultural institutions as key anchor tenants. Cultural brokering will be key to developing partnerships to ensure the offer is developed closely with the potential institution, to consider fit-out needs and operating costs. Examples include: Museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, libraries, street art walls and historic cultural sites. Achieves: These places can bring civic identity and diversity to a development, and show long-term, inclusive commitment to an area. Timespan: Permanent or a long-term commitment. Case studies: May be both cultural consumption and production. 1. Peabody and Bow Arts
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4. Temporary exhibitions What and why: The shared feature of curated displays – whether it is performance, artworks or installations – is that they take place over a specific period of time. Exhibitions can include longer-term, rolling programmes, and this continually refreshed content can help build identity, engage audiences and give reasons to revisit. Examples include: Programmes such as the Fourth Plinth and Sculpture in the City. Achieves: Exhibitions can provide a platform for wider engagement through education programmes, tours and the further content online. Timespan: Temporary. Case studies: 1. Broadgate Estate Art Programme 5. Cultural events and activity What and why: Artists leading activities and events generate animation that can attract new audiences and involve existing communities. Examples include: Festivals, performances, documenting places and community participation projects. Achieves: As well as offering people engaging experiences, creatively led activities attract press attention, activate ground floors and contribute to the identity of a place. Timespan: Temporary/Pop up. Case studies: 1. North West Cambridge Residency Programme, 2. RELAY, 3. Art Night, 4. International Busking Day
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Reaching out to the community Engaging with and consulting local communities is essential, and often challenging. Ensuring the consultation hears from diverse voices is especially valuable but some people – including young people, parents, people with disabilities and people from minority ethnic communities – can be particularly difficult to reach, whether for reasons of time, accessibility or motivation.
Alongside traditional face-to-face meetings and surveys, finding more imaginative, appropriate ways to communicate can help convey the creative ambitions of a project and reduce barriers to engagement, so more voices are heard. It can also help build a sense of ownership and longer-term engagement.
Virtual Community Consultation Digital platforms are an increasingly common way for many people to engage and communicate in general, and using digital interactive tools, such as that from Built-ID illustrated here, can offer visually engaging and familiar ‘gamified’ ways to engage people with proposals. They allow people to choose when and where they engage, and can bring a greater sense of agency and connection with a project. As well as this convenience for busy parents and working people, and a greater appeal to younger audiences, using digital platforms for consultation can help with accessibility by offering choices in the ways information is displayed, such as different font sizes and languages.
Physical Community Consultation With face-to-face consultation, the setting can be essential in helping people consider the options being proposed. An example from Southwark, where a new artwork was commissioned following the theft of a Barbara Hepworth sculpture from Dulwich Park, highlighted the value of consulting in the location itself so people could see the future artwork in context. To support the selection of the final piece CAS Consultancy presented proposals and maquettes from four shortlisted artists in the park’s Francis Peek Community Centre, asking local people and park users to express through filmed vox-pop interviews, postcards and online surveys how the artworks would enhance their experience of the park. Over two weekends more than 400 local people gave their views. The community engagement this built then continued through the production of the selected artwork by Conrad Shawcross, with filming of the casting, welding and transporting of the sculptures.
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Ten Top Tips from the Case Studies
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1’
Think about the story you want to tell about your development – art can tell that story vividly. And, most importantly, be realistic about resources and budgets. Rosie Glenn, British Land
‘
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Employ someone to head the cultural strategy of the project. They can help communicate between [partners such as] housing associations, artists, local communities, and to manage outwards publicity.
’
Adriana Marques, Peabody Housing Association
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3
Work with curatorial guidance from the beginning. Along with PR, marketing and events planning, hire a curator so that the cultural provision is part of one consistent package. It makes the whole process cheaper, more effective and it makes a great story.
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Candida Gertler, Outset, Creative Land Trust
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4
When choosing curatorial guidance, have an artist on the selection committee.
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It is important to engage in art as early as possible. Let it be part of the process. This creates unique pieces. Nicholas Worley, Fletcher Priest Architects
Michael Pinsky, artist and curator
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6’
It’s all about relationships and trust. Trust between the artist and curator, the curator and the commissioner. Michael Pinsky, artist and curator
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Remaining in conversation with the commissioner was vital to keep them engaged with ideas as they developed and grew. Karen Guthrie, Somewhere
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There’s no doubt though that providing low cost accommodation for artists has improved the area for existing residents. I was surprised how quickly the artists committed to this community. Adriana Marques, Peabody Housing Association
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Make sure there’s always space for experimentation and for just doing small things regularly. This is how relationships and networks form.
