Culture-led regeneration in seaside towns

Key findings from the research

Findings emerging from this research project include the following factors in relation to developing successful art and culture-led regeneration initiatives in English seaside resorts. While it is clear that there is no single solution, there are generic components to success.

• Understanding, respecting and incorporating the history of a place in its culture (although not always in a literal way) is vital both in developing uniqueness and building long-term impact. Each place is its own place.
  
• Community engagement, ownership and participation is essential but this does not necessarily mean community involvement in the design process.
  
• Strong governance, leadership and a broad strategic approach to innovation, partnership working, education and skills development and local authority structures are critical.
  
• The art alone is not the magic bullet. Good infrastructure including transport links, a strong cultural tourism offer and joined-up place marketing are significant factors to success.
  
• Commissioned artists need support at every level from local residents to regional political level to make international-class art with and within communities.
  
• Revenue budgets for maintenance of permanent public artworks must be considered at the outset for project sustainability. This may also include human as well as financial resources.
  
• Careful marketing and positive local media relations have a direct influence on aspiration and success of the project from day one.
  
• Agency and departmental flexibility for innovation and entrepreneurialism in business planning and funding models should be inherent.
  
• Business and funding models for the acquisition of property, and skills development to support and nurture artists and creative practitioners, are critical in contributing to the long-term success of place-making.
  
• Culture-led regeneration strategies don’t work when they are seen as decoration around the edges of renewal. Theywork only when they are seen as a central component of both a wider physical and social design strategy with quality and creativity at its core.

Lesa Dryburgh, Clore Fellow & Director of Stop The Pigeon Communications Consultancy

Resorts of the World.

Estoril Coast, Portugal’s 1st summer resort – Then & Now

Coastal tourism reached Portugal in 1870 when the court started spending the end of summer in Cascais. Later, the early 1900s witnessed the widespread scientific belief in the therapeutical benefits of sea and sunbaths for the improvement of conditions like consumption, bones and skin diseases. Overnight, Parede’s natural conditions (sun light and iodine beaches) led to the
transformation of a village into a therapeutical resort with facilities like sanatoria, solaria and a heliotherapy clinic. In 1915 Fausto Figueiredo turned Estoril into Portugal’s first coastal resort based on its maritime, climatic, thermal and sporting potentialities. His daring project included the construction of first-class facilities, the recovery of the already existing thermal complex, and technological improvements like the electrical train connection to Lisbon. Figueiredo’s vision proved worthy when, during the 2nd World War, Portugal’s neutrality and the natural and manmade conditions around Estoril allowed European refugees and spies to seek shelter or information in Estoril, a town which inspired Ian Fleming to become the birthplace of James Bond. However, despite the 1948 plan for the urban development of the then “Costa do Sol” (Sun Coast), the political and social commotions that marked Portugal from the 1950s to the 1980s led to the decadence and/or loss of both tourist equipments and quality image of current Estoril Coast. Since the 1990s many have been/are the promotional strategies, international mega-events, equipments and facilities that have been/are being implemented for the recovery of Estoril Coast’s image, including the foundation of a Higher Institute for upgrading the education level of professionals, and the development of products directed to different niche markets, as means to fight seasonality on Portugal’s 4th tourist destination. But not without controversy.

Cristina Carvalho, Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE), Portugal