Is renaissance compromised by a strong market orientation and the ‘competitive city’ ethos?
The impact of city competition on planning and design practices was also debated. It was most evident in Cardiff where the political agenda over the past decade has been explicitly ‘boosterist’ and marketing-led, relying on retail/leisure and huge sports projects to expand the city’s hinterland, and increasing tourism and providing jobs. The competitive impulse has translated into one-off high profile projects, often cross-subsidised by generous planning permissions on city land disposals. These have driven up residential building heights (41 storeys) and densities (450 dw/ha gross) to levels that are unsustainable and inappropriate in a provincial city. Development controllers insist that they can still add value to projects, despite the absence of statutory policy and design guidance. Nottingham and Birmingham (with its legacies of the Highbury conferences, Tibbalds/Hildebrand studies and Les Sparks’ design management) offer an alternative strategy of urban competitiveness through qu
