JPI Urban Europe ENSUF Cities of Making: Resources for activating new urban industry through technology, spatial design and transition governance.

Cities of Making explores opportunities for strengthening urban based manufacturing in European cities following years of decline and offshoring.

Using a combination of strategic and action research, our ambition is to identify 'what works' in supporting a resilient and innovative industrial base, and to test those solutions in a real world setting. We will learn from experiences in London, Rotterdam and Brussels - each with a distinct industrial heritage. By the end of the project we will have developed ideas, practices and policies that public authorities (and many other relevant stakeholders) can use to breathe new life into their manufacturing ecosystems.

The project will be split between activities taking place in Rotterdam, Brussels and London. Within each city, the project partners will conduct separate but parallel lines of inquiry, encompassing a city diagnosis, an in-depth academic study, the application of a Resource Kit, and the development of a transition plan for a city site. Spreading the project across three cities - each with its own heritage, strengths and challenges - means the Resource Kit will be richer and more likely to speak to a broader range of contexts once finalised. Latitude (the co-ordinator) will help to coordinate information sharing, and partners will convene regularly online and through face to face workshops.

There are four main beneficiaries to the project:

1) Manufacturing businesses and workers in a specific London local authority - We will help to strengthen manufacturing businesses in a particular local authority ('site') by creating a strategic transition plan in WP3, drawing upon the Resource Kit developed in WP2. The transition plan will not be implemented during the course of the project - the time and resources do not allow for this - however we will encourage our local authority partner to act on the recommendations, which will have been co-designed between them, the research team, local manufacturers and public services over the course of several workshops. Both Haringey Council and Sutton Council have already shown an interest in acting as the site for WP3. The same process will occur in Rotterdam and Brussels.

2) Manufacturing businesses and workers in London - The project will also provide benefits to the broader manufacturing community in London. The City Diagnosis report will help to raise awareness of its existence, make the case for its importance (e.g. in terms of providing high quality, meaningful jobs (assuming this bears out in the research), and articulate its needs and concerns to city authorities and other public services. The City Diagnosis report is likely to highlight a number of potential recommendations for the reform of policy and practice specifically affecting London manufacturers, for example in terms of land use, business support schemes and access to transport infrastructure. We will also encourage our partner local authority (be it Haringey, Sutton or another Council) to share their learning from the project with other authorities.

3) Manufacturing businesses and workers in other cities - Having created and piloted our Resource Kit in London, Rotterdam and Brussels, we will encourage city authorities elsewhere to apply this on their own terms. The benefit of testing our guidance document in three cities is that the final Resource Kit will be more relevant to a variety of different contexts - cities that differ in size, manufacturing speciality and public service powers and responsibilities. The testing phase will also lend legitimacy to the Resource Kit, particularly in the eyes of those who may be less convinced by desk based research. Our intention is that our findings and resources, used in concert with those of others, will help to strengthen cities' manufacturing bases, create more balanced economies, stimulate the generation of better paying jobs, and add to the cultural vitality and identity of places.

4) City residents and citizens in the round - Any project that seeks to strengthen manufacturing in cities will ultimately have implications for residents in the immediate vicinity of production. We have been explicit in our proposal that we want first and foremost to champion ecologically sustainable manufacturing, and that we will be mindful not to promote malign forms of manufacturing 'at any cost' (e.g. manufacturing that results in hazardous waste or excessive noise). Our project will also add to growing calls for more 'circular' models of production, which use materials sparingly and keep them in use for longer. On its own, the project is not likely to move the dial very far on affecting the environmental impacts of manufacturing and the lifecycle of products, however we will add a fresh voice to the debate and a make a compelling argument for further action.

The Pathways to Impact section in the attached document sets out how in practice our activities will lead to these benefits, and how we plan to directly and indirectly engage with different stakeholders to achieve as large an impact as possible.