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Karishma Rafferty, Somerset House
The success lies in letting go and empowering people to own the spaces they build. Allow the people who live and work there to do what they do, make and correct mistakes. Marcel Baettig, Bow Arts
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Part II
Case Studies
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Case Studies
Part I explains the recommended route, with clearly replicable steps that can provide a framework for future projects. But what about the people who have already done this – how would they reflect on the experience, and what have they learned? These are the experiences, successes and challenges of those delivering real developments.
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Case Study Objects and artworks Case Study 1 Vista Case Study 2 Angel Court
Cultural infrastructure – cultural production
Case Study 1 Somerset House Studios Case Study 2 Creative Land Trust Cultural infrastructure – cultural consumption Case Study 1 Peabody and Bow Arts
Temporary exhibitions Case Study 1 Broadgate Estate Art Programme
Cultural events and activity
Interviewee(s)
S Mark Gubb, Artist Emma Underhill, UP Projects Travis Crawford, St Edward
Nicholas Worley, Fletcher Priest Architects Henry Williams and Ron German, Stanhope Sara Barker, Artist
Andy Merrit, Something & Son Krissie Hayman, Makerversity Marie McPartlin and Karishma Rafferty, Somerset House Candida Gertler
Marcel Baettig, Founder Adriana Marques, Peabody Housing Association
Rosie Glenn and David Lockyer, British Land
Case Study 1 North West Cambridge Residency Programme
Karen Guthrie, Artist Somewhere Jonathan Rose, AECOM Jeremy Sanders, University of Cambridge
Case Study 3 Art Night
Fatos Ustek, Curator of Art Night 2017 Simon Glynn, City of London Corporation
Case Study 2 RELAY
Case Study 4 International Busking Day
Michael Pinsky, artist, RELAY curator Anna Strongman, Argent
Juila Jones, Found in Music James Saunders, Quintain Claudio Giambrone, Wembley Park
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The Team
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About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a global, member-driven organisation comprising more than 45,000 real estate and urban development professionals dedicated to advancing the Institute’s mission of providing leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. The ULI’s interdisciplinary membership represents all aspects of the industry, including developers, property owners, investors, architects, urban planners, public officials, real estate brokers, appraisers, attorneys, engineers, financiers, and academics. Established in 1936, the Institute has a presence in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions, with members in 80 countries. The extraordinary impact that the ULI makes on land use decision making is based on its members sharing expertise on a variety
of factors affecting the built environment, including urbanisation, demographic and population changes, new economic drivers, technology advancements, and environmental concerns. Peer-to-peer learning is achieved through the knowledge shared by members at thousands of convenings each year that reinforce the ULI’s position as a global authority on land use and real estate. In 2018 alone, more than 2,200 events were held in about 330 cities around the world. Drawing on the work of its members, the Institute recognises and shares best practices in urban design and development for the benefit of communities around the globe. More information is available at uli.org. Follow the ULI on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About the Urban Art Forum
The Urban Art Forum (UAF) is a ULI UK initiative which focuses on the reciprocal relationships between public art and the city. The Forum showcases innovative creators and patrons, examines planned and realised artistic works that enhance stakeholder value, and understands the collaborative processes that makes urban art possible.
The UAF membership is a diverse mix of professionals from all sectors within the built environment; including developers, planners, artists, cultural strategists, local authorities and architects. The initiative was launched by ULI Global Trustee, Christopher Choa, and is chaired by Hala El Akl.
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Partners and Contributors
This guidance results from workshops and conversations between a professionally diverse group of contributors. In particular, significant amounts of time, expertise and intellectual property is acknowledged from Hala El Akl, Sherry Dobbin and Shain Shapiro in originating the six step process. The process has been internationally tested with architects, developers and artists to give confidence to those using this guide in future. The work of Fabienne Nicholas and Sarah Elson on the case studies and contributions of Ed Watson and Liz Waller overall are also acknowledged with thanks. Christopher Choa, Victoria Lockhart, Savannah de Savary, Alex Davidson, Eime Tobari, Frederique Jungman, Gameli Ladzekpo and Gary Salter are also thanked for their contributions. Special thanks go to Kirsten Dunne, Rachael Roe and Lauren Bouillot from the Culture and Creative Industries team at the Greater London Authority for their instrumental feedback and advice.
