Post-Covid recovery through culture
The cultural and night time economies provide a compelling route to economic recovery for town centres, but this approach is not without the risk of exacerbating inequalities. Working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture team, CLES have been exploring an approach to developing sustainable business districts for creatives in Greater Manchester’s towns, that offer economic and social advantages to the people already living in those places.
As the UK’s towns and cities begin to move beyond the peaks of the Covid-19 crisis, discussions are turning towards the process for economic recovery and reform at the local level. The pre-pandemic trend towards lower occupancy rates of retail and leisure spaces evident in many places has intensified and local authorities are ever more receptive to ideas which have the ability to breathe life into high streets.
