tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31717681459489020702024-03-13T21:36:28.415-07:00PLACE MATTERSPlace matters and great places are worth exploring to understand how they work so well and how we can learn from them. Great places work because they have a great offer, provide a great experience and are well managed. That's what constitutes their brand.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-74260678613356202892015-05-06T13:04:00.000-07:002015-05-06T13:04:38.214-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">PLACE BRAND BOOKS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This blog post is about the creation of Place Brand Strategy
Books and the benefits they can bring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was originally published by City Nation Place on 5 May 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have never seen one you might well be asking what
brand strategy books are, who are they for and where they fit into the place brand
process?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The answer is that
the core purpose for the creation of place brand books is to ensure consistency
of understanding of brand strategy, its implementation, management, marketing
and communication.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Typically they are created to brief stakeholders of the
place on how to create, enhance and communicate the offer of the place and the desired
experience it will provide. Typical content includes:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The process that was followed to create the
agreed brand strategy;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The central purpose of the strategy;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The core elements of the brand proposition,
brand essence and brand pillars – specific offers and experiences;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The target market audiences for the proposition.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The key messages the place wants to communicate
to those target market audiences about the offer and experience of the
proposition;.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The action stakeholders can take to communicate
the proposition – jointly and individually;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The actions stakeholders can take to invest in
the further development of the proposition;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The implementation and management of the brand
strategy and its renewal over time.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While brand books are principally focused on informing the
internal audience of a place they can also act as a brief for external facing creative
work on as place and attraction marketing strategies and the preparation of coordinated
communications by stakeholders in collaboration and for their own individual
strategies and plans.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is <u>not</u>
about guidelines on the use of logos and typefaces<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This kind of place brand (strategy) book is very different
from design-focused brand guidelines or “Brand Bibles”. The role of Brand
Bibles is to guide the use of brand identities/logos for use in marketing
campaigns and general awareness raising activities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their audience is people
specifying how and where to place logos, the correct use of font types, sizes,
colourways and visual expression to ensure consistency across multiple
applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inspiration and
Insight<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I was involved in setting up Placebrands in 2002/3 and
working on the development of a place brand strategy for the Overhoeks area in
north Amsterdam for ING Real estate (at the time one of the largest urban
development and regeneration projects in the Netherlands) thinking about how
best to communicate the emerging place brand strategy for the area, my
co-director Simon Anholt introduced me to the concept of brand books and shared
with me the brand book created for the Diesel clothing range and it stimulated
me to begin to develop my thinking on what might be a place or destination
equivalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Diesel was one of a number of fashion brands that had the
powerful insight into the positive impact that a book that explained their
brand strategy could have on their staff, their suppliers and their advisers. I
realised that Diesel, like many fashion mavens and retailers, were early
promoters of a holistic approach to brand experiences, an insight that led me
to believe that places should do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The founder of Diesel, Renzo Rosso, recognised that for a
consistent brand experience, everything the brand does needs to fit together
and to be “On-Brand”, in other words to be in line with the agreed brand
proposition; all touch points (places where people interact with it) of the
brand have to be aligned; all point of sale materials, the music and smell in
the shops needs to be consistent, complementary and add up (and be building
blocks) to provide the planned brand experience. To capture and communicate his
brand Rosso created the Diesel brand book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The role of the brand book is to ensure that everyone
working for the company understands the brand strategy in all of its
manifestations, how the brand is experienced, how it is marketed, how its
products are created, how it is explained, its values and how they are
exemplified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, who is the Audience
for Place Brand Strategy Books?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While place brand strategy books are principally focused on
the internal audience of a place – the staff of the stakeholders who put the
strategy together – local authorities, further and higher education
institutions, special regeneration or development partnerships, they can also
be very useful to place marketing and place management partnerships, chambers
of commerce, and those who wish to promote the specific offers and experience of the brand proposition
– e.g. museum operators, sports venues, event organisers, retail centre
operators, property developers and agencies set up to attract inward
investment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They can inform place marketing strategies and communication
action plans created by stakeholders in combination or their own individual
strategies and plans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, if the brand strategy has progressed to the point of
having a detailed plan for the implementation and delivery of the brand
proposition – what I term as an “Experience Masterplan”, the brand book can
also incorporate information on this and how it is being implemented.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Place Brand Books –
Explaining Strategy - Development, Management, Marketing and Delivery<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My take on the development of place and destination brand
strategy is that it’s about gaining clarity on the offer and experience of
places that local stakeholders want to promote, improve on, develop and add to
over time; the planning, implementation, marketing and management of that offer
and set of experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my practice in this field I increasingly emphasise the
importance of <b>consulting</b> with local
stakeholders on their views of their place in its current state, the importance
of <b>involving</b> them in the development
and planned implementation of the agreed brand strategy, and the importance of
offering them <b>opportunities to invest</b>
in its realisation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I record the development of the strategy over time in
order to be able to <b>tell the story of
its creation</b> to others who may not have been able to get involved with its
development for one reason or another but who may nonetheless wish to support
it, promote it and invest in its realisation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And my favoured “vehicle of choice” for doing so is a place
brand book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s look at a couple of recent examples of place brand
books that have been created for place brand strategies that I have had a hand
in creating – for the City of Mississauga in Ontario in Canada and the Cork
city region in south west Ireland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mississauga <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Downtown Mississauga
with “The Marylin’s” twin towers development at its heart.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2013 brand strategies were created for the city of
Mississauga and its downtown area by a team led by Trajectory Inc. of Toronto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.trajectoryco.com/">www.trajectoryco.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Background
information on how these strategies were created can be found at <a href="http://www.mississaugabrand.ca/">http://www.mississaugabrand.ca/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
summary the brand strategy for the city and its downtown was created with
significant input from local stakeholders including officials of the city,
representatives of employers, further and higher education institutions and a
wide range of local community groups and organisations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why does this matter?
Because it demonstrates authenticity which is key to creating a sustainable
strategy. People need to see visible proof this is not a “faux” idea but
something they co-created as a community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brand building process consisted of:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">An audit of existing print and digital city
marketing and communication tools and a synopsis of previous studies and
reports.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">A review of the many attributes and brand assets
the City had to support its image.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">An analysis of relevant city branding case
studies and best practices, including a global review of 16 comparable cities
and downtowns and interviews with international experts.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">23 one-on-one interviews with key community
stakeholders to explore Mississauga’s current brand and reputation providing
important insights into the strategic direction of the City.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">A 15-minute online survey, completed by 500
Mississauga residents and 100 small businesses to gain a better understanding
of their thoughts and opinions of Mississauga.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">A series of four brand workshops with a Brand
Advisory Panel (each one consisting of between 80 and 100 participants)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">to better understand Mississauga’s current
reputation, in terms of both its positive attributes and what Mississauga must
improve in the future in order to continue to be successful.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taken together, this process resulted in a thorough fact and
research based approach that was the foundation of the overall brand
exploration and development process of this project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the conclusion of the brand-building process a brand book,
“Shaping Our Brand Story”, was created that covers the factors that shaped the
brand story that the city wants to tell its target audiences (internal and
external), the core ingredients of the city’s brand offer to those audiences
and the characteristics of the brand offer and experience. These audiences
included staff of the city council, employers, major developers, operators of
retail malls, further and higher education institutions, transport systems
operators.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been strongly supported by the city and is being used
as a strategic guide for a city-created communications strategy and is the
foundation for a three-year marketing plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In parallel with this work the City Council’s Communications
Team developed a new logo to represent the brand proposition, illustrated
below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Oj2dFjJ4kaFw5r1GO3eGofzFnw_LcsmhNWQ1lEj9LmJ_LNNHzxEQ79oc08BDt3cvLH0pKaTSNIGUlW6B6ZEWetGu6ukDGLNi7sSYXOm_TU-t98TANnruQDrjsZjLJhYJzRLBNcpaD1U/s1600/N-City_Logo___Content.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Oj2dFjJ4kaFw5r1GO3eGofzFnw_LcsmhNWQ1lEj9LmJ_LNNHzxEQ79oc08BDt3cvLH0pKaTSNIGUlW6B6ZEWetGu6ukDGLNi7sSYXOm_TU-t98TANnruQDrjsZjLJhYJzRLBNcpaD1U/s1600/N-City_Logo___Content.jpg" height="237" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new
Mississauga Brand Logo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Courtesy of City of Mississagu<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This logo
has been used to illustrate the central ingredients, brand pillars and areas covered by the new brand proposition as illustrated below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Image courtesy of the City of
Mississauga</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1i94YO009uWd4R4Fekbe8CzQUJhrpDLcpKNoTVyXOiaAnfhotQExa6S0GTV83pH2iSJAhyphenhyphenh7Sg27JR7HNFWWmJ1UtenQ3qbK74Ndy38-pxr6EsT_efgLhYMH1fyXkdh9-XxfiOfcMmY/s1600/mississauga_logo_explanation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1i94YO009uWd4R4Fekbe8CzQUJhrpDLcpKNoTVyXOiaAnfhotQExa6S0GTV83pH2iSJAhyphenhyphenh7Sg27JR7HNFWWmJ1UtenQ3qbK74Ndy38-pxr6EsT_efgLhYMH1fyXkdh9-XxfiOfcMmY/s1600/mississauga_logo_explanation.jpg" height="640" width="367" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brand strategy development is supported by a special
microsite and video. A copy of the brand book can be downloaded here <a href="http://www.mississaugabrand.ca/assets/mississauga_brandbook.pdf">http://www.mississaugabrand.ca/assets/mississauga_brandbook.pdf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This book has been downloaded by thousands of people and is
providing a consistent story for locals and potential migrants and investors on
the city’s brand proposition and agreed plans for its improvement and
development over the years ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is an example of a brand book that has migrated from
having an internal focus to becoming a valued city marketing and promotion
resource.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cork City Region<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2013/14 a group of public stakeholders including the Cork
Chamber of Commerce, the Port of Cork, Cork Airport, University College Cork,
Cork Institute of Technology, Fáilte Ireland (the Irish tourism development
body), Cork City Council and Cork County Council, came together to form the
Cork Strategic Marketing Group with the shared objective of improving the
message on the offer of the region to generate economic development and inward
investment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Group hired a team led by Colliers International from
Dublin to undertake an audit of the current marketing and messaging from the
region, to assess what local stakeholders thought about its current offer and
their ideas for its improvement, to develop, test and refine a compelling and
coherent brand strategy for the region and create a brand book to brief local
stakeholders and key intermediaries on the brand proposition that is now the
basis for future marketing and messaging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPxUMNnWR8kal5UMKnnArHJw9pa4lkxL51adF1j0GgO7rSZG5P2m_Cnet56Wla7K__BmkHydEg-CM1tByy7kMCDf3FtiNvwiOngZIpxaR9csEQlp5VfsbiTdm_UtKOWFsWIoq-eFlzB8/s1600/V2+Brand+Book+cover+INSITU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPxUMNnWR8kal5UMKnnArHJw9pa4lkxL51adF1j0GgO7rSZG5P2m_Cnet56Wla7K__BmkHydEg-CM1tByy7kMCDf3FtiNvwiOngZIpxaR9csEQlp5VfsbiTdm_UtKOWFsWIoq-eFlzB8/s1600/V2+Brand+Book+cover+INSITU.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4Fq1xA1gZKqVB9R2HCVHlYUaSP453fo70rewc-XOFZlkE3wYqv5cBsDhRySyhiP-nen1KusyoOKxNbgyzKDzuJkKOeW9IWrvdW4VCZIcG4CEwmvO-Jq3uzQd0diDtpE8Fme-ntZSoao/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+4+pillars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4Fq1xA1gZKqVB9R2HCVHlYUaSP453fo70rewc-XOFZlkE3wYqv5cBsDhRySyhiP-nen1KusyoOKxNbgyzKDzuJkKOeW9IWrvdW4VCZIcG4CEwmvO-Jq3uzQd0diDtpE8Fme-ntZSoao/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+4+pillars.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDk-tsxdqHsBuTcPR_Vls5TAbuFKHeD3NZxz0ChemTQo5df2kUm_bpoAAmCtkaHz9MmLkVNWdLkAFDEiOOzbjAFSMJnX4gG-igCewQfohJgFU_qMYCyFLaWeADM5EBUXRhyA9tOhod3w/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+compelling+story.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDk-tsxdqHsBuTcPR_Vls5TAbuFKHeD3NZxz0ChemTQo5df2kUm_bpoAAmCtkaHz9MmLkVNWdLkAFDEiOOzbjAFSMJnX4gG-igCewQfohJgFU_qMYCyFLaWeADM5EBUXRhyA9tOhod3w/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+compelling+story.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkn5fiPvMiUavbiyTKYeaefU6GFjjZmBNcYo23uuERbXIty-u-0JDFEIeR4URBjMolM4KzQzeAdhDBiah0mxlad1QNwtcAuZfJrANzJsSx1slZvqiiwjothFnnAFLqdKJlTJwps088MA/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+Cork+Promise+-+the+right+mix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkn5fiPvMiUavbiyTKYeaefU6GFjjZmBNcYo23uuERbXIty-u-0JDFEIeR4URBjMolM4KzQzeAdhDBiah0mxlad1QNwtcAuZfJrANzJsSx1slZvqiiwjothFnnAFLqdKJlTJwps088MA/s1600/V1+cork+Marketing+Cork+Promise+-+the+right+mix.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Extract pages from the Cork Brand Book</span></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A copy of the brand book can be downloaded at <a href="http://www.corkbrand.ie/">www.corkbrand.ie</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This brand book summarises why the brand strategy and the
story of how it was created, the Cork brand promise and the four central
pillars of the brand offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brand strategy was developed through an 8 stage process:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">An audit of current marketing and messaging
about the current offer of the region to assess the extent of its accuracy, the
extent of coordination of messaging and the impact of the messaging.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Meetings with sub regional interest groups and
sector groups to identify their views on the current offer of the region and
the impact of the messaging.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">An online survey using social media channels
(Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) to gauge individual’s views on the offer,
marketing and messaging of the region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The development of a draft brand strategy for
the region and its testing through a specially designed web site which hosted a
“Descriptor” of the draft brand and a questionnaire for people and
organisations to respond to from Cork, Ireland and around the world.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Meetings with key groups of stakeholders to
assess their opinion of the draft brand strategy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The refinement and finalisation of the brand
strategy in the light of feedback from the consultation process.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The development of a brand book describing the
process of creating the brand strategy, its essence and its four core brand
pillars as the agreed basis for marketing and messaging the brand proposition
to target market audiences.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Detailed briefings for the staff of key
stakeholders on the development of the brand, the content of the brand book and
how to make effective use of it.</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Cork Brand Book sets out:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The reasons why the brand strategy was developed
– principally to help better-position Cork and Ireland for future economic
success and support and drive the economic development of the region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The essence of the brand proposition – “A menu
for your success”.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The offer and experience that Cork wants to be
known for, the four core pillars of its brand proposition:</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> - The economic offer</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> - The quality of life offer</span><br /><span style="font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> - </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">The education offer</span><br /><span style="font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> - </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">The visitor offer</span><br /><span style="font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> - </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Guidance on using the book.</span></span><!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the first edition of the brand book and it is
expected that it will go through many iterations over the future as the brand
proposition is strengthened and developed through action and investment by
local and international investors. It will tell an emerging and ever more
compelling story over time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
Benefits of Brand Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Developing a place brand strategy is a powerful
process that brings all of the stakeholders together to create a compelling and
engaging story for the place. And, the story of any place is not static and it
is vital that it is constantly revisited and revised. A good vehicle for doing
so is the place brand book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In essence place brand books ensure that multiple
stakeholders of places “sing from the same hymn sheet” and are consistently
“on-brand” in promoting their agreed brand proposition and messages about it to
target market audiences, work to an agreed shared plan to implement their
strategy and jointly develop and build their brand proposition over time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A powerful benefit is that it helps the place
speak more coherently and thus have more conversations and do more deal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Place brand books can inform the development and
content of marketing collateral including:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The organisation of new brand management and
marketing organisations;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The design of promotional websites</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">for the overall offer of a city and for
specific areas such as those undergoing regeneration;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The design of inward investment prospectuses in
support of regeneration initiatives;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The design of marketing collateral for
programmes of activities and events in “open source code”;</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They can also inform:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">How the place welcomes and treats people;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">What the media thinks and says about the place;</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To remain relevant brand books must be updated on a regular
basis to capture additions to the offer and experience of the place
improvements to the existing range of offers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They also need to be updated to reflect the messages that
the place communicates to its target market audiences as their tastes change
and as new audiences emerge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, while it is clearly possible to design a classy looking
brand book in a traditional print format, the need for them to remain “live”
indicates that the most effective way of keeping them so is in a digital
format.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Malcolm Allan wishes
to thank Jeannette Hanna, Roger Hobkinson, Greg Canty and Michael Donohue for
