Renew Newcastle shows how to create a people magnet
Toronto Star / Catherine Porter / 20 January 2012
Newcastle is an Australian steel town an hour and a half north of Sydney. Last year, Lonely Planet named it one of the Top 10 cities to visit in the world, along with New York and Delhi, citing its great cafes, artist culture and surf.
What makes that amazing is that three years ago Newcastle was a ghost town. Or at least its downtown was, with 150 boarded-up buildings dotting its two main drags. You went there to get mugged.
Was it a new urban plan, an aggressive business improvement association? Or today’s version of a gold rush — four Starbucks?
Nope. It was Marcus Westbury, a festival director with a deep love for his hometown and a really good idea.
His idea: borrow the empty storefronts from their owners and fill them with artists, designers, fledgling food cooperatives. By borrow, he meant occupy them for free. Clearly artists and creators would love a crack at turning their dreams into a business. What about the property owners?
“They weren’t that hard to convince,” Westbury told me over Skype from Australia. “They’ve seen an enormous amount of benefit. We now have a national program, and property owners are paying us to take over their spaces.”
