PEOPLE AND SPACE IN PERSPECTIVE – THE CHANGING OF A STEEL CITY INTO A CENTRE OF KNOWLEDGE
CONFERENCE OUTLINE AND BACKGROUND
During the industrial revolution Ostrava was one of the main producers of coal and steel in the Austrian Hungarian Empire and continued to be an industrial center during communism. Soon after the fall of communism the city and national government started their move away from coal and steel and now have completely stopped all production of coal and steel. Ostrava is at a crossroads – is it a city of the future or a coal city that saw its heyday 100 years ago and is now in decline?
Ostrava needs to change from a post-industrial city to one based on knowledge and modern technology in order to succeed – it needs to prepare to compete on the world stage. Ostrava will not be the first city to undergo such a transformation – other great cities have done just that, including Sheffield, Manchester and Pittsburgh. These cities, like Ostrava, are characterised by failed industries, advanced education programs and a strong desire to succeed.
Ostrava has a unique opportunity in the Czech Republic to compete on a world stage – it is an ideal location to be a transport hub between Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and further afield, with an estimated 10 million inhabitants within 1 – 2 hours‘ flight time. The city produces a large number of quality graduates from some of the most technically advanced classrooms in Europe – but then they relunctantly leave the city to find work elsewhere. The people of Ostrava, the national government and the European Union all know that Ostrava must embrace the future or risk becoming a failed city. Ostrava must become a Future City.
This conference, People and Space in Perspective – The Changing of a Steel City into a Centre of Knowledge, is therefore very timely since it will be concentrating on what Ostrava must do to become a city of the future and what it can learn from other cities worldwide that have undergone similar transformations.
Organised by VSB, the Technical University of Ostrava and the Future Cities Forum, the Conference will bring together international experts from other cities who will describe how this process was achieved, notably Manchester and Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and Pittsburgh in the United States. The Knowledge Economy, Creativity, Innovation and Technology have all contributed to the transformation of these cities and the delegates will hear exactly how this has come about and what is possible. Infrastructure plays a vital part and the conference will look at how electricity and energy contribute to the make-up of a city.
But Future Cities are about People – people who live in the city, work there or just pass through. How can they become involved in the future development of their city, how can they communicate with city authorities and perhaps, just as importantly, how can these authorities communicate better with the people? How can a city deliver better and more viable services to people through the innovative use of the latest technology? How can a city become more „Green“ and more aware of environmental considerations? How can communities become more dynamic and self-sufficient?
These and other issues will be addressed at the Conference and all those taking part will have an opportunity to have their say and offer their suggestions. The programme has been designed to offer delegates plenty of time for interacting with the expert speakers and with each other. From this, an Agenda for Change can be formulated and disseminated to a wider global audience through the Future Cities Forum website and through our partners‘ websites. One of the important aspirations of the event will be to identify potential partners who can come together to make this change happen.
Identity As a Weapon in the Competition of Cities
The city is the place where money, products and ideas come together. No wonder cities all around the world compete with each other for the favours of inhabitants, business, visitors and talent. This calls for urban attraction strategies. And in order to be attractive as a city, your identity in this competition is more important than ever. The future of cities lies in their distinctive character, not in a karaoke strategy copying others.
Globalisation has created a level playing field for cities. Or so we thought. For, the playing field may be levelled, but the players are certainly not equally distributed across the turf. Talent and capital have a tendency to concentrate and multiply in some places and be drawn and sucked away from others. In the global competition between cities we get to see what we call the Matthew Effect: to those who have shall be given and in abundance, but from those who do not have anything, even what they have shall be taken.
The effect is a diminishing number of fast growing and flourishing cities, and a growing number of cities on the losing side. On this effect in the US, urban specialist Carol Coletta, from the CEO’s for Cities network, told me that out of the 51 American megaregions only 16 are growing. The other 35 are actually shrinking. This concentration of capital, creativity and talent poses a definite threat to middle-sized cities. Do they have the power and critical mass to withstand the competition? Take the extreme example of the eastern German city of Hoyerswerda. This former socialist model city was the fastest growing city of the German Democratic Republic. Until the wall fell. Now it has shrunk from 70.000 inhabitants to barely 35.000. Everyone with any talent and ambition has long since left. Empty tenement buildings are now being inhabited by wolves, slinking in from across the Polish and Czech borders. And this is Germany, not some third world country.
Stay away from karaoke
In order to be successful in this fierce competition, cities need to have – what Simon Anholt calls – a competitive identity. ‘Dare to be different’ says Carol Coletta. In many cases however, city authorities do not go for distinctive character, but for karaoke. They choose to imitate for instance the concept of the creative city, believing that artists and designers are the cure to all urban ails. But the real point of the creative city is that creativity is used not as and end but as a means to address urban challenges.
If a city wants to succeed, it should follow the concept of what I call the Triple A City: Authentic, Activating, All-inclusive. It has to be authentic in the stories it tells about itself. It has to stimulate people to be actively participating. And it should include all people. In the end this means that every city eventually can only succeed by being itself.
Roy van Dalm
HAN University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem, The Netherlands
