5.3.6

Regeneration Strategies

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Regeneration Strategies - Urban Areas

In urban areas, regeneration strategies usually fall into four main categories:

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Retail-led

  • Retail-led regeneration strategies usually involve:
    • Major shopping malls, such as Westfield in London, Derby and Bradford and the Trafford Centre in Manchester.
    • Street or food markets, such as Borough Market in London, Spitalfields Market in London or Christmas markets.
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Tourism/leisure-led

  • Tourism or leisure led regeneration projects are often based around historic sites.
  • Belfast's Titanic Quarter and castle sites in Warwick and Cardiff are examples of a tourism-led strategy.
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Sport-led

  • Some examples of a sport-led regeneration strategy are London's Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park in Stratford and in Manchester, Sports City, which includes Manchester City's Etihad Stadium and the National Velodrome for Cycling.
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Culture-led

  • Culture-led developments usually try to re-work old buildings.
  • Sage Gateshead is a landmark music venue in North East England.
  • Liverpool and Hull have both been the European Capital of Culture in a culture-led strategy of regeneration.
  • The Lowry Theatre in Salford is also an example of this kind of regeneration.

Regeneration Strategies - Rural Areas

In rural areas, regeneration strategies also usually fall into four main categories:

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Media-led

  • The hosting of Downton Abbey at Highclere Castle in Hampshire and at Bampton in Oxfordshire have helped the surrounding region.
  • Some Harry Potter scenes were filmed at Alnwick Castle in the North East of England.
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Tourism/leisure-led

  • Some custom-built facilities aiming to attract tourists can regenerate local areas.
  • Center Parcs and Butlins build custom built facilities with activities for families and tourists.
  • Similarly, B&Bs in villages like Ambleside can attract tourists.
  • The Soho House group opened a Soho Farmhouse in a rural area to attract tourists there.
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Sport-led

  • Outdoor activity centres in forest parks can regenerate areas.
  • Activities like Go Ape (high wire climbing and zip wires) and forest parks like Thetford in Norfolk can attract people to an area.
  • In North Wales, at Blaenau Ffestiniog, visitors can do outdoor activities in old mine workings and quarries.
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Culture-led

  • Exploiting famous people is one way of regenerating rural areas.
  • Thomas Hardy is associated with Dorchester.
  • Bronte Country in Yorkshire is marketed as the location where the Brontes wrote their famous novels.

Regeneration Strategies - Rebranding

Rebranding tries to change how a place is perceived by visitors, whilst also regenerating the area. Various media can be used to alter this perception. This is done differently in urban and rural areas:

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Urban areas

  • De-industrialised cities often use their industrial history as an asset. Creating museums to exploit their history is one way to do this.
  • Old industrial buildings can be converted into apartments or offices. WeWork, the office group, built their strategy around making old industrial buildings 'cool'.
  • Old canal basins and river quaysides can be turned into shops and hotels. In Ambleside, Cumbria, the mill has been turned into an attractive feature.
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Rural areas - agriculture

  • Post-production countryside areas are rural areas that no longer make most of their income from farming, fishing, mining or forestry. Some agricultural ways to rebrand are:
    • Farming unusual animals like llamas or alpacas.
    • Growing non-food crops like speciality flowers.
    • Farm shops and initiatives like Stockley Farm, where people can visit and pet animals.
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Rural areas - non-agricultural

  • Some non-agricultural methods of rebranding and regenerating rural areas are:
    • Converting redundant farm buildings into offices.
    • Tea shops.
    • Campsites (e.g. the popular campsites in Abersoch in Wales).
    • Paintballing or clay pigeon shooting.
    • Music festivals like Glastonbury, CarFest or Houghton.
    • Art festivals.
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Rural areas - environmental schemes

  • Some environmental ways of rebranding and regenerating rural areas are:
    • Environmental Stewardship Schemes are land management schemes, which aim to improve water quality and farm wildlife.
    • Planting woodland, which is administered by the Forestry Commission. Many areas like the New Forest are visited because of their woodland.
    • Ecovillages, like Poundbury in Dorset, which aim to be environmentally and socially responsible. Poundbury was supported by Prince Charles.

Jump to other topics

1Tectonic Processes & Hazards

2Option 2A: Glaciated Landscapes & Change

3Option 2B: Coastal Landscapes & Change

4Globalisation

5Option 4A: Regenerating Places

6Option 4B: Diverse Places

7The Water Cycle & Water Insecurity (A2 only)

8The Carbon Cycle & Energy Security (A2 only)

9Superpowers (A2 only)

10Option 8A: Health & Human Rights (A2 only)

11Option 8B: Migration & Identity (A2 only)

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