Music-City. Sports-City. Leisure-City.: A reader on different concepts of culture, creative industries and urban regeneration attempts.

Alexander Bergmann

Jul 2008 · GRIN Verlag

About this ebook

Anthology from the year 2008 in the subject Urban and Regional Planning, University of Weimar (Institut für Europäische Urbanistik ), 333 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Music-City. Sports-City. Leisure-City.’ is the latest publication from the Europäisches Institut für Urbanistik at the Bauhaus University Weimar. It is a contemporary examination of the role that culture plays in the urban environment and in its development. The book’s genesis derives from two seminars held at the institute, led by PhD candidate Alexander Bergmann, dealing with the same topic and it consists of a collection of essays primarily assembled from the students partaking in the seminar. It is broad in both its range and scope, first laying down a theoretical foundation exploring the historical and critical role of culture in the city, followed by a more current assessment of culture-led urban development around the world. The book concludes with the description of four proposed projects for Sheffield, where the students were assigned hypothetical scenarios for the city and asked to propose solutions. The book’s strength draws from the diversity of its contributors, trained architects, planners and academics hailing from cities across the globe. Contemporary urban cultural issues, such as graffiti, hip-hop, skateboarding and the creative classes, are approached with fresh new perspectives. The cities of Sheffield, Chemnitz and Essen are put under the cultural spotlight as we learn about the growing hip-hop movement in the former GDR, industrial cultural beauty in the Rhine-Ruhr Region and a cultural industry quarter in the heart of England’s steel city. In the final section, we are taken on a fantastical tour of possible futures for the city of Sheffield. o Will the city transform itself into a city of networked slides? o Will the youth congregate around spontaneous i-pod car parties? o How could a company like Apple help restore industrial heritage while building a clustered specialised high-tech community of its own? o What role could companies like Nike and Adidas play in supporting a healthy active lifestyle for Sheffielders? The book promises to be an exciting trek through this cultural cityscape. It is illustrated by one of Germany’s famous graffiti artists – Hamburg based CIDE.

About the author

Alexander Bergmann (* 1978 in Braunschweig) ist Politologe und Stadtplaner. Nach seinem Studium an den Universitäten Erlangen, Manchester und Catania war er als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter zur Novellierung des Baugesetzbuchs im Deutschen Bundestag tätig. Es folgten Lehraufträge an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar und an der Technischen Universität Chemnitz zu Fragen der Stadterneuerung. Seine Dissertation am Lehrstuhl für Raumplanung und Raumforschung an der Fakultät Architektur der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar untersucht die Verquickung politischer und planerischer Fragen bei der Innenstadtentwicklung am Beispiel von Chemnitz. Zu seinen weiteren Forschungsschwerpunkten gehören die Auswirkungen der Kreativwirtschaft, des Tourismus und des Sports im urbanen Kontext.