their advice and comments on earlier drafts of this blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-40397885753306934322015-04-02T06:25:00.002-07:002015-04-02T06:27:09.644-07:00Cork Region Brand Proposition - Testing, Refinement and Briefing<h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; margin: 40px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">This post, the fourth in the series on the development of the brand proposition for the Cork city region in south west Ireland, summarises how the brand development team of Colliers International, Fuzion, Location Connections and Placematters tested and refined the brand strategy and how key stakeholders and their staff were equipped to market and promote its brand proposition. </span></h2>
<h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; margin: 40px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">This post is an updated version of a similar one which first was published on the Place Brand Observer at </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://placebrandobserver.com/</span></span></span></h2>
<h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #606060; font-size: 16px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 40px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Market Testing with a Brand Descriptor</span></strong></h3>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having reached agreement with local stakeholders in the region on the content of the brand proposition, summarised in the brand pyramid illustration below, it was obvious to the client group and the consulting team that the draft brand proposition had a range of offers for a mix of local, regional, national and international market audiences and that the testing process required more than a traditional round of meetings with local stakeholders, sector and community groups.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-uPUC3B40xZVd07NZGt2jstNn-KY1-8qJIVQ8bsRaiHEqv0jITP399scQ6AsaIM3hI7CoN9DSADuyNLxdbk_-ecT9C9E8O534gA6FTgRDN-37yLmmUgaSBfYP_z23yBw1oWAMUxnqYg/s1600/Cork+Brand+Pyramid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-uPUC3B40xZVd07NZGt2jstNn-KY1-8qJIVQ8bsRaiHEqv0jITP399scQ6AsaIM3hI7CoN9DSADuyNLxdbk_-ecT9C9E8O534gA6FTgRDN-37yLmmUgaSBfYP_z23yBw1oWAMUxnqYg/s1600/Cork+Brand+Pyramid.jpg" height="280" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to a local audience of local people and businesses we tested the proposition more widely in Ireland, particularly on Irish state agencies and major corporates located in Dublin, on representatives of the Irish government in selected embassies in target countries (people who could introduce Cork to foreign audiences) and target sector audiences in certain countries – IDA Ireland offices around the world, Irish Embassies in key target countries of UK, USA, Germany and France, the embassies of UK, USA, Germany and France in Dublin and contacts accessed through the Colliers International Corporate Network and its Research Group, e.g. with the Invest Shanghai Agency .</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite having created a draft brand proposition which we knew had a lot of buy-in from those who had participated in the process we knew that we needed to test it out on people and organisations that had not participated in its development. It rapidly became obvious to us that we needed to develop a cost-effective way of reaching those audiences around the world. Our solution was to create what we termed a <b>“Brand Descriptor” </b>– a highly visual online summary description of the brand proposition and its principal value propositions accompanied by a short questionnaire that respondents could complete to provide feedback from any location in the world.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This enabled local people who had participated in the initial consultations to assess the current offer and experience of the region and those who had contributed to the formation of the draft brand proposition could either attend a further round of face to face consultations or respond on-line and quite a number did both.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By creating an online brand descriptor we increased the buy-in from local people and business to the brand development process. No one was excluded from consultation to test the brand proposition and individuals could respond more than once if they had additional points to make. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A page from the Descriptor, designed by Fuzion, is illustrated below.</span></div>
<blockquote style="background: rgb(247, 247, 247); border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 20px 1.5em 20px -40px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px 20px 1px 80px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can see this innovative tool at <a href="http://www.corkregionbranddescriptor.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">www.corkregionbranddescriptor.com</a></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z-gYEjuWeMG3fXPvPYy3uRaO-ezH5ZGp1BkiM7uqZDQIad1qspljsrsqjx4DepnhQyGDcfTOD_KGb0HygssUn9m2L5pFB9aHmKlqLSoGMHK3lSKXaLSiUlugqsb5YH-uOK4xTRwSsLY/s1600/Cork+brand+descriptor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z-gYEjuWeMG3fXPvPYy3uRaO-ezH5ZGp1BkiM7uqZDQIad1qspljsrsqjx4DepnhQyGDcfTOD_KGb0HygssUn9m2L5pFB9aHmKlqLSoGMHK3lSKXaLSiUlugqsb5YH-uOK4xTRwSsLY/s1600/Cork+brand+descriptor.jpg" height="291" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a very good response to the Brand Descriptor from people in target audiences locally, nationally and internationally, way in excess of the numbers who responded in face to face meetings and meetings with sector groups. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in addition to the online consultation the brand development team led and facilitated roundtable workshops with a Generation Y/Millennials group, a creative sector group, various individual key stakeholders (influencers/decision makers), with the Cork Chamber “Thought Leadership Council”, with various Cork Professional Services groups, with Dublin Professional Services, with the Cork SME sector and Cork business sector groups, with landowners in Cork’s South Docks, with elected councillors, and with national stakeholders – state agencies and national business organisations.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A total of around 350 people expressed their views on the draft Cork Region brand descriptor through these meetings and through the online brand descriptor web pages. The roundtable workshop meetings had a total of 104 attendees who completed the questionnaire and provided feedback through group workshop exercises that explored the proposition.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In summary the highlights of the consultation were that a <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">significant majority</strong> of respondents:</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">greed</strong> with the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">brand essence</strong> (The Right Mix for Your Success) and found it compelling (79%).</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ranked the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">economic</strong><strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> proposition</strong> in the top one or two priority (61%) and even more supported the overall economic value proposition that Cork is an energetic place of entrepreneurial global and local business networks (73%).</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Agreed that Cork does have the resources for people and business to prosper (93%).</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ranked the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">quality of life value proposition</strong> as the number one or two priority (70%).</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although there were no significant negative responses to the “Right Mix for Your Success” and the overall work, there were some reservations, and positive suggestions were made to meet them. Primarily these were concerns over:</span></div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Arrangements for the actual delivery of the brand proposition.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not enough attention being given to the role to be played by the people of the region – their friendliness and welcoming attitude to visitors and people moving to the area.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The importance of quality of life which is seen as a real differentiator.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The need to place more emphasis on the character, size and scale of Cork – it’s easy to access and get around, is locally responsive and global in outlook.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The language of the proposition – it needed to be more emotionally powerful to really engage audiences.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The need to include “Proof Points” for individual value propositions, assertions and messages.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">The Team used the results of the brand testing process to refine and finalise the brand proposition. The principal change was to rank the Quality of Life value proposition as second in importance to the Economic Proposition, thereby ranking the Education Proposition as third, with the Visitor Proposition as fourth. Overall the proposition was strengthened with the addition of new ideas on offers and experiences to be included and the deletion of a small number that were not well supported.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Overall, the proposition was strengthened by the addition of new proofs, new ideas on offers and experiences to be included and the deletion of a small number that were not supported.</span></div>
<h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #606060; font-size: 16px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 40px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Brand Book to Brief Stakeholders</span></strong></h3>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having refined the brand proposition the Team and the client group decided to create a brand book that would:</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Explain the brand proposition in detail to local stakeholders.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide a top-level introduction to the Cork Region, its offer, experience and desired reputation as a place for economic development.</span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebIAJcVxMXHE-5ayk8MayyU5wjYHafEAAFD9uBj72Vbibor-hT1FjR-gh3t76eVbPa8cTbg1Q7sZYlEPD2UwkWECFNv2XTcbvJzMNNbBqv2XzagSsje2dVS2S-E7MEG4s_bxHeQimdiI/s1600/V2+Brand+Book+cover+INSITU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebIAJcVxMXHE-5ayk8MayyU5wjYHafEAAFD9uBj72Vbibor-hT1FjR-gh3t76eVbPa8cTbg1Q7sZYlEPD2UwkWECFNv2XTcbvJzMNNbBqv2XzagSsje2dVS2S-E7MEG4s_bxHeQimdiI/s1600/V2+Brand+Book+cover+INSITU.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This book, which is available on-line at <a href="http://www.corkbrand.ie/" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">www.corkbrand.ie</a> <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, </strong>was designed by </span><em style="background-color: transparent; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jonathan Leahay Maharaj of Fuzion PR and Design</span></em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> through an iterative consultation process with the key stakeholders on the client group and a number of key stakeholders in the community</span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">. </strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It describes, in images and words, the key value propositions of the overall brand proposition, the four individual propositions and core messages about the four elements of the proposition for target market audiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The team briefed the staff responsible for planning, marketing and promotion in the key stakeholder’s organisations on the book through a number of workshops and it has been made available to key officers and executives in the public and semi state sectors, regional and national media.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The book explains what’s in the agreed Cork Brand Proposition, what makes Cork unique and attractive and contains information on a range of individual value propositions and messages about them to enable stakeholders to communicate, promote and share this story with the world. The book can be used to by local stakeholders marketing staff for briefing marketing or design agencies to ensure that their specific marketing messages and promotional activities reflect the overall story Cork wants to tell the world about doing business in Cork, working there, learning there and living there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It will be particularly useful to organisations wanting to communicate with potential investors in the Cork economy, people wishing to set up in business in Cork, businesses wishing to expand there, and people thinking of coming there to work, to study or train in a new skill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It will help organisations to consistently portray Cork in words, imagery and print in a creative, imaginative and effective way, enabling them to communicate a set of strong and attractive messages about the region.</span></div>
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<img alt="Place branding expert Malcolm Allan" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1228 alignright" src="http://placebrandobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/malcolm-allan.jpg?w=118" height="150" style="display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 20px; max-width: 100%;" width="118" /></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The next post will be on the subject of Place Brand Books and will describe in more detail the creation and content of the Cork Brand Book.</b></span></em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-62734793538882244602015-04-02T05:49:00.000-07:002015-04-02T05:49:21.600-07:00Development of the Brand Proposition for the Cork Region<h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #404040; font-size: 20px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 28px; margin: 40px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">This is the third post on Placematters work with Colliers, Fuzion and Location Connections on the brand strategy for the Cork city region in south west Ireland. An earlier version was published by the Place Brand Observer </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://placebrandobserver.com/</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following analysis of comprehensive local stakeholders and community interest group responses to our consultation on the marketing of the current offer and experience of the Cork Region, the consulting team used the results to construct a draft brand proposition for a Cork region brand strategy using our Brand Compass tool.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeebmnOWLRyRuaJn39-5xwHOO6n3pEVhG6s9OfWUPkWfXu7A5sFjqYFeJNzXf6K-7sNOPejXHd0qsr0ybpGXVg_2bGTCOjO0MJVe18WJqBgeuzN5HEbSDZqzXJBf1jz_3AYShSD1ObeE/s1600/PM+Brand+Compass.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeebmnOWLRyRuaJn39-5xwHOO6n3pEVhG6s9OfWUPkWfXu7A5sFjqYFeJNzXf6K-7sNOPejXHd0qsr0ybpGXVg_2bGTCOjO0MJVe18WJqBgeuzN5HEbSDZqzXJBf1jz_3AYShSD1ObeE/s1600/PM+Brand+Compass.png" height="320" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since our work aimed at elevating the Cork Region as a successful European Region and location for business success, our key focus was on ensuring that the Cork Region attracts and retains business, enhancing the development of indigenous businesses and the inward investment market, whilst also appealing to talented people through the life opportunities of an attractive living, learning and working environment, a unique commercial and cultural heritage plus the personality of the Cork people that provides a special Irish spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our view regions increasingly need to consider themselves as a business, as a plc. A key aspect of this is their adopting best practice in terms of the clarity of their brand offer and marketing strategies for communication to target markets and how they are reached. Our phase 1 work on the existing Cork Region Strategic Messages highlighted that there are many Cork messages and little sense of coherence between them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this context we believed that the key stakeholders needed to decide on a strong and achievable driving idea that would inform and epitomise the brand in action. This would be one that is:</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grounded in the realities and authenticity of Cork and rigorously “proofed”;</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A brand offer that is clearly distinguished from competitor and comparator regions and identifiable as being really different;</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consistent with the desired and planned positioning of the brand as a driver of the regional economy;</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Easy for people to “get” and understand.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having agreed these criteria with the key stakeholders we then assessed with them, in detail, the range and type of existing offers and experiences that the consultation process had identified as well as proposals and ambitions for their improvement and extension through the lens of the agreed economic development and investment focus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were asked by the key stakeholders to look at four areas that they considered to be crucial to the economic development of the region to identify existing value propositions which could be combined and potentially embodied in an overall brand proposition, as summarised below.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Driving Idea for the Brand Proposition</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What we found, reflecting Ireland as a whole, was that the Cork Region does have an extensive and attractive offer for investors, for existing businesses, for local residents, workers and learners. A strength and uniqueness of the Cork Region is that the breadth and depth of this offer and experience is contained in a relatively small area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During our consultations and research many people remarked that in Cork many small things add up to something much bigger and better. We concluded that there was an opportunity for this comprehensive offer to be assembled in different mixes according to the needs of individuals, businesses and organisations; in other words a tailored fusion of what the region offers to enable them to prosper in the region by picking their own mix of resources and support services – the right mix for their personal and business success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This then was the driving idea that led the development of the brand proposition which became the essence of the brand offer and promise, an idea that encompasses personal, business and organisational growth and prosperity, an idea that would drive the economic development and well-being of the region, an idea that would drive a vision of the place as a successful region in Europe and globally. Ireland wants to be the best small country in the world to do business and, supporting this ambition, Cork wants to be the best small region in the world to do business.</span></div>
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<img alt="Cork city region brand marketing pillars" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1949" height="504" src="http://placebrandobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cork-city-region-brand-marketing-pillars.png?w=700" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Supporting Value Propositions</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To support the driving idea we assembled four specific categories of value proposition which were embodied in the brand proposition. In combination they help to drive a degree of focus and uniqueness that supports the elevation of the Cork Region nationally and internationally. They are:</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The core and central Economic Proposition – summarised as an energetic place of entrepreneurial global and local business networks.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A supporting Education Proposition – summarised as a tradition of independent learning, great ideas and contemporary innovation.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A supporting Quality of Life Proposition – summarised as a very liveable cosmopolitan and connected place with a great quality of life.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A supporting Visitor Proposition – summarised as great city and townscapes, landscapes and seascapes, steeped in shared international and Irish history and culture.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We arrived at these propositions through extensive conversations with groups and communities across the County of Cork and in Cork city who helped us to “proof” our and others ideas about what the current offer of the region was that supported economic, business and personal development.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Core Economic Proposition</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This core proposition of the brand reflects our finding that the Cork Region currently hosts <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">clusters</strong> of global companies in <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">growth sectors </strong>– exemplified by bio-pharma, technology, agribusiness & food and energy sectors. They are attracted by the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">value for money</strong>, the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">talented people</strong> and <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">successful</strong> <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">businesses already</strong> operating in the region and that the region has a number of <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">indigenous growth sectors</strong>, exemplified by the agribusiness & food sector and the tourism sector, both with a reputation for high quality products.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We identified that many smaller domestic businesses increasingly <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">collaborate</strong> with these global companies and the region has a comprehensive range of professional services serving international and domestic clients.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We identified that Cork has an active and effective <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">business support network,</strong> a strong Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Boards and easily accessed national government decision makers and concluded that the region is a is a <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">low</strong> risk location for existing and new enterprises, where new start-ups and the biggest corporates feel supported and the region can provide fast speed access to European and global markets. It offers <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">capacity</strong> and space to locate, expand and grow. There is a stock of land and buildings available for occupation and land zoned for commercial use offering a choice of locations, a choice of types of accommodation and good value for money.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Supporting Education Proposition</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This proposition supports the core economic value proposition, as domestic and global business look for a<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> talented workforce when moving to a new area or expanding within one</strong>. We identified that the Cork Region offers learners and businesses the skills and resources of a number of <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">high quality applied</strong> and business orientated Further and Higher Education Institutions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This includes <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cork Institute of Technology, University College Cork</strong> and the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">National Tyndall</strong> <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Institute.</strong> These are institutions with a strong international reputation increasingly attracting students and advanced researchers from around the world. Many people commented that Cork City, as a large <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">student city, was</strong> safe, convenient, enjoyable and easy to access.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to the higher education institutions the Region has various commercially orientated <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">research and development</strong> organisations. These institutions are actively <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">partnering</strong> with many of the existing small and big businesses providing them with access to clever thinkers and innovators<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong>to develop new ideas and products. The regional economy is characterised by innovative business knowledge <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sharing networks</strong> and there is effective collaboration between higher education, R&D institutions, businesses and government agencies, with initiatives such as IT@Cork and Energy@Cork being good examples of this <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">collaboration</strong>.</span></div>
