MEDWAY can learn a lot about economic regeneration from the Spanish cities of Bilbao and Barcelona, according to a leading local architect. Barry Shaw, director of Kent Architecture Centre in Chatham Historic Dockyard, said during the MIPIM property show in Cannes that, like Medway, they had each suffered from industrial change.

They had needed investment, vision and leadership "to turn wishful thinking into a delivery chain". Both had succeeded superbly, he said after visiting Bilbao's huge stand at MIPIM.

Bilbao, a city that Mr Shaw knows well, was not the prettiest part of Spain, he said. But planners and designers had created a beautiful city by concentrating on key areas such as transport, landscape, public spaces, icon buildings like the Guggenheim Museum, new centres for young businesses, the airport and stunning bridges across the River Nervion.

"To transform that city took not just imagination but a lot of technology and political support to bear with a very long-term project that was going to cost a lot of money," Mr Shaw said. Medway had a tremendous opportunity to be like Bilbao but it would need patience, resources and resolve. "One of the difficulties is that it's not instant. All these things Medway could achieve, but it's a question of priorities and having long-term political support that ensures a reasonable timescale and a continuation of projects to build the big vision."

It was also vital to engage the local population with lots of small steps by a lot of people who understand the sense of direction. That, in effect, meant everybody.

Barcelona managed that ahead of the Olympic Games with what Mr Shaw call a special something the creation of 50 local parks to show people that the grand redesign was for them too. "I don't know what that something is for Medway but there are ways in which you can engage the community in a positive way," Mr Shaw said.