Economic challenges and cultural regeneration in four South East coastal towns

This chapter reports on research conducted in the first six months of 2009 on regeneration programmes in four coastal towns in the South East of England (SECTs) with substantial cultural and higher educational (HE) activity. The research examined how such approaches to regeneration based on cultural and HE interventions might offer practical solutions to the challenges of the recession, and decreasing levels of public and private regeneration funding. Funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), the research focused on Margate, Folkestone, Bognor Regis and Portsmouth. The central research methods were documentary and statistical analysis and qualitative interviews.¹

As part of central and regional government’s developing focus on coastal regeneration, the role of culture in coastal regeneration is widely acknowledged and has assumed a high profile in some places. The role of higher education is less well understood both in the coastal context, and in terms of universities’ and colleges’ contributions to the cultural vibrancy and prosperity of their own localities.