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<img alt="Cork City Region Branding Case Study - Higher Education" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1945" height="469" src="http://placebrandobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cork-city-region-branding-case-study-higher-education.jpg?w=700" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="700" /></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Quality of Life value Proposition</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This proposition supports the core economic proposition as it has an important role to play in <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">attracting and retaining talented people.</strong> Cork has a reputation for being <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">welcoming. Its people</strong> are characterised as being amiable, approachable, helpful, friendly, quick-witted, open and independent minded. We concluded that it is a place that people can quickly feel part of, make <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">friends</strong> and connections and put down roots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cork is a place of dramatic <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">natural landscapes</strong>, riverscapes, harbours, bays and seascapes, a place of mountains, river valleys and coastlines with an abundance of activities to undertake on <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">land and water</strong> – rivers, harbours, bays, the sea, the countryside, city, towns and villages. All of these amenities are close by, quickly and easily accessible, for people to explore and enjoy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People commented that it’s <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a place to relax</strong> away from the stresses of modern working life and that you don’t have to travel far to find them. Cork has an enjoyable stimulating and <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">healthy lifestyle experience</strong> where people are able to explore new places and activities. The region has many attractive places to live that have enticed sizeable communities from across Europe and further afield attracted by the quality, choice and affordability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People like living in Cork because there is the range of public services, community facilities, programmes and events typically found in cities of a much larger size. Cork is easy to navigate. <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s not too big and not too small</strong>. You can <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">do more</strong> in Cork.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Cork city centre offers an excellent, special and unique urban environment that is being continuously improved. Cork is a place that’s culturally rich and vibrant. It’s a place with a wide range of cultural facilities, events and activities, contributing to the cosmopolitan feel of the region’s city and towns. There are festivals throughout the region with an international reputation, all of which add to the rich quality of life enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Visitor Proposition</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The visitor proposition has an important role to play in <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">supporting the core economic development proposition</strong> of the region. As a general rule of thumb we have found that places that are attractive to visit attract and retain economic migrants and also have lots of other things going for them that entertain local people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The region has a very rich, cultural, social and commercial <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">heritage</strong>. It has many truly <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">authentic</strong> places, buildings, centres and sites of interest to residents and visitors alike.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reflective of a long and proud <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">maritime heritage</strong> it can tell a wealth of stories – military, trading, political, cultural, commercial and social. From centuries of global connections there are many <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shared international stories</strong>, especially with Britain, that have helped to create a <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">unique Cork spirit</strong>. The region is a <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">playground for visitors and locals alike </strong>with an abundance of activities offers and experiences. It is Ireland’s <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">food capital</strong> and for centuries was a provisioning port as the British Empire expanded, sending food around the world that was known and valued for its <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">quality</strong>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This continues today with internationally recognised agricultural producers, artisan businesses, restaurants, markets and leaders in the Irish and international food industry whether business or consumer. The region, Cork in particular, has an extensive independent food, drink offer – and the heritage, provenance and quality of food and beverage in the Cork Region is <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">world-class</strong> with the <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">English Market</strong> in Cork City being an internationally recognised showcase for the Regions produce.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="corkplacebrandtesting" style="border: 0px; color: #117bb8; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Testing the Brand Proposition</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The next and final blog in this series will share how the brand development team tested the brand proposition and refined it for sharing and briefing in the Cork city region.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-3540389001219134662014-12-18T01:18:00.000-08:002015-02-10T01:57:03.730-08:00The Cork Region Brand Strategy - Assessing Opinion & Messaging<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>My first post on this initiative, published here and in The Place Brand Observer (TPBO) www.placebrandobserver.com earlier this month, summarised the development of the city region brand strategy during 2013 and 2014. This work was carried out by a team led by Colliers International Destination Consulting, including Fuzion Design and PR (Cork), Location Connections (London) and Placematters.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This second post (also published in theTPBO) summarises the work undertaken to assess local opinion on the current offers and experience of the region and the messages it was communicating about them. The next post will be on the development of the agreed brand proposition for the region.</i></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Audit: Current Perceptions on Cork Region’s Offer and Experiences</span></strong></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In mid-2013, the first tasks in the agreed work programme to develop a unifying and strategic brand and marketing strategy for the city region were to:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assess local people’s views about the city region and its offer and experiences.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assess the views of those in the business community about the economic development attributes of the region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Review the current messaging and marketing being undertaken by a variety of stakeholders in order to establish what messages were being transmitted about its current offer and experiences, the extent to which there was commonality and alignment of messaging, or a lack of it and where mixed messaging existed.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong>Assessing People</strong><strong>’</strong><strong>s Views</strong></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The team’s past experience was that local people and local groups need to be involved in the development of place brand strategies – given opportunities to voice their opinions on the place, opportunities to suggest ideas for the development of the brand and opportunities to participate in its delivery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the team commenced work few of the key stakeholders were able to say categorically that they fully understood what Cork people thought and felt about the place and its offer so we started the project using a simple online questionnaire using LinkedIn and Twitter which asked <strong>“What do you love about Cork? </strong>and<strong> What do you like about working in Cork?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This generated a range of very largely positive responses which identified a number of important factors which the team subsequently took into account in developing the brand proposition:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Pc2p81EAXc63w5iVzp1lpNE5Uu42PnYbe7SFyiJ-AVyzVzZxhb7sRWb71Z5LbUpTFIQGIncp2JebO0mwal-tTPMcb6DFwoRQ_u5bFb6j-hUzu3f-0xDWPZ30MqP6UyWUsyOfjwFTS6s/s1600/Cork+Local+Opinion.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Pc2p81EAXc63w5iVzp1lpNE5Uu42PnYbe7SFyiJ-AVyzVzZxhb7sRWb71Z5LbUpTFIQGIncp2JebO0mwal-tTPMcb6DFwoRQ_u5bFb6j-hUzu3f-0xDWPZ30MqP6UyWUsyOfjwFTS6s/s1600/Cork+Local+Opinion.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The scale and accessibility of the city of Cork is a really strong factor in attracting and retaining people in the region:</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>“The city is small, you can do it ALL on foot” / “All the suburbs are within c.15 minutes commute” / “Its size – It does not have the vast urban sprawl of Dublin, with congestion, confusion and consternation.” / </em><em>“It has the intimacy of a big town with the possibility of a ‘largish’ city.” / </em><em>“It offers both urban and rural in its identity of being a place which has great third level education, beautiful scenery and rich land quality.”</em></span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The quality of the environment of the region attracts and retains people; it’s not just about jobs and business support services:</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC98iLqpPHbGPooOyHqc3-f-XsMfOuqPbxDpyslUt8PCpYDOapW_cAjig81zO7FSzmBcbxAR8GGwj7SbmDpgs6gDtkbVjPJq16Y2S8DGb4CEgidhzFbeKNeZAZ79tGVeyMlSW7iflupUU/s1600/Cork+and+Kerry+Mountains.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC98iLqpPHbGPooOyHqc3-f-XsMfOuqPbxDpyslUt8PCpYDOapW_cAjig81zO7FSzmBcbxAR8GGwj7SbmDpgs6gDtkbVjPJq16Y2S8DGb4CEgidhzFbeKNeZAZ79tGVeyMlSW7iflupUU/s1600/Cork+and+Kerry+Mountains.png" height="230" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>“</em>T<em>he scenery and mountains. Cork is a nature lovers and outdoor pursuit’s paradise.” / “The amazing sights and locations in west cork. There are some stunning unspoiled beaches for really getting back to basics and great bars for tasty pub grub followed by a crisp glass of vino (or 3). Long strand, Glandore, Rosscarbery, Clonalilty. It has it all Surfing for my main man and heaps of fun for my little angels. West Cork for me Rocks!!!!”</em></span></div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nature of the welcome given by Cork people and organisations to visitors and newcomers is a powerful factor in attracting and retaining people and business, one that has often been overlooked in previous city brand initiatives:</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>“The people are incredibly friendly, the city, though small is pretty and has everything within walking distance. It’s got a great vibe.</em>” / <em>“The places are great and beautiful, and they are populated by the friendliest and warmest people I have ever met. #Lovecork :-)” / “From the lovely guy who serves me my coffee in the morning to the bus drivers, taxi drivers & cashiers in M&S, they are positive, bubbly & go above & beyond.” / “Cork people…are very friendly and cheery. You can even hear it in their singing accent. I believe what makes them so friendly though is, they are so proud, and want to let everyone who’ll listen, know. Proud of their achievements, people and places, and how fantastic Cork is.</em>”</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cork City Region – Identifying Place Attributes</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This work helped to identify a number of key and important attributes about the place which would influence the development of the brand proposition and its parallel messaging strategy – powerful things we would be able to say about the place and its offer, messages reflecting what local people believe and say about the place, messages which could be “proved:</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The People </span></strong></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Friendly, their humour, their positivity, their pride in the city, their distinctive accent, their laid back character mixed with a strong work ethic and getting things done, their friendliness, their multicultural character.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Physical Attributes</span></strong></h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The scale of the city, its accessibility, the nearness to water, the varied nature of the city, the surrounding towns and villages, the scenery and the quality of the built environment, the feel of a big town without its congestion, the ease of access to the offer.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Experiences Offered</span></strong></h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The atmosphere and the buzz of the place, the food offer, the pubs, the Cosmopolitan nature of the place, the culture and art offer, the range of festivals, the sports opportunities and access to a large range of outdoor activities, the great choice of things to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The results indicated to us just how much local people believed that Cork was BIG on the quality of life, BIG on friendly, BIG on size, BIG on access, BIG on choice, BIG on atmosphere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It also alerted the team to the existence of a powerful menu of offers and experiences which, in different combinations according to personal or business needs and preferences, served to attract people to the place and retain them as learners, employees or as entrepreneurs wanting to start up their own businesses. This would, after much more assessment and debate, become the essence of the eventual brand proposition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A major benefit of using social media to enable local people to express their views on the place and its attributes was that we had primed a lot of people to take an active interest in the brand development process who responded to our draft Brand Descriptor which we put online to test the brand proposition some months later.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Consultations with Sectors and Communities of Interest</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To complement the social media conversation the consultancy team met with representatives of the business community in north, east, south and west Cork and with the South and east Cork Tourism Sector to hear their views on how the place worked, what constituted its offer and experience and to understand how they were promoting the region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alongside these meetings we worked with the Cork Chamber of Commerce and the local Enterprise Boards in the region to establish their member’s views on the strengths of the region’s economic development and business support offer. The team also conducted a number of one-to-one conversations with key stakeholders in key growth sectors – technology, biopharmaceutical, engineering, agribusiness, cultural tourism, hospitality, education, sports and development sectors. The results of these meetings were fed into our assessment of current messaging and marketing.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Assessing Formal Messaging</span></strong></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The third element of the initial work undertaken was to identify and assess the range of messages that agencies and groups were then promoting about their elements of the city region offer. These included messages from the City and County councils on economic development policy and resources, from higher education institutions on the learning and training offer, from the local airport, from the port authority, from the local offices of national agencies dealing with inward investment, business support and tourism, as well as messaging by individual private companies and organisations on their service offers for investors, businesses seeking to grow and for visitors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dee Waldron of Fuzion analysed our findings about current messaging using a Google Word Cloud tool and concluded that there was no consistency and little overlap between individual messages about the region’s current offer.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HaOTRCJ1GcI2M_57-hDCssknQpD3wV_ntsku0P_Lr8GOFTUYNV98u4cEREXvrHMfktbraL30IHMezLTBLuphhN-Uvx1kikym32u9rY-9euw2CBCl_KEgvrAj_DVcQmf7OVVGaTaSYFs/s1600/Cork+Messaging+Word+Cloud.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HaOTRCJ1GcI2M_57-hDCssknQpD3wV_ntsku0P_Lr8GOFTUYNV98u4cEREXvrHMfktbraL30IHMezLTBLuphhN-Uvx1kikym32u9rY-9euw2CBCl_KEgvrAj_DVcQmf7OVVGaTaSYFs/s1600/Cork+Messaging+Word+Cloud.png" height="291" width="400" /></a></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Summary: Place Brand Audit and Messaging</span></strong></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In summary the results of the audit indicated that formal communications about the existing offer of the city region:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lacked the passion of the people who had responded to our social media conversations.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Were functional, not particularly engaging and largely not effectively targeted.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Were often not clear and not doing justice to the city.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Failed to capture the great stories of the place and its people elicited through social media.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Were largely unconnected.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Failed to exploit the local, regional, national and global connectivity of the region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lacked the unifying effect of an agreed brand proposition and marketing strategy.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In summary the overall messaging could be characterised as being fired by a blunderbuss when a rifle-shot was required.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More positively we concluded that Cork had a great story to tell but it was being lost in too much noise and babble; there were too many “voices of Cork” competing for the limited attention of the rest of the world and they were not agreed among each other on what was most important to say about the offer of the place. In addition, there was no agreement on priority target market audiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In short, Cork needed to be a lot clearer on what it offered, to who and what it stands for. Cork stakeholders needed to be more collegiate in their messaging and more united in the creation of a brand.</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="corkplacebranddevelopment"></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-90762116692418960672014-11-27T04:00:00.002-08:002015-02-10T01:58:25.574-08:00The Cork City Region Brand and Marketing Strategy <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This blog post was originally carried in The Place Brand Observer www.placebrandobserver.com </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>On 1 October I unveiled the brand and marketing strategy for the Cork
city region in south west Ireland at the Global Cork economic conference in the
city,</i><i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><i>an annual event promoting the city region to developers and investors,
featuring new initiatives to build the region’s economy. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This brand strategy is the product of twenty months hard
work by a brand development team consisting of Colliers International Destination
Consulting (Dublin), Fuzion Design and PR (Cork), Location Connections (London)
and Placematters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The client for the project was a public private partnership
of major stakeholders in the region consisting of Cork City, Cork County, Cork
Chamber of Commerce, the Port of Cork, Cork Airport, Cork Institute of
Technology, University College Cork, the South West Regional Authority and
Fáilte Ireland (the national tourism development body).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The objective was to reach agreement among
stakeholders, informed by consultation in the community, on a galvanising vision<b>
</b>for the
development of the region that would inform the development of a brand strategy - a focussed brand proposition<b> </b>that would
encapsulate the region’s key value propositions for existing businesses,
potential investors, local and migrant workers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brief for the brand development team, which has evolved and
expanded over the period, required it to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assess current (2013) strategic messaging on the offer of the Cork
Region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Identify who was marketing Cork and how Cork performs in various
international rankings and indices.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Develop a Brand Proposition for the region as a spur for its economic
development.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Test and refine the emerging proposition.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Prepare a Brand Book for all stakeholders to market the proposition
in a coordinated way – singing from the same hymn sheet!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brief stakeholder’s staff on how to make
creative and effective use of the Brand Book.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide advice on the organisation, responsibilities
and work of CORK INC – a new body to manage the marketing of the brand
proposition and its future development.</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The key stakeholders
recognised that Cork needed to:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Elevate
awareness of its offer domestically and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">internationally</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> i</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">n</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> a Europe and Global economy of growing city
regions.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Think
and act more strategically in terms of its branding and marketing.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Identify
and promote its global credentials as a location for business development.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Not
rely on others to promote it – e.g. the Irish IDA.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Have
