Bradford City of Culture 2025
Welcome Home Sexy! Bradford City of Culture 2025!
Pre-covid I chaired an Academy of Urbanism, City Diagnostic Visit, commissioned by Bradford City Council.
Known in the Victorian era as the ‘Wool Capital of the World’, the centre of the city is largely untouched and still boasts many handsome Victorian buildings – testament to its prosperity during this period.
Beyond the handsome architecture, we discovered a city that in terms of location, infrastructure and opportunity sites, had the potential to flourish with the right type of investment.
Nonetheless for some time the city has struggled, and more recently, overshadowed by the growing success of Leeds, it’s neighbouring city a mere 10 miles away.
During our 2 day visit it was the people who really captured our attention.
We discovered a local authority with BIG ambitions for economic and cultural growth, pursuing a significant role within the Northern Power House agenda.
We listened to passionate and engaged local business organisations.
And we were introduced to strong and diverse grass roots community groups working with the council to find ways of breathing new life into the city.
Everyone we spoke to – from people in the street, those in the business community, the university, to the city leaders – were absolutely passionate about their city.
Bradford has an incredibly youthful population, that if more were encouraged to stay, could help drive and shape a new prosperity for the city – and hopefully this recognition as City of Culture will do just that.
I can’t wait to visit in 2025!
Read more on Bradford being the city of culture in 2025 here