The Leeds City Centre Vision Conference yesterday was quite a shebang. \u00a0Several hundred people with an ‘interest’ in the future of the city centre convened by the council and a raft of property developers and land owners down at Clarence Dock.<\/p>\n
And one of the main narratives? \u00a0We need a hero. \u00a0A mayor perhaps. \u00a0Or a ‘captain of industry’. \u00a0Someone who can bang heads together, make things happen, drive through a vision and ‘bring communities with them’. \u00a0We need to concentrate power in a paternalistic figurehead who will lead us to the promised land where ‘Retail is the New Leisure’ and even poor communities are ‘needle free’.<\/p>\n
Someone who we can depend on.<\/p>\n
This has been the recent history of the relationship between ‘the leadership’ and ‘the led’ in Leeds for as long as I can remember. \u00a0Communities\u00a0are things to be ‘brought with us’ (“we are of course doing this for them too – just think of the wonderful job opportunities that the Arena will bring to Little London – all those ‘high grade concierge\u00a0skills\u00a0we are going to needs to\u00a0realise\u00a0our profits…”).<\/p>\n
‘Innovate and collaborate’ they say. \u00a0‘Proper partnerships!’ they cry.<\/p>\n
So here is an innovative idea.<\/p>\n
As well as being bedfellows with the developers, become reliable and consistent allies of communities and the people who live in this city. \u00a0Stop seeing them as things to be managed or fixed. \u00a0Listen to them,\u00a0engage\u00a0with them and above all support them, invest in them, and\u00a0strengthen\u00a0their capacity to build their futures in the way that they want. \u00a0 Engage with them on their agendas. \u00a0And then just perhaps they might show some interest in engaging with you on yours.<\/p>\n
We may need another River Island\/Top Shop and a cinema chain from ‘that London’ to maintain our mid-table position in the list of medium sized mediocrities of European Cities (did I actually see that chart at some point yesterday?), but investing \u00a31.25bn in shopping centres and arenas is not going to make this city a more beautiful place for all<\/strong> who choose to make their lives here. \u00a0Indeed I suspect it will only serve to increase inequality in the city.<\/p>\n I am not against the world\u00a0of\u00a0structural, top down, strategic regeneration.<\/p>\n Of course we need good top down planning and\u00a0excellent\u00a0infrastructure. \u00a0We already have a pretty good\u00a0infrastructure\u00a0for developing the city. \u00a0Just look at\u00a0what\u00a0has been achieved in the last 30 years. \u00a0 The physical infrastructure of the city has been transformed. \u00a0My challenge is that this is necessary but not\u00a0sufficient. \u00a0We also need many more of the 750 000 people that live here to be actively engaged in making and shaping their own futures. \u00a0Learning to collaborate and associate in the pursuit of their own progress. \u00a0Not relying on a hero to make things better but doing it for themselves.<\/p>\n Because we have been waiting \u00a0for a hero for a long time now. \u00a0And if one does comes along (no doubt fresh from ‘some other fight’) I am far from convinced that it will\u00a0result\u00a0in a fairytale ending.<\/p>\n And within minutes of the opening of the conference I found myself writing out this lyric, that so often comes to mind when I hear the powerful talking about\u00a0their\u00a0plans to help the powerless….<\/p>\n Mother Glasgow<\/strong><\/p>\n In the second city of the Empire Among the flightless birds and sightless starlings Let Glasgow Flourish!<\/p>\n \n
\nMother Glasgow nurses all her weans
\nTrying hard to feed her little starlings
\nUnconsciously she clips their little wings<\/p>\n
\nFather Glasgow knows his starlings well
\nHe won’t make his own way up to heaven
\nBy waltzing all his charges in to hell<\/p>\n