SPACE. A vacuum where nothing flourishes? Or something that you can grow into? Or somewhere you can stretch out or simply experiment?

As we move inexorably toward knowledge and therefore a cultural-led economy, public space, whether for reflection, performance or exhibition will be at a premium, not just in its own right, but in the sense of well- being and confidence it can bring to people.

Following the security maxim that the best place to hide anything is in plain sight, space is also probably one of the region’s greatest assets. Across the year, we have seen the impact of things like The Biennial, Spider, Superlambananas and the Street Art Markets colonise urban spaces and turn them into theatres and public art galleries.

Similarly, with our great buildings. The cathedrals were both transformed into performance spaces and St George’s Hall has played host to so many different and varied events – including this week’s Portrait of a Nation finale, when 17 cities sent their youth to Liverpool, not simply to consume culture but to create it, exhibit it and share it around the common theme of citizenship. For most, it will not just have been the work itself, which was of a very high standard, but the realisation that people from all walks of life, races and creeds share common aims, aspirations and, sometimes, anxieties.

Through this comes a better understanding of each other and toleration of difference, a central role for culture, as St George’s Hall has witnessed down the centuries, just as the BT Convention Centre is beginning to see through things like the Dada Fest 08 Awards Night. Where else would you see the great and the good enjoying a burlesque stripper and a pair of nipple tassels in the auction?

North West Disability and Arts Forum, now renamed Disability and Deaf Arts (DaDa), is regarded as the best in the country, once again demonstrating, like Portrait of a Nation, not just the creativity that exists in the region but a willingness to find platforms to promote the idea that difference, in whatever form, need not necessarily be a barrier, but something to be explored and therefore a gateway to greater understanding and tolerance.

There is no doubt that the Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre is providing a great space for cultural activity and through that making a real and tangible contribution to the local economy. Yet when considering what actually goes on inside this enclosed space is nothing more than people meeting, interacting and entertaining each other, then perhaps there is a logic in suggesting that future regeneration policy should include more about space being used to grow human capital not just building stock.

I have written before about the impact of the Rotunda Pavilion and how one person’s urban blight could easily be one citizen’s development space.