In January I spent some time reading about the urban transformation of Berlin in particular the process of re-use over successive decades of the Mietkaseren (rental Barrack). Interestingly Berlin seems to have had a series of influential exhibitions, stemming from a general discomfort with the way the 1960's large scale urban renewal projects were changing the city aiming to adapt it into to separate zones, economic, industrial, residential and so on connected through high speed rail links. The International building exhibitions - with typically german poetic themes such as 'the inner city as residential area'  and 'European monument preservation year (1975) explored and proved that 'renewal without removal' was a workable, profitable (renewing meant 40% to 60% of the new build cost) and vital undertaking. Apparently leading to a new approach by the city architects and planners to work with the old people, the squatting movement and the inhabitants to create more care in keeping the unique characteristics of the buildings, and the mix of residents and artisan businesses in areas such as Kreuzberg. It is an inspiring realization that the soft and intellectual undertaking of a city exhibition had a direct and real impact in changing the opinions and approach to the hard economics and business of regeneration. Having experienced first hand the last decade of art biennales and art fares, such as frieze, Liverpool biennale, Istanbul biennale, Venice biennale etc, and locally; situation Leeds, Manchester international festival, has the city exhibition become a celebration of culture, the individual creative and an attempt to place itself within a largely too broad global issue or debate (the theory led curatorial vision ), at the expense of something a bit more sensible and useful.