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Biographies
Hala El Akl, PLP Architecture Hala El Akl, Director at PLP Architecture, is the Chair of the Young Leader’s Group for Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe and the Chair of the Urban Art Forum for ULI UK. Hala also has over ten years’ experience in architectural and urbanism work in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She is a founding director of PLP Labs, the technological and innovation group at PLP Architecture.
Sherry Dobbin, Futurecity Sherry is Managing and Cultural Director at Futurecity where she sets the delivery structure and cultural alignment of the portfolio. Her project work focuses upon cultural infrastructure, programmatic development, public-private partnerships, establishing models for arts delivery, and the role for arts and digital media in the public realm. She was Founder and Director of Times Square Arts, Director of Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, Director of GreenHeart Partnership and has produced across four continents in all art forms. Shain Shapiro, Sound Diplomacy Shain Shapiro PhD is the Founder and CEO of Sound Diplomacy, the leading global advisor on growing music and night time economies in cities and places. He is also the co-founder of Music Cities Convention, the world’s largest event bringing together the music industry with other sectors. He has delivered a TEDx talk and spoken at the European Parliament. He is an accomplished journalist, frequently contributing to CityMetric, CityLab and others.
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Fabienne Nicholas, Contemporary Art Society Fabienne has over 20 years’ experience facilitating creative production in the cultural and commercial sectors. She is currently Head of Art Consultancy for the Contemporary Art Society directing cultural strategies, major public art commissions and curatorial initiatives. In 2017 Fabienne was selected by the Mayor of London to become one of 50 Mayor’s Design Advocates.
Sarah Elson, Launch Pad Sarah Elson founded Launch Pad in 2014, a not-forprofit organisation that supports artists through commissioning new work and through residencies in the UK and abroad. A Trustee of the Contemporary Art Society, Sarah’s work includes writing and curating as well as fundraising and strategic development.
Rachael Roe, Greater London Authority Rachael Roe is a Senior Policy Officer in the Culture and Creative Industries unit at the GLA. With a passion for placemaking, planning and data, she delivers a range of research and programmes which aim to secure and expand London’s cultural places and spaces. Rachael has spent 13 years developing and delivering cultural policy across London. Most recently she led on the delivery of the Mayor’s Cultural Infrastructure Plan and Cultural Infrastructure Map.
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Christopher Choa, AECOM Christopher Choa leads AECOM’s Cities Consulting practice. He is a Global Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, and sits on advisory boards of organisations related to real-estate, urban mobility, energy, and digital arts. He has previously been an appointed advisor to the Mayor of London.
Ed Watson, Ed Watson & Associates In the last decade Ed has played a pivotal role in a number of high profile projects that have seen the transformation of London’s urban landscape. He also headed-up Camden’s own development programme, the Community Investment Programme and established the Euston Strategic Board generating the principles for wider regeneration of Euston linked to the arrival of HS2. Ed also worked at Westminster City Council and now has his own practice, Ed Watson & Associates.
Victoria Lockhart, International WELL Building Institute Victoria Lockhart worked for many years as a Wellbeing and Sustainability specialist at Arup, based within the architectural group, Arup Associates. She is a LEED AP, BREEAM AP, and WELL AP, bringing expertise in sustainable green building practices alongside a passion for leveraging technology to enhance wellbeing and human experience.
