New Media, New Culture, New City

The cities that do best not only take advantage of their natural resources but also seek out the trends that they can capture and turn to their advantage. Chicago is a city that discovered life after deindustrialisation and can be a guide to others. The Economist wrote about Chicago that it offered a clue to how other "cities may be able to reinvent themselves: create new industries based on fun and games—call them culture, if you prefer—and certainly exploit whatever is already in place". This is something from which we could learn here in the UK Midlands, here in Leicester.

With three universities and a student population of 30,000 from a total population of 300,000 the city is not short of youth and creativity. De Montfort University has a strong design ethic and has, for example, the Contour Design Course specialising in lingerie and swimwear. An example the work of the students is shown here.

It also has a new theatre the recently opened Curve with an ultra modern design, initiatives such as Amplified Leicester, an ethnic mix that helped make it the curry capital of England , a digital media centre opening this year and one of the most successful rugby teams in the world - Leicester Tigers.

Will all of these make it a success? How will these and other new initiatives lead to growth and prosperity in the city? I will be exploring these and other issues affecting the city and the region in this blog and hope you are interested and entertained.