Artikel voor conferentie Shrinkage in Europe 2011 - Universiteit van Amsterdam, OECD/COST Action. Auteurs: Yvonne Rijpers & Mark Verhijde

1. Shrinkage and culture as a tool to
counteract it
Yvonne Rijpers & Mark Verhijde – January 2011
1. Creative economy
‘The creative economy’ has become a focus of local policies in ever more cities. Initially inspired by
the widely acknowledged, and subsequently often criticized, theory of Richard Florida (2000), policy
is developed to uplift certain areas or boost the local economy. Attracting the ‘creative class’ has
become one of the vanguards of urban policy worldwide and the competition for the creative class
has become an ever more global one.
According to UNCTAD (2008), the creative economy (or: creative industries) is one of the most
dynamic in the world and thus also considered to be of great opportunity for developing countries.
Worldwide, (trans) national and local policy is made to uplift certain places or boost the economy
(Zukin, 2010). However, Charles Landry (2007) argues there is no such thing as a recipe for city
making. Berlin, for example, is often considered to be the #1 creative city in Europe. During a ‘talk of
the town’ meeting in September 2010 in Amsterdam, representatives of Berlin were questioned on
the success and fail factors in creating and advertising a cultural climate that draws so many creative
people from all over the world adding to the thriving local atmosphere. Berlin’s ‘lessons’ appeared to
be quite unsatisfying to the audience; representatives of Berlin’s local authority claim that Berlin’s
success story is more coincidental, than a result of a consciously planned policy action.
When exploring the local creative class in Berlin, it appears they often earn their money elsewhere,
so not adding to the local economy. Moreover, policy aimed at attracting the international corporate
representatives of the creative economy (around the Spree area for instance) is often also the death
sentence for the creative entrepreneurs (pioneers) already there.
Florida’s follow-up research on the creative class (2005) indicates the flight of creativity, fuelling the
competition for this globally footloose creative class. He predicts a new global competition for talent,
which will reshape the world in the coming decades; a competition revolving around the nation’s
ability to mobilize, attract and retain human creative talent. Cities are challenged to obtain and
perpetuate an eligible position in the global hierarchy to attract the creative class that is willing and
able to travel and settle all over the world, such as the increasing number of Dutch architects
relocating in China or dj/producers from all over the world to Berlin.
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2. 2. Creative economy – a must-have
Since the creative economy is considered to be a catalyst for local economy, it is quite
understandable every city wants a piece of the action. Attracting the creative class and boosting the
creative economy has become an almost indispensable part of urban policy in the western world,
with fierce competition among cities on a regional level, but also on a (trans) national one. Among
these competitors are several shrinking cities, for instance Essen, Liverpool and Manchester. Essen
and Liverpool have both been ‘cultural capital of Europe’ (Essen in 2010, Liverpool in 2008).
This poses a couple of different questions we will look into.
- Why do cities turn to culture / the creative economy as a tool in opposing shrinkage.
- What are their strategies; how is ‘culture’ used as a tool in policy and what are the checks and
balances involved?
- How come shrinking cities assume they are able to take up competition with cities that seem to
have a much better position in this? Do shrinking cities or shrinking regions stand a chance – and,
if yes, why?
Our article focuses on the issue of shrinkage and the strategy of shrinking cities to counteract this on
different levels, especially culture and creative economy. On meta-level we will focus on culture and
creative economy as a policy tool. However, we will use the case study of the Dutch city of Heerlen to
be able to give more specific answers on our questions. Other shrinking cities are used as reference.
According to Landry (2007), the more creative city has an overall atmosphere that projects vistas of
chance encounter, possibility, can-do, surprise, the unexpected, the challenging and the clash of the
ugly and the beautiful. This city also attends to the quintessentially ordinary (though increasingly
extraordinary): affordable housing and ranges of housing choices at different prices; convenience
stores selling basic products like bread and tea near to the urban core; flourishing neighbourhoods
with strong identities; fast and frequent public transport; and gathering places and walkability. To
make these possibilities come true requires civic creativity, because it involves using the regulations
and incentives regime to bend the market logic to bigger goals. The vast number of shops in Paris
only exists because they have been encouraged over time. (Landry, 2007)
3. Shrinking cities using culture as a tool
After the textile industry withered and other business departed, Manchester has tried to put itself
back on the map through cultural institutions and events. There is the Lowry Centre (theatre and art
galleries); the Imperial War Museum North (designed by Daniel Libeskind); a bid to host the Olympic
Games (2000) and the hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2002. Elsewhere in the city, derelict
warehouses and other buildings that are left empty have been bought up and converted to offices
and loft apartments. The music scene in Manchester flourished and also found room in empty
buildings, in one of them the infamous club Hacienda was founded. Manchester became well known
for its music scene, which helped shifting the negative image the city had. Along with the music
scene, several urban cultures emerged and flourished.
