From Buzz to Bland

7/27/2019 From Buzz to Bland

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The

Creative Class

and its Impact on the

Gentrification of Artistic

Neo-Bohemian Neighbourhoods

A Case Study of the Ouseburn Valley Artists Quarter,Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K.

Jamie Brockbank, Cambridge University Department of Geography,[email protected]

May 2006 Publication


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Candidates Statement

This dissertation represents essentially my own unaided work and its

length does not exceed 10,000 words excluding footnotes,bibliography, maps, diagrams, table and appendixes as specified.

I have made every effort to reference ideas or evidence which arenot my own original work.

My thanks to Dr Al James and Andrew Currah for their guidance

and support for my investigation in the allotted supervision time.

Acknowledgements

My investigation would not have been possible without the kind support and

assistance of Newcastle City Council, the Ouseburn Trust and the areas artists

and workers.

Whilst it would be impossible to single out everyone who assisted me or was

interviewed or surveyed, my particular thanks go to:

Dale Bolland and his team at the Ouseburn Regeneration Centre

Peter Kay and Kirsten Luckins at the Ouseburn Trust

Neil Murphy, Colin Percy, Paul Rubenstein and Mark OSullivan atNewcastle City Council

Sue Woolhouse and the studio tenants of 36 Lime Street

Nick James at the Mushroom Works

Andy Balman and Ronnie Forster at the Biscuit Factory

Paul Miller for providing the contacts at Newcastle City Council

PMOB for being such an excellent host in Shincliffe, Durham


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Table of Contents

Candidates Statement......................................................................................i

Acknowledgements...........................................................................................i

Table of Contents .............................................................................................ii

1 Introduction Artists, Gentrification and Creative Cities : the caseof the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle..............................................................1

2 Literature Review ......................................................................................4

2.1 Artists, Gentrification, and Cultural Consumption ....................................................... .......... 4

2.2 Cultural Regeneration, Urban Renaissance and Creative Cities............................................ 5

2.3 The Creative Class, Neo-Bohemia and Yuppification.......................................................... 7

2.4 Urban Politics of Gentrification and City Living................. .................................................. 10

3 Contextual Background on the Ouseburn ............................................12

3.1 The Ouseburns Development as an Artist and Creative Quarter ....................................... 13

3.2 Ouseburns Past Regeneration.................................................................... ............................. 14

4 Methodology............................................................................................15

4.1 Data Collection............................................................. ............................................................. 154.1.1 Questionnaire Design ........................................................... .................................................. 164.1.2 Questionnaire Sampling and Response Rates ...................................................... .................. 174.1.3 Interviews............. ................................................................ .................................................. 174.1.4 Lime Square Property Advertisement Discourse Analysis .................................................... 18

4.2 Limitations..... ............................................................... ............................................................. 194.2.1 General ............................................................ ............................................................... ........ 194.2.2 Questionnaires...................................... ................................................................ .................. 194.2.3 Interviews............. ................................................................ .................................................. 20

5 Data Interpretation ..................................................................................21

5.1 What is the Ouseburns significance in Newcastle City Councils wider urban vision, andcan Ouseburn be considered a neo-bohemian neighbourhood?......................... ............................. 21

5.1.1 Newcastles Creative City Vision and Ouseburns Significance............................................ 215.1.2 Ouseburn as a Neo-Bohemian Creative Hotspot............................................................ ........ 25

5.2 What are the notable characteristics of the creative workers operating in Ouseburn andhow do their attributes and politics compare with other members of the Creative Class? .......... 26

5.2.1 The Distinctive Characteristics of Ouseburns Creative Workers........................ .................. 265.2.2 Quaysides Encroachment into Ouseburn: Yuppies or the Creative Professionals?........... 29

5.3 Is Ouseburns authenticity threatened by yuppification, the buzz to bland cycle and theartist gentrification cycle, and if so do Floridas Creative Cities prescriptions ameliorate or

exacerbate these tendencies? ................................................................ .................................................. 31


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5.3.1 The Lime Square Development Raises Fears of Ouseburns Yuppification amongst the ArtistPopulation...................................... ................................................................ ....................................... 315.3.2 Ouseburns Future Regeneration Threatens a Buzz to Bland and Gentrification Cycle..... 325.3.3 Do Floridas Creative Cities prescriptions ameliorate or exacerbate these tendencies (inneo-bohemian neighbourhoods)?............................................................................. ............................. 35

5.4 What urban governance challenges do neo-bohemian neighbourhoods present and howcan these be feasibly met?................ ................................................................ ....................................... 37

5.4.1 Affordability and Diversity: Necessary Regulation or Protectionist Obstacles toDevelopment?.......................................... ................................................................ ............................. 375.4.2 Why Sustainable Urban Governance in Neo-Bohemian Neighbourhoods Matters, andPointers to How it Can be Achieved........................................................................ ............................. 39

Conclusion......................................................................................................41

6 Appendix..................................................................................................43

6.1 Questionnaire Quantitative Data Presentation .............................................................. ........ 436.1.1 Educational attainment......................................................... .................................................. 43

6.1.2 Business Type ........................................................... ............................................................. 436.1.3 Factors Cited by Firms in their Decision to Locate in Ouseburn ........................................... 446.1.4 Likert Scale Attitudinal Responses ........................................................... ............................. 456.1.5 Additional Demographic and Business Information ...................................................... ........ 466.1.6 Lime Square Apartments Advertising www.limesquare.info.............................................. 47

6.2 Annotated Questionnaire ....................................................... .................................................. 50

6.3 List of Sources Interviewed in Person ........................................................ ............................. 54

7 Bibliography ............................................................................................55

1


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The Creative Class and the Gentrification ofArtistic Neo-Bohemian Neighbourhoods

A case study of the Ouseburn Valley artists quarter,

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

1 Introduction Artists, Gentrification and Creative Cities : thecase of the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle

The trend for artists to seek out cheap industrial workspace, which then acts as a

catalyst for regeneration and gentrification, is a well documented and significant

socioeconomic and cultural trend in post-industrial cities since the 1970s (e.g.

Zukin, 1982, Leys, 1996 and 2003). Urban artists have often been pioneers of

neighbourhood renewal by adaptively recycling (Dickinson, 2001) declining

or derelict industrial spaces through sweat equity, such as the warehouse loft

conversions in SoHo, Manhattan or those of Castlefield, Manchester. Low rents,

spacious and authentic historical buildings, the gritty character of such

depressed inner city areas and the clustering of other creative types combine to

attract artists high in cultural, but low in economic, capital to gravitate towards

these initially often seedy or depopulated neighbourhoods.

It is these 1st

generation artists and creatives who are often instrumental in initial

revitalization and repopulation and the emergence of a trendy neo-bohemian

(Lloyd, 2002) character to the neighbourhood. But by pioneering the recovery

of neglected areas, the urban artist commonly acts as the expeditionary force

for the inner-city gentrifiers, (Ley, 1996) with the surfeit of meanings in

places frequented by artists becoming a valued resource for the entrepreneur.

(Ley, 2003). The result is that artists often unwittingly act as the stalking

horses for the desires of investment capital to revalorize urban

neighbourhoods. (Cameron and Coaffee, 2003).

Property developers and individual gentrifiers (Beauregard, 1986) become alert

to the emergence of a rent gap (Smith, 1983) to profitably exploit, leading to

an influx of new higher income residents and investment capital. This invariablycauses a displacement of the artistic pioneers and a shift from cultural


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production to cultural consumption as, the moderate cost of living necessary to

maintaining the balance of cultural offerings in neo-bohemian neighbourhoods

is confounded by the classic growth machine pressures for ever rising rents and

property prices. (Logan and Molotch, 1987).

My investigation will incorporate the contemporary work of charismatic US

urban theorist, Richard Florida, to reinvigorate this longstanding theoretical and

policy debate. Floridas Creative Class (2002) and Creative Cities (2003

and 2005) theorisations have permeated urban governance policy worldwide

with bewildering speed and acceptance. By heralding the dawn of a new kind

of capitalism based on human creativity, and the need for funky forms of

supply-side interventions by urban authorities to develop people climates

valued by creatives, Floridas work is intimately connected to the neo-

bohemian neighbourhood (Lloyd, 2002).

