Charles Landry: an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change.

This report is the result of Ghent’s participation in The Creative Cities Index which measures the pulse of creativity – in its broadest sense – in participating cities around the world. The assessment is made across 10 domains using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research – including 420 questionnaires and 80 face to face interviews.

The evaluations are made both by those within the cities concerned and also by the consultants undertaking the study. The resulting report is intended as a living document to be refined by those working with it.

How Ghent scored

Ghent’s overall score was 64.41% (Very Good), the highest of all cities so far analysed including Bilbao, Freiburg, Canberra, Oulu and Perth. In general, all scores across the domains were high, no domain overall scoring less than 56%. The highest scores were for Distinctiveness, Diversity, Vitality 73.73% and Liveability & Well-being 70.92%. The lowest were Entrepreneurship, Exploration & Innovation 56.25% and Openness, Tolerance & Accessibility 56.89%.

Key findings

The key findings are that for the large majority of people Ghent is a great city. It provides the quality of life, sense of well-being and possibilities that most cities crave for. A set of exceptional circumstances make Ghent’s position special. It punches above its weight and operates rather like a capital city, with typical capital city institutions. Ghent can be called a pocket sized metropolis, as it still has many of the attractive features of a smaller city, but a big city feel. However, as a pioneer Ghent faces a set of challenges including the issue of first mover advantage and disadvantage.

Within each of the domains there were many findings, and here just the key ones are picked out:

• Political & public framework: Ghent City is seeking to establish a new organizational ethos and public framework that is open to non-standard solutions, encouraging self-regulation, willing to re-assess procedures and to work horizontally. This requires a more collaborative culture within the city administration as well as between sectors. This is not an easy task and there remains some resistance.
• Distinctiveness, diversity, vitality and expression: there are many distinctive themes present in Ghent but they may as yet be underexploited (the arts, the green agenda, music, vegetarianism, etc).
• Openness, tolerance, participation and accessibility: Ghent has a strong identity and is an open fair minded city – but it is open rather than cosmopolitan.
• Entrepreneurship, exploration and innovation: Its level of entrepreneurship leaves some room for improvement, despite being at the centre of Belgium’s digital industries. The three key institutions of City, University and Port need to come together more to drive this area forwards.
• Strategic leadership, agility and vision: People do feel that Ghent has a clear vision for the future and an awareness of emerging issues, and that there is strong leadership across a number of fields.
• Talent and learning: the University and the high school system increase the talent flow and replenish Ghent’s lifeblood but the University may need to be more outward looking.
• Communication, connectivity and networking: Ghent could communicate in a richer way and strengthen its story – but it should go for quiet targeted viral communication rather than loud mass messaging in order to assure quality rather than quantity
• The place and place making: Ghent is very attractive but must be careful to maintain its qualities as it grows. It has ambitions are greater than its scale and must be careful to maintain its intimacy and character especially as major projects like St. Pieters come on stream.
• Liveability and well-being: this is exceptionally strong but house prices are high and aspects of inward migration are a risk.
• Professionalism and effectiveness: While there is a strong sense of professionalism, there is often a gap between talk and the reality, policies that are not delivered upon and petty rules that impede action.

Recommendations

The principal recommendations of the report are for Ghent:

• to become a leader in creating the 4th clean, lean, green industrial revolution
• to communicate its creative intent and ambitions more strongly and show that it is ‘walking the talk’
• to take steps to ensure that Ghent is associated and strongly identified with certain qualities and activities
• to connect with key global thought leaders and create an annual exclusive summit called perhaps: The Ghent Conversation.
• to develop an observatory function so that it is in touch with the best knowledge in the world within Ghent Council, to strengthen cross-cutting initiatives and encourage greater links between departments, such as urban planning and the cultural sector
• to build a greater culture of trust within the city administration and overcome petty rules through an rules audit
• to promote civic thinking in order to foster commitment to and pride for the city
• to encourage the arts should to connect more broadly with other across disciplines, such as with health and well-being, science or social matters.
• to foster an entrepreneurial attitude within the creative economy and strengthen this sector, for example in fashion and design – physical space should be provided for this sector which in turn will be a means to develop new creative hubs outside of the city core
• to fully explore the potential of design in its widest sense
• to reinforce the social enterprise culture which applies business approaches to meeting social and public interest needs
• to build on the unsung strengths of the city, such as its green credentials, its emerging ICT companies and research breakthroughs
• to consider developing niche events such as unusual festivals for pioneering ideas or science implemented in unusual ways
• to increase attractive hubs outside of the city core, such as Wondelgemstraat, Ledeberg Leeft and Oude Dokken.
• to improve the physical attractiveness and facilities of the tech park environment
• to develop incentives so the city administration can act as a catalyst for green development
• to take steps to show that Ghent is a place for business and entrepreneurs by improving signposting and joining up the available initiatives and incentives

