Anderson, Joel (2026) Culture at the Heart of the City of Culture. Performance Research, 30 (4). pp. 7-16. ISSN 1352-8165 (In Press)

Abstract

Bradford’s designation as City of Culture in 2025 figures in a long list of initiatives promising a change of fortunes for the post-industrial city. Impressive in the breadth and scope of the cultural activities taking place, the year of Culture also offers a vantage point from which to examine the traces on the landscape of a succession of schemes visited on the city, each proposed with the lure of modernisation and redevelopment. At least since the 1990s, plans have been culturally led, emphasising notions of regeneration and the emergence of new economies. Particularly discernible is the legacy of an early-2000s scheme that sought to bring vitality to the city through the construction of a shopping complex. While similar regeneration projects of the time, in more fortunate and prosperous places, often fell short of developers’ dreams, with newly privatised spaces failing to bring much renewal or civic pride for residents, with housing units remaining unoccupied, and sites policed by private security, the Bradford project prompted disappointment and exasperation before even being built. Following the demolition of a large section of the city centre to make room for the new mall, things stalled, and construction was delayed by almost a decade. The derelict site became a locus of the period’s political struggles, hosting
official and unofficial uses including a far-right demonstration and an iteration of Occupy. The site’s hoardings were amended with graffiti and a temporary new public space improved with guerrilla gardening. The site became the stage upon or around which attempts were made to reclaim a city centre, and to imagine - beyond the promises of developers and public–private financing, and in the light of a long history of flawed or unrealised projects - broader conceptions of what a city might be.

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Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rprs20
Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Bradford, urban regeneration, city of culture, post-industrial
Subjects:	European Theatre, Dance and Performance Applied and Socially Engaged Theatre Other Performance Performance Philosophy Political Theatre Drama Architecture of the Theatre
Depositing User:	Joel Anderson
Date Deposited:	30 Oct 2026 16:07
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2026 16:07
URI:	https://repository.cssd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2117