Among Londoners, and visitors, you will find those who think that (in order to manage the negative impact of gentrification) it is important for the Southbank Centre to make room for street culture within its central location.
On the other, there are those who understand graffiti and skating only as expressions of anti social behaviour and feel they prevent visitors from enjoying their stay. In the middle of it, the Southbank Centre (a charity, btw), chooses to remain committed to finding a balance between a commercial offer with a wider appeal and a locally relevant niche offer involving community engagement with many schools in Lambert, support to SMEs through their various markets and ,of course, the park.
One does not have to walk far to experience a very different much more commercial and sterile reality and yet, I am not convinced most people are conscious of the layers of complexity and why it sets an important precedent....
Looking along the river , with clusters of towers piling up along the Riverside, it is easy to spot the change that is happening and why we should seek to replicate the Southbank model in many more locations...
More on this to follow.
