Developing leisure and cultural attractions in the regional city centre: a policy perspective

Smaller regional cities and former industrial cities throughout North America and Europe have experienced fundamental transformations of their economies over recent decades, and authorities have continually sought new functions for the postindustrial era. Following on from retail, office, and residential regeneration within many city centres, leisure and cultural policies have also been adopted. The British city of Swansea, which has developed such policies since the 1990s, is a regional city which typifies these processes. Drawing on large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews, the authors argue that four policy challenges are facing the development of a thriving leisure and cultural economy in smaller regional cities across Europe and North America. These challenges involve creating a leisure and cultural economy which: embraces a wide range and variety of attractions; appeals to a broad spectrum of social groups; adopts an appropriate spatial strategy; and overcomes friction between the different component parts of the leisure and cultural economy.