Renew Who? Benefits and Beneficiaries of Renew Newcastle

Critical urban literature has for over a decade raised concerns about the fixation with the use of 'culture' and 'creativity' to catalyse urban renewal. The concerns range from discomfort with the boosterist hype of such strategies, to questions regarding their impact on cultural producers and outcomes for wider communities. This article reports on a case study of the Renew Newcastle arts-led urban regeneration programme, a temporary use and creative activation initiative which is being rapidly replicated throughout Australian cities despite limited evaluation of its activities. The research questions the achievability and sustained compatibility of the programme's objectives for local physical and social activation, economic development, and support of the arts and creativity. A mixed-methods approach is used to explore social and economic change in Newcastle since Renew began, and the perceived role of the programme within this. The research finds that Renew is making variable contributions to its objectives which are to some extent incongruent. The findings contribute to the growing literature on arts-led regeneration that shows that many contemporary theorisations of the process are overly celebratory.