Driving long-term urban success: culture, creativity, competitiveness, and a psychological perspective on the city: Fid-Bau Portal

Driving long-term urban success: culture, creativity, competitiveness, and a psychological perspective on the city

Murray, Christopher E.C.

The world is urbanizing at an alarming rate, with more than half the global population living in cities for the first time ever in human history. Local and national governments and international agencies recognize that there are severe challenges on the horizon for both new and existing cities, of an economic, social, environmental, cultural and creative nature. This last component – culture and creativity – has often been seen as an ‘add on’ or luxury to be afforded rather than something critical to competitiveness. This paper draws on United Kingdom (UK) urban practice, characterized by post-industrial regeneration and economic restructuring on the one hand, and new towns (or urban extension) development on the other, to understand how culture and creativity can play a critical and central role in competitiveness. Cities have an unquestionable psychological impact, and this paper also asks: whether human psychology has completed adapted to city living; if those responsible for city making and management have fully grasped the significance of this issue; and if a deeper understanding, gained through a stronger psychological perspective on the experience of urban living, might help us to create better places in the long term.