ABSTRACT
Alongside other locations in South Essex such as Grays, Basildon and Canvey Island, the iconic seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea has recently been incorporated within the Thames Gateway. Building upon Southend’s cultural history as the ‘lungs of London’ (Schama, 1996, p. 5), Thames Gateway South Essex intends to re-install Southend as a ‘thriving cultural hub’ and a centre of excellence for leisure and the arts. This strategy also emphasises how the ‘vibrant … cosmopolitan atmosphere’ of the town should ‘play a key role in the regeneration and renaissance of Southend’ (University of Essex, 2005). According to Renaissance Southend, the public/private partnership entrusted to promote and ultimately secure the town’s regeneration, Southend ‘is indeed a town whose time has come’ (www.renaissancesouthend.co.uk/Southend.asp). The purpose of this chapter is to understand this optimistic rhetoric in relation to the ‘unplanned cosmopolitanism’1 (Hall, 2004) that has taken place in the centre of the town under the noses of politicians and technocrats.
