Leicester: City of Intercultural Creativity and Entrepreneurial Place-making

Leicester is a Midlands city of around 368,000 people. In the 50 years between 1972 -2022, it was transformed by the arrival and settlement of multiple ethnic minority groups. This created a unique multicultural community for a city of its size. The case explores how Leicester has developed as an intercultural creative economy. It relates the story of the ‘Ugandan Asians’ arriving in 1972, and the background of migration from the Indian subcontinent and other migration flows. It describes multicultural development and demographic changes over the fifty years to 2022. It discusses issues and changes in public policy and community relations which resolved conflicts and tensions. The main focus is the development of intercultural entrepreneurship, based on the diverse ethnic microcultures which settled in Leicester and the ways in which their activities have burgeoned in the creative economy and social spaces, enabling innovation and the urban transformation from a monoculture in 1972 to the highly diverse City of today. This convergence of interculturality enabled Leicester to become energized through intercultural entrepreneurship, creating a unique international identity, and attracting students, migrants and entrepreneurs worldwide. Despite Lockdowns in the COVID Pandemic during 2020-21, Leicester is now a globally branded city, known for its distinctive ethnic, food, music, costume, festivals and sporting cultures.