Floridas creativity agenda champions buzzing, trendy and bohemian

neighbourhoods, seething with the interplay of cultures and ideas, and the

requisite tolerance, diversity and openness which we are assured will lead to

thriving human interaction and innovation. The fabled Creative Class choose

to gravitate to these neo-bohemian enclaves which satisfy what Peck (2005)

describes as a craving for, authentic historical buildings, converted lofts, plenty

of coffee shops, art and live music spaces, indigenous street culture and a

range of other typical features of gentrifying mixed-use, inner-city

neighbourhoods.

Much of Floridas celebratory writing lionizes the work, play and consumption

habits of the Creative Class, which Marcuse (2003) critically assesses as, an

engaging account of the lifestyle preferences of yuppies. Markusen (2005),

argues therefore in distinguishing artists from young professionals as,

occupations included in the creative class have very different urban

preferences, politics and impacts on urban form and community life.

My investigation focuses on Newcastle-upon-Tynes Ouseburn neo-bohemian

neighbourhood (Lloyd, 2002) as a case study-based lens through which to


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critically examine Floridas Creative Places impact on the buzz to bland

cycle (Minton, 2003), yuppification (Short, 1989) and the artist gentrification

cycle. I seek to examine possible linkages between Floridas (2002) Creative

Professionals and processes of yuppification, whilst I will consider Markusens

(2005) contention that the artists and bohemians of Floridas (2002)

Supercreative Core have distinctive characteristics and politics vis--vis the

rest of the Creative Class.

Ouseburn provides a highly-relevant case study because artist-led regeneration

since the 1980s has transformed this former Victorian industrial district into a

trendy and increasingly sought-after location for creative industries and young

professionals. Capitalising on this success, Newcastle City Council recently

initiated a major development drive to greatly expand residential and business

capacity to further its Creative City economic vision and boost middle-class

city living. But many of Ouseburns artistic pioneers fear displacement from

their studios and the loss of the areas distinctive character as the area becomes

gentrified from Quayside.

With this context in mind, I set myself the following research questions:

1. What is the Ouseburns significance in Newcastle City Councils wider urban

vision, and can Ouseburn be considered a neo-bohemian neighbourhood?

2. What are the notable characteristics of the creative workers operating in Ouseburn

and how do their attributes, politics and vision for the area compare with other

members of the Creative Class?

3. Is Ouseburns authenticity threatened by yuppification, the buzz to bland cycle

and the artist gentrification cycle, and if so do Floridas Creative Cities

prescriptions ameliorate or exacerbate these tendencies?

4. What urban governance challenges do neo-bohemian neighbourhoods present and

how can these be feasibly met?


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2 Literature Review

2.1 Artists, Gentrification, and Cultural Consumption

Glass (1964) coined the term gentrification to describe the changes she observed

in the social structure and housing market of parts of inner London, with the

academic literature explaining the phenomenon now very extensive.

Gentrification can be summarised broadly around those explanations focusing

on changes in class composition (Ley, 1981; Hamnett, 1984), gender relations

(Bondi, 1991) and cultural orientation (Ley, 1996 and 2003), and the opposing

Marxian analyses (Smith 1979, 1987, 1996) reasserting the primacy of

economic supply-side factors, the rent gap and a, back to the city movement

by capital, not people.

Rather than becoming bogged down in the broader gentrification debate,

however, my study focuses on an important facet within it: the role of the artists

as pioneers of gentrification. This trend has been empirically demonstrated, with

Ley (2003), for example, showing that, in the four largest Canadian cities, the

presence of artists in a census tract has frequently led to a rapid increase in

property prices, whilst the US National Endowment for the Arts found that

cities with the highest percentage of artists in the labour force had the highest

rates of gentrification. (Gale, 1984).

Zukin (1987) uses her case study of artist-led gentrification in the Lower East

Side of Manhattan to argue that, the mutual validation and valorisation of

urban art and real estate markets indicates the importance of the cultural

constitution of the higher social strata in the advanced service economy. From

the 1970s, loft living became a sought after lifestyle choice for this influx of

middle class 2nd

generation gentrifiers (Zukin, 1982) due to an aesthetic

conjuncture in which artists living habits become a cultural model for the

middle classes and the old factories become a means of expression for a post-

industrial civilization. (Zukin, 1988).


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She demonstrates how demand-side factors such as the middle classs economic

valorisation of the aesthetic disposition and the historic urban fabric frequently

lead to a rapid increase in rents and property prices that the original low-income

artists can often ill afford. An artist gentrification cycle results with 1st

generation bohemian pioneers being displaced (e.g. from SoHo in 1980s) and

forced to seek out new districts offering authenticity and affordability (e.g.

Brookyn). Zukin (2001) elaborates by arguing an artistic mode of productions

emergence, in which the cultural and lifestyle attributes of increasingly

entrepreneurial artistic enclaves are marketed and manipulated methodically by

developers to cultivate market opportunities and generate profit.

There is an inherent tension in laissez faire development and gentrification,

however, as the free market invariably leads to economic capital subsuming

cultural capital and a buzz to bland cycle in which, before too long the area

is overrun by theme pubs, expensive restaurants and mock loft apartments and

with the artists and locals priced out the distinctive quality of the place that

people found attractive in the first place is lost. (Minton, 2003)

2.2 Cultural Regeneration, Urban Renaissance and CreativeCities

Cultural regeneration initiatives emerged internationally from the late 1980s in

cities from Birmingham to Barcelona partly as a reaction to the limitations of

harder economic regeneration and urban boosterism (Short, 1989; Fainstein,

1994; Smith, 1996). But more significantly, cultures ascendancy in policy

circles has been driven by underlying post-Fordist restructuring (Amin, 1994)

which privileges a symbolic economy (Lash and Urry, 1994) and post-modern

commodification of place and culture (Harvey, 1993; Philo and Kearns, 1993).

The idea that culture can be employed as a driver for urban economic growth

has become part of the new orthodoxy by which cities seek to enhance their

competitive position, (Miles and Paddison, 2005) but the term cultural

regeneration is a notoriously fuzzy concept (Markusen, 1999) plagued by


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multiple meanings and conceptual overlap. In practice, however, it can

essentially be separated into the 2 main approaches of capital intensive top-

down iconic projects, symbolised by the Guggenheim museum Bilbao effect,

and the increasingly popular alternative of promoting smaller-scale bottom-up

cultural projects, such as the Temple Bar cultural quarter in Dublin.

Simultaneously, an overlapping creativity agenda (Porter, 1995; Landry and

Bianchini, 1995; Hall, 1998; Florida, 2003, 2005) has arisen arguing that

clusters of knowledge industries, the creative milieu and the Creative Class

are essential ingredients in city survival and growth. This diverse school views

urban renaissance through the arts and creative industries, as one of the few

remaining strategies for urban revitalization which can embrace the effects of

globalisation and capture the twin goals of competitive advantage and quality of

life which culture, somewhat optimistically, might offer. (Evans, 2005)

Central to the creative cities vision are creative industries, defined as, those

activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and

which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and

exploitation of intellectual property. (DCMS, 2003). According to the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, they are one of the UKs fastest

growing economic sectors, accounting for 7.9% of GDP and 1.95m jobs (2001).

There is even now a Minister for Creative Industries, whose recent keynote

speech argued that, Richard Floridas work may have real implications for

policy it suggests that cities can regenerate themselves through creativity, as

Gateshead and Manchester have done. (Purnell, 2005). He goes onto state that,

The Rise of the Creative Class suggests that cities that are diverse, tolerant and

have a high quality civic infrastructure are overwhelmingly those that have

thriving creative sectors.

As central government champions a national imperative to turn Britain into the

worlds hub of economic creativity, (Miliband, 2005) it has become

increasingly de rigeur to argue that the creative industries are at the heart of our

policies for strong regions and vibrant cities (Jowell, 2006) and they make a


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vital contribution to the objective of reasserting Englands 8 Core Cities as

engines of national growth. (Miliband, 2005). London continues to lead as

Britains creative hub, (GLA, 2002, 2004) but provincial Core Cities such as

Newcastle are promoting their cultural renaissance to assert their credentials

as dynamic Creative Cities seeking to nurture and attract the Creative Class

(Florida, 2002).

2.3 The Creative Class, Neo-Bohemia and Yuppification

Richard Florida (2002) asserts that cities or regions exhibiting high levels of the

3 Ts of Talent (university degree attainment), Technology (high-tech

workers) and Tolerance (bohemians, gay men and foreign born as measured by

indices) correlate with a higher level of economic development than in cities

lacking these. He argues that attracting and retaining high-quality talent in the

form of the Creative Class is the most important factor in a city becoming one

of the economic winners of our age.

