Discussion Paper

5:30-7:15pm, 26 April 2005, Raven’s Ait Centre, Raven’s Ait Island, Surbiton

Kingston and the Creative Age

We live in a creative age – during a long wave of change affecting every sector of
the economy and society. Today competitiveness, quality of life and wealth have
become increasingly determined by our capacity to innovate and be creative. The
lifeblood of the creative age is ideas. The more open a place is to new ideas, new
people and new ways of living, working and thinking, the greater its creative
metabolism.

However, there is a growing sense that the creative age has got stuck. Creativity
has become synonymous with art galleries, creative industry clusters and inner-
city districts. While creative stocks can be high in these places, it sometimes seems
that they claim an exclusive hold. The next challenge for the creative age will be to
connect what has fast become the metropolitan creative establishment with the
rest of society, genuinely opening it up so that a greater number of people can
participate in the creative age, and help lead it.

One area ripe for exploration is the role of suburbia in the creative age. After all
this is where over half of England’s population lives, whereas only around 10
percent live in the urban core which so far has dominated the creativity debate .
That places like Surbiton, which Kingston keeps under its borough umbrella,
would declare themselves to be a prime site for pushing the creativity agenda
would irk some of the suburban snobs in the media and elsewhere. But changes in
patterns of living, working, place-making and ideas generation offer the
opportunity to tell a new story about suburbia, and in the process rethink some of
the suburban stereotypes that still fill our TV screens.

Kingston has the opportunity to play a role both in shaping the next phase of the
creative age and in being a demonstration site. But what kind of suburb does
Kingston want to be?

The Good Life

Back in the 70s when Tom first decided to jack in the 9-5 bank job and embark
with his wife Barbara on the road to eco self-sufficiency, their behaviour was
regarded as the hippy-fringe. Next door neighbours Margo and Jerry certainly
didn’t think chickens in the back yard and home-generated power were in
keeping with suburban decorum. However, Tom and Barbara were trailblazers for
a new kind of entrepreneur that we are likely to see a lot more of over the next
decade- the Pro-Am.

Pro-Ams are amateurs who pursue a hobby or pastime –which in many cases is
an all-consuming passion – to a professional standard. This kind of ‘serious
leisure’ requires specialist knowledge and major time commitment, and in the
process blurs the boundaries between work and leisure time. Pro-Ams are
increasingly an innovatory force to be reckoned with- for example the personal
computer started life in the Pro-Am Homebrew Computer Club. With down-
shifting and active retirement on the rise, Pro-Ams are only going to grow- and
the suburbs might be the perfect incubator space for them. Demos research has
shown that Pro-Am activity thrives in more affluent areas and suburban houses
often have the spare room or shed at the bottom of the garden where Pro-Ams
can hone their craft.

The O.C.
At first glance, the folk of Orange County look like they are living the
conventional suburban all-American Dream: beautiful people, beautiful weather,
strip malls, big cars and even bigger houses- all gift-wrapped in the aesthetics of a
Tommy Hilfiger ad. But dig a little deeper and some more interesting things are
going on. For starters the Bateshop club is a talent development hub for some of
the hottest music acts coming through- the likes of The Killers, Rooster and Snow
Patrol have all played there. The standard suburban family unit of mum, dad plus
2.4 kids is questioned by troubled teen Ryan moving in with his lawyer’s family.
And some novel approaches to multiculturalism are being tried out: Seth, with a
WASPish mum and Jewish dad, has invented his own interfaith festival called
Chrismukah.

Keeping Up Appearances
With her obsession with getting invited to the Lord Mayor’s ball, cruises and
luxury bbqs, Hyacinth Bucket has a text book case of status anxiety- an anxiety
about what others think of us; about whether we are judged a success or a failure,
a winner or loser. The events and activities that keep retired couple Hyacinth and
Richard busy in their quest for happiness are the mainstay of conventional
suburbia- the ladies lunch club, the golf club, church socials- but they may not be
enough to appeal to the generation of babyboomers about to grow old, many of
whom are determined to avoid aging in conventional ways. An unstable mix of
social activism and individualism, the babyboomers seem a generation
determined to end the notion of a distinctive ‘youth culture’ and are pursuing pop
culture into their silver years. Equally, many don’t want to be quietly pensioned
off and want to carry on working after 65, just not in a 9-5 way.
The question is whether suburbia can adapt and develop an attractive lifestyle
package for these demanding citizen-consumers. And who will make it all gel
together if busybodies like Hyacinth aren’t around?
Desperate Housewives
Wisteria Lane is the perfect American suburb, with manicured lawns, white
picket fences, SUVs in the driveways, and scented with the smell of fresh home-
baking. But this- at surface level- commercial for domesticated bliss has sparked a
campaign by the American right against it. The reason- the main female
characters are not very happy with their suburban lot. Lynette, the former high-
flying business woman has given up her career to raise four kids and hates it; Eva,
the former model, married for wealth but is now bored to distraction (namely an
affair with a teenage gardener); and Bree’s Stepford Wife routine has imploded
her marriage. The message seems to be that the conventional suburban formula is
ill-equipped to support the diversity of women’s aspirations, needs and interests
in their personal or professional lives. And with that failure, a large pool of
creative energy is going untapped. Can Britain do any better?

About Demos
Demos is an independent think-tank and charity, which has worked for the past
twelve years with central and local government, business and the voluntary sector.
We have a reputation for high quality, high profile and innovative research, and
have published widely on urban, cultural and innovation policy.

Demos is collaborating with the Royal Borough of Kingston to explore creative

futures for the borough and, in the process, wider learning for suburbia. If you
would like to find out more information, please contact Melissa Mean or Paul
Miller at melissa.mean@demos.co.uk, or paul.miller@demos.co.uk. Or call 0845
458 5949.