more focussed conversations that deliver investment and business expansion for
Cork.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Help stakeholders
sing from the same hymn sheet in promoting the region’s offer and experiences.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To undertake the work the brand development team used the Placematters
Brand Compass, a proprietary tool that enables places to envisage their desired
future place and chart a pathway to get there and make a reality of their
vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDrO9igqCQ5wIxzWDkZDKspry946WpLycTe1wnJW4aWPcEhPGkntP1X-DWsAPFFAf_R-SEadjrwYpM9WpyEYTsVHEIQ2Z6pBzg16-Nac_Uts-nJn27K6l04Ha8hh3ywj_blm9tJdhPbUo/s1600/PM+Brand+Compass.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDrO9igqCQ5wIxzWDkZDKspry946WpLycTe1wnJW4aWPcEhPGkntP1X-DWsAPFFAf_R-SEadjrwYpM9WpyEYTsVHEIQ2Z6pBzg16-Nac_Uts-nJn27K6l04Ha8hh3ywj_blm9tJdhPbUo/s1600/PM+Brand+Compass.png" height="400" width="398" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
summary, the assessment of current messaging about the region’s offer by key
stakeholders indicated that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">It
lacked the passion of the people and business of the region.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">It was
functional, not engaging and largely not effectively targeted.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The propositions
were not clear and messages were not doing justice to the region.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The
region was failing to capture the great stories of the place and its people.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Communications
were not inviting potential investors to share their agenda and needs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">There
were a lot of unconnected messages.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">There
was too much detail in the messages.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Communications
were failing to exploit regional, national and global connections.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">There
was a great story failing to be heard because of too much noise and babble – a
Tower of Babel effect.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To complement the audit of
communications the team extensively used social media to solicit views and
opinions on the current offer and experience of the city region. Overall the responses indicated a
large sense of satisfaction with Cork as a place to live, learn and work,
especially satisfaction with the quality of life, with learning and job
opportunities. The team used these results to consult with a number of
businesses in key sector groups and communities throughout the county of Cork
to identify what people considered to be the core of the region’s economic development
offer that might form a brand proposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The team then carried out an extensive audit of the
offer and experience of the region that had been identified through the
consultations and its own research – of its assets, attributes (the things it
is good at) and its range of attractions, for example, its offer to inward
investment companies, to expanding local businesses, to young people wanting to
take courses in further and higher education, and to people considering coming
to the region to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The results of the audit enabled the team to construct
a “proofed” brand proposition for investment in the economic development
capacity of the region – all propositions being identified and proved to be
accurate. The essence of the proposition is that the region has the right mix
of offers for people and business to make a success of their careers and their
firm’s development, based on four brand pillars – an extensive economic support
menu, a great quality of life, a great learning environment and a significant
cultural, heritage, leisure and entertainment offer, as important to local
people as it is to visitors and potential investors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This draft proposition was then tested locally in the
region, in Ireland and internationally through the Colliers International
global network of offices. A summary of the draft proposition – a Brand Descriptor
– was posted on the internet with a questionnaire for respondents to record
their views. A significant majority of respondents validated the proposition
and many suggested ways of strengthening it which was helpful in refining and
finalising it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhMKG_oeizjn1BeB0u4rZROwPkzMd6YcHzzt0YhHofky5zLUbbRwPHeThJVbz0iQM0COOa0meehv-SZi5q2K2TfvjlmQWecvC2ISP1qPdYoyft11Ml21ri6X47ms7QcGFThZQkqX6Xl0/s1600/Cork+Brand+Pyramid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhMKG_oeizjn1BeB0u4rZROwPkzMd6YcHzzt0YhHofky5zLUbbRwPHeThJVbz0iQM0COOa0meehv-SZi5q2K2TfvjlmQWecvC2ISP1qPdYoyft11Ml21ri6X47ms7QcGFThZQkqX6Xl0/s1600/Cork+Brand+Pyramid.jpg" height="451" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cork Brand Pyramid - A summary of the brand</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Brand Book was then prepared to explain the agreed
proposition to the many organisations and businesses in the region who would be
individually and collectively responsible for marketing and promoting it and a
copy can be downloaded at <a href="http://www.corkbrand.ie/">www.corkbrand.ie</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following the launch of the brand stakeholder’s staff
were briefed on the proposition and how to make effective use of the Brand book
and work is now underway to create a new organisation – CORK INC – which will
be responsible for managing the promotion of the brand and its future
development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am giving a keynote presentation on this initiative at the forthcoming
Destination Branding and Marketing Conference in Macao on 4 and 5 December and
a copy of my presentation will be available after the conference. Future posts
on this initiative will cover the challenges the brand development team faced
in fulfilling the client brief and how they built the brand strategy, stage by
stage.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-75320234561243833562014-07-05T10:08:00.002-07:002014-07-05T10:36:43.228-07:00The West London Corridor - Full Marks, Potentially a Very Powerful Destination Brand for the UK and Europe<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<img src="http://placewestlondon.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/cropped-pwl-940-by-198-no-date.png" height="82" width="400" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was very pleased to be invited to attend the recent Place West London conference on 25 June which was focussed on the regeneration of west London. Place West London is a partnership of local authorities, major operators, landowners and developers along the west London corridor, plus the West London Chamber, Brunel University and Heathrow Airport, - an area roughly from Hammersmith town centre out to Heathrow, taking in parts of Brent, Ealing, Hammersith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The agenda for the day was focussed on progress with a good number of major development projects which illustrate the progress being made. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The event was energetically chaired by Richard Barnes, Chairman of the West London Advisory Board, a former leader of the London Borough of Hillingdon Council.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below I summarise the things that struck me as important during the conference from speakers contributions. If the conference were a school report I would mark west London at 8 out of 10 for progress and conclude that it was doing very well but still had potential to do better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was very impressed by the progress that has and continues to be made on the development and improvement of the corridor - a place which now has even greater potential than I recognised during the period 1979 to 1987 when I was Economic Development Officer and then Assistant Director of Development for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day I concluded that the time is now ripe for the stakeholders in Place West London to give serious consideration to work even more closely together to develop a destination development brand strategy for the corridor to capture and promote the great offer that is being created there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Old Oak Common</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The conference opened with a session on realising the vision for the development of the area of north Hammersmith known as Old Oak common.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyECM6PMPVfhUjqBEftSBDy0DkAe4VKnCwGefALkkIeSBd42ZUimGGP2H6ymrUFWUuO0uYBQ8iQApQyGwu0-3EIogbRVITFy-GNhMv8dBmc1MklQgO_JwabP4VxX-WGHw5IFOrH2eTP8/s1600/old+oak+commeon+development+sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyECM6PMPVfhUjqBEftSBDy0DkAe4VKnCwGefALkkIeSBd42ZUimGGP2H6ymrUFWUuO0uYBQ8iQApQyGwu0-3EIogbRVITFy-GNhMv8dBmc1MklQgO_JwabP4VxX-WGHw5IFOrH2eTP8/s1600/old+oak+commeon+development+sketch.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Artists impression of development potential at Old oak Common</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of Londonreconnections.com</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a major site of former and unused railway sidings and some still operational facilities, centred on the planned new Crossrail Station which is likely to also connect with the proposed High Speed 2 line north out of Euston, creating a major transport interchange which will act as a hub and driver for growth and new development in this currently quite deprived area of west London. Malcolm Scholar of the Greater London Authority told delegates that the site is now being designated as a New Opportunity Area in the Greater London Plan. It will accommodate an estimated 24,000 new residential units, 55,000 jobs, space for commercial, education, retail and open space and leisure uses; in other words the creation of a new town at the confluence of Hammersmith, Brent and north Kensington with a modern major rail interchange at its heart, directly linking the area to the Western Corridor down to Bath and Bristol, to Birmingham, to south and south east London and to east London and Essex. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a rail equivalent of a major international hub airport; creating a new "Capital" for west London for which an indicative masterplan is currently being prepared to guide the development of the area which will have the benefit of a Mayoral Development Corporation to determine major planning applications in the designated area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of weeks ago I took part in a workshop organised by John Worthington of the Independent Transport Commission during which it became very apparent that this development has the potential to be a real driver for innovation in urban development and design and modern rail interchange. Business as usual, or more pertinently, design as usual will not fully realise the vision for this new centre in west London. Ambition informed by urban innovation and the highest standards of design, layout, facilities and services, will need to be the order of the day. If this can be achieved then Old Oak Common, or whatever new name it might be given, has the potential to be as important to London and the south East as the development of Canary Wharf in London's Docklands in the 1980's.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earls Court</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next development to be reported on was the Earl's Court development of CAPCO (Capital and Counties), who are in partnership with Transport for London (TfL), creating a major mixed use development of 77 acres on the site of the former Earl's Court exhibition halls (appropriately famed in popular memory for the Ideal Home Show) and TfL's adjacent London Underground land holdings. This is probably the largest mixed-use development currently underway at the eastern end of the west London corridor and one that will significantly change the character, identity and reputation of the Earl's Court area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdOe0Gf0JB4rF4Oc_ocKFIjuGTfTk3a4C8n-s7A-VvC1Suf5nXpBVxZOKm5dxh2s6EwtP17mPdgubHeUSLwD7XGxhFzLgKVlGXx0_R4mVnRvuDEcuYFMapDT-xoPq3wwl6z6ngNkmrxNk/s1600/3.TF_.earls-court-900x6731.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdOe0Gf0JB4rF4Oc_ocKFIjuGTfTk3a4C8n-s7A-VvC1Suf5nXpBVxZOKm5dxh2s6EwtP17mPdgubHeUSLwD7XGxhFzLgKVlGXx0_R4mVnRvuDEcuYFMapDT-xoPq3wwl6z6ngNkmrxNk/s1600/3.TF_.earls-court-900x6731.jpeg" height="298" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Artists impression of proposed development at Earls Court</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Image courtesy of Construction Enquirer</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A key design feature of the development will be the creation of four "villages" and a high street, which together, form the overall organising principle for the development's masterplan, delivering 10.7 million sq. ft.of development comprising 8,000 residential units, 1 million sq. ft. of offices and 0.9 million sq. ft of retail, leisure, cultural and community uses and an hotel. Work is underway on the first of the villages - the Earls Court Village, a development that will significantly enhance the offer of the area and make it a destination offering facilities to the population of the wider west London corridor. The development has nor been with out controversy however, a major issue of contention to a number of local residents being the sale of public housing owned by Hammersmith and Fulham Council to the developers who have publicly stated that they will rehouse the displaced tenants in social housing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Hammersmith Flyunder</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next presentation to fire my imagination came from Patricia Bench, the Chief Executive of the Hammersmith Town Centre BID (Business Improvement Area) who spoke eloquently and with sincere passion about the proposal for a "Flyunder" for Hammersmith Town centre - a tunnel to replace the current flyover which effectively dismembers the town centre and cuts it in two.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_DHSD4Qb276cZffNYKjAR9pQB0E2xWZ6ZTYa9hsxNJabIRkazqgynJa8Slxi67aq-coGdoUvEVKPorQG5dPgMJZLCXOUma4EMEf1rrYomeq0H41D5BGNpW0sTUKwnkjbV-i24bfo5PQ/s1600/hammersmith-flyover-above_rdax_400x250+tfl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_DHSD4Qb276cZffNYKjAR9pQB0E2xWZ6ZTYa9hsxNJabIRkazqgynJa8Slxi67aq-coGdoUvEVKPorQG5dPgMJZLCXOUma4EMEf1rrYomeq0H41D5BGNpW0sTUKwnkjbV-i24bfo5PQ/s1600/hammersmith-flyover-above_rdax_400x250+tfl.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> Hammersmith Flyover </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Image courtesy of TfL</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GlUMXZHoii28swU6jAfcnZD5ZjUuAzMsJG5DEtW3t41qknl9bNt2EZcQEIIPv5rVpj7Jr7imkz5HBvsvj0pbnOpThuWuU4Ez771vHaTfKXAjYBlZ7sVyLZuXYFdUNAqy-JcomsT-hoU/s1600/Hammersmith+tunnel+courtesy+of+www.standard.co.uk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GlUMXZHoii28swU6jAfcnZD5ZjUuAzMsJG5DEtW3t41qknl9bNt2EZcQEIIPv5rVpj7Jr7imkz5HBvsvj0pbnOpThuWuU4Ez771vHaTfKXAjYBlZ7sVyLZuXYFdUNAqy-JcomsT-hoU/s1600/Hammersmith+tunnel+courtesy+of+www.standard.co.uk.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Artists impression of proposed Hammersmith Tunnel </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of www.standard.co.uk</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If this imaginative project can be realised, and there is now a significant level of serious interest in it from London's Mayor, the local authority and land owners, it will significantly reduce air pollution, seriously rejuvenate the economy of the immediate area and re-establish Hammersmith as a major centre in west London and reconnect it to the Thames riverside - currently a largely hidden asset. Thirty years ago when I was working on proposals for the Hammersmith Island site we would have been laughed out of court if we had suggested this as a proposal; how times change and thank goodness that they do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Going Further West - The Berkshire Corridor</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also of great interest to me and importance to the west London corridor as it extends west into Berkshire and towards and beyond Slough, were the presentations by Tim Smith, Business Director of the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, and Ruth Bagley, Chief Executive of Slough Borough Council. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What Tim shared with the delegates was the significant degree to which Berkshire contributes value added to the corridor and to the UK as a whole, the scale of innovative and leading edge businesses that have been attracted to the area, in part due to Heathrow being in the corridor (and see my June post on the consequences for the corridor of Heathrow being closed), and its being able to draw on a reservoir of very talented people and institutions like Brunel University, Reading University and Royal Holloway college. Elsewhere in Europe what US consultants McKinsey has described as "The War for Talent" is becoming central to brand-led destination and investment strategies as cities and development corridors recognise that this is the new battleground for city region development. This is a battle that the Berkshire corridor is well placed to fight.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiez_iIO9stGVDS7qF2Vy-kTgf2fJ-RtcxOTY_GCT7PDTP0gMmJTCZA3rkeOJNmCDjzAW80rM5qRFD9WHcJT4Zit7zrNSBwARac7nIpW6UjpSUX0HpjJ6qTPCG6QbjPJKeny8QPpF2_sOE/s1600/2463KeyPropertySwapAtHeartOfSlough_pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiez_iIO9stGVDS7qF2Vy-kTgf2fJ-RtcxOTY_GCT7PDTP0gMmJTCZA3rkeOJNmCDjzAW80rM5qRFD9WHcJT4Zit7zrNSBwARac7nIpW6UjpSUX0HpjJ6qTPCG6QbjPJKeny8QPpF2_sOE/s1600/2463KeyPropertySwapAtHeartOfSlough_pic1.jpg" height="226" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Architect's impression of new offices proposed for Slough Town centre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of architects 3D Reid</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ruth focussed on the extent to which Slough was working in innovative partnerships with private developers to secure an improvement in, and an increase of, high quality development in its town centre and areas adjacent to it, creating space for the expansion of existing businesses and the location of inward investing ones, as well as new housing, leisure and entertainment facilities, all of which will be made easier to achieve by the designation of the area as a "Simplified Planning Zone", the creation of a Local Asset Backed (development) Vehicle (LABV) and a Slough Regeneration Partnership.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having heard these presentations I am persuaded that any destination brand strategy for the London "part" of the west London corridor could realistically be extended westwards to Slough if not to Reading, and should be given serious consideration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Persistent Challenges</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the concluding "Question Time" style Q&A I was struck by a question put to the panel by Ian Macdonald of Strategic Planning Associates who asked the panel to consider why, despite all of the surrounding development taking place, the White City Estate in Shepherds Bush was still a very deprived place. A representative of Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited shared a number of the initiatives the developer was taking to assist residents of the estate but I felt that these, good as they are, do not constitute a comprehensive approach to the still evident problems of the estate, whose resolution requires a more imaginative and effective approach if such areas are to benefit from the clear benefits that the scale of development is creating.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNoJXLpQKSYhwOikTMGhirZ7yJ4ld9d08LF0Ck1vOw38P2LY66t9BheaMn4yydcrvmDVvpGBIKftAet-eh5DRTx00Uv1U2Xckc0p1tyun5d0GYIs9OmL7iZa5xzjVsvWomHzdaXAryWZk/s1600/White+City+Estate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNoJXLpQKSYhwOikTMGhirZ7yJ4ld9d08LF0Ck1vOw38P2LY66t9BheaMn4yydcrvmDVvpGBIKftAet-eh5DRTx00Uv1U2Xckc0p1tyun5d0GYIs9OmL7iZa5xzjVsvWomHzdaXAryWZk/s1600/White+City+Estate.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> White City Estate Shepherds Bush</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Image courtesy of Rightmove UK</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In Conclusion</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In conclusion, as I mentioned above, I believe this corridor is now developing a major offer of facilities and services for both local people and businesses and potential investors and developers, of a scale and significance to make it one of the most attractive locations for investment and development in the greater London area. And when you consider that it currently benefits from the international destination brand reputation of Heathrow, now is surely the time to capitalise on the success of development to date and that in the pipeline, by creating a powerful destination brand strategy for the corridor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-66872046846788884542014-06-20T02:20:00.001-07:002014-06-20T02:20:09.491-07:00The Role of Railway Stations in Place-making <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Wednesday 18 June I attended a workshop organised by John Worthington and Bright Pryde of the Independent Transport Commission (ITC) on this topic at the offices of Space Syntax in London. The ITC is Britain's independent research charity committed to improving transport and land use policy. It is currently reviewing proposals for High Speed Rail (HSR).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6l0XA3n2vztSUF2eM5zGfq9u5cLPMO-Pfqk3W7RwJKp9kS3jfJoA_aR_WJFcNGx6JdWGy9ZdlPucYewJPJVFmklRA3rY3q4BWFq9rkZfqi__XQUh-ltRw5jM2Gwzgwx8kafYz3D-Mpbc/s1600/London+Bridge+Station+redevelopment+ariel+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6l0XA3n2vztSUF2eM5zGfq9u5cLPMO-Pfqk3W7RwJKp9kS3jfJoA_aR_WJFcNGx6JdWGy9ZdlPucYewJPJVFmklRA3rY3q4BWFq9rkZfqi__XQUh-ltRw5jM2Gwzgwx8kafYz3D-Mpbc/s1600/London+Bridge+Station+redevelopment+ariel+view.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> Ariel view of London Bridge Station redevelopment</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was pleased to be invited to participate in the workshop as I have recently been giving a lot of thought to the role of stations being improved or redeveloped as a catalyst for the regeneration of the areas surrounding them as part of my work for Team London Bridge to develop a destination brand strategy for the London bridge area in central London. In this area a central challenge is how best to realise and spread the benefits of the redevelopment of London bridge Station.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbqCwhDdQ2YLR8XZHwM6z5s1hjfvSCoviEsI_UTa4E1im8TXpPpfbUP97E38dbbfvUr-FpLM4qkdpv91FlgE3urYvOWtMSe_LyF-8dWMyJqmzsv9f01XUsX8V0AbhcYL-NR4xSo08Uv0/s1600/London+Bridge+railway+arch+improvements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbqCwhDdQ2YLR8XZHwM6z5s1hjfvSCoviEsI_UTa4E1im8TXpPpfbUP97E38dbbfvUr-FpLM4qkdpv91FlgE3urYvOWtMSe_LyF-8dWMyJqmzsv9f01XUsX8V0AbhcYL-NR4xSo08Uv0/s1600/London+Bridge+railway+arch+improvements.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Proposed design for reuse of railway arches at London Bridge Station</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John, a Commissioner of the ITC, set the scene for the workshop by identifiying three themes of relevance to station identity and placemaking from its work to date on HSR:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The station as a gateway and focus for innovation for the city and its sub region, now a characteristic of how SNCF, the French rail company, now approaches station development.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The station as a place of connection - not only to other cities and places but also as a connector of surrounding neighbourhoods within the same city.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The station as a catalyst for regeneration in the surrounding neighbourhoods and along the transport corridors connected to the station.</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09GP4vyKsSxCDYOW-xvw-h6UoIXgRCI6X3fFM0iwzapAXcYkCY1HHIILwMA5deUV0NF44PHNfQk10NqFAw274ifm9KALe_a5qIdlSQmHyx6WQ0ic_bQVktK_xUqiojeypZqYdWMUh6sQ/s1600/Den+Hague+Railway+Station+Proposals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09GP4vyKsSxCDYOW-xvw-h6UoIXgRCI6X3fFM0iwzapAXcYkCY1HHIILwMA5deUV0NF44PHNfQk10NqFAw274ifm9KALe_a5qIdlSQmHyx6WQ0ic_bQVktK_xUqiojeypZqYdWMUh6sQ/s1600/Den+Hague+Railway+Station+Proposals.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Sketch of proposed improvements at den Hague Station in the Netherlands</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In a wide ranging discussion that followed John’s scene setting I was
