Leadership for Design
28th February 2007, PAST EVENT, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough
Is the design agenda an important tool for transforming a city or region and, in the changing relationship between central, regional and local government, who should know how to use it? Local leaders have power in their place but are they parochial? International designers have vision but can they transplant this to local soil? Central government may have the knowledge, but can they let go of the purse strings?
Review: Leadership for Design
Author: Michael Crilly, Programme Manager for CABE @ Tees Valley.
Please note that the views in this review do not necessarily represent those of CABE.
This event was intended to look at the political interface with the design agenda. Hosted by the University of Teesside, it brought together the views of a political leader from the directly elected mayor of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon, organisational leadership from the international perspective of Alan Simpson and from leading developer Urban Splash through the contribution from Lee Savage.
Ray Mallon’s presentation could have more accurately been described as leadership for Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley rather than leadership for design, as the majority of his analogies when put together were about the ‘place’. The Mayor began by using two popular references to express his views. Firstly, he said that Middlesbrough “… does what it says on the tin”. This analogy from the 'Ronseal' advert was unfortunate – it reminded me of where the design agenda was 15 years ago, a veneer or varnish placed over the top of economic driven regeneration policies. The second was an echo of the blind belief of Kevin Costner in building his ‘field of dreams’. A belief that people will come to the Tees Valley.
So the question of what ‘design leadership’ entails within the Tees Valley became a bit abstract. What does it say on the tin? And what is this field of dreams that the Mayor is helping to build in Middlesbrough? If his figures are accurate, there are 7.5 million people within easy 1.5 hour journey to the town that will potentially want to come and visit and shop in his field of dreams. His view was that the town centre and all of its attractions, the investment in Centre Square, the recent opening of MIMA, and yes, expanding retailing and the investment in public realm in support of the shopping core were part of this vision. These were a series of projects that clearly showed that “… architecture was on the agenda in Middlesbrough”. The agenda in the town was about creating a ‘destination’ that complemented other regional centres and attractions. Mayor Mallon set out clearly and rationally the basis for this destination being about attracting people and events through a clean, safe and well managed environment in the town centre. It was about employment, expenditure and jobs. In short, his design or place-making agenda was underpinned by economics and common sense.
In response to his analogies, I began thinking that this view was lacking detail. Yes, there was a strong statement of intent about place-making and a commitment to design and sustainability. But it increasingly appeared simplistic in what this actually meant in practice. His examples were a series of public sector commissions that were well intentioned, involved talented designers and were not short of financial support from the public sector; including Middlehaven Dock, investment in Digital City and the expansion of the University, ‘regeneration’ of the older housing stock. Yet somehow these presented a mixed response- from me and the rest of the audience.
It was a shame that Ray Mallon was unable to stay and listen to the developing debate as his perspective that understood a clear link between design and the urban economy was also reflected by Alan Simpson and Lee Savage. In both cases, the perspective was developed in detail with ideas and examples of how regions and cities have transformed themselves by high quality urban design – thinking about place-making at the scale of the settlement as well as individual sites. They had good and convincing examples of what leadership meant in terms of initiating design-led projects and being a good client. And there were lots of interesting questions that could have arisen in an interaction between these speakers; not least in how Middlesbrough has got to the point of turning down Urban Splash’s approach to regenerate Middlehaven dock.
Yet, I finished the evening thinking that the Mayor was a bit more joined up in his thinking than many of the professionals working within the city-region, with his leadership being well briefed, well intentioned but taking a strategic and prioritising role almost in the manner of an elected planner. This planner’s role and perspective being reinforced by his working experience of designers and architects as being “… a bit moody”. Moody perhaps, but worth listening to sometimes.
March 2007
Details of the chair and three panellists invited to lead this debate are below.
Chair: Joe Docherty, Chief Executive, Tees Valley Regeneration
Joe Docherty joined Tees Valley Regeneration in 2002. The organisation is one of the largest Urban Regeneration Companies in England. Before moving to Tees Valley Regeneration, Joe worked for Barclays Bank, where he was Director of Urban and Regional Economic Development. In 1997 he spent a year on secondment to the Northern Development Company.
Joe gained a B Eng (hons) in Civil Engineering and an M Phil in Construction Management from the University of Strathclyde. He is also Trustee of the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery at Gateshead.
Panel members:
Ray Mallon, Mayor of Middlesbrough
Ray Mallon has set a clear vision to “move Middlesbrough forward” based on the four pillars of a modern transport system, economic regeneration, a business friendly-culture and a safe and welcoming environment, underpinned by improved services for elderly and vulnerable people and improved standards in schools.
Prior to being elected as the independent Mayor of Middlesbrough in May 2002, Ray worked for the police and came to national prominence when his ‘Zero Tolerance' campaign slashed crime and sparked off changes in policing nationally.
Alan Simpson, Architect Urbanist, Teacher and Writer
Alan has worked across the UK, in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States, with national and local government agencies, universities, community and business interest groups, and interdisciplinary professional teams, brought together to respond to critical social, economic and environmental urban planning and urban design problems and opportunities.
He taught at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Liverpool, University College London, and was Fitz-Gibbon Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Carnegie Melon University Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Alan Simpson led the creation, growth and application of the Yorkshire Forward (UK) Urban Renaissance and Town Team Programs.
Lee Savage, Project Development Manager, Urban Splash
Additional supporters for this event:
As well as our event series' partners and sponsors, this event is kindly supported by Middlesbrough Town Centre Company and the University of Teesside.
