The London I grew up in 30 years ago felt like a city on the way down. It had lost an empire and many of its key trades, most obviously shipping¹ and manufacturing, were in decline.

三十年前，伴我成长的伦敦仿佛在走向没落。它已经失去了一个帝国，许多关键产业——最明显的是航运和制造业——都处于衰落中。

In the 1960s London’s docklands had never been busier but by the early 1980s they had collapsed².

上世纪60年代，伦敦码头区曾经异常繁忙，但到了80年代早期，已变得冷清下来。

London of course was not the only western city struggling with deindustrialisation. Indeed, with its large business sector³, its renowned⁴ universities, many professions, government institutions and great tourist attractions, the city was more resilient than most.

当然，伦敦并非唯一一座努力应对去工业化的西方城市。实际上，这里庞大的企业部门、知名学府、各种专业人才、政府机构以及著名的旅游胜地，让这座城市比多数城市都更具生命力。

Slowly London and many other western urban centres learned how to navigate⁵ their way to the post-industrial age. While the precise route differed from one place to another, the basic approach was similar. Instead of shoring up declining trades, cities found that their future lay in attracting and retaining the stars of the new service economy — highly skilled young professionals and entrepreneurs, “knowledge workers” and “creatives”. This involved city authorities tackling crime and investing in transport, schools, the public realm and culture.

伦敦与其他许多西方中心城市都慢慢地找到了步入后工业化时代的路径。虽然各地的具体路径都不相同，但基本方式类似。这些城市没有去支撑衰落的产业，相反，它们发现自己的未来在于吸引并留住新服务经济的“明星”——拥有高技能的青年专业人才及创业家、“知识型员工”和“创意人士”。这需要城市当局打击犯罪，并投资于交通、学校、公共空间及文化。

Many post-industrial cities now find themselves in a position almost unimaginable only a couple of decades ago: they risk falling victim to their own success. Their economies and their populations have expanded fast and inequality and living costs have shot up-with them. City leaders no longer worry about attracting young talent but how to stop it from being squeezed out.

如今，许多后工业城市发现自己正置身于一个二十年前还几乎无法想象的处境：面临沦为自身成功的牺牲品的风险。它们的经济和人口迅速扩张，但贫富差距和生活成本也随之直线上升。市政领导人不再担忧吸引不到青年才俊，而是担忧如何阻止人才被挤出去。

London is a case in point. The UK’s capital has long depended on its appeal to artists and innovators. They have been vital to its success. London’s world-conquering creative industries — its music, film, theatre, publishing, gallery, design and advertising⁶ activities — are nourished by an endless stream of talented and mainly young people. David Bowie was once a young singer from south London called David Jones.

伦敦就是一个例子。作为英国的首都，伦敦长期以来一直依赖于自身对艺术家和创新者的吸引力。这些人对伦敦的成功至关重要。伦敦享誉世界的创意产业——包括音乐、电影、戏剧、出版、画廊、设计及广告——主要得益于源源不断的、有才华的年轻人的滋养。大卫•鲍伊(David Bowie)曾经是一名来自伦敦南部、原名大卫•琼斯(David Jones)的年轻歌手。

The capital’s strengths in scientific research and digital innovation are fed by academics and tech entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s. London has a great, if somewhat under-appreciated history of social and civic⁷ innovation — this is the city that gave the world Save the Children, Amnesty International and Band Aid — and this too has been fuelled by youthful talent.

二三十岁的学者、科技创业家缔造了伦敦在科研和数字创新方面的优势。伦敦有伟大却被低估的社会与公民创新历史——伦敦为世界孕育了拯救儿童基金会(Save the Children)、大赦国际(Amnesty International)及援非联合乐团(Band Aid)——这也是由青年人才推动的。

That said, London is much less welcoming to the creative class than it once was. The threats to London’s sense of buzz are various. They include characterless development, overzealous licensing⁸ and policing of nightspots, an increasingly restrictive visa system and cuts to public funding of arts and culture. By far the biggest problem is the sheer price of living in the city. A third of London’s music venues⁹ have closed since 2007. The 2014 Artists Workplace study predicted that, on present trends, London will lose 30 per cent of artist studios before 2020. Housing is incredibly expensive. According to the office of the city’s mayor, most London artists make less than ￡10,000 a year from their work, when the average house price is ￡500,000. No wonder newspapers are full of stories of young Londoners moving to Brighton, Bristol, Barcelona and Berlin.