particularly struck by the following points:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Camilla Ween (an architect with Goldsteing Ween) reminded us that along the route of Crossrail in London there were now thirty stations where development plans are being prepared to capture the value and opportunity of new station development for their surrounding areas and argued that the stakeholders in this process need to have a strong vision of what the place around the stations might become in order for this value to be realised, and that local stakeholders need to be brought together to create and share an aspiration and the benefits of joint action. She also shared that an exhibition on Crossrail station development proposals is on at the New London Architecture gallery.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">This led John to float the idea of the formation of "master-developers" for station area development and wondered aloud who might be best placed to take on this role - Network rail, the local authority, developers, major landowners, or some combination of them and others - or, as is the case at the Old Oak Common development in West London, a more formal development arrangement supported by the mayor of London. As you might expect there were a variety of views on who the players might be but there was agreement that some form of development partnership was required to create and capture the wider value by taking responsibility for the development and not just leaving it to chance. A good example of this kind of approach is the development of the station and surrounding area at the Hague in the Netherlands.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">A number of participants had experience of major station redevelopment and improvement, notably at Kings Cross and St Pancras in London who stressed that station improvements offered opportunities to open up formerly derelict and unconnected areas for development to provide much needed facilities, services and connectivity to previously isolated areas. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Another participant reminded us that we need to be fundamentally clear about the functions of stations, particularly major termini and exchange (or hub) stations. The y have traditionally been seen as fundamentally and functionally as places to get on and off trains - full stop! Now we are discussing them as places to access the offer of surrounding areas and to become part of the offer of those areas and this is very different from the way in which they have been seen and planned in the past. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">An interesting and important point that had escaped my attention to date was made by Peter Headicar, an ITC Commissioner, that outside of central London and the major metropolitan cities, the issues we were discussing were not being considered in smaller urban settlements with the same degree of enthusiasm or seriousness and exemplified his point by reference to the difficulties of improving the station in Oxford where he lives.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> t.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-2089538110995345422014-05-13T07:06:00.000-07:002014-05-13T07:06:02.565-07:00London Heathrow's Future - The Crossroads for the West London Economy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmRVx019NYEy-gXgQpq7v0I_qYX8X8MdLrSXRFOi3fTophB27QBe8pdYRbFWkLOaHMpLGp2FRB8h7HwY3pqpR3AWgpZLj1DFpFRHvWKNKRXtzAiwVIH6tpiIU9-3oiFIViEGIDOSJZKE/s1600/Aerial-view-west-of-Heath-010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmRVx019NYEy-gXgQpq7v0I_qYX8X8MdLrSXRFOi3fTophB27QBe8pdYRbFWkLOaHMpLGp2FRB8h7HwY3pqpR3AWgpZLj1DFpFRHvWKNKRXtzAiwVIH6tpiIU9-3oiFIViEGIDOSJZKE/s1600/Aerial-view-west-of-Heath-010.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7pEOFAYBbVtcN43n6Pr9GLyuEHouq-5r6vTHi16NTrrB8mvPZNYNzFV6rY-2F2AWQB7ANw-bIZ3C1lS7JKwOIRy5jgWZ4K5t4NhKHh0Fd1Z3Ed-aJ53OeJt4G06fsoaxbuRAZT4GA8k/s1600/_71792927_heathrow_runway_propx3_624v2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7pEOFAYBbVtcN43n6Pr9GLyuEHouq-5r6vTHi16NTrrB8mvPZNYNzFV6rY-2F2AWQB7ANw-bIZ3C1lS7JKwOIRy5jgWZ4K5t4NhKHh0Fd1Z3Ed-aJ53OeJt4G06fsoaxbuRAZT4GA8k/s1600/_71792927_heathrow_runway_propx3_624v2.gif" height="190" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday I attended an important seminar organised by Place West London at the Heathrow Academy at London's Heathrow Airport. The focus of the meeting was what kind of future might Heathrow have as the UK's leading international hub airport and what might be the consequences for West London of the two most obvious scenarios - government support for the construction of a third runway (or the extension of one of the existing two runways) and the closure of the airport if a new one is to be constructed in the Thames estuary east of London.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What struck me most forcibly about the debate at the event was the extent to which, for the first time in my memory, people and agencies in the area affected were really beginning to examine the potential consequences for the west London area and the wider Thames valley area of the closure of Heathrow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spend a large amount of my time helping places think through their future offer and experience and its usually a very positive process - helping them to envisage an improved future place and figuring out the pathway to get there and make a reality of their vision. And although a number of the speakers referred to potential options for reusing the space vacated by the airport if it should have to close, including a major slug of new housing and an education cluster, what was clear to me was the potentially devastating blighting effect on the area around the airport and further west in the Thames valley that would be created by years of running down the airport until a new estuary hub airport was completed (potentially prolonged by extensive consultation and public enquiry), the demolition of existing buildings and the new building that might take place on the site - potentially a period of up to 30 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the blight would not be confined to the built environment - it would significantly affect the economy of West London and the eastern end of the Thames Valley and potentially involve a significant movement of businesses, of population and significant levels of unemployment, especially among lower skilled workers currently employed at the airport who might not be able to, or wish to, move to work on the eastern perimeter of greater London at the estuary airport.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was clear is that in considering their options for a third (or extended) runway at Heathrow or a second at Gatwick that the Davies commission set up by the prime minister to assess them, will have to give significant consideration to the economic, social and environmental consequences of both the impact of a new runway and of the closure of Heathrow if the estuary option is chosen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While there was a sense of optimism from a couple of the speakers that the west London area might benefit from a significant increase in new housing and further and higher education provision on the site of Heathrow if was to close, my sense was that these benefits would be far outweighed by the negative and long term effects of closure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In comparison, approval for the construction of a third runway at Heathrow would generate a significant level of economic benefits to the west London economy both through its construction and that of associated infrastructure, through the increased scale of operations and through jobs being created in west London and at the eastern end of the Thames valley. And a third runway would confirm Heathrow as the principal gateway to the UK and as a pre-eminent gateway to Europe, with potential economic benefits to the wider UK economy through parallel infrastructure improvements to connect the airport to Crossrail and High Speed rail connections to the UK midlands and north. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One other thing was clear to me by the end of the afternoon and that is that when the Davies Commission delivers its recommendations to central government in 2015 then whatever government is in power needs to be decisive about its response - it chooses one option over the alternatives and agrees to implement it. What would be unfortunate is if that government procrastinates and plays for more time before biting the bullet of a hard choice. There is already some evidence that the uncertainty over Heathrow's future is reducing the attractiveness of the west London corridor to inward investors and some airlines are clearly reconsidering their operations at the airport.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, if the decision is to opt for the estuary airport option, then a major effort will need to be made by central government to work long term (maybe up to 30 years) with Hillingdon, Hounslow and Ealing, and authorities bordering them, to fund and plan the recovery of the area on a comprehensive basis of redevelopment - one that has a major economic development driver at its heart that will generate employment and wealth as opposed to a new suburb and education centre; in other words new place-making on a grand and significant scale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-40370965782433656312014-02-16T06:21:00.000-08:002014-02-16T06:21:12.788-08:00Museo Sorolla Madrid<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While in Madrid last week to speak at the European Regional Airports conference I visited the Museo Sorolla, a major cultural attraction of the city, on the recommendation of my pal Charlie Jamieson, one of Scotland's leading painters and a man who recognises a great fellow "colourist" when he sees one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An outstanding example of a "house museum" the Museo Sorolla in Madrid has preserved the atmosphere of what it was like when its celebrated occupant, Joaquin Sorolla Bastida, lived there in the early twentieth century. The artist's studio, illustrated above and below, is a very large space, full of light with an airy feeling about it even although its walls are now full of the artist's work, examples of which are shown below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Born in Valencia in 1863, Sorolla became known in Spain as the quintessential painter of Spanish peasant dress and customs at a time when traditional dress was dying out and as a painter of life at the sea side and portraits of intimate natural family life. His work has been compared to that of Sir John Singer Sargeant and he himself recorded how much he had been influenced by the painting style of Velasquez and the Scandinavian painters "en plein air", Zorn and Kroyer. He was particularly inspired by the Valencian coastal landscape and by the landscapes of the Spanish interior, for example, around Toldeo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the while he developed a very distinctive style of portraiture, often using his wife and children as his models. Latterly, towards the end of his life, he developed this style through his portraits of Spanish peasants in their traditional dress, as shown below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me this museum was a joy to discover and a wonderful addition to my knowledge of Madrid's cultural attractions, offering a contrast to the more formal paintings found in the Prado. I recommend you to visit it the next time you are in Madrid.. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-11243387829389937552014-02-16T05:37:00.000-08:002014-02-16T05:41:47.156-08:00The Benefits of City and Regional Destination Branding - Attracting People, Investment and Airlines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Terminal 4 Madrid Barajas Airport</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday 13 February I gave a presentation on this subject to the annual European Regional Airports conference in Madrid. The theme of the conference was "The Economic Impact of Airports" and, after a general scene setting by Lea Bodossian, Secretary General of the Conference, on the importance of airports to city and economic development, discussion focussed on (1) the impact of airports and (2) what cities and airports can do for airlines. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of most interest to me were the presentations by (1) Jean-Francois Benon, the Director of the Val d'Oise Development Agency in France on the role of Paris Charles De Gaul Airport in that agency's development strategy and, (2) Elena Mayoral Corcucuera, Director General, Madrid Barajas Airport, on the initiatives her airport is taking to integrate its development with regional development initiatives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The brief given to me by Lea for my presentation was to stress the importance of destination branding for cities and their regions and to explore how their airports might play a key role in the development of such strategies. What follows below is a synopsis of the key points I made in my presentation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I opened by stressing the important role that cities and their regions play in driving economic growth and that it is that growth that needs to be captured in destination branding strategies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then explored why brand strategy is important for the development of city regions. In summary, my argument is that they need to (1) differentiate themselves, (2) develop a recognisable identity, (3) understand that they are in competition with many other cities and regions around the world - principally for human talent, investment, tourists and visitors, and (4) take action to retain their existing people, businesses and institutions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I focussed on why airports should be involved in city region brand strategy. Airports are a major driver of local economic development in terms of job generation, workforce expenditure, investment in direct business services connected with their operations and indirectly in terms of tourist and business visitors expenditure. They also have a little recognised but important role to play in that they are, like rail termini, a "brand gateway" - a place where visitors get a first "taste" of the brand offer in action and up to date information on its offer to reinforce any pre-trip research they may have undertaken. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Airports, particularly hub airports, can showcase major elements of the city's offer, a good example being the exhibitions at Amsterdam Schipol on the offer of the Rijks Museum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Riks Museum "taster" exhibition at Amsterdam Schipol Airport</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Airport terminals can also play a role in promoting the entertainment and commercial offers of their city. For passengers awaiting flights they can entertain them with performance excerpts from theatre, musical and dance productions currently playing in the city. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They can also act as a showcase for the major commercial brands that the city gave birth to, for example fashion and food brands - either through exhibitions of their product range (in pop-up spaces) or actual retail outlets where the city brands can sell their product range.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given that most of the airports represented at the conference possessed little knowledge on what's involved in city and region branding I summarised it as follows:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its not about the design of logos or the composition of tag lines</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's being strategic about being competitive</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about the place identifying it's distinctive offers and experiences</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about levering their assets, attributes and attractions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's being clear on their target audiences</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about their ability to attract and retain human talent, investment and businesses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It requires an understanding of key international city competitiveness factors and how the ratings agencies compile their statistics on city and region economic performance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It involves their levering the attractiveness of their heritage and cultural assets, higher education institutions and research and development organisations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It involves them developing and maintaining the city as a quality living environment</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cities and regions which have developed powerful destination brand strategies:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have clarity on the market audiences for their different assets and attractions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Develop powerful tailored messages for individual audiences on their offers and experiences</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell their target audiences compelling and powerful stories about their offer and about who is already operating successfully there</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assemble brand propositions of value for each of their target audiences</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly communicate how those propositions can be accessed and delivered</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are consistent in their messaging with all stakeholders singing from the same hymn sheet</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recognise that you cannot tell everyone, everywhere, everything about your offer all of the time</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cork and Kerry Mountains</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To illustrate these points I presented a case study on the initiative being taken in Ireland to develop a destination brand for the Cork Region in the south west of the island. This initiative is being led by Cork City Council and Cork County Council with the active involvement of a number of key stakeholders including Cork Airport, the Port of Cork, Cork Chamber of Commerce, University College Cork, the Cork Institute of Technology and Failte Ireland, the Irish tourism development body.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The impetus for this initiative came from a recognition by a number of these stakeholders that the existing marketing of the Cork region offer and experience was confusing, uncoordinated and lacking a common focus - principally agreement on what constituted the region's destination brand and a focussed brand proposition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To remedy this and develop a destination brand proposition and a strategic marketing plan to promote it the stakeholders appointed Colliers Ireland (Dublin), Placematters and Fuzion PR (Cork and Dublin). Our work programme consisted of:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assessment of current marketing and messaging about the region</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Identification of the region's assets, attributes, attractions and ambitions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Development of a brand proposition </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Market testing of the brand proposition </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brand refinement following testing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brand briefing for key stakeholders on the agreed proposition</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Advice on brand management and implementation</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considerable progress has been made and the agreed initial brand proposition is about to be tested in a number of target markets over the coming months.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A copy of my slide presentation can be downloaded from the home page of my web site at www.placematters.co</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Further information on the Airports Regions conference can be found at www.airport regions.org</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-32119719610227417912014-01-17T07:34:00.003-08:002014-01-17T07:34:29.574-08:00The Georgians Revealed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ve just been to see "The Georgians Revealed Exhibition" at the British Library in London - www.bl.uk/georgians-revealed which runs until mid-March.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I first became aware of the Georgian's through their architecture when I was an undergraduate town planning student and have learned more about them over the years from literature (Jane Austen to Patrick O'Brien, Dan Leno, Fanny Burney and Beau Brummel), film (the Madness of King George), TV (Flashman) and visits to Bath, the Brighton Pavilion, the New Town in Edinburgh and histories and novels of the Napoleonic wars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even so I was not expecting to discover so much more about the ordinary, OK mainly middle class, people of the Georgian period as was on display in this great exhibition. It really brought home to me how places and developments reflect and are a reflection of the impact of war, peace, the development of trade, manufactures and products, changers in consumer tastes and behaviours. It is town planning and urban development brought to life through the perspective of the people who designed and built Georgian towns and cities, the grand mansions of the aristocracy and the speculative developments of squares and multiple occupation buildings; through the design, manufacture and use of a host of products that made living more comfortable for those with the means to afford them; through the growing awareness among some of the well to do of the rise of poverty and the need for private if not public care to alleviate it (the Foundlings Hospital at Coram Fields in London for example); and through the growth of a consumer society and the introduction of new types of shops to serve it, for example early interior decoration materials and furniture suppliers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the exhibition catalogue is a treasure chest of detailed information on urban development, place making and biography of the movers, shakers, innovators, gossips, rakes, criminals and creatives of the period; well worth the purchase price of £20.00.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go see it!</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-8938424905973764362014-01-17T06:42:00.001-08:002014-01-17T06:42:43.629-08:00Rediscovering Lambs Conduit Street in London<div>Yesterday I rediscovered Lamb's Conduit St in Central London. It's been about twenty years since I was last there and it was reassuring that the Lamb, a great Young's pub, was still there and serving a great pint. This was always a street that was a magnet for independent small shops and it does not disappoint today with a good range of clothing retailers, restaurants, bookshops, groceries and vintners. It's well worth a visit and I could see why it was considered for a great street ward by the UK Academy of Urbanism.</div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMTKqE31DVrd19LR3c457EGDHvJdV6gcf8Wz3PMIDPMY7YhmoFmak7yRNNVTs4WRD5Tg8_dWBHhC0nZEgo-Zu4ryT4If8rJvmUbcOWcivgOpis0pUwDt-ZyN1nvGPtPoRVDM0ZfbplcI/s640/blogger-image-275972591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMTKqE31DVrd19LR3c457EGDHvJdV6gcf8Wz3PMIDPMY7YhmoFmak7yRNNVTs4WRD5Tg8_dWBHhC0nZEgo-Zu4ryT4If8rJvmUbcOWcivgOpis0pUwDt-ZyN1nvGPtPoRVDM0ZfbplcI/s640/blogger-image-275972591.jpg"></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0East Grinstead East Grinstead51.10988 -0.042234tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-61426250775625955762013-05-20T11:40:00.001-07:002013-05-20T11:40:55.865-07:00New Spaces for Independent Workers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photograph of Grindspace workspace courtesy of NY Times</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve been reading a fascinating article in the New York
