“What we’ve done is change the software of the city,” Westbury told me. “We’ve changed how it behaves. We’ve changed how it responds to people who want to try things, do things, and run their own experiments.In many ways, Newcastle’s decline and resurgence superficially resembles the cycles of blight and renewal seen in cities around the world over the past decade. From Brooklyn to Pittsburgh to Detroit, entire neighborhoods have been colonized by throngs of artisanal butchers, brewers, and designers. This mix has proven successful as a recipe for hyper-gentrification, at least in the handful of cities with a critical mass of affluence.

What it hasn’t done is provide a road map for the hundreds of struggling smaller cities across America that have neither the new arrivals nor the cash to re-create Portlandia. Which is where the combination of legal hacks, theatrical props, and kitchen tabletop start-ups comes in.

Westbury is the one most responsible for bringing his hometown back to life through the nonprofit he founded, Renew Newcastle. His vision for urban renewal is radically different from what American billionaires and their pet urban theorists have proposed. He’s the opposite of Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert or Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, each of whom has bought dozens of properties in downtown Detroit and Las Vegas, respectively, to build company towns in their images. In Westbury’s words, “We don’t build anything, we don’t buy anything, we don’t own anything.” Renew’s annual budget barely cracks six figures.

Because of this, however, his approach has proven remarkably adaptable. And this has helped the approach expand to 20 communities across Australia—ranging from Melbourne’s waterfront to bush towns of only a few thousand people—along with offshoots in Toronto and Copenhagen.

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