後工業化城市需要創意空間

The London I grew up in 30 years ago felt like a city on the way down. It had lost an empire and many of its key trades, most obviously shipping and manufacturing, were in decline.

三十年前，伴我成長的倫敦彷彿在走向沒落。它已經失去了一個帝國，許多關鍵產業——最明顯的是航運和製造業——都處於衰落中。

In the 1960s London’s docklands had never been busier but by the early 1980s they had collapsed.

上世紀60年代，倫敦碼頭區曾經異常繁忙，但到了80年代早期，已變得冷清下來。

London of course was not the only western city struggling with deindustrialisation. Indeed, with its large business sector, its renowned universities, many professions, government institutions and great tourist attractions, the city was more resilient than most.

當然，倫敦並非唯一一座努力應對去工業化的西方城市。實際上，這裏龐大的企業部門、知名學府、各種專業人才、政府機構以及著名的旅遊勝地，讓這座城市比多數城市都更具生命力。

Slowly London and many other western urban centres learned how to navigate their way to the post-industrial age. While the precise route differed from one place to another, the basic approach was similar. Instead of shoring up declining trades, cities found that their future lay in attracting and retaining the stars of the new service economy — highly skilled young professionals and entrepreneurs, “knowledge workers” and “creatives”. This involved city authorities tackling crime and investing in transport, schools, the public realm and culture.

倫敦與其他許多西方中心城市都慢慢地找到了步入後工業化時代的路徑。雖然各地的具體路徑都不相同，但基本方式類似。這些城市沒有去支撐衰落的產業，相反，它們發現自己的未來在於吸引並留住新服務經濟的“明星”——擁有高技能的青年專業人才及創業家、“知識型員工”和“創意人士”。這需要城市當局打擊犯罪，並投資於交通、學校、公共空間及文化。

Many post-industrial cities now find themselves in a position almost unimaginable only a couple of decades ago: they risk falling victim to their own success. Their economies and their populations have expanded fast and inequality and living costs have shot up-with them. City leaders no longer worry about attracting young talent but how to stop it from being squeezed out.

如今，許多後工業城市發現自己正置身於一個二十年前還幾乎無法想象的處境：面臨淪爲自身成功的犧牲品的風險。它們的經濟和人口迅速擴張，但貧富差距和生活成本也隨之直線上升。市政領導人不再擔憂吸引不到青年才俊，而是擔憂如何阻止人才被擠出去。

London is a case in point. The UK’s capital has long depended on its appeal to artists and innovators. They have been vital to its success. London’s world-conquering creative industries — its music, film, theatre, publishing, gallery, design and advertising activities — are nourished by an endless stream of talented and mainly young people. David Bowie was once a young singer from south London called David Jones.

倫敦就是一個例子。作爲英國的首都，倫敦長期以來一直依賴於自身對藝術家和創新者的吸引力。這些人對倫敦的成功至關重要。倫敦享譽世界的創意產業——包括音樂、電影、戲劇、出版、畫廊、設計及廣告——主要得益於源源不斷的、有才華的年輕人的滋養。大衛•鮑伊(David Bowie)曾經是一名來自倫敦南部、原名大衛•瓊斯(David Jones)的年輕歌手。

The capital’s strengths in scientific research and digital innovation are fed by academics and tech entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s. London has a great, if somewhat under-appreciated history of social and civic innovation — this is the city that gave the world Save the Children, Amnesty International and Band Aid — and this too has been fuelled by youthful talent.

二三十歲的學者、科技創業家締造了倫敦在科研和數字創新方面的優勢。倫敦有偉大卻被低估的社會與公民創新歷史——倫敦爲世界孕育了拯救兒童基金會(Save the Children)、大赦國際(Amnesty International)及援非聯合樂團(Band Aid)——這也是由青年人才推動的。

That said, London is much less welcoming to the creative class than it once was. The threats to London’s sense of buzz are various. They include characterless development, overzealous licensing and policing of nightspots, an increasingly restrictive visa system and cuts to public funding of arts and culture. By far the biggest problem is the sheer price of living in the city. A third of London’s music venues have closed since 2007. The 2014 Artists Workplace study predicted that, on present trends, London will lose 30 per cent of artist studios before 2020. Housing is incredibly expensive. According to the office of the city’s mayor, most London artists make less than ￡10,000 a year from their work, when the average house price is ￡500,000. No wonder newspapers are full of stories of young Londoners moving to Brighton, Bristol, Barcelona and Berlin.