The Creative Class is defined as those who engage in work whose function isto create meaningful new forms and is estimated to total 38m Americans, or

some 30% of the workforce. Classified by occupational classifications, the

Creative Class consists of a supercreative core, including scientists and

engineers, professors and poets, and artists and actors, and a much larger set of

creative professionals who work in a wide-range of knowledge-based

occupations in high-tech sectors, financial services, the legal and healthcare

professions and business management (Florida, 2002).

Florida trumpets the importance of bohemianism because, without diversity,

without weirdness, without difference, without tolerance, a city will die. Cities

dont need shopping malls and convention centres to be economically

successful; they need eccentric and creative people. By nationally correlating

his bohemian index and technology pole rankings, Florida cites boho tech-

poles such as San Francisco, Boston and Austin to argue that the presence

and concentration of bohemians in an area creates an environment or milieu that


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attracts other types of talented or high human capital individuals (this) in turn

attracts and generates innovative technology-base industries.

Florida (2003) highlights the primacy of lifestyle factors that extend beyond

standard quality-of-life amenities. He contends that, what creative people look

for in communities are abundant high quality experiences, an openness to

diversity of all kinds, and above all else, the opportunity to validate their

identities as creative people. We are told that the Creative Class prefer

indigenous street-level culture: a teeming blend of cafes, sidewalk musicians,

and small galleries and bistros, where it is hard to draw the line between

performers and spectators. (Florida, 2005).

Integral to such places creative appeal are uniqueness and authenticity,

typically found in multi-use urban neighbourhoods (Florida, 2005) and

deriving from a dynamic mix of urban grit alongside renovated buildings, adistinctive music and cultural scene and a sense of character and identity absent

from suburbia or identikit neighbourhoods. Like Mintons (2003) critique of the

buzz to bland cycle, Floridas writings abhor the theme park model of

urbanism (Sorkin, 1992; Zukin, 1995) in which the heterogeneity of the edgy

neighbourhood have been replaced by the generica of sanitised venues of

consumption.


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In contrast to many urban blandscapes, Lloyds (2002) example of the neo-

bohemian neighbourhood in Wicker Park, Chicago, encapsulates seamlessly

the place-based markers of authenticity the Creative Class desire. With clear

parallels to Zukin (1982), Lloyd describes how the cultural and historical depth

of the former-industrial inner city spaces become a source of identification for

urban residents. Moreover, the association of Wicker Parks gritty spaces with

creative energy has helped initiate an increasing presence of media and digital

companies, so that that the neighbourhood resembles New York Citys East

Village with, similar intersections between high-tech, high art and

consumption evident. (Lloyd, 2002).

Rather than a segregation of consumption venues, workplace and residence,

Wicker Park is characterised by the promiscuous mixing of such locales within

the neighbourhood space. But Lloyd (2002) cautions that, an acceleration of

investment into an area like Wicker Park generates contradictions, including

conflicts among competing capital interests, with the original 1st

generation

artistic gentrifiers (Zukin, 1982) being increasingly priced out of the residential

market by an influx of wealthy young professionals purchasing a consumption

stake in the neighbourhood. Consequently, local artists often articulate their

ideological antagonism towards an image of the privileged urban resident the

yuppie. (Lloyd, 2002).

Smith (1986) describes how yuppie was coined in 1984 to refer to those

young upwardly-mobile professionals of the baby-boom generation, who are

supposed to be distinguished by a lifestyle devoted to personal careers and

individualistic consumption. Deemed to be the product of an altered

occupational structure stemming from the post-Fordist shift of increasing white

collar managerial, financial and professional employment, these new middle

class are heavily represented amongst gentrifiers. (Laska and Spain, 1980).

Shorts (1989) polemical critique berates how yuppie gentrification leads to a

process of yuppification (which) involves the destruction of an existing

community and its replacement by a new one with consequent changes in the

meaning and use of space. Jayne (2006) elaborates by arguing yuppified


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consumption spaces, not only economically displace lower-income residents

who cant afford higher rents and taxes, but also culturally displace the long-

term resident through the proliferation of exotic restaurants and wine bars.

Florida would publicly lament this gentrification cycle in which the 1st

generation cultural producers and bohemians are replaced by cultural consumers

and commodified spaces, extinguishing much of the neighbourhoods

authenticity and indigenous street culture that the Creative Class seek

(Florida, 2005). But Peck (2005) argues that the Creative Class themselves

are the yuppies eroding cultural authenticity and neighbourhood cohesion.

To investigate the tensions arising from the Creative Class impact on neo-

bohemian neighbourhoods, my survey and interviews profile Ouseburns artists

characteristics to assess Markusens (2005) claim that artists as a political

interest group have very little in common with most occupations in Floridas

misnamed Creative Class. I examine whether members of the Creative Class

make up Ouseburns 2nd

generation gentrifiers and, if so, what impact they make

on the areas existing artist workforce.

2.4 Urban Politics of Gentrification and City Living

Smith (in Sorkin, 1992) relates how the global economic expansion of the

1980s and the restructuring of national and urban economies towards services,

recreation and consumption have propelled gentrification from a marginal

preoccupation of the property industry to the cutting edge of urban change

internationally. Resurgence in city centre living (e.g. Nathan and Urwin, 2005)

is closely linked to cultural regeneration, a process in which city boosters

increasingly compete for tourist revenue and financial investments by bolstering

the citys image as a centre for cultural innovation but often they pit the self-

interest of property developers, politicians and expansionary cultural institutions

against grassroots pressures from local communities, (Zukin, 1995) as Battery

Park City or London Docklands demonstrate (Fainstein, 1994).


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UK public policymaking recognises now that the short-term imperative for

many property developers to return profit alongside the financial and electoral

pressures on the local authority to achieve best value, often seem to contradict

the longer-term need of ensuring a neighbourhood has a sustainable quality of

place (Minton, 2003). The DCMS (2004) recently cited that apparently

successful culturally-led regeneration of run down areas and buildings can lead

to the rapid breaking up of spaces for higher value single-use spaces such as

lofts, offices and retail outlets this cycle is now familiar in artist zones in

regenerated cities such as Berlin, Toronto and Londons Hoxton.

During the 1980s Hoxton was characterised by run down buildings but its

potential was recognised once colonised and regenerated by artists. The area is

now sought after in London, with upmarket bars, cafes, galleries, clubs,

residential conversions and high profile residents, but the impoverished artists

credited with leading Hoxtons regeneration have been displaced as squats and

low-cost accommodation have been replaced by expensive loft-style living.

But implementing the rhetoric of investing in diversity (DCMS, 2004) to

counter extremes of gentrification involves a complex juggling act between the

needs of a broad coalition of interests: government, business, developers and the

local community. Community residents fighting developers often confront the

whole set of economic and social processes that underlie development, with

higher property prices and rates structuring power relations so that,

gentrification elicits the approval of local political leaders, who

correspondingly moderate their support for displacees. (Zukin, 1987).

Consequently, Kunzmann (2004 in Evans, 2005) assesses cynically that, each

story of regeneration begins with poetry and ends with real estate.


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3 Contextual Background on the Ouseburn

The 100ha Ouseburn regeneration area is located 2 miles east of Newcastle city

centre and borders relatively deprived Byker to the east, and the affluence of

East Quayside to the west. The areas geography is defined by the tidal

Ouseburn river valley, flowing with the steeply sloping topography from north

to south, and the 3 Ouseburn bridges spanning the Valleys historic Lime Street

centre and village green.

The Ouseburn was a crowded 18th century Victorian heavy industrial quarter

centred around the Cluny whisky bottling factory and Lime Streets warehouses,served by barges navigating upstream from the Tyne. The area depopulated and

deindustrialised from the early 20th century, but from the late 1970s artists and

entrepreneurs on low incomes began to rent low cost property or renovate

derelict buildings in Ouseburn.


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3.1 The Ouseburns Development as an Artist and CreativeQuarter

Leading artistic pioneer, Mike Mould, paid 30,000 in 1980 for the disused

Victorian warehouse on Lime Street. In partnership with friends, meagre

savings and considerable sweat equity were invested into gutting and converting

the spacious lofts into artist studios. The 36 Lime Street co-operative formed in

1985, with the sites 45 studios and workshops awarded a RIBA Community

Enterprise Award and Prince Charles seal of approval in a 1988 visit.