Times by Alex Williams (see link below) on the emergence of a new type of
workspace and place to work for individuals who would rather work in a shared
environment rather than sit alone at home. <span style="text-align: center;">Alex interviewed a number of people who have made the move
from the home office to the shared workspace and common features were the
desire to escape loneliness, the need for interaction with other people, the
desire to share and discuss ideas and to tap into others experience and
critical intelligence, and the need to access specialist facilities for creative people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">This new type of space is not like the shared buildings that
emerged in inner London in areas like Clerkenwell and other UK and US cities during
the 1980’s which, by and large catered for small companies unable to afford
traditional commercial office and workspaces. Places like Grind ( </span><a href="http://www.grindspaces.com/" style="text-align: center;">www.grindspaces.com</a><span style="text-align: center;"> ), Indy Hall and Neue-House ( </span><a href="http://www.neuehouse.com/" style="text-align: center;">www.neuehouse.com</a><span style="text-align: center;"> ) – a workspace styled as
a form of private members (workers) club, cater not for small companies but
individuals with big and creative ideas, people who are looking for
collaborators, contacts and access to others networks and little black contact
books (the digital variety).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">These new spaces do not come cheap and their costs can range
from $500 a month for a desk space and access to all of the facilities down to
$35 per day subject to availability.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: center;"> Photograph of Indy Hall shared workspace in Philadelphia courtesy of NY Times</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">The facilities can include desk space,
lounges for meetings, specialist screening rooms for media types to showcase
their visual and digital arts and products, kitchens, cafeteria spaces,
recording studios and shared libraries.They will not be everyone’s choice but they do offer an
alternative to being home alone and the small firm’s workspace. In some ways
they are a variant on the US business cubicle for individual workers but with
less of the divider walls and more shared spaces. They are not quite as deliberately
designed as the modern offices of a Google or a Facebook. They are a lot less
regimented with a lot more informality.</span><span style="text-align: center;">They appear to already be attracting a market and they could be
a way of bringing older, unused or under-utilised buildings back into more
productive uses as a new place in the landscape, particularly in city centres
and, who knows, in town centres with vacant retail premises. We shall see.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/fashion/solo-workers-bond-at-shared-workspaces.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/fashion/solo-workers-bond-at-shared-workspaces.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-42648197729105280512013-03-21T04:30:00.002-07:002013-03-21T04:30:24.740-07:00"People, place and value: the golden triangle" - A Glasshouse and Academy of Urbanism Debate<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night I was privledged to attend the fourth in a series of debates held around the Uk organised by Glasshouse and the Academy of Urbanism (AoU) at the new Central St Martin's College in the Granary Building in the Argent development at Kings X in central London. The subject was "People, place and value: the golden triangle? The panel consisted of Kevin Murray, director of Kevin Murray Associates and current president of the AoU, Cllr Josef Ransley Chair of Kidford Parish Neighbourhood Plan, Pam Alexander non-executive director at Crest Nicholson and Sophia de Sousa Chief Executive of Glasshouse. The panel was chaired by Tom Dyckhoff, writer and broadcaster.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the fourth of a series of debates held at various venues around the UK, all with a common aim of getting people talking about placemaking and exploring the changing relationship between people, place and value.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In opening the debate <b>Tom Dyckhoff</b> suggested that we were at a moment of great opportunity to change the way people get involved in placemaking, how they operated, communicated with each other and worked with each other - politicians, built environment professionals and the people who live in the communities that they work in. The economic downturn had raised fundamental questions about the need for better ways of designing spaces and places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Kevin Murray</b> spoke first about how great places create different kinds of value for local people - not just hard monetary value - such as new sources of revenue for community development, but also softer value - such as amenity, culture, beauty, jobs and recreation facilities, and he emphasised that to be successful new places need long term income streams. Great places are those which are viable and enable a quality of life. Kevin argued that that a key element of successful place identity and value is the creation of positive social and community cohesion that lasts for generations, giving them an ability to cope with change over time. This is not just about the design of buildings and the spaces in between; it is about legitimate and meaningful community involvement in the placemaking process, in a purposeful dialogue with environmental professionals and local authorities, where the community is an equal if not primary partner, where local authorities adopt an enabling role rather than being prescriptive, where the professionals engage with the community and each other in a clear and common language and become far better listeners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Josef Ransley</b> spoke about the need to understand the different ways in which people in communities think about place in different ways and their different definition of place, which are determined by their interests and anxieties, their access to transport, and their mixed knowledge of formal processes and practices of placemaking, and the confusion they experience with much of the formal and professional language of many placemaking professionals. Josef believes that local authority leaders should be facilitators of discussions on proposals for places rather than determining solutions; that it is impossible for planners to define what is good for people; that placemaking needs to be highly interactive and participative; and that the new proposals for and interest in "localism" offers the opportunity for community participation in creating places that will work. He argued that value needs to be redefined and that there needs to be a move a way from process driven targets (for new housing numbers for example) and a new focus on the qualitative aspects of place and design. He concluded his remarks by stating that the new challenge at the local level is to make the new Panels - a mixture of lay local people and environmental professionals - work in a creative, meaningful way by fusing the skills and knowledge of local people with those of the professionals to define and agree on what the community needs, what will be good for it and effective and lasting ways of delivering it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pam Alexander</b> opened by stating what many in the audience knew to be obvious - that involving local people in the design and development of placemaking proposals is good business sense. She rightly believes that the community brings value in its ideas, in its knowledge and has an important role to play in the provision of market research and market testing of development proposals. Community involvement is, she argued, critical to the long term success of placemaking. More sharply she observed that we must stop regarding respect for the community as a weakness.She shared a great story about a comment from a construction industry worker at the previous Liverpool debate who had said that if you want successful places you need to build as though you were doing so for the people that you love - your family and loved ones. She also remarked that we need to engage the powerful - the leaders of the corporate world, in the process of placemaking, in the creation of socially positive legacies and not just focus on the success of their enterprises; the success of the communities that they draw their workers from should be just as important to them and they have a role in making them successful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sophia de Sousa</b> opened with her call to arms, one that I am wholly at one with - that place matters! To illustrate this salvo she told the story of the remarks of a participant in the Glasgow debate who pointed out that the poor quality of the place he lived in meant that life expectancy was noticeably lower than in other parts of the city. She also reminded the audience of how poor the commonplace image of property developers is, instanced by how they are usually portrayed in television dramas as grasping and without principle or scruple, interested only in a quick profit. No wonder many in communities don't trust them.And she reminded us not to underestimate the power of local people to positively and creatively affect places and proposals for their improvement and asked us all to think about one thing that we, as individuals, can do to bring about change in the way we make places. In my case its to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">recognise the worth and added value of time spent in dialogue with a community throughout the placemaking process and to positively challenge developers and local authorities who doubt this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was no surprise that a very lively debate ensued with lots of examples of challenges, projects, successes and new ways of working being shared. Here is a small sample and flavour:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The worth and power of bringing planners, developers and communities together and challenging them to find better ways of working together.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The attractions and benefits of using Community Land Trusts as a vehicle for place making.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need to plan for desired benefits rather than hoping they will materialise.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need for developers to retain an interest in their developments for longer periods of time in order to ensure a lasting positive legacy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need for a simpler, clearer shared language to conduct the discourse on placemaking.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Environmental professionals need to rediscover the skill of positive listening and stop preaching to lay men and women.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need to create space for these conversations in the Neighbourhood Planning process.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But let's not beat up on Local Authorities - they have a difficult role to play and if we want them to behave in a different way we need to be in dialogue with them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And let's recognise the dangers of the proposed bedroom tax - it could lead to a loss of social housing.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not just about the creation of better places to live in the form of well designed housing, its as much about the creation of lasting cohesive social networks and strong communities.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tom</b> conclude the debate by remarking that we know what makes a good place and we know how to make them work but we need to share this knowledge with and among local communities and involve them actively in the process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In conclusion</b> I left St Martin's feeling that this debate on placemaking and the central and vital role of local people within it needs a wider platform so that many more people in the built environment professions can engage with it, participate in it, change their behaviours and the need for serious communication to local authorities and the development community so that they can understand that existing and tired models of public engagement no longer work and are still resulting in places that do not work. There was plenty of proof in the debate, as if it was needed, that serious and meaningful consultation with local people results in places that work, places that are valued by people and which are profitable for developers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Note: I am wholly responsible for any misinterpretations of speakers and participants remarks in this debate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-82901683893390777362013-03-05T14:38:00.000-08:002013-03-05T14:38:43.533-08:00The Importance of Quality Space to Place<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjml5UJ8G4xIeHPCMStcQDTDVPU_FKNQf92AluvLAP9zPWCsO_f2D2HneFn0DU-K-KC4s9RJvaoVH9Fbz0TtPTow3G7u8OFf9FqIn-RdWDzoR3KUqwKmf0n9Swc4GvdzCQvKWseHaXQmG0/s1600/Excel+EcoBuild.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjml5UJ8G4xIeHPCMStcQDTDVPU_FKNQf92AluvLAP9zPWCsO_f2D2HneFn0DU-K-KC4s9RJvaoVH9Fbz0TtPTow3G7u8OFf9FqIn-RdWDzoR3KUqwKmf0n9Swc4GvdzCQvKWseHaXQmG0/s320/Excel+EcoBuild.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I was privileged to be part of a line-up put together by Mike Roberts of HAB (Happiness, Architecture, Beauty) Housing for a session in the Green Building Council's tent at EcoBuild in London's Excel exhibition centre in Docklands. The subject under discussion was the importance of place to residential development and my personal take was on the importance of space to place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Place matters to me and I think that it matters to all of us and that's why I called my company "Placematters". For me one of the key determinants of place is space and by space I do not limit the word to open space. I<span style="line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">t covers the spaces we live
in and how well they are designed, the spaces we pass through to get to where
we live – the lobbies and stair wells, the entrance spaces to buildings, the
spaces between buildings, the spaces on top of buildings, the private spaces
associated with our houses and apartments, and the shared spaces in the heart of housing developments,
whether they be public or like the private (residents only) Victorian squares in central and inner west
London.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">And for me all of those spaces need
to be actively and well managed by a landlord if my flat or house is being
rented, one that is committed to the community that they are housing, not
managed as an afterthought or, even worse, managed by benign neglect. And
managed in partnership with the tenants - not against their wishes. The whole
feel of the space needs to be one that I am comfortable with in all its living
elements.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">In this context one of the purposes of my presentation was to highlight the work of a new organisation in the UK housing field - UK Regeneration, a company that is pioneering a new approach to the provision of high quality housing for rent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">My vehicle for doing so was an improvisation, sharing a story with my audience about a future visit to the first of UKR's new developments in the Sandfields area of Nottingham, a city in the English East Midlands.Here it is:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>"So come with me to visit a very
special place, one that’s very dear to my heart as its been designed to
be my kind of place, a place that I would be happy to rent if I lived and
worked in this city.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>It’s a place that I wish had existed
when I first came to work in London after I had graduated and had to suffer,
for too many years, the vagaries of private renting, always putting up with
something that was not quite right, something poorly maintained, something too expensive
for what it was worth, and sharing a space that was never designed for sharing
and so poorly equipped I had to furnish the furnished space myself, …and that
in the days before Ikea!; I had to depend on “Trendy Styles” secondhand
furniture shop on Kingsland High Road. Sustainable it was not! And cheap it was
not…being full of copycat Terence Conran designs.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>But enough of the nightmares of
private renting thirty years ago…..come with me into the heart of England to a
new place - housing with space that’s my kind of place and imagine me as a
young recent graduate (yes I know it’s hard looking at me now) with a decent
job, fed up with the indignities of student living, and wanting somewhere
decent to live and hang out.</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">L</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">et me first park the car (a hybrid I
hope you note) and we can get out and take a shufftie at the place.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Lenton Area of Nottingham</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>That’s it over there on the other
side of Lenton Boulevard, at the cross roads. Looks interesting don’t you
think, modern design with clues in the brickwork about the traditional
architectural vernacular of the area, and clearly committed to sustainability
if those rooftop panels are anything to go by.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>You know for me any residential
development that’s going to capture my heart, to be my kind of place, has to be a
space that I want to spend time in, has to look good, to look well designed, to
have design features that interest and intrigue, with buildings that frame
spaces for private contemplation, that offer spaces to meet and greet, to encounter
strangers, to party and celebrate, for kids to play and people to catch up on the local gossip.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>It’ may sound strange but I want to
feel proud of the place where I live, not in a show-off way, but in a way that
says this is a sensible place to be for my circumstances and a place that just
right for my lifestyle at this time of my life. A place that gives me both
privacy and a shared life with mates and family.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>In short, I like my living space to
be a mix of the private and the public, to be contemplative and to be animated,
to be quiet in part and to be active outside, to provide opportunities for
encounters, with neighbours and people passing by and through.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">But before we look at the shared
public space let’s pop in here to this two person flat to see what’s on offer.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">Because this place is designed for private
renting, for the younger sharing market, it’s got two bedrooms, each with its
own bath/shower/toilet space and space in the bedroom for a sofa and table for
private entertaining. That alleviates any problems with sharing with someone
whose personal hygiene habits might be, well…. uncivilised. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">And here is the
shared living space which is fully wired for the “Generation Now” lifestyle
providing opportunities to share and stream music and video to every room,
always-on high capacity broadband. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">And just look at the kitchen – a bit
upmarket from Wickes but with enough design features to look like a Sunday
supplement advert; I can almost taste the Jamie Oliver 120 minute meals that
will be created here.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>This is no accident of design; the
developers UKR, who are also the landlords and managers, are in it for the long
haul, and have really learned about and understand the lifestyles of their target
tenant group and their requirements in terms of the design of their personal,
intimate and shared apartment space, and what they need by way of associated
external space and associated facilities.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>I also want convenience in my place
so that I do not have to schlepp all the way in to the Victoria Centre in the
middle of town for my provisions or to the large Tesco out by the University. I
like my place of life to help meet my needs – for convenience foods when I run
out of tea, Pringles or Sauvignon, or toothpaste and mouthwash, for medicines to deal with my
lifestyle (hangovers, moi?); so look here, around the central space, are a convenience store, a
dry cleaners, a chemists, a doctors surgery and a great little independent caff