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3. Liverpool, geographically neighbouring Manchester, but historically in hefty competition with it, was
well known as port city and thus the logistical centre for the industry in the neighbouring areas. It
was a city with a vast majority of cheap, unskilled employment. When the port became less viable, it
appeared difficult to compensate the employment loss this with other business, and in the mid-
Eighties, the city was bankrupt. The European Union has been subsidizing Liverpool since the mid-
Nineties and as well as Manchester, Liverpool has turned to cultural institutions as to catalyze the
urban economy. There is a branch of the Tate Gallery; its own Biennial; and 2008, Liverpool was
cultural capital of Europe in 2008.
Essen, part of the Ruhr Valley, where cities have grown around Germany’s huge industrial
settlements, has largely gone through the same development. Because Germany was better
prepared for the transformation in the industries, the shift towards the service sector proved to be
easier. However, Essen (and the rest of the Ruhr Valley) is still struggling with population loss. Large
industrial plants have been reconverted in a heritage area with several museums, galleries, cafes and
shops, and the Ruhr Valley as a whole was cultural capital in 2010.
Shrinking cities clearly busy themselves with what Landry (2007) refers to as an emerging repertoire
to use culture or arts in city development, recently broadened to include ‘creative quarters’ (usually
refurbished old industrial buildings in inner city fringe areas) and attracting big events. Since these
old industrial buildings, and space of any kind in that matter, is no problem and the need for
economic regeneration is very much there, this seems to be a logical strategy.
In the next section we discuss our case, the Dutch city of Heerlen, situated in the former mining area
Parkstad Limburg. Heerlen used to be one of the wealthiest cities of the Netherlands, sinc it lies at
the heart of the former Dutch mining area. Around 1965 this economic base diminished along with
the associated industries. Heerlen characteristically shows many aspects of a shrinking city: after the
closure of the Dutch coalmines it has seen massive loss of employment, migration of its working
population and an ageing population left behind. Just recently, Heerlen has started to promote itself
as a creative city. We examine the cultural profile of Heerlen and aim to compare this with other
examples of shrinking cities that want to attract creative industry.
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4. 4. Heerlen, shrinkage and culture
In this section we present data on demography, policy on culture and creative industry in Heerlen.
4.a. Demography
The following facts are abstracted from the “key figures Heerlen 2009”. Demographically Heerlen is
shrinking, as may be seen in table 1 below. We find fewer persons in categories 0-19 year and 20-44
year. The number of persons in categories 45-65+ is rising sharply. The total population has declined
with 4664 persons in the periode 1990-2009.
Age 1990 1995 2000 2005 2009 % 2009
0-19 year 20801 20712 20315 19220 17372 19.4 %
20-44 year 38025 37570 34404 31449 28419 31.8 %
45-64 year 21398 22662 24323 25638 26792 30 %
65 + year 13825 15270 15966 16278 16802 18.8 %
Total 94049 96214 95144 92585 89385 100 %
Figure 1 – Heerlen population development 1990-2009
The population structure regarding native/immigrant persons in 2009 is presented in table 2.
Residents in Heerlen are mainly native and western immigrants; only 7.7% are non-western
immigrants.
Other Non
Dutch German Belgium
western western
72.5% 10.3% 1.4% 8% 7,7%
Figure 2 – Heerlen population on natives/immigrants
The local workforce consists of 60201 persons in 2009. In table 3 we give the data on various kind of
unemployment. NWW stands for persons that are not working and not searching for work. WWB
stands for anyone who is unemployed. Notice that unemployment is decreasing rapidly.