Although many businesses in the area remain garages, scrapyards or storage, the

converted Biscuit Factory commercial gallery opened on the Valleys western

fringe in 2002 and 2 further floors of studio space housing 30 artists and

craftsmen opened in 2005. The Mushroom Works warehouse conversion also

opened in 2005 as an artist-led gallery with 12 studio spaces. Meanwhile, the

converted Quayside Business Development Centre (QBDC) provides subsidised

business facilities and 40 serviced office spaces for ICT related start-up SMEs.

The Valley is often praised for its vibrant and characterful local pub and music

scene, most notably the converted Cluny bar on Lime Street which is widely

regarded as Newcastles leading alternative live music venue. Cultural amenities

are boosted by the popular Stepney Bank stables, boating, the recent eco-centre

and city farm. The areas burgeoning reputation as a cultural and creative

hotspot has attracted creative industry firms, which now account for 100 out of a

total of 300 Ouseburn small firms, to move into converted premises.

From left to right: QBDC, 36 Lime Street, the Cluny live music bar


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3.2 Ouseburns Past Regeneration

The charitable Ouseburn Trust was founded by local activists in 1996 with the

aim of maintaining the Valleys distinctive heritage as an urban village in the

face of encroaching private sector residential development from East Quayside.

The Ouseburn Trust and Newcastle City Council combined to form the

Ouseburn Partnership and 2.5m of Single Regeneration Budget funding

facilitated Ouseburns initial grassroots-led regeneration since the late 1990s.

Funds have supported start-up business grants, historically-sensitive

conversions and soft-infrastructure improvements such as environmental clean-

up, public art, conservation area status and cultural festivals.

Widely praised, Ouseburns regeneration was shortlisted in 2003 for an OPDM

sustainable communities award in recognition of preserving the areas distinct

character, the mixed-use urban village vision and the active participation and

leadership of community stakeholders. However, the Ouseburn Partnerships

2003-10 strategy promises a much more controversial step-change to

accommodate the areas burgeoning creative industry and residential demand.

Ouseburn Regeneration Strategy 2003-10 Vision

By 2010 the Lower Ouseburn Valley will be a thriving sustainable,urban village in a unique riverside location within the City of

Newcastle.

The best heritage features of the area will have been preserved andenhanced within a vibrant townscape and an attractive landscape that

will reconnect people with the diverse natural environment.

A wide range of businesses especially those related to creative,innovative, multi-media and cultural activities will be prospering in the

area.

The Valley will also be home to a stable mixed residential community.A wide variety of services and leisure opportunities will be available for

residents, employees and visitors to the area.


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4 Methodology

4.1 Data Collection

Due to the scarcity of residential property currently available in the Valley, the

surveys target population was limited to firms at the following 4 key clusters,

accounting for the majority of Ouseburns cultural and creative firms:

Founded 1980 and the first, and still the largest, artist and creative cluster

45 workshops and studios in converted Cluny warehouse

Co-operative run on strictly non-profit basis

Founded 2005 by craftsman, Nick James, to meet expanding studio demand

12 workshops and studios in converted warehouse

Artist-led not-for-profit management

2 floors exhibiting local artists work at marked up prices

30 basement workshops and studios opened in 2005

Commercial business venture founded in 2002 by Andy Balman

Council-run business incubator for SMEs

40 offices occupied at preferential rents


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4.1.1 Questionnaire Design

[See Appendix for annotated Questionnaire]

Section 1 - Respondent Details - banded age categories and omitted income for

sensitivity, whilst I attempted to apply Mintons (2003) brain gain thesis by

enquiring about North East roots. Walk to work and postcode data aimed to

assess the urban village model.

Section 2 categorises firms against the DCMSs 11 creative industry categories,

and seeks indications of the firms age, staff size and expansion prospects.

Section 3s 10 attitudinalquestionsutilise a bi-polar 5 point Likert Scale,allowing evaluation of statements drawn directly from the 2003 Regeneration

Strategy (see questions 1, 2, 3 and 6), and hypotheses regarding preferred future

development (questions 4, 5, 7 and 8).

Questions 4 and 5 compare 2 developments nearing completion, starkly

differing in size and conception, in order to assess which type locals would like

to see more of in the Ouseburn. I chose Lime Square, a 115 one or two

bedroom 6-storey luxury apartment complex bordering East Quayside, to

symbolise one extreme of large-scale, new-build, private-sector commercial

development marketed at young professionals.


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This contrasts with the Woods Pottery conversion designed by Project North

East, a not-for-profit public-private partnership with an excellent record of

sensitive historic conversions for businesses. These live/work units on Lime

Street symbolises the alternate regeneration vision of small-scale, aesthetically

pleasing, historically sensitive and mixed-use development.

Likert Scales advantages include clarity, simplicity and speed of completion,

recognising respondent tolerance and fatigue concerns.. Limitations include the

closed question format, the risk of attitude forcing or patterned response, and of

central tendency or acquiescence bias (Parfitt, 1997). Pilot survey feedback

helped reduce these inherent risks and checked timing and phrasing.

4.1.2 Questionnaire Sampling and Response Rates

I established credibility, trust and access with my sites gatekeepers to facilitate

a self-administered simple sample survey of all studio tenants present at 36

Lime Street, the Mushroom Works and the Biscuit Factory. I used a concise pre-

prepared introduction, stressing the questionnaires brevity, purpose, and

opportunity for respondents opinion on issues affecting them personally. A

number of respondents became engrossed, allowing for extensive interviews and

opportunities for participant observation to naturally develop, which I carefully

recorded.

I elicited very high response rates (c.80%) but, despite staggering surveying

over 1 week and employing repeat round-up visits, numerous studios were

vacant due to irregular hours (24 hour studio access). Revealingly, response

rates dropped to 25% at QBDC, due to requirements to deposit and collect

questionnaires from firms pigeon holes.

4.1.3 Interviews

Multiple interview sourcing (see appendix for full list) allowed me to draw upon

a variety of stakeholder perspectives. (James, 2005). Whilst questionnairedesign necessarily involved deduction and hypothesis-testing, my interviewing


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was based principally on the grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)

technique of inductively building theory. This allowed me later to compare

literature to theories emerging from my results, and reduced the risk of twisting

results to fit a priori theoretical deductions.

I typically treated my semi-structured interviews as a social encounter,

warming up the interviewee and developing a rapport. (Valentine, 1997).

Initially straightforward open-ended questions allowed respondents scope to

raise new issues for categorisation (e.g. commercialisation of art) that I might

not have anticipated (Silverman, 1993), or to independently reinforce existing

key themes (future affordability concerns). I would clarify emerging themes by

repeating them back, and probe my evolving list of existing core categories with

hanging (Valentine, 1997) or controversial questions, whilst avoiding leading

statements.

The mental gymnastics of maintaining structure whilst allowing the spontaneity

of the interviewees own flow were challenging, but there were seldom ethical

or vulnerability concerns besides maintaining my personal and political

neutrality. I dressed in accordance with my respondents and recorded key notes

during interview. I verified daily these notes and quotations against Dictaphone

recordings and I would separately add additional personal impressions and

updated my coding and theory building.

4.1.4 Lime Square Property Advertisement Discourse Analysis

Being unable to questionnaire survey or interview residents of the unfinished

Lime Square due to the (future) March 2006 completion date, I opted to analyse

the advertising and marketing of the development. I wanted to assess the profile

of the target audience, the manner in which Newcastle and Ouseburn were

marketed, and the rhetorical parallels with Floridas Creative Places work.


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4.2 Limitations

4.2.1 General

Case studies offer rich data with high validity, whilst situating and interpreting

data within their wider context (Yin, 2002). Criticisms of case study reliability

overlook the notion that the case study inferential mechanism relies upon, the

cogency of the theoretical reasoning, rather than the statistical

representativeness of the case (Mitchell, 1983).

Nevertheless, common criticisms levelled at qualitative cultural economic

research include a lack of engagement with big public policy issues (Peck,

1999), cherry picking of examples and quotations (Markusen, 1999), inability to

replicate or verify the research (Yeung, 2003), and what Martin (2001)

describes as, the drift towards thin empirics and anecdotal, single use case

studies.

Countering these risks, my research questions engaged with contemporary

(inter)national policy dilemmas, whilst an inductive theory-building

methodology limited researcher bias. Triangulation of data sources and

collection methods, and the Likert Scale, bolstered empirics and scope for

replication for a future comparative study (e.g. repeat study in Ouseburn 2015).

