The Spanish lesson we can learn from Bilbao
DURING the 1980s, the Basque city of Bilbao was a filthy place in the throes of industrial decline which saw the loss of thousands of jobs, and a lengthy urban malaise, all of which led to what some described as an ‘identity crisis’.
As the decade drew to a close, the Basque government regional authorities concluded that if Bilbao was to have a successful future, then economic diversification was going to be crucial.
And so they developed an economic strategy for the city, based around the clean-up of the Estuary of Bilbao – which is now described as the city’s ‘backbone’ – development of a metro system, and the relocation of industry to the edge of the city.
And then there was the Guggenheim.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the Guggenheim Foundation – a notfor-profit organisation established by the philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim and his art adviser Hilla von Rebay to promote contemporary and modern art – was exploring options to expand its European operations.
In 1991, the Basque government secured a deal with the foundation to develop the Guggenheim Museum on a derelict site on the south bank of the Nervión River, built by worldrenowned architect Frank Gehry.
Back then, the idea of cultural-led regeneration in a dirty old industrial city was perhaps fanciful at best.
However, it has been a great success, linking the city centre with the waterfront, the outcome described as the ‘Bilbao Effect’, an equation whereby culture + world-class architecture = urban renaissance.
And its success has led to numerous copycat attempts around the world, including the numerous Millennium Projects here in the UK.
But what people tend to forget is that Bilbao’s resurgence wasn’t just about the Guggenheim - it was a piece of a jigsaw. The new museum was part of a €1billion strategy that back in the 1990s was a serious statement of intent. This strategy saw significant infrastructure improvements and a huge programme of environmental enhancements.
However, the social aspects were perhaps not as prominent as they should’ve been, with critics bemoaning the lack of investment in housing, public services and social infrastructure. That said, the change it enabled was huge.
There is much that we can learn from the Bilbao experience here in the Potteries. Over the past few years or so there has been a growing recognition that our city’s heritage and culture is world-class in stature, but that it is something we have seriously underplayed.
Indeed, you could say we have not been ambitious enough – a contributory factor to the failure of Ceramica and under-performance of the Cultural Quarter perhaps – though Big Bang physical projects alone simply won’t cut the mustard.
And we shouldn’t forget the impact of the ongoing Potteries Heritage Emergency and the undervaluation of our cultural assets on our ambitions.
Any strategy for our city needs to be seriously ambitious – big, but in a broad sense – be supported by hyperlocal economics, and should not ignore the social challenges we face. Indeed, these are far more pressing and important at this moment in time, and need at the forefront of our efforts.
However, there is something else that we can learn from Bilbao. The city’s strategy was developed in the context of a strong regional framework with support from regional government and authorities, and serious funding from the Spanish government and the European Union.
Once upon a time, we had all of this - now it’s just a distant memory. Instead we now have to battle with the power-hungry money hoarders in Westminster. The UK is one of the most centralised of advanced democracies, and coupled with the prioritisation of the financial services sector over other areas of the economy, means the nation is as economically divided as Germany was at the fall of the Berlin Wall.
And we now have a government formed of libertarian ideologues wedded to austerity economics, meaning a grown-up conversation regarding something genuinely ambitious for our city is unlikely to happen anytime soon. But that shouldn’t stop us developing that strategy and arguing our case.
To illustrate the power of the Bibao Effect, in 2017 the city was chosen as the best in Europe by the Academy of Urbanism. We’ve still got a long way to go before we experience the
Stoke-on-trent Effect.