New Approaches to Local and Regional Development in the UK and China

Both the UK (and EU) and China are characterised by wide spatial disparities. Policy makers in the UK (and EU) and China are seeking to develop new ways of understanding the role of such spatial inequalities in the process of economic growth and to develop appropriate public policies and have committed themselves to achieving more spatially balanced forms of economic development. Despite these common concerns there has been no attempt to date to examine in these issues in a UK/China comparative context. This proposed project will take the form of two seminars to be held in the UK and China which will bring together leading researchers to address these questions. The researchers in question are working closely with their respective governments (and international organisations) on these questions and it is intended these deliberations will directly inform policy-makers, including the China State Council and National Development and Reform Commission and HM Treasury, Department of Business Innovation and Skills and Deaprtament of Communities and Local Government. The project builds on and deepens evolving research links between two institutions: the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University and the Institute of Spatial Planning and Regional Economy, Academy of Macroeconomy, National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing. It is intended to publish papers from the seminars in a special of an international peer-reviewed journal and in book form in Chinese.

It is intended that the findings of this project are fed directly to national, regional and local policy-makers concerned with regional policy. In both the UK (and EU) and in China policymakers are reshaping public policy in this field. Questions of economic geography and the spatial rebalancing of national economies have gained increased political prominence. In each jurisdiction policymakers are developing new understandings of the causes and appropriate responses to geographical inequalities. To date, however, there has been no attempt to exchange knowledge in this field. The proposed partnership is uniquely placed to have maximum impact in this respect. The seminars will involve academic and government researchers who are shaping policy in this field at the highest level. As a government research agency ISPRE is able to disseminate the results of the seminar directly the State Council, while in the UK we will use the networks of the ESRC-sponsored UK Spatial Economics Research Centre to disseminate the findings directly to policy makers in national government departments such as HM Treasury, Department of Business Innovation and Skills and Department of Communities and Local Government. At the European level, the findings will be presented directly to the EU's Mirror Group advising the Platform established by the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional Policy to support regions preparing and implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies. The Directorate General for Regional Policy currently is developing a programme of policy exchanges with BRIC countries on the topic of regional policy and the proposed seminars would contribute to this programme.