Towards Another Place? The regulation of artwork and place re-branding

This paper presents a case study of Antony Gormley's Another Place to explore the role that the land use planning system plays in mediating and regulating the developmental impacts of public art activities in the public interest. It describes the public policy process of securing development rights with respect to a temporary and then a permanent art installation, and considers how the positive and potentially detrimental impacts of the artwork were contested and deliberated. The discussion examines how the re-imaging, economic, and cultural benefits were balanced against environmental and conservation objectives, and health and safety concerns. The paper explores the scalar complexity of public policy choices in the sphere of cultural regeneration policy where different cultural values come together in the regulatory theatre of land use planning decision-making. The paper argues that the statutory planning system has an important role to play in creating the necessary democratic space so as to determine whether development should proceed, and in providing the necessary management and enforcement regimes to monitor and regulate developmental impacts over the longer term.