Regrettably, however, my case studys temporal depth (James, 2005) was

constrained and multi-site national comparison (Markusen, 1999) between

Ouseburn and Hoxton or Castlefield, for example, was infeasible.

4.2.2 Questionnaires

My questionnaire design negated closed-question rigidity constraints with its

open comment section. In hindsight, however, some questions proved

superfluous (e.g. Q9), whilst assumptions of participant awareness were

occasionally over optimistic. For example, a number of respondents at QBDC

and the Biscuit Factory were unaware of the Lime Square or Woods Pottery


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developments, whilst many QBDC respondents felt detached and lacked the

marked engagement of 36 Lime Street respondents.

4.2.3 Interviews

Qualitative material generated by interviews is rich, detailed and multi-layered,

producing a deeper picture than questionnaires. But their fluid individuality

precludes replication, with corroboration attainable only by similar studies or

complementary techniques (Burgess, 1994). By being personally reflexive, I

recognise that my positionality as a non-Geordie student shaped the questions I

asked, my interpretations of responses and the value judgements I assigned.

Below: Looking north over Ouseburn tidal river to 36 Lime Street warehouses


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5 Data Interpretation[See Appendix for Data Analysis]

5.1 What is the Ouseburns significance in Newcastle CityCouncils wider urban vision, and can Ouseburn beconsidered a neo-bohemian neighbourhood?

5.1.1 Newcastles Creative City Vision and Ouseburns Significance

Like other former industrial powerhouses, Newcastle and Gateshead underwent

traumatic deindustrialisation from the 1970s, and were once viewed as bleak

symbols of urban decline and social unrest (e.g. 1991 Scotswood riots). Now

they receive national acclaim as flagship cultural regeneration success stories,

with John Prescott applauding how, Newcastle and Gateshead are working

together to regenerate a riverfront that offers world class cultural attractions

against the Tynes spectacular backdrop. (ODPM, 2004).

Between 1987 and 1998, Newcastles Quayside was regenerated as part of the

Tyne and Wear Development Corporations property-boosterism approach

(Harvey, 1989). Transformed from a rat infested swamp (Miles, 1998),

Quayside is now a Docklands-style landscape of panoramic riverside walkways

adorned with modern art, luxury waterfront apartments, large-scale offices, and

an influx of upmarket hotels, bars and specialist leisure or shopping venues.

Gateshead Council post-1980s regeneration process has privileged culture as a

catalyst, with the popularity of Anthony Gormleys Angel of the North provingthe tipping point for the subsequent, top-down surgical approach of iconic

projects attracting international investment and publicity,1

financed by Lottery,

European and Arts Council funding. Gateshead Quays cultural renaissance

centres upon the iconic 46m BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts, 1950s

flour mill opened in 2002, and Sir Norman Fosters 70m Sage Gateshead

concert hall (2005), with the 22m Millennium Bridge (2001) and forming a

circuit between the Quays, creating a Central Tyneside district (Miles, 1998).

1 Paul Rubenstein, Newcastle City Council Head of Economic and Cultural Affairs


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Richard Floridas Creative Cities vision was cited explicitly as Newcastle and

Gateshead recently combined to recast their image as a singular world-class

creative city (Visit Newcastle-Gateshead, 2006) to launch the unsuccessful

Capital of Culture 2008 bid. The iconic live-work-play arenas of Quayside

and Gateshead Quays frame central Tyneside as a vibrant, cosmopolitan, and

happening place in which art, music, and lifestyle thrive (Zukin, 1995).

Miles and Paddinson (2005) situate such strategies within a broader UK trend in

which, Floridas work resonates deeply with the regeneration agenda and

has captured the imagination of policymakers. For example, the DCMS (2004)

Culture at the Heart of Regeneration report states that, Florida argues that

cities will only thrive if they are able to attract the new breed of creative, skilled

people who want to live in places with high-quality cultural facilities.

Tyneside is undergoing an amazing transformation as it re-invents itself as a modern city with a vibrant cosmopolitan

culture.

The new Tyneside has a buzz about it. It's no longer a case of 'coals to Newcastle' but of 'cool culture on Tyneside

The area's cultural heart is pumping with new life as it sees itself as a major European city like Milan or Madrid.

At night it buzzes with people out for a great night out or taking a late evening stroll on the riverside promenade.

All quotations from Visit Newcastle-Gateshead 2006 (VNG, 2006)

http://www.visitnewcastlegateshead.com/


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Creative industry clusters, currently employing 26,000, are also presented as

integral to the North Easts future, as, the reputation of the region as a hot-

house for creative minds is extending far outside its boundaries, with graduates

drawn from across the globe and many examples of creative professionals re-

locating here. (One North East, 2005).

Minton (2003) adds that, cities with soul are proving increasingly attractive to

mobile knowledge-based workers, whose willingness to move for greater

quality of place is giving rise to the brain gain phenomenon. With parallels to

Florida, she argues that, creative professionals are increasingly choosing to live

in cities like Newcastle and Gateshead which provide the authenticity and sense

of identity they seek.

These trends combine in Mintons (2003) survey of 70 Newcastle and

Gateshead firms in the creative industry fields of architecture, PR, advertising,

web design and TV / film production, which revealed that, a growing number

of creative, highly skilled professionals are now being attracted by the quality of

place in cities like Newcastle and Gateshead. 54% of firms said that they were

increasingly employing people from outside the North East, whilst 25% said

they recruited a majority of their employees from outside the region. The

Labour Force Survey (ONS, 2003) supports a wider shift from a brain drain to

a brain gain, reporting that 2002 was the first year for a decade with a net

migration into the North East.

Nathan and Urwin (2005) believe that, the growth of city centre living is the

most visible symbol of urban renaissance, with such populations (1991-2001)

growing 40% in Liverpool (to 13,500) and nearly 300% in Manchester (to

10,000). Although Newcastle and Gateshead are figureless, there is ample

anecdotal evidence2

of, affluent young professionals from all over the country

snapping up properties on Quayside.3

2Times Property Supplement, 2006

3 Kings Sturge Property Consultants, Grey Street, Newcastle


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But despite the cities apparent success at attracting the Creative Class to live

and work, urban policy remains sensitive to Floridas prescriptions as we are

informed earnestly that, Professor Richard Florida believes that the key driver

of any areas economy lies in the creativity and cultural lives of those that live,

work and study there. So is the North Easts Bohemian Index high enough to

regenerate its urban areas, or is it still viewed as an industrially centred, cultural

desert? (One North East, 2005).

Ouseburns status as a neo-bohemian neighbourhood and one of Newcastles

three key cultural clusters makes it crucial therefore to Newcastles wider

creative city vision, despite its small population and modest local economy.

Above: Central Tyneside as seen from Ouseburn at sunset

Above left: Millennium Bridge, looking East towards Quayside and OuseburnAbove right: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts in Gateshead


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5.1.2 Ouseburn as a Neo-Bohemian Creative Hotspot

Whilst self-identification as a bohemian neighbourhood (Q10) was only

moderately strong (QBDC +9% to Biscuit Factory +29%), there are strong

parallels between the Ouseburn and Lloyds (2002) study of Wicker Park,

Chicago, whilst Paul Rubenstein4

labelled Ouseburn as Newcastles Hoxton.

The areas creative population continues to be attracted by the cultural depth of

the Ouseburns embedded Victorian industrial heritage, reflecting that, it is not

merely the cheap rents and large empty buildings that bring the artists flocking.A strong sense of history, embedded local culture and identity, are also

appealing to creatives who crave authenticity and gritty realism. (Minton,

2003). Mirroring Lloyds (2002) findings in Wicker Park, Dale Bolland5

confirmed that the association of Ouseburns gritty post-industrial aestheticised

spaces with creative energy had helped attract new media and high-growth

creative firms, such as Karol Marketing or the Cluny music recording studio.

Andy Balman6,

reiterated that we are glad that we located The Biscuit Factory

in the Ouseburn Valley. The area is well known for it creative vibe and we

wanted to build on this excitement.

