Shining a light on the benefits of reclaiming city centres

Following the success of Leeds Light Night, Chris Bond asks if we should be doing more to make our towns and cities more family-friendly?
Leeds Civic Hall, temporary public artworkLeeds Civic Hall, temporary public artwork
Leeds Civic Hall, temporary public artwork

ANYONE who stood in front of Leeds Civic Hall on Friday night can’t fail to have been impressed with the colourful sight that unfurled before their eyes.

Momentous, the spectacular light projection that transformed the front of the hall into a giant, animated clock, was the centrepiece of this year’s Light Night celebrations sparking impromptu rounds of applause from visitors, myself among them.

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The Light Night event has been going for the past seven years and the latest was arguably the best yet. What struck me as I walked around the city centre wasn’t just the size of the crowds, but the fact you had all kinds of people milling around and enjoying the guided tours or taking the chance, as I did, to explore the labyrinth of cells beneath the Town Hall.

You had students, families, couples and pensioners, and anyone visiting Leeds for the first time would have been bowled over by the friendly crowds, the warm atmosphere and the genuine sense of pride people clearly felt for their city.

It made you think “why can’t it be like this more often?” because the sad truth is that if these same people turned up on another Friday night they would probably find an altogether different place, one populated by crowds of men and women enjoying a night on the tiles which, for some, wouldn’t be the same without urinating in a doorway or vomiting on the pavement.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve enjoyed plenty of nights out in my own mis-spent youth, and there’s nothing wrong with people letting their hair down, but for too long it seems as though our towns and cities have been geared towards a younger crowd.

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There’s enough room in places like Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield, for everyone to enjoy themselves, but too often families and older people, in particular, don’t feel comfortable in their own towns and cities. And that’s a real shame.

Emma Bearman, a cultural blogger based in Leeds, aka The Culture Vulture, believes that events like Light Night help give the city a more welcoming atmosphere. “It feels like more of a vibrant European city when Light Night happens and it brings people together who perhaps wouldn’t normally share the same space, which is great.”

She says organisations like Leeds Inspired, launched by Leeds City Council to support the city’s cultural programme, are making a big difference. “There’s a growing appetite for these kinds of events and this kind of affordable fun. I just think we need to be a little bit better at shouting what we have to offer.”

Leeds isn’t the only city using art and culture to attract people into its city centre. The annual Art Sheffield festival, featuring work by local and international artists kicked off last week, while on Wednesday, Bradford’s Mirror Pool will be transformed into a constantly changing artwork by Bradford-based artists ADEPT, aka Shanaz Gulzar and Steve Manthorp. A Mirrored Pool of Thought (Sylvia Plath), inspired by one of the poet’s letters, uses video projections to create a thought-provoking installation of light and water.

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Not to be outdone, later this month the Illuminating York Festival returns with a trail of light installations across the city centre alongside a busy programme of fringe events.

Gill Copper, York City Council’s head of culture, tourism and the city centre, says part of the original idea behind the festival was to “reclaim the streets” and attract more families into the city centre on an evening.

“York seems to have become a popular place for stag and hen parties which is fine if you’re a stag or hen, but it does sometimes feel a bit intimidating. So we want to try and make sure that local people don’t abandon the city centre after six o’clock at night,” she says.

The annual event attracts as many as 80,000 people to the city and is worth an estimated £1.6m to the local economy.

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People who deliver cultural events in York will say there are things going on all year. I could go out tonight and find six or seven big cultural events happening. But at the same time the city centre can feel a very adult place after 6.30pm at night.

“It’s about finding something in the city centre that’s warm, friendly and fun. Leeds Light Night and Illuminating York are both brilliant events, but could we use more of them, yes, of course we could.”

A Mirrored Pool of Thought (Sylvia Plath), will be on 
display in Bradford from 
dusk to 11pm from tomorrow until October 11.

Illuminating York runs 
from October 30 to November 2, from 6pm – 10pm each evening. www.illuminatingyork.org