Dundee: Discover Our Future The Journey Continues

Diane Milne Dundee City Council

Dundee’s History

• City is over 800 years old • Famous in the past for jute, jam and

journalism • Jute industry led to rapid growth in the

city • At it’s height in late 19th century there

were 60 mills and over 50,000 staff • History of reinvention and innovation

Jute

Journalism

Ship-building

Dundee Harbour 1948

Dundee: The City

• Population - 147,000 • Regional population – 330,000 • Post-industrial city facing many challenges

– Unemployment – Poverty – Low educational attainment – Meeting urban infrastructure needs

Dundee: The City

• Students – over 22,000 FTE with many in the creative industries field

• Key sectors – life sciences, healthcare, creative industries, digital media, high tech manufacturing

• £1B waterfront regeneration programme • £80M V&A Museum of Design Dundee • UNESCO City of Design

Dundee Partnership Vision

Dundee will: •Be a vibrant and attractive city with an excellent quality of life where people chose to live, learn, work and visit •Have a strong and sustainable city economy that provides jobs for the people of Dundee, retain more of the city’s graduates and make the city a magnet for new talent

Cultural Regeneration

• 20 year programme of cultural regeneration – Dundee Rep Theatre – Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre – McManus Regeneration – V&A Dundee

• Focus on community involvement

Cultural Strategy 2015-2020• Develop people’s creative abilities • Promote Dundee as a creative city • Develop excellence in the culture of the city • Establish Dundee’s reputation for culture & creativity as

catalysts for building a strong city • Develop a city-wide infrastructure for creativity • Maximise the use of cultural resources • Ensure all children have a culturally rich & creative

education • Use the public realm in the city as a space for culture &

creativity • Ensuring city’s heritage has a role in its future

“To transform the City of Dundee into a world leading waterfront destination for visitors and businesses through the enhancement

of its physical, economic and cultural assets.”

Dundee’s Waterfront Regeneration

Dundee Railway Station

New Civic Space

Civic Blue space

Urban Lane

The FIRST

DESIGN MUSEUM ever to be built in the UK

outside London 

The driving force behind V&A Dundee?

V&A Dundee – Economic Benefits

• Raising confidence • Boosting tourism – locally and regionally • Raising aspirations of local businesses • Attracting talented students and retaining them in the

region • Emphasis on design-led business innovation with a focus on

SMEs – design as a driver of economic change • Making designers more strategic and business more creative • Inward investment – hotels, professional services, property • Job creation – direct and indirect • Working with SMEs to develop their performance

UNESCO City of Design• Dundee bid to join the UNESCO Creative Cities

Network in 2014 • Became a member of the network in November

2014 • 2015 sees the city focus on its aims for the

UNESCO status – with a potential focus on design for social use

• 2016 will be the first full year of activity • 2016 is the Year of Innovation, Architecture and

Design in Scotland

Games Sector• Long history of games

design in the city • Abertay University first in

world to develop a degree programme in computer games design

• Famous games from Dundee include: Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto and Minecraft

Games Sector• 40 gaming firms based in Dundee • Many now focusing on mobile platforms • Companies such as Waracle, EEGeo, Outplay

Entertainment, YoYo Games • Games for Good –

– Play to Cure – Genes in Space – Dare Schools Challenge – Minecraft – Digital On the Move

Changing Perceptions

• City Development involved in a city branding campaign for over 20 years

• Dundee: City of Discovery • Dundee: One City, Many Discoveries • Important tool in promoting not just the

city but also key sectors

Our Journey Continues

• Retaining graduates • Supporting companies, creative individuals • Developing creative workspace • Raise awareness of Dundee’s creative sector • Deliver projects such as V&A Dundee • Encouraging & harnessing tourism growth –

curious traveller, food loving culturalist • Marketing the city, changing perceptions

Our Journey Continues

• Engage our creative sector – use the skills we have in the city effectively

• Look at initiatives such as design-led business innovation