CITYSCAPE:
an Art Project for the North Staffordshire City Region
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The second stage of the Urban Design Futures Project will involve and artist and architect team working with stakeholders and the local community to create a work of visual art representing the form of the North Staffordshire conurbation based on an understanding of the area’s past and a vision for its future.
The CITYSCAPE Art Project for North Staffordshire project will draw together the following:
- An assessment of the heritage value of the North Staffordshire conurbation, which comprises both the systematic characterisation study done by professional experts and the voluntary contribution made by local people through the Down Our Street photographic competition and other initiatives;
- The regeneration strategies developed for housing, the economy, health care, greenspace, education, and transportation, with the associated development programmes.
Urban Vision is seeking support from the Arts Council England for the project.
OUTPUTS
The main output of the CITYSCAPE project will be a set of visual works of art which is an inspirational and an enlightening image of the North Staffordshire city region. It will also provide a representative map or diagram of the sub-region, responding on the one hand to the area’s historical significance, the values expressed by the public, the network of cultural sites and valuable places in the area, and on the other hand to the plans and programmes for regeneration and renewal set to transform the city region in the coming years. The resulting artwork will be a synthesis of traditional and emerging cultural values, which is rooted in the community and has relevance to both the indigenous population and the newer communities appearing as a result of demographic change and cultural diversification.
In conceptual terms the artwork will combine several layers of information. The resulting work of visual art will be underlain and informed by the following layers:
- the cultural significance of North Staffordshire,
- sustainable patterns of spatial development,
- opportunities for aspirational economic development,
- greenspace and movements networks,
- historical development and growth,
- the area’s geology and natural land form.
OUTCOME
The ultimate outcome of CITYSCAPE will be an illustration, ideally a shared mental map, of the conurbation, based on its physical form, community needs and aspirations, and regeneration plans including perceptions of what the area is and should become. This would aid legibility, strengthen identity and help define a better image for the area. It also has the potential to be used as a means of marketing the city region.
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