尽管如此，伦敦对创意群体的友好性已大不如从前。伦敦热闹的艺术创作受到了各种各样的威胁，包括无个性的开发、对夜店过严的审批和监管、日益严格的签证制度以及对艺术和文化公共资助的减少。伦敦最大的问题在于高得可怕的生活成本。自2007年以来，三分之一的伦敦音乐表演场地已经关闭。2014年一项对艺术家工作场所的研究预计，按目前的趋势，伦敦在2020年之前将失去30%的艺术家工作室。房价已经贵得离谱。伦敦市长办公室的数据显示，多数伦敦艺术家工作一年收入不到1万英镑，而伦敦房屋均价为50万英镑。难怪报纸上充斥着伦敦年轻人搬到布赖顿、布里斯托尔、巴塞罗那以及柏林的故事。

London is not the only city facing this problem. Paris, once a byword for artistic¹⁰ creativity, has suffered from a reputation of being a safe, over-regulated and air-conditioned city for more than a decade. New Yorkers worry about gentrification and the loss of urban vitality¹¹ in almost exactly the same terms that Londoners do and there has been a much discussed exodus¹² of New York artists to Los Angeles.

伦敦并非唯一面临此类问题的城市。巴黎曾经是艺术创造力代名词，但十几年来，作为一座“安全、过度管制、有空调的城市”的声誉损害了它的艺术创造力。纽约人对中产阶级化和城市丧失活力的担忧与伦敦人如出一辙，纽约艺术家大批出走洛杉矶已经引发大量讨论。

Just as it took cities a long time to work out a route out of industrial decline, so it will take a time to come up with a recipe for preserving the buzz and vitality that post-industrial cities need if they are to flourish.

正如一些城市花了很长时间来寻找走出工业衰退的路径一样，要找到一种方法来保持后工业化城市繁荣所需要的喧闹与活力也需要一段时间。

In the past young innovators have flocked to old rundown areas, with lots of character and cheap rents. As they become developed, we will have to find ways of creating new development that works in the same way.

过去，年轻的创新者曾蜂拥至老旧城区，这里有很多鲜明的特色且租金便宜。当这些地方被开发后，我们将不得不设法打造新的能以同样方式发挥作用的新街区。

City leaders will have to get a lot more enterprising about protecting and nourishing late night culture — Paris has followed Amsterdam in appointing a night mayor. London is doing the same. Philanthropists and public funding bodies will need to work together to preserve local cultural centres and artists studios.

在保护和繁荣午夜文化方面，市政领导将不得不发挥更多进取精神——继阿姆斯特丹之后，巴黎任命了一位夜间市长。伦敦也在有样学样。慈善家与公共资助机构需要共同努力，保护本地的文化中心和艺术家工作室。

The best developers are beginning to understand the value they get from investing in the public realm but they will need to learn to see the value of other cultural assets. The most expensive cities will have to explore if and how to extend subsidised housing to creative workers.

最优秀的开发商已开始理解他们可以从投资公共领域获得的价值，但他们还需要学会看到其他文化资产的价值。生活成本最高的城市将不得不探索是否以及如何将保障性住房扩大到覆盖创意工作者。

Munira Mirza, London’s deputy mayor for the arts, puts its nicely. “Culture is to London what the sun is to Spain.” Not even the most powerful city leader can do much about the local weather. But our cities will have to learn how to keep culture shining.

负责艺术的伦敦副市长穆尼拉•米尔扎(Munira Mirza)说得很好。“文化之于伦敦就像太阳之于西班牙。”即便最强势的市政领导对当地的天气也无可奈何。但我们的城市必须学会如何让文化保持灿烂。