The Kirkgate Character Area Management Plan is indeed a fascinating document (see Rebecca's link below), one that maps out the objectives of the proposals, although I agree with Rebecca that despite the detail in the plan, the purposes of the restorations etc are not actually that clear. The project seems to be an attempt to restore/preserve some of the undoubtedly important historic fabric of Leeds, but there's an implicit notion that restoring the Cloth Hall and reinstating historic shop fronts in Kirkgate would be enough to breath life back to the area?
I was struck that in the plans there also did not seem to be any proposals for the role that good contemporary design plays in the regeneration plans - i.e. the role of the 'present' just as much as the role of the 'past' in regeneration. The most successful regeneration projects seem to be able to balance these issues - in Bruges, for example, the historic fabric is obviously highly significant, and is privileged, but it is also clear that even with such a rich historical fabric the contemporary plays a significant complementary role, and there is no fear of the 'modern'.
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Maybe within the the Kirkgate scheme there could also be a space for some challenging contemporary architecture too?...and maybe then the regeneration can, Janus-like, speak to those with interest in the past and the present?
Mark
I do wonder if this emphasis on heritage and the historical is perhaps a 'mea culpa' for the glut of contemporary developments, particularly around the waterfront area, that have not always been well received.
ReplyDeleteThere's also something semantically interesting about the idea of a 'character area' as a space that becomes performative, the city as an actor that must preserve the suspension of disbelief for its audience, stripped of their own agency as social actors - perhaps I'm taking it too far here! It might also be said that the Kirkgate area already possesses plenty of 'character' in its decay and miscellaneous architectural and commercial accretions. Certainly one to watch with interest.
there's certainly something interesting about 'character' and the semantic drift in such a term....people can have 'character' (in the sense that they are well-liked etc)...or 'character' (in the sense that they are hard work...and sometimes such notions are simultaneous of course!)...and I'm sure that there are other dimensions. The notion that the area is performative is also interesting, especially in the sense that Kirkgate becomes 'staged';
ReplyDeleteKirkgate is, as you say, something to keep an eye on!