Futurecity uses a partnership approach to sustainable placemaking that considers culture as the gel that holds together city, town, districts partnerships in a dynamic fashion. We think of a holistic definition of Culture – it is the way we live our lives, the ideology that drives us, and the symbolic activities and creations we make every day to signify these values and beliefs.

This partnership approach – which we call The 5C’s – looks at the perspectives and needs of the Civic, Commercial, Community, Consumer and Cultural sectors. Within our work we promote this 5C Partnership approach to enable neighbourhoods, towns and cities to think differently about how meaning, prosperity and equity are created.

In 2021 we saw a growing rise in the implementation of culture in Business Improvement Districts (BIDS). Culture remains a critical economic generator and dynamic identity marker for most cities. We see that local authorities, developers and culture institutions are more rigorous in developing the right fit for including culture in development. Below we highlight how culture embeds into the infrastructure of great city centres.

Cultural Heart of London Commissioned by Heart of London Business Alliance (HOLBA)

The Cultural Heart of London Strategy developed by Futurecity provides a vision, framework and toolkit for HOLBA’s 600 members to develop original arts and business cultural projects with one other, with major cultural organisations, and with London and international creatives. The Cultural Heart of London strategy uses Futurecity’s technique of seeing pattern and opportunity, which has developed over 12 years as a global culture led placemaking practice, workuses Futurecity’s technique of seeing pattern and opportunity, which has developed over 12 years as a global culture led placemaking practice, working across private and public sectors. Furthering on from that initial strategy, Futurecity worked with Publica to generate a new Arts Quarter that unites the ‘Cinderella’ streets into vibrant cultural stages with public realm improvements and cultural partnerships for National Gallery, Japan Centre and the National Portrait Gallery, to name a few.

120 Fleet Street City of London Commissioned by CO-RE

Futurecity worked with the CO-RE team and architects BIG-UK to develop a cultural strategy that brings life and access into the former Daily Express building on Fleet Street. Nestled between The Strand/Aldwych cultural corridor and Culture Mile, this site will become a cultural stop for the Fleet Street area. The opening of the Art Deco architectural gem to the public will engage the tangible and intangible heritage of the building – its design brilliance and the importance of the City of London’s unique offer to step through every period of history through significant architecture AND the intangible heritage of publishing – freedom through text and words, daily communication available to everybody, techniques of print and typology and self-publishing. The Cultural Implementation Strategy will be developed in Spring 2022.

Holborn Viaduct

Royal London Asset Management

Futurecity worked with Royal London Asset Management and PLP Architects to to develop a cultural strategy for a major £200m office scheme next to Holborn Viaduct in the City of London. The cultural offer at Holborn Viaduct will physically connect the public realm and gateway spaces along Farringdon Street and the Viaduct, whilst simultaneously building cultural and curatorial links between the public and major arts institutions, collections and programmes celebrated and located in the City of London. The comprehensive plan includes support for dynamic public artwork in the form of digitisations of museum artefacts and a new digital archivist residency that will make the collection accessible to all via an on-line resource.

Times Square NYC Time Square Alliance / Routledge Press

This year, (Futurecity Partner) Sherry Dobbin’s work as Director of Times Square Arts and Creative Director for Times Square Alliance was captured as chapter, ‘If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere…cultural placemaking at the heart of city centres.’ for the Routledge Handbook of Placemaking. Edited by Futurecity alumni, Dr Cara Courage, now the Director of Tate Exchange, this comprehensive publication chronicles placemaking practice internationally. In March, Futurecity hosted a very popular ‘Placemaking Happy Hour: How to Plan for the Unexpected,’ bringing together womxn leading practitioners from USA, France and the UK to share their experiences and answer open questions form the audience.

Read here for the Strategic Mission of Times Square Arts that was established in 2013 and still relevant to the programme today.