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Workforce 62394 61741 61032 60361 60201
NWW 6886 6993 5715 4919 4626
WWB 4363 4416 3948 3735 3532
Figure 3 – Heerlen workforce and unemployment
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5. Heerlen has a relatively low-income population, as may be seen in tabel 4 (in Euro and %)
< 950 950 – 1300 1300-1900 1900-3150 3150 > Unknown
10% 16% 23% 26% 12% 15%
Table 4 – Heerlen population & income
We conclude that Heerlen shows many aspects of a shrinking city, including aging, low-income and
unemployment, the last of which is decreasing.
4.b. Culture and creative industry
TNO (2005) has examined the options for an enhancement of creative economy (creative industry) in
the socalled Southern Tripool, consisting of Maastricht, Sittard-Geleen and Heerlen. Given the fact
that traditional economy (based on industry) is diminishing in the south of Limburg, what are the
possibilities for an alternative economy based on culture and creativity? In 2004 the creative industry
in these cities offer 4057 jobs, or 2.3% of the total economy. In the Netherlands as a whole, the
creative economy accounts for 2.9%. The Tripool creative industry accounts for 163 ml Euro, or 1.9%
of the total economic value in the regions. The number of businesses in the creative industry in
Tripool seems to grow much faster than the number of jobs (3.9% vs. 0.7% on annual basis).
As TNO (2004) pointed out, the slow rated growth of jobs in the Tripool creative industry is not
evenly shared among the three cities. Due to the clustering of media- and entertainment businesses
in Sittard-Geleen the number of creative jobs rose to 8.9% there, while Maastricht (0%) and Heerlen
(-3.6%) did not benefit.
In Heerlen 962 persons had jobs in 2004 in the creative industry, which ranks the city third, after
Maastricht and Sittard-Geleen. Strong aspects of culture and creative industry in Heerlen are the
many theatres, stages and musea, including the number of events and festivals in the city and in
Parkstad. However, Heerlen does not have a clear focus of creative industry. TNO concludes that the
Tripool creative industry is too small and fragile in structure and scale as an alternative for the
traditional economy and industry. Even so, there are interesting options within the Tripool for
clustering of program, which may have positive effects on economy, culture, society and urban policy
for the three cities combined.
Heerlen has taken the results as a starting point for its policy on creative industry. In the remainder
of this section we briefly discuss the aspects of cultural infrastructure, young urban culture, creative
entrepeneurship and businesses, Heerlen as cultural city for visitors, and, finally, culture and citizen
participation.
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6. 4.c. Cultural infrastructure
Theatre, Film, Cultural events and Art, Architecture Cultural Heritage, Media Community arts,
Music festival Design Amateurs, Culture
Literature & education
o Theater o International o Stadsgalerij o Openbare Bibliotheek o ’t Patronaat
Heerlen Breakdance Event o Vitruvianum o Rijckheyt o Spinazieblik
o Nieuwe o Cultura Nova o Signe o Thermenmuseum o Platform
Nor o Booch? o (Smederij) o Kasteel Hoensbroek Amateurkunst
o Filmhuis o Taptoe o Ateliers o Nederlands Mijnmuseum o Muziekschool
De Spiegel o Dag van de Kempkensw o Heemkundeverenigingen o School of Hip
o Literair Amateurkunsten eg o Radio Parkstad Hop
café o Pemitochi o Galeries o Uitkranten o HeeArt
o Glaspaleis o Euriadefestival o St. o Uit in Parkstad o Crosstown
o Jazz on the o Charlemagne Music Atelierbehe Limburg
Roof Festival er o Cultuurscouts
o Charles o Streetlife o Platform Parkstad
Hennen o Smederijfestival Koeltoer o Verenigingen:
Concours o Het Grote o Harmonie
o Platform Verlangen fanfare (13)
Koeltoer o Bluesfestival o Drum- fluit- en
o Parkstad o Kunstenaars tamboerkorps
Popstad Atelierroute en (8)
o Carnavalsoptochten o Koren (20)
o Oranjefeesten o Toneel &
dans (7)
o Folklore (5)
Figure 5 – Heerlen, cultural infrastructure 2009 (from: Heerlen bloeit op 2009)
Figure 5 shows a clear strength in the number and quality of cultural organizations and events in
Heerlen. It appears to be able to attract persons of all ages and tastes. TNO supports this observation
in their examination of Tripool and the position of Heerlen (TNO 2005).
4.d. Urban culture
Heerlen promotes itself with young urban culture, community arts and streetwise festivals (2009).
