A paper examined key components of the debates around successful cities and economies in England, setting out recent policy, and describing the 'successful city'. It argued that a more powerful and diverse set of cities outside of London could contribute much to the urban policy agenda, and that they should be allowed to 'take some of the strain' from the capital by taking on roles that did not needed to be performed there.
Source: Michael Parkinson, No Cities, No Civilisation; No Successful Cities, No Successful Nations, European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Dec
The government began consultation on proposals to establish a combined authority for the area of Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to promote local economic growth. The consultation would close on 2 January 2014.
Source: Proposal to Establish a Combined Authority for the Area of Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2013-Nov
The government began consultation on proposals to establish a combined authority for West Yorkshire to promote local economic growth. The consultation would close on 2 January 2014.
Source: Proposal to Establish a Combined Authority for the Area of West Yorkshire, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2013-Nov
A special issue of a journal examined economic development in the United Kingdom under the coalition government.
Source: Local Economy, Volume 28 Number 7-8
Links: Table of contents
Notes: Articles included:
James Rees and Alex Lord, 'Making space: putting politics back where it belongs in the construction of city regions in the North of England'
Iain Deas, Stephen Hincks, and Nicola Headlam, 'Explicitly permissive? Understanding actor interrelationships in the governance of economic development: the experience of England s Local Enterprise Partnerships'
David Waite, Duncan Maclennan, and Tony O Sullivan, 'Emerging city policies: devolution, deals and disorder'
Allan Cochrane, Bob Colenutt, and Martin Field, 'Developing a sub-regional growth strategy: reflections on recent English experience'
Sarah Ayres and Graham Pearce, 'A Whitehall perspective on decentralisation in England s emerging territories'
Kevin Broughton, Nigel Berkeley, and David Jarvis, 'Where next for neighbourhood regeneration in England? Two years on'
Mike Chadwick, Peter Tyler, and Colin Warnock, 'How to raise the bar on impact evaluation: challenges for the evaluation of local enterprise partnerships and the regional growth fund in times of austerity'
Lee Pugalis and Gill Bentley, 'Storming or performing? Local Enterprise Partnerships two years on'
Date: 2013-Nov
A government report examined the progress of the Growing Places Fund. The fund was designed to finance key infrastructure projects to support economic growth, create jobs and build houses in England. The range of projects funded included site access/site clearance, broadband and transport infrastructure, utilities, refurbishment of buildings, and flood defence barriers. The report said that £652 million had been earmarked or allocated to 305 specific projects, and the funding had helped to unlock £2.6 billion of additional investment, of which £1.8 billion was from the private sector. 52 per cent of all projects were underway and Local Enterprise Partnerships expected funded projects to create 4,900 businesses, 94,000 jobs and 27,000 houses.
Source: The Growing Places Fund: Investing in infrastructure, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | DCLG press release
Date: 2013-Nov
An article examined the role of agency in regional resilience. It said that considering agency meant that the role of place and context assumed greater significance.
Source: Gillian Bristow and Adrian Healy, 'Regional resilience: an agency perspective', Regional Studies, Online first
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Nov
An article said that existing indicators of regional performance were based on growth alone, overlooked distribution, and so misrepresented the performance of regions in terms of social well-being. The authors proposed an alternative measure that reflected social inclusivity and sustainability, together with a gender-sensitive variant. On these, London fell from the top-ranked region to a middle rank on the regional development indicator, and on the gender-sensitive variant fell to the lowest position, arguably better reflecting the experience of life in this region.
Source: Diane Perrons and Robin Dunford, 'Regional development, equality and gender: moving towards more inclusive and socially sustainable measures', Economic and Industrial Democracy, Volume 34 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Sep
A background paper said that European Union cohesion policy was making a 'significant contribution' to investments in employment and growth in Europe.
Source: EU Cohesion Policy Contributing to Employment and Growth in Europe, European Commission
Links: Paper | European Commission press release
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the European Union's Europe 2020 strategy for sustainable and inclusive growth, in the context of the financial and fiscal crisis. It said that without a regional policy rationale, the strategy's objectives might not be realized.
Source: Leslie Budd, 'Europe 2020: a strategy in search of a regional policy rationale?', Policy Studies, Volume 34 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper examined the impact of national wage bargaining, labour market and housing market institutions, and product market regulation on regional unemployment rate disparities in European Union countries. Only regional autonomy, net replacement rates, sickness benefits, and employment protection were positively correlated with regional unemployment rate disparities, whereas other variables were negatively correlated.
Source: Peter Huber, Labour Market Institutions and Regional Unemployment Disparities, Working Paper 29, WWWforEurope Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
An article highlighted 'deep-rooted ideational, interest-driven and organizational resistance and tensions' relating to the European Union's cohesion policy objectives, governance, and relationship with Europe 2020.
Source: Carlos Mendez, 'The post-2013 reform of EU cohesion policy and the place-based narrative', Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 20 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined the consequences for transport policy in England of the coalition government's abolition of regional structures. It warned that important progress made in recent years to develop effective arrangements for identifying transport priorities at the sub-national tier could be derailed.
Source: Ian Stafford and Sarah Ayres, 'Throwing the baby out with the bath water? The impact of coalition reforms on identifying sub-national transport priorities in England', Local Government Studies, Volume 39 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined income inequality for European countries and their composite regions from 1980 to 2009. Although between-country inequality had declined, within-country inequality had increased by approximately 50 per cent. European Union cohesion policies had reduced productivity inequalities, but had had little effect in stimulating convergence of employment-population ratios across regions. National priorities, particularly in the context of the economic crisis, were likely to hinder EU policies to reduce income inequality at a regional level: this might result in further increases in regional inequality among European regions.
Source: Justin Doran and Declan Jordan, 'Decomposing European NUTS2 regional inequality from 1980 to 2009: national and European policy implications', Journal of Economic Studies, Volume 40 Number 1
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the role of English universities within regional economies.
Source: Allan Cochrane and Ruth Williams, 'Putting higher education in its place: the socio-political geographies of English universities', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb