ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an extensive review of designated arts facilities, in the form of Arts Labs/Arts Centres and their antecedents, from both distributive policy and user perspectives. International examples from Europe and Australia of new cultural spaces and the re-use of heritage buildings are discussed, including their relationship with major events such as European and UK Cities of Culture, and urban regeneration schemes. These are contrasted with everyday cultural spaces and activity, taking the library and cinema as exemplars of local cultural spaces and activity, including their response to digital technology. The issue of cultural facility design is then discussed, introducing the idea of co-designing cultural spaces through a user-based design quality tool. Finally, the idea of intercultural urban space is considered in terms of both location and usage by diverse communities.
