An analysis of the concept of ‘culture-led regeneration’ and the national policies and policy frameworks within which the term has gainedmeaning and credibility. The period of time covered is 1997—2007, concentrating particularly on the shift in policy priorities under New Labour in the UK between 1999-2004.

The paper explores the semantics of the term culture-led regeneration, and the diverse contexts in which it has been used and offers an account of the historical backdrop to the term’s emergence – the rise of urban regeneration policy in its manifold forms. Through a consideration of key urban, social, cultural and arts policies, the paper identifies the political motives and Government interests which have animated this history. It then considers ‘design-led’ regeneration, a major variant of culture-led regeneration, and investigates the role of government agencies in promoting culture within urban regeneration.

The paper seeks to demonstrate that culture-led regeneration is not a single coherent term, but has multiple meanings and applications. More significantly, under New Labour the economic instrumentalism of the previous Conservative regime was supplanted by a social instrumentalism, where culture was onlydefined in a policy context in terms of a supplement to social or urban policy aspirations. Culture and creativity were means to generate an already existing process of social reconstruction, but this came at the cost of an impoverished concept of culture.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/cp/publications/centrepubs/ccps.paper9.pdf