My survey confirmed the expected concentrations of creative industries (100%

of firms in 3 of my 4 locations) and Mr Bolland spoke of demand outstripping

office capacity, with price rise and buyouts as semi-mature firms full of creative

types want to live and work in such a funky area. Nick James7

described, huge

waiting lists for studios at 36 Lime Street and 25 people on mine already at the

Mushroom Works. But there was agreement that the Ouseburn is, definitely

happening now, but it wasnt before. The place has completely flipped in 5

years: people used to say why are you down there? Now they want a place

4 Paul Rubenstein, Newcastle City Council Head of Economic and Cultural Affairs5

Dale Bolland, Newcastle City Council Head of Ouseburn regeneration6Andy Balman, owner of The Biscuit Factory art gallery and studio

7 Nick James, furniture maker and founder of Mushroom Works studios


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themselves.8Nick James reiterated this newfound popularity, with architects,

marketing people and film directors wanting to tap into the trendy

bohemianism.

The survey revealed, however, that QBDC was actually a small-business cluster

with 73% of its firms not creative. In contrast to the emotional attachment to

Ouseburn expressed elsewhere, QBDCs lack of engagement was captured by

the comment9,

I only come here to work; I have no knowledge of the Ouseburn

area and the facilities it provides. Consequently, QBDC acts as a useful proxy

to compare creative and non-creative firm characteristics.

5.2 What are the notable characteristics of the creativeworkers operating in Ouseburn and how do theirattributes and politics compare with other members of theCreative Class?

5.2.1 The Distinctive Characteristics of Ouseburns Creative Workers

My surveys and interviews identify a set of distinct urban artist characteristics,

consistent with those recognised by Markusens USA research (2005).

Markusens definition for artists encompasses writers, musicians, visual artists

and performing artists, however, whilst I employed the DCMSs wider 13-

category creative workers definition, clear parallels can still be drawn.

Firstly, the Ouseburns creatives display markedly high group educational

attainment, with 64% of Lime Street/Mushroom Works and 72% of Biscuit

Factory respondents possessing a university degree or higher, in contrast with

only 36% at QBDC or 10% in the wider North East. These findings

approximate the Chicago Artists Survey 2000, which revealed degree attainment

at 87% for artists and 25% for the wider metropolitan area (Markusen, 2005),

and Leys (2003) categorisation of artists as members of the middle class due to

their high levels of cultural capital and education.

8Anonymous Biscuit Factory respondent

9 Anonymous QBDC respondent


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Secondly, the majority of respondents were self-employed, with mean total

employees per firm just 1 at Lime Street/Mushroom Works and 2 at the Biscuit

Factory, and operate in artistic networks (Becker, 1982) and symbiotic

relationships (Markusen and King, 2003). The majority of creative respondents

stressed the importance to their business of co-operative setups (55% surveyed

at 36 Lime Street) or the artistic network (86% at the Biscuit Factory), with Sue

Woolhouse10

describing, the small networks of friends who support each other

through bartering or nominal payment.

Mr Bolland makes a crucial distinction between cultural industries run by

lifestyle individuals, and high-growth creative industries. Ouseburns cultural

industries comprise almost entirely self-employed craftsmen and fine artists

whose minimal incomes make them dependent on cheap rents, but they provide

a wider public good through their contribution to the areas reputation as a

cultural hotspot, mirroring Lloyds (2002) findings from Wicker Park.

Meanwhile, Ouseburns commercially-oriented creative industries in the design,

publishing, television, film and music sectors can afford to pay a second-

generation premium to buy into the creative milieu.

The Ouseburns level of creative entrepreneurialism varied, with the artist-led

Mushroom Works praised for, offering a balance between low rent and the

need to attract commercially viable businesses.11

Nick James, spoke of the

realities of needing to make money, whilst criticising how, for some arty farty

types profit is a dirty word. The Ouseburn Trust reiterated this message by

explaining how many at 36 Lime Street, were weekend water colourists,

ingrained in the hippy way.12 They cautioned that some people there have

their head in the sand, and that the majority are lifestyles businesses that may

be unable to cope with the future demands of the Valley.13

Deutsche (1996) describes how artists are frequently disdainful of the capitalist

system and its commodification that dumbs down the creative act into the

10 Sue Woolhouse, 36 Lime Street secretary and glass artist11

Peter Kay, Ouseburn Trust12Kirsen Luckins, Ouseburn Trust

13 Peter Kay, Ouseburn Trust


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language of money and requires the sacred space of their studio to be ravaged

by the gangsterism of the art world, an ideological current evident in the

Valley. For example, The Biscuit Factory, which exhibits local artists pieces

for between 20 and 20,000, was derided by some as, a garden centre that

appeals to posh people, and all about money with 100% markup plus VAT,14

Andy Balman chastised as, a pure businessman taking money off artists.15

In summary, there is strong evidence of the Ouseburn artists left-leaning

politics (Markusen, 2005) and suspicion of commodification (Deutsche, 1996),

summed up by one artists remark that, my generation are all old left-wingers,

socialists, and anarchists. We find capitalism repugnant, but I believe we have

to deal with the real economy.16

Above upper: Arts and craft products of Ouseburns cultural industries

Above lower: Sue Woolhouses glass workshop and studio at 36 Lime Street

14

Sue Woolhouse, secretary 36 Lime Street15Nick James, furniture maker and founder of Mushroom Works

16 Tim Kendall, 36 Lime Street furniture maker


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5.2.2 Quaysides Encroachment into Ouseburn: Yuppies or the CreativeProfessionals?

Aware of the market possibilities, developers are now consciously meeting the

demand for centrally located dwellings for young monied non-child households

in Newcastle. Much of the success of Quayside riverside apartments, such as St

Anns Quay and Mariners Wharf, has been their ability to market a luxury

riverside living lifestyle much cheaper than in London, offering a best bet for

personal investment17

.

East Quaysides Lime Square development boasts of Newcastles simply

sublime city living and the citys reinvention as the ideal place to live, work

and play with a quality of life second to none. The promotional literatures

cast of young, fun-loving, glamorous and sophisticated urban elite urge the

target audience of presumably like-minded young professionals to forget the

rush hour, take on the town and enjoy more time to spend.

Through these discursive strategies, Lime Square targets itself directly at these

time-poor young urban upwardly-mobile professionals with, a life full of work,commitments, movement and meetings, to whom, a central location saves

times in journey to work, entertainment and contact with social networks.

(Short, 1989). Crucially, Lime Square also presents itself as the gateway to the

Ouseburn Valley with, your new home just minutes away from the vibrant life

of Newcastles Quayside, yet right next to the burgeoning cool of the Ouseburn

Valley an oasis of calm away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

The brochure declares that, its time you discovered whats happening in the

Ouseburn, evoking a frontier myth in which glamour and chic are spiced

with just a hint of danger and the rawness of the neighbourhood is part of the

appeal. (Smith, 1986). Like the Lower East Sides romanticisation, Ouseburn is

presented as a state of mind and personality where urban attitude meets boho

chic, whilst the developments name explicitly seeks to associate itself with the

Lime Street bohemian enclave.

17 David Leslie, Sanderson Young property consultants assessment of Lime Square


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Such apartment developments are being marketed to moneyed young

professionals seeking both Quaysides high profile attractions, and Ouseburns

more authentic and edgy cultural consumption opportunities and rising social

cachet as a chic neo-bohemian neighbourhood. Ouseburn therefore acts a prime

example of the kind of, culturally validated neighbourhoods (that)

automatically provide new middle classes with the collective identity and social

credentials for which they strive. (Zukin, 1987).

Floridas creative professionals group corresponds strongly with the target

audience, being occupationally interchangeable with the new middle class

(Markusen, 2005) and sharing yuppie lifestyle characteristics and the need,

above all elseto validate their identities as creative people. (Florida, 2005).

Floridas relentlessly upbeat anecdotal accounts earnestly relate the Creative

Classs individualistic lifestyle and consumption habits, which one of his

former teachers, Peter Marcuse, (2005) critically assesses as, an engaging

account of the lifestyle preferences of yuppies.

When Florida (2005) informs us, for instance, that the Creative Class, crave

stimulation, not escape: they want to pack their time full of dense, high quality,

multi-dimensional experiences, (Florida, 2005) there is a strong sense of deja-

vu. One harps back to the hedonistic and self-indulgent individualist philosophy

typically associated pejoratively with the conspicuous consumption of 1980s

Wall Street yuppie culture or the 1990s dot-com bohemian bourgeois or

bobos (Brooks, 2000).

Through my analysis of Lime Squares marketing discourses, I contend that

Floridas Creative Professionals are likely to be prevalent amongst the new

middle class gentrifiers attracted to such city living corporate developments in

neo-bohemian neighbourhoods. I have also demonstrated that Ouseburns

Supercreative Core artists, as a political interest group have very little in

common with most others occupations in Floridas misnamed Creative Class.

