"Creative Cities: Lessons For Penang" by Charles Landry

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By Daniel Lee

As of 2011, there will be seven billion people on earth to share space with, to feed, house and have other needs provided for. As the world’s population continues to grow, many will be concentrated in urban environments. Issues such as environment, density and sanitation will be a challenge in the not too distant future. So will our cities be liveable enough to satisfy our needs? Will it be sustainable so as to ensure a healthy environment for the future? Will it be adaptable to changes? And what are the cities of the future?

These are some of the questions that were discussed during Charles Landry’s talk at Komtar’s Auditorium A. His presentation addressed these pertinent questions and gave the audience a glimpse of the future of cities.

“The world is now a smaller place with greater mobility and as such, many secondary cities suffer from brain drain that continually weakens the city,” he said. “In spite of this, places can still be relevant by imagining what it can and wants to look like in the future by identifying and understanding its unique position that it can generate and take advantage of.”

“Though Penang aspires to be an international city,” he continued, “the pre-condition to innovation and knowledge based economies must exist and be cultivated – and that is creativity: the ability to imagine and form ideas.”

Landry stressed on the need to tap our creative energies for an ethical purpose that is best expressed through a phrase he saw in Copenhagen: “Be best not in, but for the world”.  

“There are only some truly international cities in the world such as Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai. But like how Milan is internationally acknowledged as a hotbed of design and fashion, Penang has to find its own niche,” he said.

So how do we get there?

“The business as usual model will not work. Penang needs to change, but only adopting incremental changes is insufficient not because it is unbeneficial or unwise but because of intense competition coming from other cities. Penang needs a monumental catalytic change. The inscription of George Town as a World Heritage Site is such a change. But what other changes of such significance have occurred in Penang since?”

“Should we view George Town as a city of projects, or the city as a project? There are real ramifications to these questions. A city isn’t just buildings,” he cautioned. “A city should be looked upon holistically. We need to see the larger picture.” This calls for a paradigm shift to new ways of thinking of cities, and for the state and its city planners to view the city, according to Landry, as an inextricably linked mosaic of culture, economy, society, design and ecosystem working together.

“There are many plans and pre-existing plans and because there are such plans there must have been a great deal of thought process and leadership involved, and because it has been written there must be strategies and policies to go with it. But how does one turn all those fine statements into reality?”

Penang needs to identify its own needs and wants, and act on them. Landry surmises, “Like Paris, there must be countless studies and reports compiled and gathering dust on shelves in Penang.” In a centralised, top-down political jungle, Landry acknowledged that Penang faces certain limitations but it needs to identify what it can do within these limitations and act on it. Like its motto, it is time for Penang to lead, but only if it follows up on its rhetoric.

“15 years ago, 80% of people chose jobs over location. Landing a job was the number one priority regardless of location. Today, the situation has changed. Now, 64% of people will try to land a job in the city of their choice.”

Penang has to become a city that attracts and inspires creative and intelligent people, a place where their skills and talents can be challenged and honed. According to Landry, “Talent is churned, drawn to and kept in a city that is liveable, thrives on creativity and works with cultural distinctiveness. This can be achieved by a combination of healthy urban planning, eco-urbanity and creative city making.

“Do we just want a functional building? Or do we want a functional building that is both beautiful and gives something back to its surroundings? Is this an emotionally satisfying space? Does it connect and resonate with its surroundings? Can the inner city space become ‘shared space’ – where people are the main players and the car relegated to a bit part player? “Do we continue to let the car remain as ‘king’ and ‘owner’ of the road?” Because the future of cities rest on the combination of aesthetics, function, and its harmony with people and the surrounding environment, these are the sort of questions that the State, city planners, developers and engineers need to consider.

However, this is only better understood when exploring the city to experience human sensations instead of being cooped up in an office tower over a drawing board. It is imperative to consider that buildings and infrastructure have a sense of responsibility to its environment. “The city is an emotional experience, but unfortunately the field of environmental psychology is thoroughly neglected when it comes to city planning.”

According to Landry, Penang has two major potentials aside from its existing industrial and tourism base to carve an international niche: green-oriented development and creative industries.

Penang has all the pre-existing conditions to jump into the green-oriented development field due to its tried and true, top notch industrial manufacturing base, higher value added technology and services, connectivity and logistics. Though other countries may have been in the field much longer, it is still not too late for Penang because of all the aforementioned pre-existing conditions that would make the transition easier.

If Penang is willing to invest in its creative industries it will be a prime location for creativity. Penang’s culture, natural and heritage charms offer an ideal environment to inspire creativity. It is no surprise that many of Malaysia’s brightest talents are from Penang.

Both of these recommended industries are a magnet for creativity and talent, able to generate global resonance and highly relevant now and more so in the future.

Landry’s visit to last year’s Shanghai expo, with its theme “Better City, Better Life”, yielded these conclusions of the future of cities. Though forward thinking, cities need to slow down to consider and reflect on its identity and rethink decisions that affect its image, environment and society. A city that wants to be relevant and successful in the future must be entrepreneurial and innovative, and adopt a strong focus on quality. It must also develop a new aesthetic and be creative, yet not forget its culture to remain distinct. It should also remember to utilise traditional knowledge and be able to reassess materials used. A city of the future must also be green and foster greater involvement with all levels of society.

“Aside from 1) achieving a more humane society, 2) churning talent and attracting knowledge nomads to cultivate creativity and form a capacity to innovate, and 3) foster better connectivity internationally while preserving a city’s cultural distinctiveness as factors of urban success, cities need to be resilient, robust and readily adaptable to survive and remain relevant in the future,” said Landry.

Though Landry’s presentation provided clear and simple concepts and guidelines, it offers no real ready-made solutions. He acknowledged this fact, because the solutions are for Penang and Penangites alone to find and shape the future of our city we love and live in. As such we have to rethink and refit and remodel our cities by merging hard and soft thinking, acknowledging global cultures and preserving our self-identity through conviviality and the art of living together harmoniously in an ecosystem. Though political parties come and go, Penang must be responsible and have confidence in long term investments, and do what is right for the common good. It must be bold and lead again.