– where Cuban Coffee meets the Bacon Bap with great “me-duck” service" in the fine traditions of the local Goose Fair.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">If you want to know more about this most innovative and ground breaking of UK housing developers contact Jackie Sadek on jackie.sadek@ukregeneration.org.uk</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-13532580189400320682013-03-03T07:26:00.001-08:002013-03-03T07:30:54.027-08:00Visiting Lagos in "Nigerian" Time<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've recently returned from Lagos in Nigeria where I've been working on a major destination development and brand strategy project (of which more anon). I've never been to Nigeria before and despite having previously worked in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, I was unprepared for the sheer frenetic energy, creativity, movement, noise and mayhem that is Lagos. It could so easily have been overwhelming had it not been for my friend Eje and her miraculous driver Moses who together acted as protectors, guides and translators of language, symbols, culture, fashion, music and culinary delights. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were echoes of India in the many and massive traffic jams that we joined and partook of in Nigerian time in that being slow and stationary gives you more time to consider the delights on offer from the jam vendors who gather around stationary cars like bees around a honey pot who will attempt to sell you a cornucopia of things you may or may not need, may or may not like - fruit, flip flops, computer accessories, chewing gum, sweets, drinks, sandwiches, name badge holders, socks, underpants, towels, handkerchiefs, CD's, lottery tickets, ciggies, lighters, and more that I have forgotten in the blur of purchase opportunities. And there is entertainment aplenty in every traffic jam as you observe the constantly changing occupants of the small yellow three wheeler taxis and the larger taxi buses whose conductors are constantly touting for passengers and shouting out their otherwise unadvertised routes and destinations, and the antics of the many traffic policemen in many styles and colours of uniform who take great delight in waving at traffic whether moving or stationary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you don't fancy buying anything from the traffic jam markets there is always the roadside, street stall, of which there are tens of thousands in the city. Few kerbside or pavement spaces are left to go to waste; a few square feet or meters are quickly put to productive retail use as a form of street theatre. This culture makes our recent attempts at pop-up retail look a little slow and jaded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But nowhere else on earth have I experienced driving like this (and that may be down to me being less well traveled than others). At first it was scary, even at slow speeds in jammed traffic, there is no lane discipline - there is constant jostling for position,to capture a temporary almost ephemeral advantage of any gap that opens up which can get you momentarily past the cars beside you or in front of you or ahead of those in your rear. And there is a constant, jarring, but almost musical, honking of car horns by drivers announcing they are behind you, beside you or about to overtake you or cut you up, to let you know they are there.This is driving with all your senses on high alert. But, despite seeing many cars, buses and trucks with bumps and dents, I did not see or experience a single crash or bump,and Moses, true to his name, always managed to part the walls of traffic and find us a way through; miraculous!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was equally unprepared for the sheer variety and scale of the buildings in the landscape - the makeshift towns of the poor on the Lagos waterfront, their camps on the edge of roads and streets, the decaying buildings of the country's brief Colonial period, the modern international hotels that could be anywhere because they lack any visual language identifying them with the symbols of their host locations, the new commercial office blocks that are neighbours to low cost and slum housing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much of the original coastline has disappeared from Lagos and there is little European style waterfront development with much of it blocked off by the floating wooden housing made from every type of available scrap but just outside the city you can still get a glimpse of what it was originally like at its Botanic gardens where there are still crocs and snakes in the water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very ambitious plans are being implemented for a major new waterfront development at the end of Victoria island in the city on the Atlantic waterfront - the EKO Atlantic City, which will completely change the image of this part of the city, and on whats called Banana Island where major investment is being made in new high density residential development that would not look out of place in Manhattan or London's Docklands, as it also lacks any discernible visual symbols or patterns of Nigerian identity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many parts of the city looked the same with similar mixes of seemingly unplanned combinations of residential and commercial development, with a chaotic mix of different styles of architecture. If there truly is a identifiable European style city centre I failed to see or find it. No plazas, squares or gathering points; but every street seems to be a gathering point, a place of arrival and departure, a place of exchange, a place of meetings and farewells, loud, colourful and sometimes exotic; a place of energy and a place striving for improvement and new clothes in which to dress its chaotic image.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-27727492507115273982013-02-08T06:19:00.006-08:002013-02-08T06:19:56.536-08:00London Bridge - Bidding to become a great place and destination <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMPtb6OVQ5WIjcymQ9O7rVWuzdfg0AHBQo6An-RlyCpJ_ao-RwjlgfJmK3XKNkR-B-Lu-fKqgVYDF-s_khQHLSHT-Pn01Im-7hmTwqsAl1Ih1W6-h00EvqKBHrm_tc1s0mBDj73YvzdE/s1600/1-The-Shard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMPtb6OVQ5WIjcymQ9O7rVWuzdfg0AHBQo6An-RlyCpJ_ao-RwjlgfJmK3XKNkR-B-Lu-fKqgVYDF-s_khQHLSHT-Pn01Im-7hmTwqsAl1Ih1W6-h00EvqKBHrm_tc1s0mBDj73YvzdE/s400/1-The-Shard.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday afternoon I met with the Board of the Business Improvement District of the London Bridge area in central London to share with them some thoughts on the value of place and destination branding to areas like theirs which are working on improving their offer, experience and identity. In my opinion this is one of the most interesting BID's in London and in the UK, ranking alongside the New West End Company - the BID for Oxford St., Regent St. and Bond St. in the west end of central London, which I have previously advised. This is a BID board that is truly thinking in a strategic way about the improvement of its area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the meeting we all went over to the London Museum of Fashion and Textiles in Bermondsey St.(well worth a visit especially if you were inspired by the recent Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A) for the AGM of the BID and a very informative programme of speakers sharing their thinking about and initiatives in the area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First up was James Dinwiddie, who is the Chair of the Board of the BID, who told the audience about their major initiatives over the last year, focusing on initiatives to improve the area's public realm through urban links, pocket plazas, bringing vacant space back into public use and the creation of Gateways into the area - on London Bridge, Tower Bridge and on Tooley St., initiatives to improve and make better use of the many railway arches in the area, many now being released for new uses as a result of Network Rail's major programme of improvements to London Bridge Station, and their programme of events designed to animate, enliven and make the area more attractive as a place to visit and spend time in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next to speak was Prof. Simon Howell, Director of Research Development at Kings College London, one of the major landowners in the area. he shared with the audience the fascinating proposal for the establishment of a new Science Gallery in the original Guy's Hospital building. This will be a facility that will explain medical and related sciences to non-scientists in a very interactive way. inspired by a similar facility in Dublin, when completed this will be a major new attraction in the area, hopefully one that will attract a global audience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">James Wong's designs for improving the Greenwood Theatre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon was followed by the irrepresible James Wong who is an Ethnobotanist and who runs a local landscape design company, Amphibian designs (winners of a number of gold medals for their designs for gardens in the Chelsea Flower Show). He excitedly told the audience about his plans for greening the area around the Greenwood Theatre and re-cladding it in a natural wood and made the case for greater investment in greening the urban environment of the area and its buildings through imaginative and pleasing planting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, we heard from Chris Drabble and Andrew Hutton of Network Rail who shared its plans for the modernisation of London Bridge station over the next five plus years, with major works due to start in a few months time. A fascinating statistic from their presentation was that 64 million people pass through the station each year - that's almost equal to the total population of the UK! As a regular user of the station i was also glad to hear that NR plans to create one concourse, on a single level, to serve all of the improved and new platforms. And, as a fan of railway termini as destinations in their own right, I was pleased to hear that NR is looking to significantly improve the food and beverage and retail offer at the station. Clearly the success of the new facilities at St. Pancras Station is influencing their thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suggested to Chris and Andrew that they could get together with James to consider creating a major nature feature on the new concourse similar to the winter-garden area of the Atocha Station terminal in Madrid but that appears to be a plant too far in terms of the primary need to secure an efficient flow of people in and out of the station. Pity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all a fascinating and entertaining afternoon and evening. This is clearly a BID that thinks strategically and has a very good relationship with its major developers and stakeholder employers. Watch this place!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Information on the initiatives of Team London Bridge is available at www.teamlondonbridge.co.uk</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-16545898310207484792013-02-08T04:50:00.001-08:002013-02-08T04:50:13.981-08:00Digital Urbanism<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dr Rick Robinson</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG06CwOGNepowdWTXMTLIxZlK3a04uCIGCsNe0v3DyV_0aoCrwT_diy2Qmz-cQsSTCq9NeQ-rbDJ5-B6rFOvGgMWy6TCYeS8zXkJ1R1uCEzT9thEwcHzs4hp_8_8wMRp2lve2n0TUlDoc/s1600/rick+robinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG06CwOGNepowdWTXMTLIxZlK3a04uCIGCsNe0v3DyV_0aoCrwT_diy2Qmz-cQsSTCq9NeQ-rbDJ5-B6rFOvGgMWy6TCYeS8zXkJ1R1uCEzT9thEwcHzs4hp_8_8wMRp2lve2n0TUlDoc/s1600/rick+robinson.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Tuesday evening I attended a great lecture given by Rick Robinson of IBM UK on the subject of "Digital Urbanism", at the offices of Space Syntax in central London. This event was organised by The Academy of Urbanism which is where I met Rick a few months ago having followed his blog for some considerable time. Rick is an Executive Architect at IBM responsible for it's work on Smarter Cities. He regularly posts on this subject at his blog http://the urbantechnologist.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The choice of this topic by the Academy is no accident as its one of a small number of organisations in the built environment which has recognised the significant impact that digital technologies are having on urban life and the development of urban spaces and places.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rick opened his presentation by talking about the disappearing boundary between the information supply world and the digital world and the resultant changes in the way that products are being created, designed, built and manufactured (3D printing of prosthetic limbs customised to individuals being a fascinating example) and the implications of these changes for the built environment, its governance and the way we use it. He identified three important trends urbanists need to be aware of:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the attraction of little things and big things working together (citing Kelvin Campbell's thinking on the process of initiating change through "massive (amounts of) small (changes)";</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the capability of little things to improve and soften blunt infrastructures like road schemes and infrastructures;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the increasing capability of technology to collect, fuse and make sense of many and complex arrays of data to improve the way in which cities operate - for example, indicators of vehicle exhaust emmissions and the quality of drinking water.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rick referred to the work of the city of Dublin in Ireland in this field - "Dublinked"- which is attempting to understand, link and build on the many people and organisations in the city who are using smart technologies, to understand their needs for the right technology infrastructure (3, 4, or 5 G broadband connectivity) in order to maximise the impact of what they are doing for the economic benefit of the city and its residents. A key objective of this initiative is to identify and distribute technologies that can be shared by many businesses and organisations at the same time which can enable greater and more effective collaborative working. Rick cited some interesting examples of this - the sharing of traffic congestion information with drivers in real time through in-car communications, the use of smart water meters to control the flow and levels of rivers and water courses (enabling earlier alerts on flooding) and meters that indicate the level and frequency of use of water by households and businesses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This initiative did not surprise me as I've become familiar with the parallel initiative of the Science Gallery in Dublin to explain to its visitors what science is, how it is changing how we live and why we need to understand how it contribute to our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rick then talked about what he termed the "attraction of opposites" - producers and consumers coming closer together where consumers become producers and vice-versa, examples being new technologies changing the nature of food production, manufacture and distribution, and, at a much smaller scale, the use of technology to book individual parking spaces in determined locations for precise periods of time; both examples of how we will change our use of the urban space.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Citing his work in the city of Sunderland in north east England, Rick described how new technologies were enabling close and beneficial collaboration between social enterprises and major corporates, stimulating the co-creation of new products and services and minimising risk for new entrepreneurs, helping to sustain the economic health of cities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rick concluded with an appeal that we need to tell and share much more engaging, compelling and motivating stories, free of technical jargon, about the beneficial use of and impact of digital technologies in the urban realm. I absolutely concur with this as I continually encourage my clients to tell people compelling stories about the brand offers and experiences of places as opposed to press releases or entries on web sites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">John Worthington</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Worthington, a founder of the Academy and founder of the seminal architecture practice DEGW, and a real expert on designing workspaces for the rapidly changing world of work, opened the Q and A by listing what he thought were the three levels of SMART in urban development, namely:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having and using<i> common sense</i> to build and enable the infrastructure that will help cities to function more effectively and to communicate more effectively with those who use them, avoiding the temptation to think that all new technologies will be a panacea.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having clarity on the core and key functions of the city and identifying appropriate technologies to deliver them and spot new ones.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understanding how to integrate technologies and digital systems that enables the city to function more effectively and people and business to benefit and "combine" with technology.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the interesting issues raised in the Q&A the following struck me as particularly important:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need for clarity in communications using smart technologies and clarity on what we are advocating on how to use them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need to be able, as individuals and organisations, to "edit" the volume of digitally transmitted and generated information in order to be clear on how smart technologies can effectively enable cities to work more effectively.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The need to get the private sector more engaged in funding research into the effective use of and development of technologies that will improve cities to lessen dependence on the public sector.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We must not forget that a significant digital divide still exists in the UK where many people have no access to communications technologies, which needs to be remedied.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Sunderland IT Inclusion initiative</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information on the IBM Smarter Cities initiative go to http//.ibm.com/smartercities/ and you can follow Rick on Twitter @dr_rick</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-47149947122573129012013-01-23T07:19:00.005-08:002013-01-23T12:43:44.333-08:00London - Fractured Identity or Collection of Neighbourhoods?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night I attended a</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">very good seminar on this topic organised by the <b>Citydiplo Group</b> (which stands for City Branding and Diplomacy) at the London School of Economics where I heard three very interesting presentations on place branding by Max Nathan (an LSE research fellow, researcher at NIESR and co-founder of the Centre for Cities), Ian Stephens (of brand consultants Saffron) and Suzanne Hall (LSE lecturer and researcher).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Branding Tech-City London</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First up was Max Nathan who focussed on the government's initiative, "Tech City", taking advantage of what has been termed the "Silicon Roundabout" in the Old Street and Shoreditch fringes of the City of London, centred on the roundabout in the picture below, where the government is proposing to establish a new hub in the centre of the roundabout to act as a focal point for and advertisement for the area. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgRqIjgV-7w1lwvJQ8zqlfZJVoczxRZmFrSeTLHQCYWtcoMXKnvU65PQsUxxn_pP69Npq6gC3yNSXUqqYRkIi4fEqjtvGvplfFbODPg8TV3OaONBJSVTjd6VZuGZ6B3kjNsWYj3wNN6Q/s1600/Silicon+Roundabout+Bloomberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgRqIjgV-7w1lwvJQ8zqlfZJVoczxRZmFrSeTLHQCYWtcoMXKnvU65PQsUxxn_pP69Npq6gC3yNSXUqqYRkIi4fEqjtvGvplfFbODPg8TV3OaONBJSVTjd6VZuGZ6B3kjNsWYj3wNN6Q/s400/Silicon+Roundabout+Bloomberg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photograph courtesy of Bloomberg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An impression of the design for the hub by Architecture 00 is shown below and below that is their concept diagram for the offer of the hub.</span></div>
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<img alt="A diagrammatic cross-section of some of the kinds of spaces that might be housed in the building" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/12/1355348522253/silicon-roundabout3.jpg" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photograph and diagram courtesy of Architecture 00</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architecture 00 describe the hub as a building providing workshop spaces, exhibition spaces, event-hosting, free work-spaces, education and innovation-accelerator...in short, a low-threshold point of entry for everyone – from the international investor to the London teenager who wants the opportunity to turn their idea into a start-up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max posed a number of relevant questions about this attempt by the government to re-brand and take advantage of a process of organic growth of a new area:</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Will re-branding change perceptions of the area and its offer? Yes, some may now see it as a more formal place rather than a place fostering the organic growth of tech sector businesses.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">What is it that is driving change in the area? To date it has been the clustering of small start-up tech ventures who have fed off each other and grown the offer of the area.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Will an attempt at formal planning change the character of the area? Its bound to and may result in peoples' perceptions of the area changing from being one of unplanned opportunity to being one of regulated provision. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">What will be the effect of the government's initiative? Max identified four potential effects;</span></span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A signalling effect - raising the profile of the area by shining a light on it through the means of a high profile policy initiative.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A clustering effect - where more firms and entrepreneurs are attracted to the area.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A competition effect - which brings benefits to consumers.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A property market effect - where the area becomes more expensive and less accommodating to cash-strapped start-ups.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Max concluded by observing that there are limits to what a late-developing government policy initiative can do for an organic development of an area like this; that the role of local planning policy should be supportive and not directive, to enable the creation of cheap workshop space, and to encourage the creation of local amenities and a vibrant night time economy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Branding Nine Elms</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy of e-achitect.co.uk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The second presentation by Ian Stephens of Saffron focused on the role of place branding in the development of proposals for the Nine Elms area in Battersea on the south bank of the river Thames in central London. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Ian asked the question "Why did the area need a brand?" and answered it by stating that a powerful reason was that few people had ever heard of it beyond the locals, and few investors who the developers wanted to target would have heard of it, especially people from abroad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Added to this there was a need to create a sense of momentum around the development and get people engaged with the development of the area. Another powerful reason for creating a new brand to describe the planned development was the need to change existing, negative, perceptions of the area and the need to create a new community with its own identifiable identity. In short, there was a need for a brand that would tell the story of how the area would develop over time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">From his experience in developing a brand for the area, Ian identified eight principles for place branding, as follows:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Find a</b> <b>Managing Mechanism</b> - As its often difficult to identify who the client is in a place branding initiative where there are lots of different organisations operating with separate agendas and objectives, you need to identify who will lead the process and make decisions.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Identify the</b> <b>Brand Idea</b> driving the development of the place - You need to decide what this is and what you want to say about it in order to differentiate the initiative, especially from close by or competitive developments. And the idea needs to be believable and authentic.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Identify your Audiences</b> - Who do you want to speak to and who is the area for?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Be Coherent</b> - Ensure that you and the stakeholders in the brand speak with one voice.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Decide on a Name </b>- All the better for being one that locates the place as here with "Nine Elms on the South Bank".</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Create a Visual Identity</b> for the brand - to provide coherence for all promotion activity and marketing collateral.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Define the Core Brand Experiences</b> - to attract your target investors, residents, businesses and visitors.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Identify powerful</b> <b>Brand Features</b> - features that will exemplify the brand, for example sculptures and public art of new Elms.</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">For me Ian's principles rang true from my own recent experience of developing a brand strategy for the Cork City Harbour area of the City of Cork in Ireland and i would sum them up as the need to establish what the planned <b>offer and experience</b> of your new place will be as the basis for creating a brand for its development.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>The High Street - The Paradox of an Ordinary Brand</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third presentation was from Suzanne
Hall, a self-styled “Urban Ethnographer” at the LSE, who has been undertaking
work on analysing the development of local high streets in multi-ethnic
communities, in particular on Walworth Road and Rye Lane in Peckham, both districts of inner London. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The title
of her presentation was “The Paradox of an Ordinary Brand”. You can read her
latest LSE blog on this subject at <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2012/02/14/localism-high-street/">http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2012/02/14/localism-high-street/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rye Lane Peckham</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She made
a number of interesting points which I think are relevant to other London town centres, for example Tooting and Wembley, which I summarise as follows:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Two thirds of Londoners now live within 2 to 3 minutes walk of a
local high street.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">H</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">igh streets are where we can see evidence of major economic,