(Markusen, 2005), notably the bankers, lawyers, doctors and other members of

the Creative Professionals, who they regard as yuppies.


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5.3 Is Ouseburns authenticity threatened by yuppification,the buzz to bland cycle and the artist gentrificationcycle, and if so do Floridas Creative Citiesprescriptions ameliorate or exacerbate these tendencies?

5.3.1 The Lime Square Development Raises Fears of OuseburnsYuppification amongst the Artist Population

Lime Square met with strident opposition in Ouseburn, with 36 Lime Street

workers (55% negative response to Q4) arguing that, if thats an indication of

how the Valley is heading then were in trouble.18

Described variously as

horrible, appalling, all about profit and a big lump lauding it over the

Valley, Lime Square was generally viewed threateningly as, representingeverything we dont want,

19by 36 Lime Streets co-operative workers.

Despite scathing aesthetic remarks that Lime Square has been plonked down

and could dully exist anywhere adds nothing to the Valley and has nothing to

do with Lime Street20

, chief outcry centred around the perceived, greed

coming in now with the speculative developments,21

and the developments

lack of community integration. One graphic designer explained how he wanted,

people with a vested interest in the communitys future, rather than national

property firms with no stake in the local community.22

Others saw it as aimed

at young people or students with rich parents buying up property, whilst

vicious rumours circled of a single investor buying up 70 apartments for the

buy-to-let market.23

The Ouseburn Trust confirmed that the Ouseburn address has become a brand

that developers are keen to market, with, the real Ouseburn becoming blurred

with East Quayside. The Trust reiterated their opposition to mono-culture

developments which bulldoze existing buildings, stating that they, dont want

St Anns Quay and Mariners Wharf apartments replicated in Ouseburn.

18Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 1

19 Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 320 Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 121

Sue Woolhouse, secretary 36 Lime Street22Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 4

23 Nick James, owner of Mushroom Works


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Greatly increased private residential developments form the centrepiece,

however, of the Ouseburn Partnerships 2003-10 regenerations strategy, with

almost 500 new dwellings and over 10,000 square metres of workshop, office,

retail and leisure facilities are planned for development by 2008, totalling 12m

public sector and 140m private sector investment (OP, 2003). But Mr Bolland

explained that the noted antagonism between developers and local interests

(Short, 1989; Smith in Sorkin, 1992) means that only 2 major sites are currently

being developed.

In contrast to Lime Square, respondents were overwhelmingly positive about

the smaller Woods Pottery development (QBDC +32% to 36 Lime Street/MW

+64%) which was seen as sensitively considering original character,24

and

fitting the Trusts small is beautiful25

philosophy. But such high-quality

live/work studios were prohibitively expensive for most traditional artists or

craftspeople, and aimed instead at emulators of the artist loft lifestyle (Zukin,

1982), such as designers, media executives and those in advertising26

and the

more aesthetically demanding and moneyed members of the Creative Class.

5.3.2 Ouseburns Future Regeneration Threatens a Buzz to Bland andGentrification Cycle

Existing regeneration was praised (QBDC +18% to +50% BF) for dramatically

improving the area27

and its moderation and sensitivity, and Ouseburn

regeneration officers, Dale Bolland and Peter McIntyre, were widely applauded

and trusted. One artist commented how Dale and Peter were supportive of

enterprises like ours before they were sexy.28

The Ouseburn Partnerships 2003-10 Regeneration Strategy seeks to maintain

the Valleys balance, whilst simultaneously accelerating the pace of

24 Anonymous Biscuit Factory respondent 125 Peter Kay, Ouseburn Trust26

Nick James, owner of Mushroom Works27Anonymous Biscuit Factory respondent 2

28 Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 5


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development to meet escalating residential and business demand of this

untapped resource29

. Mr Bolland explained how current business capacity has

been reached and so significant new and refurbished workspace will be

developed to meet the escalating demand from arts and culture, ICT and new

media businesses. But the strategy reflects the DCMSs (2004) sustainable

urban governance concerns by recognising that the key issue is how the

opportunities for developing housing, business and leisure uses can be taken

without destroying the Ouseburns unique character. (OP, 2003).

A strong protectionist lobby, however, emanating principally from 36 Lime

Street, fear that the new strategys implementation will lead to a regeneration

frenzy30

, the unwanted encroachment of Quayside party city culture31

and

the risk of, overdevelopment by overzealous planners.32

Mintons (2003)

buzz to bland cycle was highlighted as artists cautioned how, more

monolithic 1 or 2 bedroom housing development will ruin the cultural diversity

of the Valley and threaten the essence of creativity which brings the

development in,33

with Mr Bolland conceding that, private sector developers

are concentrating on 1 person flats for yuppies.

Strongest fears centred on an impending, classic gentrification cycle with

developers moving in and shitting on everyone else, with, artists and creatives

bearing the brunt first.34

Others described how, the artists will get bought out

and the area will become bland posh flats and a playground for yuppies,35

and

their concerns that, if overly gentrified the Ouseburn will lose its soul.36

Similar predictions were voiced by policymakers, with Mr Bolland conceding

the likelihood of, the standard gentrification model of bohemians being driven

out, and the Ouseburn Trust believing that, inevitably things are going to

29 Dale Bolland, Head of Newcastle City Councils Ouseburn regeneration team30 Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 631

Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 432 Ronnie Forster, Biscuit Factory33 Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 134

Nick James, owner of Mushroom Works35Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 4

36 Anonymous Biscuit Factory respondent 3


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change and artists will sell out. The alternative to this trend is no redevelopment

at all.

The Ouseburn Partnerships strategy seeks to address these concerns with its

commitment to avoid homogenous single tenure areas and instead incorporate a

diversity of size, tenure and price, and, support for conversions coinciding with

the historical grain of the Valley.37

But the current construction of a barrage

across the tidal Ouseburns mouth to facilitate, the regeneration of derelict

riverside sites into a vibrant canal-side, (OP, 2003) promises major upheaval

and community friction within the Valley.

Lower-level 36 Lime Street workers voiced fears that the water-level rise would

flood their basement studios, whilst there was wider cynicism that the barrage

was acting, as a fillip to developers wanting to build or convert riverside

apartments that seek to attract Quayside people. Mr Bolland confirmed that the

barrage, as well as effecting environmental improvements, would be a

symbolic appeal to developers who want a canal-side environment, but one

tenant angrily decried that, I dont want a barrage built so some posh yuppie

knob can mess around on his balcony throwing Ferrero Rochers at the ducks in

the canal below.38

Many 36 Lime Street tenants were worried about the future I could lose my

studio,39

with Sue Woolhouse particularly concerned that the warehouses,

new director has been looking to push up rents or sell the place to residential

developers. She explained that the co-operatives lack of commercial focus

was, fraught with tension as we desperately aim to raise funds as the owner of

the building looks to sell to the highest bidder.

Overall, my findings correspond with Zukins (1987) research that existing

artists and bohemians, may resent the superimposition of an alien culture

with different consumption patterns and an accelerated pace of change on their

37

Dale Bolland, Head of Newcastle City Councils Ouseburn regeneration team38Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 4



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community, and are adversely affected and priced-out by an influx of 2nd

generation gentrifiers and cultural consumers, high in economic capital and

low in cultural capital. (Leys, 2003).

5.3.3 Do Floridas Creative Cities prescriptions ameliorate orexacerbate these tendencies (in neo-bohemian neighbourhoods)?

The established nature of much of Floridas urban prescriptions in Newcastle

was confirmed by Paul Rubensteins comment that, One North East RDA paid

Florida a lot of money to come to the SAGE Gateshead in 2004 and tell us what

we already knew but a lot is also fundamentally common sense.

Peck (2005) argues Floridas Creative Places policies mean that, a premium

is therefore placed on the capacity of cities to make their authentic, funky

neighbourhoods welcoming to moneyed incomers. He cites Michigans Cool

Cities programme as emblematic of this new public policy aim of attracting

and retaining those, urban pioneers and young knowledge workers who are a

driving force for economic development and growth. (Michigan, 2004).

Consistent with Pecks analysis, central to Newcastles Creative City vision is

the public and private-sector place-marketing of authentic neighbourhoods like

Ouseburn in order to foster a brain gain of moneyed knowledge workers or

Creative Professionals. Peck (2005) criticises such, public validation for

favoured forms of consumption and for a privileged class of consumers, in

which, indulging selective forms of elite consumption and social interaction is

elevated to the status of a public-policy objective in the creative cities script.

