Reimagining where we live: Cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda – Evidence from Spirit of 2012

Spirit of 2012 welcomes the decision of the DCMS Select Committee to hold an inquiry on the DCMS role in levelling up and cultural placemaking. This inquiry is particularly timely given the recent publication of the Levelling Up white paper, alongside large-scale investments in public arts this year through Unboxed, the cultural programme of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the decision on the location of the 2025 UK City of Culture.

Spirit of 2012 is encouraged by the ambition of the Levelling Up white paper. If implemented, we believe its proposals will help transform communities and address the place-based inequalities – between North and South, between and within towns and cities – that have characterised the UK in recent years. We also welcome the emphasis give to the social aspects of levelling up, and the need to build human and social capital, as well as increase innovation and infrastructural investment.