We observe that this cultural policy on young people only partly reflects the cultural capital already
available, and is hard to motivate based on the look and feel of the city and on the number of young
residents or young visitors (with the exception of the International Breakdance Event IBE). During our
interview with Lex Smeets (alderman of spatial planning, housing and culture) he acknowledged that
the focus on young people is fragile, mainly because they turn their back on the city to study
elsewhere (educational migration). He is an advocate of young people leaving and exploring the
world. However, one of his goals is to get those young people back to Heerlen so the city can profit
of their expanded knowledge and experience.
At least in one study on educational migration the aim of getting young people to return after study
is shown to be incorrect. Van den Berg (2010) has done research on the educational migration of
young people of the region Eastern Zeeuws Vlaanderen and shows that 9 out of 10 of the people
leaving the region do not expect to return to their hometown(s) in the near future. In essence, this
accounts for the socalled braindrain phenomenon. More significantly, young people settling in other
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7. regions than Eastern Zeeuws Vlaanderen after their studies, frequently mention economic aspects
(i.e. job opportunities) as a reason to do so. In shrinking regions with a declining job market young
people tend to leave without ever coming back, rather than to settle or return after their studies.
Whereas economic reasons are pivotal for settlement and relocation decisions, the look and feel of a
city and its image is important for city’s visitors. Programming, achitecture, urban texture and design
of public spaces are basic building blocs for Heerlen to match the tale with reality. For instance,
Roombeek in the city of Enschede attracts many visitors due to a strong urban structure, striking
architecture and a clear and readable public space, combined with events, festivals and musea.
4.e. Creative entrepeneurship
Heerlen also aims to stimulate the creative industry by promoting entrepeneurship and creative
businesses and by facilitating artists and businesses with workspace and cultural-economic
meetingplaces (Actieplan Creatieve Industry, 2009). Although many aspects of this plan have been
decided on and have already been implemented, it is hard to tell whether or not the results are
contributing to the creative industry. Heerlen does not monitor the desired effects, simply because
such effects have not yet been selected or made operational for monitoring. We strongly advice
Heerlen to develop and implement a policy monitor for the creative industry.
4.f. Cultural tourism
Attracting visitors to Heerlen (and Parkstad) is another objective of the cultural policy of Heerlen.
Tourism is directly contributing to the local economy. A good example is Kasteel Hoensbroek.
According to the National Musea Organization the Hoensbroek Castle, which ranks at place 23 of
Dutch museums in 2010, with more than 145,000 visitors. As a castle is by far the best visited one in
the Netherlands. Van der Steen (2011) discusses the many touristic and recreational projects in
Parkstad, and notices that it provides jobs for 20.000 people and adds 1 bln Euro in revenue to the
regional economy. Not all touristic attractions are part of the cultural industries, though. For
example, Gaiapark, Snowworld and IKEA do attract large masses of people, but they can hardly be
seen as aspects of cultural or creative industry. In contrast, one can make an argument that these
and other touristic attractions obscure the desired urban cultural profile of Heerlen, although this
should be examined in more detail.
4.f. Culture and citizen participation
Culture is also used as a tool for empowering local residents in Heerlen. With three ‘culture brokers’
and lots of attention for art projects in neighborhoods (Art in the Neighborhood Projects), Heerlen
attempts to make a difference in promoting and facilitating community art. For instance, in the
project “Women make Heerlen shine” the city has been flooded with statues in public spaces. The
overall effect: Heerlen residents show more pride of their city.
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8. Concluding, Heerlen makes a brave attempt to stimulate culture and creative industry, nevertheless
its main objective is only partly about culture, creative entrepeneurs or artists. As Lex Smeets
admitted, the most important aspect of the cultural policy concerns the economy and especially the
labour market, which is quite an understandable goal, especially for a shrinking city as Heerlen.
5. Economy and cultural industry in Heerlen
From what we have seen above, it is obvious that culture in shrinking cities (at least in our examples)
is used mainly as a tool to boost or regenerate the local economy. For Heerlen, it is a strategy linked
to mainly economic goals in terms of employment, tourism and (re) creating job opportunities for
young people. This implies that Heerlen is not focused on boosting and /or attracting a specific
cultural sector, as is for instance the case in Eindhoven (design sector and technology sector). The
municipality says to be aiming at a specific economic sector for attracting new companies. They are
aiming at companies involved in sustainability. Near Heerlen is a very large production company of
solar cells. This is the kind of business that interests them. In order to attract these companies,
Heerlen is closely cooperating with Eindhoven Brainport for example. This is very necessary, since
there is an international competition going on with countries such as China.
