Regenerating English Medium-Sized Post Industrial Cities
Lead Research Organisation:
Keele University
Department Name: Inst for Law Politics and Justice
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Buffel T
(2014)
Social participation among older adults living in medium-sized cities in Belgium: the role of neighbourhood perceptions.
in Health promotion international
| Description | A number of findings arose from the seminar series. The first was that the term 'medium-sized', while helpful for positioning a city within an urban hierarchy, is a complex term as there are various types of MSCs in the UK. It found that post-industrial MSCs are often characterised by high-levels of worklessness, poor educational attainment, and high levels of ill health. In part, explanations for this were related to geographical position (and the nature of the economic structure of city-region relationships); weak political and public service institutions; and outward migration of skilled sections of the population. Significantly, evidence was cited of the role that stigma can play in shaping decision-making by institutional investors for regeneration. The series also examined the responses to the problems of MSCs from the previous Labour government and the current Coalition Government. In particular, it examined the potential effects of the government's agenda is seeking to promote sub-regional institutions and reducing the scale of central government support for cities often heavily dependent on public spending. The seminars also considered alternative approaches to dealing with 'distressed cities', drawing upon international case studies. Three broad approaches were considered: neo-classical approaches of relaxing planning regulations to enable MSCs to compete; greater citizen involvement in strategic planning; and improving the quality of life in MSCs. Subsequent to this seminar series commencing, a series of think tank reports started to highlight the role of MSCs in the national economy, e.g. the Centre for Cities (2010) and the Work Foundation (2010) both underscored the importance of MSCs for the national economy. Representatives from the Centre for Cities presented evidence at our second seminar. |
| Exploitation Route | The seminar series developed the concept of medium-sized cities and provided a forum for discussion on the position of this category of city in the urban hierarchy. Dr Catney is currently developing a project on development strategies of post-industrial medium-sized cities to explore their development in relation to 'core cities'. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | Keele University and Stoke City Council jointly-funding a PhD (supervised by Dr Catney) to investigate the governance and business engagement in Local Enterprise Partnerships. The studentship seeks to help increase Staffordshire LEP's capacity for policy learning and innovation. A second PhD is under development in association with a local housing association. Arising from this seminar series, Dr Catney was asked to give a guest lecture to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) in April 2010 localism and the regeneration of medium-sized cities. Potential for impact with this organisation was significantly affected by the withdrawal of public funding from its activities later that year. Dr Catney has given more than 26 interviews (March 2010 - March 2013) on urban regeneration to media outlets such as BBC Radio Stoke and BBC Radio Sheffield. In July 2013, he was also featured in a series of reports by BBC Radio 5 Live on Stoke's regeneration. The series was vital in shaping the focus of three proposals. The first was a £2.4m bid, led by Professor Phillipson (with Dr Catney) in collaboration with Manchester and Sheffield universities, to the ESRC/AHRC Connected Communities call. The proposal focuses on intensive community-level research to explore high levels of disengagement in deprived communities. Following peer-review, the bid was unsuccessful. . With the second, Dr Catney and Prof. Phillipson were involved in developing a proposal led by Prof. David Amigoni (Keele). Ideas from the project were used to develop a large multi-institutional bid to AHRC Connected Communities call on Communities, Culture, Health and Well-being. The project made it to interview stage but was unsuccessful. The third was a successful ESRC International Network bid on Population Ageing and Urbanisation [IPNS - ES/J019631/1]; some of the background to this was developed as a consequence of the seminars. Dr Catney (May 2014) is also part of a National Science Foundation networking grant application on shrinking medium-sized cities in Europe and North America. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | ACORN and Local Enterprise Partnership funding |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Keele University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2011 |
| End | 09/2016 |