儘管如此，倫敦對創意羣體的友好性已大不如從前。倫敦熱鬧的藝術創作受到了各種各樣的威脅，包括無個性的開發、對夜店過嚴的審批和監管、日益嚴格的簽證制度以及對藝術和文化公共資助的減少。倫敦最大的問題在於高得可怕的生活成本。自2007年以來，三分之一的倫敦音樂表演場地已經關閉。2014年一項對藝術家工作場所的研究預計，按目前的趨勢，倫敦在2020年之前將失去30%的藝術家工作室。房價已經貴得離譜。倫敦市長辦公室的數據顯示，多數倫敦藝術家工作一年收入不到1萬英鎊，而倫敦房屋均價爲50萬英鎊。難怪報紙上充斥着倫敦年輕人搬到布賴頓、布裏斯托爾、巴塞羅那以及柏林的故事。

London is not the only city facing this problem. Paris, once a byword for artistic creativity, has suffered from a reputation of being a safe, over-regulated and air-conditioned city for more than a decade. New Yorkers worry about gentrification and the loss of urban vitality in almost exactly the same terms that Londoners do and there has been a much discussed exodus of New York artists to Los Angeles.

倫敦並非唯一面臨此類問題的城市。巴黎曾經是藝術創造力代名詞，但十幾年來，作爲一座“安全、過度管制、有空調的城市”的聲譽損害了它的藝術創造力。紐約人對中產階級化和城市喪失活力的擔憂與倫敦人如出一轍，紐約藝術家大批出走洛杉磯已經引發大量討論。

Just as it took cities a long time to work out a route out of industrial decline, so it will take a time to come up with a recipe for preserving the buzz and vitality that post-industrial cities need if they are to flourish.

正如一些城市花了很長時間來尋找走出工業衰退的路徑一樣，要找到一種方法來保持後工業化城市繁榮所需要的喧鬧與活力也需要一段時間。

In the past young innovators have flocked to old rundown areas, with lots of character and cheap rents. As they become developed, we will have to find ways of creating new development that works in the same way.

過去，年輕的創新者曾蜂擁至老舊城區，這裏有很多鮮明的特色且租金便宜。當這些地方被開發後，我們將不得不設法打造新的能以同樣方式發揮作用的新街區。

City leaders will have to get a lot more enterprising about protecting and nourishing late night culture — Paris has followed Amsterdam in appointing a night mayor. London is doing the same. Philanthropists and public funding bodies will need to work together to preserve local cultural centres and artists studios.

在保護和繁榮午夜文化方面，市政領導將不得不發揮更多進取精神——繼阿姆斯特丹之後，巴黎任命了一位夜間市長。倫敦也在有樣學樣。慈善家與公共資助機構需要共同努力，保護本地的文化中心和藝術家工作室。

The best developers are beginning to understand the value they get from investing in the public realm but they will need to learn to see the value of other cultural assets. The most expensive cities will have to explore if and how to extend subsidised housing to creative workers.

最優秀的開發商已開始理解他們可以從投資公共領域獲得的價值，但他們還需要學會看到其他文化資產的價值。生活成本最高的城市將不得不探索是否以及如何將保障性住房擴大到覆蓋創意工作者。

Munira Mirza, London’s deputy mayor for the arts, puts its nicely. “Culture is to London what the sun is to Spain.” Not even the most powerful city leader can do much about the local weather. But our cities will have to learn how to keep culture shining.

負責藝術的倫敦副市長穆尼拉•米爾扎(Munira Mirza)說得很好。“文化之於倫敦就像太陽之於西班牙。”即便最強勢的市政領導對當地的天氣也無可奈何。但我們的城市必須學會如何讓文化保持燦爛。