social and cultural change in London.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Some high streets are becoming multicultural worlds with
inhabitants and traders from all over the world – reflecting our history of
empire and the Commonwealth and t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">hese streets are indicative of how London is being remade – a
form of urban renewal being driven by ordinary citizens, b</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">eing a form of change that is so ordinary and prosaic that it’s
not always obvious and often ignored by planning policy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Place brand analysis can help such changes to become tangible and
these places recognised as providers of a range of services that serve
multicultural communities.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Place brand analysis can celebrate and make more of the complexity
that underlies the apparent simplicity of such places, to identify and bring
out the rich menu of services and facilities available – e.g. specialist food
shops, translation services, money remittance services and arranged marriage
services.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Place brand analysis can help to identify clusters of
complementary offers – shops, facilities and services – that are important
magnets for particular communities over a much wider area than those living
near the high street. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">She likened this to bazaars in Istanbul.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> P</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">lace branding can bring coherence to what might
at first sight appear as a jumble of ill-assorted and unconnected offers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">C</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">urrent place branding is too concerned
with visual and spatial concerns and not enough about the socio-cultural
dimension of the offer of places and being inherently geared to property and
planning issues and not focussing enough on social and consumer patterns of change.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> The regeneration of London’s high
streets requires us to re-imagine them as multi-cultural places, places
with very different value systems and to understand where these multicultural
traders are from and their trading connections with countries around the world - see her blog for a “map” of these connections for Walworth Road.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By way
of further reading she referred the audience to a publication, "High Street London”, prepared for the Greater London Authority by Gort Scott
Associates - at <a href="http://www.gortscott.com/project/high-street-london/">http://www.gortscott.com/project/high-street-london/</a>
, and I can also recommend readers of this blog to visit to a web site about a major London high street project connecting
the route from Aldgate in the City of London to the Olympic Park <a href="http://www.highstreet2012.com/e">http://www.highstreet2012.com/e</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Question Answered</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall the sentiment of the meeting was that the three presentations had shown that it was impossible to capture all of these and other local brand initiatives in one umbrella brand for London, which was not to say that you cannot develop one for the city , which is what London and Partners are busily engaged upon, simply that it cannot be both extensive and comprehensive and have clarity for consumers. As I said in my contribution to the debate, bastardising a famous quotation by Abraham Lincoln "You cannot tell everyone, everywhere, about all of your offers, all of the time".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-21344631343358454942013-01-18T06:50:00.003-08:002013-01-18T06:50:19.757-08:00Squaring the Circle - How to Reconcile Apparently Impossible Contradictions in Contemporary Urban Policy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvayluYoAbPWzej42Ab5mE1JJS82PwELK688q0RkWoXvKvftVr08XD98lpyQwTCPJ1mPMJ9-A-vF3XMidJ6Z5uuOuhmmuKxzg4v__nbGrXzQ0DuISAsVvvZFD6BuDMYm1VjJA56SAJthU/s1600/siemens-crystal-london.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvayluYoAbPWzej42Ab5mE1JJS82PwELK688q0RkWoXvKvftVr08XD98lpyQwTCPJ1mPMJ9-A-vF3XMidJ6Z5uuOuhmmuKxzg4v__nbGrXzQ0DuISAsVvvZFD6BuDMYm1VjJA56SAJthU/s400/siemens-crystal-london.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> The Siemens Crystal Building dedicated to Smart Cities</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday I went to the Siemens Crystal Centre in London's Docklands to hear a lecture on this subject from my former tutor Professor Peter Hall, one of a number organised jointly by the Town and Country Planning Association and the International Federation of Housing and Planning in celebration of the IFHP's centenary. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first heard about this event and its subject I was not at all sure what its focus would be and what might be Sir Peter's proposals for reconciliation of the contradictions. It never occurred to me that these would include the development of tram-rail systems (and I readily admit to being a tram-fan) and place branding and marketing based on them as city assets. Bear with me and I will get you there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paradoxes he highlighted were that around the world cities are developing in a variety of ways with the city cores of some beginning to grow again, often at a faster rate than their suburbs; some with city cores growing at the expense of their suburbs; some with the suburbs growing at the expense of their cores and some with declining cores and suburbs. So some cities are decentralising while others are centralising, often at the same or faster rates. Fascinating data and observations delivered in his usual punchy and stylish manner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In attempting to explain and understand these contradictory changes Sir Peter has been looking at the effect on cities of their investments in public transport systems, in particular on the effect on new tram and tram-rail systems. Essentially in car dominated cities the suburbs have been growing and in cities investing in public, in particular tram and tram-rail transport, connecting their suburbs to their centres, the centres have been growing. And he also noted that investment in tram-based systems can lead to both centre and suburban growth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He shared with the audience his thinking on what he described as the "Heineken Model" for investment in tram-based transport that reaches the parts of cities that other forms of public transport do not reach (buses and surface rail) and illustrated this thinking with examples from Freiburg, Kassel and Karlsruhe in Germany, Ypenburg in the Hague in the Netherlands and Strasbourg and Montpelier in France.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Montpelier example was particularly interesting as its major investment in tram-rail infrastructure was pushed through by a maverick mayor against the wishes of many vested interests and resulted in significant growth of the city. Montpelier is now the fastest growing city in France and over the last ten years it has opened three long distance tram lines connecting the city from one side to the other, a circular route around the centre connecting the spine routes and extensions to the spines out into the surrounding countryside, with connections to the TGV rail network, as illustrated in the map below. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> Map of the Montpelier Tram System</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pHzfPNdmYBMIw5UK5mFtRuCI56ayLzQP4SWT93M8YISgOxwDEviOKHeQ2bVXyv68wgPE5LiH95Corl59ELUDaavtwopOkFUmv5s9PoEkJMTFVMTaoUQ_hmYQ-FWQ5b29EziNtKy4PWE/s1600/Montpellier-tram+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pHzfPNdmYBMIw5UK5mFtRuCI56ayLzQP4SWT93M8YISgOxwDEviOKHeQ2bVXyv68wgPE5LiH95Corl59ELUDaavtwopOkFUmv5s9PoEkJMTFVMTaoUQ_hmYQ-FWQ5b29EziNtKy4PWE/s640/Montpellier-tram+map.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In parallel, the city developed proposals for major new shopping, leisure and entertainment centres along the new tram routes and proposals for new suburbs along the routes and around the new centres, such as the Odysseum shown below, and promoted these proposals to investors using the new infrastructure as an enabler and as the brand identity and differentiator for the city. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsQooGQmxNmOUUOdiKiuYMr1tpk8T4xbfDUfYlGoZ0TLxccKbczqkil8OfYeE1zyE2hoTj1UY4XEFQQnQlnnejCsblMHaBLeQNyjH4B1fEgBjcQ1Jz5g5H_MbsnPqR0rRJ14nMTtNjJc/s1600/Centre-commercial-Odysseum-vue-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsQooGQmxNmOUUOdiKiuYMr1tpk8T4xbfDUfYlGoZ0TLxccKbczqkil8OfYeE1zyE2hoTj1UY4XEFQQnQlnnejCsblMHaBLeQNyjH4B1fEgBjcQ1Jz5g5H_MbsnPqR0rRJ14nMTtNjJc/s400/Centre-commercial-Odysseum-vue-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">The Odysseum Commercial Centre, Montpelier</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It went further and hired the well known French fashion designer Christian Lacroix to design the exterior paintwork for the new trams, illustrated in the photo below - <i>"une ligne haute couture"</i>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnrf6N7cD8s3FltikLVxNQ8-i3cRsuA50lrwC71-Q52MibV4BxXYPvunZjyE2ls3l4QYe8NGkZOPXQ3Kuw1gH2EGHfLTj6nb0WclYpv5X3EX4__fNnQcMACGMSVHUHN-bpDz-41xKOa7k/s1600/Montpellier+trams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnrf6N7cD8s3FltikLVxNQ8-i3cRsuA50lrwC71-Q52MibV4BxXYPvunZjyE2ls3l4QYe8NGkZOPXQ3Kuw1gH2EGHfLTj6nb0WclYpv5X3EX4__fNnQcMACGMSVHUHN-bpDz-41xKOa7k/s400/Montpellier+trams.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">A Christian Lacroix tram design</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These infrastructure investments attracted many knowledgable, qualified and talented young people and businesses to the city and the new suburbs and, as a result, a new sector - a knowledge economy - has developed along the tram routes and in the new suburbs, in particular in a new university quarter - Porte Marriane.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHJ0nxTCU7PRWUYU82uz4iVLZIcaMemHSMaa8ek3XaIjaqSdqbWQy_E4ueNZ9FMp1BHU85q96YYuLfuUCnZyHdxAYF1BDfPHF0N9xdN-CEqOj0QK5QeUCUpDmzVKZ4fTYm7mnJk-h1UY/s1600/Porte+Marianne+Montpellier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHJ0nxTCU7PRWUYU82uz4iVLZIcaMemHSMaa8ek3XaIjaqSdqbWQy_E4ueNZ9FMp1BHU85q96YYuLfuUCnZyHdxAYF1BDfPHF0N9xdN-CEqOj0QK5QeUCUpDmzVKZ4fTYm7mnJk-h1UY/s400/Porte+Marianne+Montpellier.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">The Port Marianne Campus</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have assumed that either a transcript of Sir Peter's lecture or a video download will soon be available from the IFHP at www.ifhp.org</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-60822925548246320332012-12-12T02:55:00.002-08:002012-12-12T02:55:36.939-08:004th Destination Branding and Marketing Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAt93VqHsXPf1Yz_R91l38TkA5ZuXno4xW7PJeD277chZeNjxgEqwnNHMimPyuujt-tB19vDvRHjXc8YMzY8MSmyuJo5WQRm3_UowGZNJvInn5OZJS-8G4ceLYBdG8ameUP7Hdnz6158s/s1600/Cardiff_Bay+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAt93VqHsXPf1Yz_R91l38TkA5ZuXno4xW7PJeD277chZeNjxgEqwnNHMimPyuujt-tB19vDvRHjXc8YMzY8MSmyuJo5WQRm3_UowGZNJvInn5OZJS-8G4ceLYBdG8ameUP7Hdnz6158s/s400/Cardiff_Bay+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Friday I came home from three very stimulating days at the fourth international Destination</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Branding and Marketing Conference, held in Cardiff and organised by the indefatigable Nigel Morgan and Annette Pritchard from the Welsh Centre for Tourism Research at Cardiff Metropolitan University. A really great conference programme drew a global audience of more than one hundred practitioners and academic researchers. The presentations were organised under a number of specific themes - use of digital and social media, consumer relationships and experiences, city and regional brands, and storytelling narrative and places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With seventy four presentations on the menu it was impossible to take in all of the rich variety and depth of thinking that was available. For me the highlights were:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jose Fernandez-Cavia on how to analyse destination web sites and Ana Maria Munger on ways in which tourists can contribute to destination development through social media.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Buncle from Yellow Railroad on the case for branding destinations in the digital era and how to effectively harness digital technologies.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frederic Bouchon on the challenges of place and destination branding in Malaysia (which deservedly won the conference prize for Best Paper).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mihalis Karavatis from the University of Leicester on the dynamics of destination branding, particularly the associations that condition identity.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nils Frederick Lund on the power of storytelling, specifically using the Holywood scriptwriting formula, using a case study of Vilnius.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jon Munro on his work on developing branded content for VisitWales.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sofie Flensburg and Israel Ubeda on the work of Visit Sweden promoting the country in Spain and the success and consequences of an innovative Twitter campaign.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jose Torres of Bloom Consulting on his work in Brazil developing a brand strategy for a new city devoted to the fashion sector.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final session of the conference was an open forum chaired by Nigel on what should be the future focus and format of the conference. Among the ideas suggested were three which caught my imagination - case studies on failing places that were attempting to turn themselves around through place brand strategy, presentations by combinations of researchers and practitioners and challenged presentations where presenters would be challenged live by a questioner presenter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Copies of the papers given at the conference will be available shortly at www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/wctr</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And videos of the keynote speaker's presentations, including mine, can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/WCTRtourism</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My own keynote paper on "Experience Masterplaning" for Destinations is available at www.placematters.co</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-87676243919944617782012-12-04T03:30:00.000-08:002012-12-04T03:30:09.346-08:00London's Skyeline - Iconicity or Prickly Hedgehog<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qaSdvVLX6ijC5mIAFK8XWIFhJEbmGLxSLVFD5WVa6Gh0GnTF_Avg3my57PTxovKZdlXP_8isoxhQ2cQ6qk9_8DJ-MnNjIvnHee0pqErDJYTL85LPHPLtOzeXp6cWveBHpYfpBXOGSAU/s1600/London-skyline-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qaSdvVLX6ijC5mIAFK8XWIFhJEbmGLxSLVFD5WVa6Gh0GnTF_Avg3my57PTxovKZdlXP_8isoxhQ2cQ6qk9_8DJ-MnNjIvnHee0pqErDJYTL85LPHPLtOzeXp6cWveBHpYfpBXOGSAU/s320/London-skyline-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Image by Nick Brown, courtesy of Observer/Guaradian Newspapers</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every now and again Rowan Moore, the London Observer newspaper's architecture critic, writes a stormer of an article.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/dec/02/london-high-rise-craze-ruins-skyline</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Sunday his latest blast was on "Towering and Infernal: London's New Blight". This was not an anti-tower polemic; it was more of a concern for the way that the skyline of the city is being ruined by the poor quality of the design of an increasing number of tall buildings that are being constructed in and around the city centre and their lack of relationship to their surroundings and their scant regard for placemaking, especially at and around their ground floors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moore laments the rush for height of the current and previous mayors of London, respectively Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, and the scant regard the central London Borough's seem to be taking to their own planning policies and local masterplanning guidelines as criteria for the design and massing of new tower proposals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moore is right on the money when he indicates that the recent rash of poorly designed towers are certainly not creating an iconic city or "iconcity" as he terms it and for me its more likely that what we are going to see is something more resembling a prickly hedgehog but one that lacks the elegance of a natural one.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-89799312286119096272012-11-28T01:36:00.000-08:002012-11-28T01:36:24.380-08:00Mapping Places and their Cultures<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've always been interested in how we use maps to convey how places work or their offer of services and I am always on the lookout for new ways of doing so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I read a great blog on the Atlantic Cities site by Eric Jaffee (address below). His post is on how classic maps, such as those for transportation systems, can be adapted to map other aspects of place and its components. The one that particularly resonated with me was a map created by designer David Honnorat on the "Best Movies of All Time", shown below. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This map entwines 20 "lines" of classic cinema and features a line of "universally acclaimed cinema" at the heart of the map with " stops" at some great movies like The Godfather II, Star Wars, and Citizen Kane, which is connected to other lines that carry other genres ranging from from romance to gangster to animation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has got me thinking about the use of such graphic tools and how they might be adapted to map other kinds of offer or services of places. So watch this space for my future posts on place experience maps.</span></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Best Movies of All Time Map</span></strong></div>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2012/11/27/transit-movies.jpg" style="border-style: none; height: 363px; vertical-align: top; width: 600px;" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Designed by David Honnorat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eric Jaffee's post can be found at: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/11/6-great-transit-maps-arent-transit-maps/3990/</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-25777569484192932362012-11-23T01:44:00.000-08:002012-11-23T01:44:06.605-08:00Before You Die of Regeneration - Capturing People's dreams and Ambitions<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LPSoCahanaK3hLFY9MSW1_UKVeNt-RqyMJr24HQ9bydW0Fxhs_7c7YhpeKuycXUcfjgrlnc28i0RlWjFqzW6WUNsI2-_o0dqohi4tbuWBpeeVCQKuuuelM1jwCJdZg5L2gJ6ueqGHy4/s1600/Before+I+Die+Board.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LPSoCahanaK3hLFY9MSW1_UKVeNt-RqyMJr24HQ9bydW0Fxhs_7c7YhpeKuycXUcfjgrlnc28i0RlWjFqzW6WUNsI2-_o0dqohi4tbuWBpeeVCQKuuuelM1jwCJdZg5L2gJ6ueqGHy4/s320/Before+I+Die+Board.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I read a great post on the Sustainable Cities Collective about the "Greenbuild 2012" conference recently held in the US, specifically on the presentation by <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Candy Chang. Candy is an artist, designer, and urban planner, who explores making cities more comfortable and contemplative places. She is </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">a TED Senior Fellow, an Urban Innovation Fellow, and was named a “Live Your Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah Magazine. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">By combining street art with urban planning and social activism, she has been recognised as a leader in developing new strategies for the design of US cities. She spoke eloquently on inspiring change to our built environment through very small actions like small space improvements, community gardens and creating spaces for events. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Candy also created a "Before I Die" wall outside the conference centre. This wall shows people in neighbourhoods how many of their neighbours dreams are actually alike and that they share common desires and ambitions. The concept of creating walls of this kind has been implemented in projects as diverse as South Africa, China and Brasil.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> its a great way to bring people together, to get them talking and to understand what they want of their lives and the places that they live in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">This seems like a great tool to use in my practice of place making and branding and i am looking forward to trying it out.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171768145948902070.post-22639689723832769432012-10-24T01:40:00.004-07:002012-10-24T03:11:17.822-07:00Old Oak Common - The New Heart of West London?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOy3Tq3K0yJMSfyXlNxjLeYpHdzNnwEZuI-ySk7dE2tvaqYByGUAd1qeUPlI_tAWGKRjwOcjSBuaZgMNdSPlm9yoieuYfaUug51pbme7QQxQ9pCQLDBdAFOuSOlbnh5ejGTnk4JG7vG4/s1600/OldOakSidings_tcm21-134544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOy3Tq3K0yJMSfyXlNxjLeYpHdzNnwEZuI-ySk7dE2tvaqYByGUAd1qeUPlI_tAWGKRjwOcjSBuaZgMNdSPlm9yoieuYfaUug51pbme7QQxQ9pCQLDBdAFOuSOlbnh5ejGTnk4JG7vG4/s320/OldOakSidings_tcm21-134544.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Old Oak Common Railway Sidings</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurmmQxv84SNU9_V72zbdJrGwMgyjt0JHGaglGo8HFFQbl6CadnxabNC2p1GlY97JIO8E0OaZcn15V4UgHLFqEn347uHB79H-lDqDdmzutn5nrigRDXR4F4FgsfWGeUH2TJdq6exSM_Ic/s1600/Old+Oak+Common+Hight+Speed+2+station+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurmmQxv84SNU9_V72zbdJrGwMgyjt0JHGaglGo8HFFQbl6CadnxabNC2p1GlY97JIO8E0OaZcn15V4UgHLFqEn347uHB79H-lDqDdmzutn5nrigRDXR4F4FgsfWGeUH2TJdq6exSM_Ic/s320/Old+Oak+Common+Hight+Speed+2+station+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The site for the new exchange station</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday I spent the day at the Place West London Conference at Olympia in London. This is an annual bash of the movers and shakers of the area who come together to share ideas and information on whats being built and planned for the area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me the highlight of the day were the presentations by architect and masterplanner Sir Terry Farrell, Colin Wilson of the Greater London Authority and Nick Botterill, Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, on the development potential of Old Oak Common. This is not actually a common, as in a public park and open space. It is a former railway depot and sidings on the old Great Western Railway route out of Paddington to England's west country. It was originally developed by the pioneer railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the mid nineteenth century. Its strategic importance for west London , and indeed London and the south east region of the UK, lies in its location. It is a place where the main lines out of Euston to the north west and Scotland and the line from Paddington are very close together, a place where the new High Speed 2 route and Crossrail will pass through, and a place intersected by the new London Overground rail service. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the moment the rail planners of HS2 see it as just an exchange junction station connecting the line out of Paddington, Crossrail and HS2. A pretty limited vision in my opinion , a view shared by Sir Terry, Nick and Colin who have come together to explore how the linking of these intersecting railway lines might actually create more than just a station but a station that is a place and destination in its own right, a place where people could live, learn, work and socialise - a place that would put west London even more on the map than it currently is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch this space and the press for news on the progress of this visionary idea.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04404883905242816110noreply@blogger.com0