GHENT: SO MUCH CITY

Daniël Termont // Mayor of Ghent
Tom Balthazar // Vice-Mayor of Environment, Urban Development and Housing

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KORTRIJK, PART OF A EUROPEAN METROLPIS IN RAPID EXPANSION: LILLE –KORTRIJK -TOURNAI

Stefaan De Clerck // Mayor of Kortrijk

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CANAL SEINE-NORD EUROPE: DES OPPORTUNITÉS DE DÉVELOPPEMENT POUR L’INDUSTRIE ET LA LOGISTIQUE

Françoise Morhange // VNF

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THE KORTRIJK REGION: TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE MOMENTUM

Filip Vanhaverbeke // Director, Intermunicipal Association Leiedal

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PORT OF GHENT: LARGE ENOUGH TO COPE, SMALL ENOUGH TO CARE

Christophe Peeters // Ghent Port Company – President
Daan Schalck // Ghent Port Company – CEO

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The first speaker, Peter De Smedt of hooox, shed more light onto hooox’ baseline “Turning Bricks into Brands” and its significance for a multitude of real estate projects.

Peter’s presentation can be reviewed below.

The second speaker, Mathieu Van Marcke of hooox, took the time to discuss the impact which social media has on the domain of real estate marketing.

Mathieu’s presentation can be found below.

Finally, Kris Van Slycke of the Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos, discussed the various ways of investing in nature and the projects which her organisation currently has on offer for potential investors.

Kris’ presentation can be reviewed below.

Following the success of last year’s MIPIM conference on the importance of water in urban development, Hotel Martinez was once again the scene for Histoire d’eau².

After a few introductory words by Frank De Mulder and professor Alexander d’Hooghe the various speakers gave their presentations.

Interaction with the audience was encouraged through the use of a specific Twitter hashtag.

After the various presentations these messages were also shown during the reception leading to further stimulating conversations in an informal setting.

The general agreement among the participants was that Histoire d’eau² provided everyone with enough food for thought for another year. To be continued…

Later, Christophe Maes had the honour of announcing the winner of the Innovation Award of the Belgian Building Awards. The recipients, Van de Walle Bouwgroep and De Jaeger were very pleased to receive the award for Hotel Reylof.

Lots of people joined us at the conference on sustainable entrepreneurship and the welcome cocktail for the partners.

The screens are mounted, the tables are placed, the headphones are ready and the plants have been watered. In other words, we are ready for the show!

Rest assured that our booth and the videowall are already attracting a fair amount of attention.

The city of Ghent is delighted to invite you to their annual MIPIM conference. For this year’s edition, we are pleased to announce a joint collaboration with the city of Paris.

“Histoire d’Eau” will discuss the impact of water on real estate development inside our cities, with specific attention to biodiversity. The cities of Paris, Ghent and Kortrijk will provide an in-depth analysis of this new topic.

Furthermore, water is on its way to becoming the super highway of tomorrow’s logistics axes. A fitting example is the future development of the Seine-Scheldt connection, not only as an economic
catalyst, but also as a generator of new real estate opportunities. Voies navigables de France and the Port of Ghent will share practical insights into the potential of this development.

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8th March from 9 am
Hotel Martinez
Boulevard de la Croisette 73

• 9h welcome
• 9h30 presentation
• 11h15 cocktail

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SPEAKERS:

‘Urban biodiversity and waterfront developments in cities’

• Fabienne Giboudeaux // Deputy Mayor for Open Space, City of Paris
• Daniël Termont // Mayor of Ghent
• Tom Balthazar // Vice-Mayor of Environment, Urban Development and Housing, City of Ghent
• Stefaan De Clerck // Mayor of Kortrijk

‘Seine- Scheldt: thousand hectares of real-estate development on the liaison between Paris and Ghent’

• Filip Vanhaverbeke // Director, Intermunicipal Association Leiedal
• Nicolas Bour // VNF Director, European links and innovation
• Christophe Peeters // Ghent Port Company // President
• Daan Schalck // Ghent Port Company // CEO

Conclusions / Moderator

• Professeur A. D’Hooghe // Architectural Urbanism at Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

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Organised by:

• Flanders Ghent Development Group
• Ghent: so much city
• Mairie de Paris
• Stad Kortrijk
• Flanders Investment & Trade
• VNF: voles navigables de France

Important message:
please note that you cannot access the conference without the official MIPIM badge.