Art Key To City Revival: Author

Illawarra Mercury

Monday June 25, 2007

By TOM STURROCK

MASTER city planner, urbanist and author John Montgomery stands on the corner of Burrelli St wondering where he can find a beer and some good Thai food.

When Crown St is suggested, along with a warning that Wollongong's night-life can become a hotbed of activity, he nods in recognition.

"That's what's we town planners call 'the evening economy'," he says in his thick Scottish brogue.

"But, as we found out in Glasgow, that evening economy can turn into the Wild West if you're not careful."

On Saturday afternoon, Mr Montgomery addressed Wollongong's Art, Heritage and Place Forum and discussed investment in arts as a tool to reshape cities' identities.

"When a city's been through a tough time, as Wollongong has, it needs to diversify its economy," Montgomery told the Mercury.

"It has to tap into a handful of sectors that are going to drive areas of new wealth creation."

Mr Montgomery nods approvingly when told that education and IT are both seen as growth sectors in Wollongong.

But he insists that investment in the so-called "creative industries" is also important.

He cites Manchester and Glasgow as examples of cities that, in emerging from the shadows of heavy industry, cultivated reputations as burgeoning cultural centres.

"You can't have a real city without art - those cities invested a stack of money in arts and public spaces," he says.

Mr Montgomery is keen to promote art as a way for hard-luck cities to redefine themselves and has written a book, The New Wealth of Cities, on the subject.

"Cities need to have a share in new economies, because the heavy post-war industries that drove us forward have declined," he says, before beating a path towards Crown St - Wollongong's evening economy beginning to stir around him.