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From
Planet 167
Starbucks
and Stadiums
by
John Lewis Jones
Wales
does not have a a metropolitan tradition-and
it shows. Unless it develops one fast, it risks getting left
behind in a rapidly urbanising world. Local politicians do
not understand how to build 'liveable cities', concentrating
instead on ever-bigger shopping centres and show-piece sporting
facilites. But to re-invigorate our urban centres we need
to re-engage people-in particular the complacent Welsh Middle
Classes. Here I focus on the challenges faced by the Welsh
capital in particular. But Cardiff 's
problems building a humane, civilised and productive city
are shared by all parts of urban Wales .
Why
is it that Cardiff , the capital city of Wales lacks a decent
bookshop? One that sells foreign newspapers and heavyweight
journals and where people can gather in its cafe to hear visiting
authors speak. Why do we lack a producing theatre and where
are our exciting new playwrights, novelists and songwriters?
Why is Cardiff 's cuisine dominated by the familiar - chicken
tikka marsala and lasagne - rather than a diversity which
might include South Asian or North Italian cooking? Why is
the city's shopping not exactly glum but hardly glam (to use
the current retail pharaseology)? We get Kew but not Jigsaw,
John Lewis instead of Harvey Nichols. There is no decent contemporary
architecture in the city centre, the capital appears unable
to support even one stylish members-only club for any length
of time. Those funky, earthy venues of 20 years ago where
everything from rockabilly to dixieland jazz could be heard
any night of the week have disappeared. A few years ago, the
local council was revealed to have 'no cultural strategy'
The city's new housing is dominated by volume housebuilders
while Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle have the likes of
'Urban Splash' converting old buildings into cool, distinctive
new living/working spaces. Cardiff 's suburbs are in places
shabby and very dull. I could go on.
Styling itself as ' Europe
's Youngest Capital',
Cardiff
is, in fact, clearly having trouble shrugging off the pyschological
donkey-jacket of its industrial past and needs a Trinny-and-Suzanna
makeover in mentality. This is not to dismiss some still serious
economic problems-the city has some of the poorest districts
in Wales
and some very badly excluded citizens. Admittedly, it's largely
a 'pleasant' city, with a bit of a buzz, and it has been making
great strides economically in recent years. But Cardiff
appears to lag
well behind the cities it is competing with. However, the purpose
of this article is not simply to air my personal view that Cardiff
lacks much of what a civilised city should have; it is to highlight
what a number of economists have been saying recently: that
cities are our future; that the most successful ones are those
that attract and retain skilled and talented people and that
this is achieved by making the city a great place to live.
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