When culture becomes communications infrastructure

There’s been a quiet but important shift in the English Devolution Bill over the past few weeks. Buried among the headlines about safer streets and local accountability is a change that could have much wider implications for how we plan, build and talk about places. For the first time, culture has been written into the remit of Strategic Authorities, giving mayors a formal role in championing local arts, heritage and creative industries as part of their growth strategies.

Put like that it might sound obvious. A place’s cultural life is its identity – why wouldn’t that sit within local governance? But in policy terms, this is new. And it matters, because in black and white, it gives culture a seat at the table of civic decision-making.

For a long time, with only a few outliers, culture has tended to follow development rather than lead it. It animates empty units, softens planning applications and helps tell the story once a scheme is already defined. This change nudges culture upstream. By making it an explicit responsibility at mayoral level, the Bill brings culture into alignment with the bigger levers of growth: regeneration, skills, high streets and the visitor economy. It gives regional leaders a mandate to think about cultural ecosystems as part of how their places function, not just how they feel.

The ‘culture is a must-have not a nice-to-have’ argument is well trodden now. Culture-as-infrastructure has moved steadily from sector advocacy into national policy, with the creative industries now officially positioned by the UK government as a primary “pillar of economic growth”. What’s different now is that this thinking is starting to be embedded at a regional level, where decisions about place are made and delivered.

I’ll be keeping my eye on how this plays out not just in policy, but in how places, and their people, are presented. With names like Sadiq in London, Andy in Manchester and Tracey in West Yorkshire, the Modern Mayor is an increasingly visible figure, shaping their own narrative as much as that of their regions. For them, culture is a gift. It is one of the most effective ways to create moments and generate attention. In a more devolved landscape, that kind of visibility becomes even more valuable.

All of this means culture should become a much more present part of the communications mix, because culture does something few other tools can.

It captures the public imagination. It gives people a reason to pay attention, to visit, to share. It articulates both place and people. And, perhaps most importantly in an increasingly competitive landscape, if done properly it defines what makes one place distinct from another, in a way that feels authentic and rooted rather than applied.

At LCA, we are already seeing this shift in how clients approach placemaking and communications, from culture-led regeneration strategies to the storytelling that underpins new districts and destinations. The projects that resonate most strongly are the ones that treat culture not as a finishing touch, but as part of the foundation – something that shapes how a place and its people work together, not just how it looks.

This amendment might read small, but the impact is big. Culture is moving further into the core of how places are governed. The real power for place lies in how it is used to communicate too – shaping how somewhere is seen, understood and set apart.