On the field of the creative city, Heerlen does not consider itself fit to compete with cities like
Eindhoven, or any other ‘creative’ city for that matter – we were told Heerlen aims to rely on its own
strengths and does not want to enter into a competition with other cities. The municipality facilitates
and subsidises local initiatives and stimulates plans from local entrepreneurs by being creative with
(among others) permits, subsidies and user agreements.
However, this counteracts the fact they do want to hold, to attract and win back young, well-
educated people to the city; these people eventually have to come from some place else. Moreover,
a large part of Heerlen’s strategy concerning attracting or winning back these people is not very clear
cut and well-developed. The unique selling points that would attract these people are not well-
defined nor is it clear which kind of people they are aiming at. It seems to us, that in order to attract
young people and thus to stand out from the rest, a more clarified profile of the city and what the
city has to offer (and is looking for) would probably also give more promising results.
Heerlen and Parkstad Limburg have agreed upon the fact Heerlen is ‘the heart of Parkstad Limburg’.
The main ambition of the regional partnership is to restrain shrinkage. Their strategy to do so is to
cooperate closely with each other with Heerlen operating as the centre of the region. This has been
established in the housing and future plans of Parkstad Limbug. As centre of the region, Heerlen will
be the place where cultural activities are concentrated, implying that Heerlen is also the place where
economic growth is concentrated. In turn this means Heerlen is indeed competing, but on a regional
level and in an agreed upon form.
In essence, the city of Heerlen is countering shrinkage at the expense of the surrounding
municipalities within Parkstad Limburg, that are cooperating and supporting this strategy. This goes
for population growth as well as for economic and cultural activities. Parkstad Limburg has
acknowledged this position by donating Heerlen a substantial amount of budget aimed at
strenghtening the cultural sector.
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9. 6. Conclusions
In short, cities turn to culture and the creative economy as a tool for urban and economic
regeneration in order to oppose shrinkage. Ways of doing this are by organising cultural events,
invoking cultural institutions and providing for space for (local) creative industry. Fostering tourism
seems to be an important strategy, trans nationally supported by initiatives such as the European
Cultural Capital in some of our examples. Shrinking cities rather not compete with ‘real’ creative
cities and more often than not lack a specific creative sector to promote. Exception on this rule in our
examples is Manchester, which is well-known for its thriving music and club scene, although it does
not seem to make use of this in urban strategies.
The main USP of shrinking cities is, as Lex Smeets poses: Space – there is more than enough of that
around here. Space that is easily accessible for temporary use such as events, urban farming or
conversion of industrial use to cultural use. This USP is simultaneously the most important
competitive advantage shrinking cities have on non-shrinking cities and the reason why they are
partially able to compete with other cities on hosting events such as the International Break-dance
Event or the Commonwealth Games.
In many other respects shrinking cities, including Heerlen, do not stand a very good chance in
competing. However, as we have argued in this article, that is also not their main goal. The strategy
of using culture as a tool is inherently fuelled by an intrinsic economic need and also operated as
such. Advertising Heerlen as a ‘creative city’ in a (trans) national way is not aimed at and also not
considered to be a successful strategy by local government. Culture is primarily one of the tools to
counteract shrinkage and boost local economy. Culture is not defined as or restricted to a specific
sector of the creative economy, but in a much broader sense: for Heerlen is considered in a broad
sense – it is tourism, cultural institutions and local events, as well as civil participation on a
neighbourhood level. The aim is two-sided: to strengthen the commitment of the current population
on the one hand, and to boost local economy and attract new people and economic activity on the
other.
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Contacts
Yvonne Rijpers, YSKOV, Phone +31 614 999 056 Email ymrijpers@gmail.com Adress Pieter de
Hoochstraat 26B 3024 CS Rotterdam
Mark Verhijde Interim programmamanager en adviseur stedelijke ontwikkeling, Phone +31 652 653
005 Email mark.verhijde@gmail.com Adress Westenbergstraat 8, 7415 CP Deventer
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