Destination City

Destination City was launched in May 2022 as the City of London Corporation's £2.5 million flagship programme aimed at attracting visitors and their spending in order to bolster an economy hit by working from home. The main investment was in re-staging Bartholomew Fair over three weeks in September 2023. More below in the slides about the first phase of Destination City, and these links:

• Blog posts about the Destination City programme
• Reports, articles and presentations
  

Update: the latest news from the City of London is here with a full version of the external review report.

The programme is currently undergoing an independent external review, and reports show a change of direction. The emphasis is now on promoting the Square Mile’s unique culture and heritage, improving the public realm of streets and spaces, and building stronger partnerships with key organisations and residents. Here's my summary of points of particular interest to residents, workers and visitors alike. More details on the review here.

• Redefine Destination City as the growth strategy for the Square Mile as destination overall - it's not just about visitors.
• Focus on developing and marketing the unique culture and heritage of the City, which could be promoted as the capital's 'Old Town'.
• Tell the story of the City more effectively, revealing its hidden treasures as well as major attractions.
• Expect the main events programme to be commissioned by cultural and heritage organisations, rather than the City Corporation.
• Create a comprehensive calendar of events, and deal with duplication of websites and social media.
• Value and improve the public realm of streets, spaces and gardens that make up the public realm.
• Achieve these changes by a Destination City hub that facilitates and supports new collaborations across all interests, rather than standing on its own to deliver the programme.

In June 2023 Policy chief Chris Hayward said:

“if you feel we’re not consulting widely enough on Destination City, or the more engagement residents could have, we want to know how precisely we do it … we want Destination City to be owned by the residents as much as by anybody else.”

In order to support engagement with the programme I've brought together here blog posts that I've written over the past year, other articles and official reports.

Since then Councillor Brendan Barns, Resident Representative on the City Envoy Network, has started Citizens Forum events. More here about engagement and about Citizens Forums.

During the first phase of Destination City I suggested bringing together information about Destination City and the Square Mile's main culture area into a guide.

• Blog posts about Destination City
• Destination City resources
• Destination City review
• Destination City engagement
• Guide proposal
• Citizen Forums

For a view of the City's future during an earlier time of change see this 1970 Living City Film

See also:

• information about Culture Mile
  
• Community information hub

A Guide for Culture Mile - and Destination City
Plans to engage residents in Destination City highlight the need for accessible information about the Corporation’s flagship programme, and a main area for cultural development. I suggest we need a Guide to what’s happening and what’s planned, with councillors taking a lead in its development. Blog post: Why we need a Guide to Culture Mile and Destination City

Below is a presentation about Destination City, given to the City's Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee in July 2023. Click/touch into the presentation to scroll through.

David Wilcox david@socialreporter.com
More about me.