The urban regeneration suggestions and funding opportunities of three European cities — Blackpool, Porto, and Ostrava — were showcased during a dedicated session at the HTL Connection Tent. Slit Gerrard (Blackpool Council), Rui Moreira (Mayor of Porto), and Andrej Michalik (Metropolis Architect and Director of MAPPA) provided their respective city’s ambitions to device international investors via huge-scale tourism, leisure, and blended-use traits.
Blackpool: Reinventing the UK’s entertainment capital
Slit Gerrard, Director of Blackpool’s Regeneration Program, opened with a plucky assertion: “Blackpool is primarily the most approved tourism resort in the UK.” With over 23 million annual visits and a £1.7 billion visitor economic system, Blackpool is centered on extending its seasonality and rising in a single day stays.
Slit Gerrard detailed a £2 billion regeneration program, highlighting new resorts, the upgraded conference center web hosting 7,000 delegates, and a school campus. The centerpiece is Blackpool Central, a nine-hectare online page adjacent to Blackpool Tower: “It’s probably you’ll perchance well probably no longer occupy a online page that is better located” as Slit Gerrard highlighted.
Ready for instantaneous construction, the online page has make clear planning permission and a brand new 1,300-condo car park. Slit Gerrard specified the ambition: “When I bid we’re shopping for world-class leisure, I mean world-class.” Planned sights encompass the UK’s most spirited flying theater and excessive-live resorts.
Beyond tourism, Blackpool is leveraging its space and infrastructure for info centers, making primarily the most of transatlantic cable connectivity and renewable vitality: “Whilst tourism is the lifeblood of Blackpool, it’s no longer the handiest opportunity.” With over £200 million in executive backing, Gerrard concluded: “Blackpool is a extreme funding space.”
Porto: A model of sustainable urban development
Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto, spoke next, showcasing Porto’s decade-lengthy transformation. “Twelve years ago, Porto used to be Europe’s simplest-saved secret,” he recalled. At present time, the city attracts important international say funding, particularly in IT, rising 23,000 excessive expert jobs — “10% of the city’s population.”
Porto centered on public condo regeneration: “For every euro we invested, the non-public sector brought 17 to twenty.” This arrangement eradicated city debt, allowing Porto to present low-stamp utilities and public transport: “Zero debt method we’ll have the capacity to present our citizens with very low-stamp electricity and nearly free public transport.”
Tourism development, as a lot as 16 million passengers yearly at the airport, is fastidiously managed: “Whatever we stop, it’s no longer for tourists, it’s for everybody.” Rui Moreira emphasised a balanced model combining tradition, congress tourism, and resident successfully-being.
Ostrava: Industrial legacy, cultural future
Ondrej Vyslouzil, Metropolis Architect and Director of MAPPA, provided a Central European city reinventing itself. “Ostrava is no longer any longer handiest a excellent city with a unfold of mountains, but moreover has industry in its DNA,” he started, but highlighted its shift to a info and tradition-pushed economic system.
Positioned near Poland and Slovakia, Ostrava boasts earn admission to to a 10-million-solid market within 120 km. Cultural events adore Colors of Ostrava and Beats for Treasure space it as a vivid vacation insist.
Key flagship projects encompass Steven Holl’s live performance hall and the award-winning Ostrava Metropolis Gallery. Ondrej Vyslouzil emphasised: “We’re successfully willing to collaborate with investors.” Prime web sites near universities, digital hubs, and the ancient center come in for blended-use traits.
“We’re going to begin calls soon,” he concluded, appealing stakeholders to perceive Ostrava during upcoming architectural festivals.
Join us at the Hospitality Operator Dialogue board on June 12 for even extra expert insights on the same issues.