But whilst public-sector backed positive gentrification of the inner city is a

core component of Newcastles urban policy (Cameron, 2002), Pecks

criticisms are misplaced when applied to Newcastle City Councils policy on

neo-bohemian areas. The Ouseburn Partnerships regeneration so far has been

judged a success by both a cross-section of stakeholder interests and economic,

social and environmental indicators, in large part because of its reluctance to


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indulge selective forms of elite consumption, (Peck, 2005) such as yuppie flat

developments.

On the other hand, however, policymakers from Mr Bolland to the Ouseburn

Trust highlighted the Valleys evolution, with the protectionist interests of the

original 1st generation artistic pioneers (Zukin, 1982) now in friction with the

private and public sectors ambitions for major economic regeneration and,

welcoming moneyed incomers. (Peck, 2005). Revealingly, my A3 travel to

work maps demonstrate how few Ouseburn workers actually live in the

Ouseburn regeneration area, suggesting their stake in the community is perhaps

not as great as they suggest.

I believe that in the case of Newcastle, Floridas bottom-up creative

empowerment strategies do contribute inexorably to the artist gentrification

and buzz to bland cycle. Although a more subtle process than the pronounced

yuppification evident of much top-down urban boosterism, Floridas

prescriptions facilitate the emergence of, and Council support for, an artistic

mode of production, in which increasingly entrepreneurial artistic enclaves are

exploited for profit. (Zukin, 2001).

I aim to have demonstrated this trends occurrence through my analysis of the

Lime Square development and its commodification of the Valley, which is

exacerbating trends towards an artistic and buzz to bland cycle. Moreover, the

Councils intervention to build a barrage as a fillip to developers seeking to

create a canal-side apartment environment indicates that the Council is

increasingly favouring the interests of investment capital over cultural

producers.


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5.4 What urban governance challenges do neo-bohemianneighbourhoods present and how can these be feasibly met?

5.4.1 Affordability and Diversity: Necessary Regulation or ProtectionistObstacles to Development?

My interviews and surveys reveal general acknowledgement across Ouseburns

stakeholders that the gentrification cycle and private development will prevail

inevitably in time. But this prediction was accompanied by widespread concerns

that the areas transformation from one of cultural production to cultural

consumption threatens a loss of authenticity and soul, and hence the erosion ofOuseburns principal appeal.

Paul Rubenstein40

situated Ouseburn in the wider cultural regeneration context by

likening the areas, organic bottom-up regeneration, to, the artists of SoHo or

Hoxton seeking out cheap space in derelict areas. But this grassroots-level

regeneration is connected to, and impacted by, top-down property-boosterism, such

as Quayside Dockland-style development. Rubenstein revealed a critical

engagement with urban boosterisms limitations (Fainstein, 1994) by explaining

how, approaches predicated on increasing property prices per square foot clash

with the bottom-up approach.

Fully aware of Mintons buzz to bland study in Newcastle, he expressed his

concern at the Quayside property price effect and that, increasing gentrification

threatens to kill off the goose that laid the golden egg in Ouseburn, with the cultural

producers being displaced. He went onto describe how, Ouseburn is on the cusp of

major development the test of its continued vitality will be in 2015. But do we want

to knock out the scruffiness?

Mr Rubenstein saw his role as, creating a light-touch mechanism that supports

mavericks, without acting as the dead hand of the state. We are being extremely

40 Paul Rubenstein, Newcastle City Council Head of Economic and Cultural Affairs


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sensitive to nurture that at the moment, but this is by far the most challenging urban

public policy and planning dilemma.

This challenge centres particularly around maintaining the Ouseburns affordability

for low-income cultural producers and artists, whilst continuing to develop the areas

economic and residential potential. Cheap rents or rates was identified by 100% of

36 Lime Street and 86% of Biscuit Factory respondents in their top 3 reasons to

locate in the Ouseburn, reflecting Lloyds (2002) belief that, a relatively moderate

cost of living is necessary in maintaining the balance of cultural offerings neo-

bohemian neighbourhoods provide.

Similarly, there was widespread concern expressed that this affordability risked

being, confounded by the classic growth machine pressures for ever rising rents and

property prices. (Logan and Molotch, 1987). My survey captured this sentiment with

overwhelming agreement (Q8 = QBDC +36% to 36 Lime St/MW +64%) that, future

investment and development in the area must be regulated to ensure affordable

housing and low business rents for existing locals living or working in Ouseburn.

There were resounding protectionist demands, led again by 36 Lime Streets

financially insecure artists, for, the need for planning regulations targeting resources

at and positively discriminating in favour of Ouseburns creative people and social

enterprises,41

and a call to, maintain a mixed use development of the Valley to

retaining its unique features, and, planning regulations to maintain diversity.42

But 36 Lime Streets longest-serving tenant, Tim Kendall, expressed his maverick

dissent at, this mistaken belief that artists have a divine right to subsidised

accommodation, and the way in which, lots of people are opposed to any new

housing besides that for the mythical starving artist. The Councils Head of Strategic

Planning, Colin Percy explained that, people in Ouseburn are being fussy. From a

citywide perspective there are more than enough cheap houses, such as 10-20,000

houses in Scotswood, so why should there be a need to focus on affordable housing?

41Anonymous 36 Lime Street respondent 1



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This diverging opinion amongst stakeholders emphasises that the nature and pace of

regeneration is not a technical value-free judgement, but rather a politically contested

decision that benefiting certain interest groups over others. State institutions play an

important role in defining the economic and social value of an urban area through

zoning laws, historic district designations and property tax assessments (Zukin, 1982)

and structuring the power relations between profit-seeking developers and local

community interests, as the Regeneration Strategy and barrages construction

demonstrate.

5.4.2 Why Sustainable Urban Governance in Neo-Bohemian Neighbourhoods Matters,and Pointers to How it Can be Achieved

Newcastle City Council recognise that external pressures, such as the demand for

single high-value private sector-led residential developments like Lime Square and

the non-accountability of some developers to interests other than those of profit

accumulation, will require intensive management to ensure, the Ouseburns

demographic is maintained.43

The Council has therefore appointed what is believed

to be the first cultural estates manager in the UK, with manager Liz Archer44

seeing

her job as to ensure, a balance between commercial interests and support for artists.

The integration of sustainable urban governance commitments into the Ouseburn

Partnerships future regeneration strategy reflects the Councils view that, artists as a

group make an important, positive contribution to the diversity and vitality of cities,

and their agendas cannot be conflated with neo-liberal urban political regimes.

(Markusen, 2005). Significantly, artists contribute public goods45

of cultural

production and a creative vibe, which are vital inputs to a neo-bohemian

neighbourhoods authenticity, but that are fatally eroded by the buzz to bland cycle.

Peck (2005) explains that, Florida concedes that the crowding of creatives into

gentrifying neighbourhoods might generate inflationary housing-market pressures,

that not only run the risk of eroding the diversity that the Class craves, but, worse

still, could smother the fragile ecology of creativity itself. I argue that Floridas

43

Paul Rubenstein, Newcastle City Council Head of Economic and Cultural Affairs44Liz Archer, Newcastle City Council Cultural Estates Manager

45 Dale Bolland, Newcastle City Council, Head of Ouseburn Regeneration


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Creative Places vision based on authenticity and indigenous street culture, is

undermined severely, beyond the short-term, by the artist gentrification and buzz to

bland cycles.

As the Ouseburn Partnerships regeneration objectives argue, it is strongly in the

longer-term interests of public and private stakeholders in neo-bohemian

neighbourhoods to seek initiatives to nurture the positive, and counter the negative

aspects, of the cycles in order to maintain the loveability of the area. (Markusen and

King, 2003). But how can these objectives be achieved feasibly when the artists lack

economic capital and the Council have multiple priorities, seek best value

economic and rate returns, and wish to avoid acting, as the dead hand of the state46

?

One international role model is, Artspace, an artist-led North American not-for-profit

company founded in 1979 in Minneapolis historic Warehouse District to counter the

artist gentrification cycle. It is now one of USA and Canadas leading property

developers for the arts, with a mission to create, foster and preserve affordable space

for artists by combining roles as landlord, developer and manager.

Artspaces flagship Tilsner Artists Co-operative in St Paul development, cited by one

36 Lime Street questionnaire respondent as their choice of area most similar to the

Ouseburn, saw a former Victorian warehouse converted into a thriving live / work

loft community of

Documents

From Buzz to Bland