The New Wealth of Cities: City Dynamics and the Fifth Wave
£55.00 (Hardcover)
Published by Ashgate, 2007
300pp
ISBN 978-0754647898
Review by Nicholas Falk
The New Wealth of Cities: City Dynamics and the Fifth Wave
John Montgomery, Ashgate, 2007, £55.00
It is good to find a book that deals thoroughly with what makes a place successful. John Montgomery links urban design to wider issues of economic growth, cultural development, and ‘the regulation of public morality’. It is highly readable, and clearly based on evidence as well as the author’s moral standpoint - probably a new Tory. He has an enthusiasm for places with ‘visionary leadership and creative entrepreneurs’, rather than suburbs or places which neglect their potential.
He draws on diverse case studies including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Portland Oregon, with valuable new information on the strategies adopted in Temple Bar, Dublin, Sheffield’s Cultural Industries Quarter, Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and London’s Wood Green Cultural Industries Quarter.
The thesis is that cities evolve through successful industrial innovation, which creates the wealth needed for new investment. He breaks new ground in relating these peaks to artistic movements; he then forecasts an upswing based on biotechnology to the human body and crops, environmental husbandry, digital and creative industries, and bespoke objects linked to fashion and food. But how do we harness this growth?
Montgomery goes beyond Richard Florida to argue that successful places combine three elements - activity, form and meaning: ‘the essential pre-requisite for a cultural quarter is the presence of cultural activity’.
His case studies show the importance of providing cheap flexible workspace where there are enough people to support artistic activity. The critical mass is 15-20,000 sq ft of studio space, in units of 300 sq ft with good natural lighting plus gallery or showroom space. Unfortunately our towns boast consumption without production, and excessive drinking. The unanswered question is whether urban form can be used to tame behaviour as well as unleash creative activity.