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Frederique Jungman, OPDC Frederique Jungman is Senior Development Manager at the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation. She joined OPDC after working for four years at Argent on the King’s Cross development, where she specialised in operational strategy and tech innovation, and delivered a series of incubator spaces for emerging designers and retailers within Coal Drops Yard. Frederique has worked on urban development projects in the US, UK, Germany, and Haiti. She has degrees in Urban Planning, Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism and Real Estate Development. Savannah de Savary, Built-ID Savannah de Savary is the Founder and CEO of BuiltID: a proptech platform powered by leading property consultants and developers showcasing their projects and collaborations. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 2013, Savannah joined Thor Equities, where she managed NYC real estate development projects. In June 2015 she founded Built-ID, a proptech platform that makes it faster and easier to discover and collaborate on real estate inspiration and to instantly identify the creators behind those projects. Alex Davidson, PLP Labs Alex Davidson coordinates the vision and strategy for PLP Labs, the technological and conceptual research group at PLP Architecture. Starting in an architectural setting, Alex has since worked across Europe specialising in marketing, communications and business development in the architecture and urbanism sector. He is a published writer and has been featured as guest editor and author in a number of international publications, websites and events.
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Gameli Ladzekpo, RESOLVE Collective Gameli Ladzekpo is an Artist and Entrepreneur from London. He is the co-founder of Plinth, a platform facilitating community-led placemaking by connecting landlords with popular cultural projects from local creatives. Previously, he co-founded RESOLVE Collective, a community-focused design collective using architecture and art to address social challenges in the built environment.
Liz Waller, Urban Land Institute Liz has over 20 years’ experience in European real estate working for non-profit and private sector organisations. Liz was Executive Director for the Urban Land Institute UK from 2015-2019, developing a strategic events, membership and research programme. Prior to this she was Senior Director, Events, ULI Europe and Communications Executive at Hampton Trust PLC.
Gary Salter, Salter Property Gary is a director at Salter Property, a residential development and investment company based in the South-West. Having spent time abroad in China with Savills, Gary moved back to London in 2015 to start his current company, which founds itself on the core principles of quality design and placemaking.
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Further Resources
The Cultural Infrastructure Toolbox The Mayor of London has created an on-line toolbox of resources to support London’s cultural infrastructure. The GLA Industrial Intensification and Co-location Design and Delivery Guidance This summarises the main forms of industrial intensification and co-location with residential developments in case studies. Cultural Infrastructure Map The Mayor of London has developed London’s first Cultural Infrastructure Map. It brings together new research and information that has previously not existed in one place, plotting the location of cultural infrastructure and enabling the user to view it alongside useful contextual data, such as transport networks and population growth.
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References
p.18-19 1. International WELL Building Institute 2018, WELL Building Standard v2 Pilot. Available from: <https://v2.wellcertified.com/v/ en/overview> 2. Kellert, S. and Calabrese, E. 2015, The Practice of Biophilic Design. Available from: <www.biophilic-design.com> 3. Biotecture, Edgware Road Tube Station, Marylebone. Available from: <http://www.biotecture.uk.com/portfolio/edgware-roadtube-station-marylebone> 4. Browning, W.D., Ryan, C.O. and Clancy, J.O., Terrapin Bright Green 2014, 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design. Available from: <https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/14-patterns> 5. AdAge 2009, Volkswagen: Fun Theory Piano Staircase. Available from: <https://adage.com/creativity/work/fun-theorypiano-staircase/17522> 6. Loop.pH 2012, Tree Lungs. Available from: <http://loop.ph/ portfolio/tree-lungs> 7. Campaign to end loneliness, Threat to health. Available from: <https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/threat-to-health> 8. Millennium Park Foundation, Crown Fountain and the Faces of Chicago. Available from: <https://millenniumparkfoundation.org/ art-architecture/crown-fountain> 9. dRMM 2013, The Endless Stair. Available from <http://drmm. co.uk/projects/view.php?p=endless-stair>
Image credits: Front cover – Nile Rodgers at International Busking Day, image courtesy of Found in Music Contents page – Paradigm, 2016, image courtesy of the artist Conrad Shawcross and Victoria Miro, London/Venice, photograph by Marc Wilmot p.9 – The Broad Family by Xavier Corbero, image courtesy of British Land, photograph by Holly Wren. All British Land images are reproduced courtesy of artists. p.18 – Edgware Road Tube Station, image courtesy of Biotecture p.19 – Tree Lungs, image courtesy of Loop.pH Ltd p.34 – Images courtesy of Built-ID p.35 – Dulwich Park Community Consultation, image courtesy of Contemporary Art Society p.51 – Of Soil and Water, the King’s Cross Pond Club, part of RELAY 2013, image courtesy of the artists OOZE and Marjetica Potrč, photograph by John Sturrock, all rights reserved
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