The Role and Potential of English Medium-Sized Cities
ESRC Seminar Series – Regenerating Medium-Sized Cities
Keele University26th November 2009
Paul HildrethPolicy Fellow, SURF
Agenda
• Foundations
• Typology of Medium-Sized Cities
• Why places (Medium-Sized Cities) are
different?
• Implications for urban and regional policy
• Conclusions
1. Medium-sized cities –State of English cities minus London and Core Cities
2. Typology –helpful but with limitations
4. Dynamic not static - Developing a dynamic not static understanding of cities and place
3. Cities are not islands – cities do not stand alone, but relate to other cities and places and the wider urban system
5. People and place – people and place integrated
6. An evolving journey
• Typology of cities
• ‘Dynamics of place’
•‘New regional policy’
•City Links
•City Relationships
Basic foundations
1. The Observation Test
Harrogate
York
LeedsBradford
Calderdale
Kirklees WakefieldBarnsley
Selby
Craven
Represents the administrative city
Represents the physical city of Leeds
Represents the travel-to-work area as an indication of the city-region
What do you see:
1. Individual towns and cities? OR
2. A pattern of inter-dependent towns and cities within a city-region?
• Even or complex
Used in HMT, DTI and ODPM (2006)
Generalised differences - large and medium-sized cities
Urbanisation economiesProducts – evolving and less standard
Specialisation - R&D incubation and new firm creation
Workforce – Larger, better educated, more specialised
Sectoral - Strong in knowledge-based services
Markets - Large and more diversified
City A - Large City B – Medium-sized or small city
Localisation economiesProducts – more standardised
Specialisation – more established products
Workforce – Smaller, less educated and specialised
Sectoral – Stronger in manufacturing and weaker in advanced services
Markets - Smaller and less diversified
Source Henderson (1997)
Typology of Medium-Sized Cities
Industrial citiesChallenges• Traditional specialist industrial
base• Historic division of labour with
specialist skills and low entrepreneurial culture
• Difficulty developing a knowledge-based serviceseconomy
Opportunities• Work on the basics – local skills,
employment and entrepreneurial culture
• Find new niches that build on local skill and knowledge base
• Develop quality of life and place assets
• Seek a post-industrial futureStoke on Trent, UK Source: www.picturesofengland.com
Tampere, Finland Source: www.pinguim.net
Dortmund, Germany Source: wm2006.deutschland.de
Gateway
Challenges
• Diversifying beyond industries that support gateway function
• Low skill base
• Becoming a final destination rather than a transit point
Opportunities
• Good national and/or international connectivity
• Exploiting opportunities provided by the gateway function to develop other industries
Liverpool, UKSource: Source: Northwest Regional Development Agency
Bari, Italy Source: www.hotelitaliani.it
Heritage/tourismChallenges
• Market - local, national or international?
• Seasonal tourism and changing fashions
• National and international connectivity
• Lower skilled, part-time and seasonal
employment base
• Diversifying economic base
Opportunities
• Heritage assets
• Use existing heritage/tourism assets to
diversify into other service industries
• National and international markets
Santiago de Compostela, Spain Source www.spanish-living.com
Blackpool, UK Source: Source: www.hotelnet.co.uk
University knowledgeChallenges
• Disseminating innovation/knowledge
• Managing growth pressures
• Possible employment gap for lower
skilled workers
Opportunities
• Highly educated and skilled workforce
• Clusters of high-tech industry/services
• Incubators for R&D and spin-off
companies
• Exploiting heritage assets
• Reciprocal relationship with regional,
national and international economy
Cambridge, UK Source: www.cam.ac.uk
Coimbra, Portugal Source: www.home-planet.nl
Regional servicesChallenges• Transition from industrial past• Tackling social inequality
arising from economic restructuring
• Improving national and international connectivity
Opportunities• Relatively diverse economy
with developing modern service industry
• Rich asset base – e.g. university, city centre, heritage
• Destination rather than transit point
• Advantages in attracting or retaining highly-skilled workforce
Bristol, UK
Pécs, Hungary Source: www.trendsetter-europe.org
Dijon Source: ww.riis.org
City in a capital/large city-regionChallenges
• Managing growth pressures – e.g. housing and congestion
• Developing service sectors complementary to those of capital/large city
• Developing own identity/market niche
Opportunities
• Cheaper location
• Proximity to large dynamic economy e.g. employment and economic opportunities
• Strong international, national and local connectivity
Principal business connections in the London city-region, showing polycentric relationships e.g. Reading –Southampton, Milton Keynes –Southampton
Source: Polynet
The Big Picture
Gateway
Industrial
Heritage/tourism
Regional Services
City in large city-region
University/ knowledge
e.g. Hull, Grimsby
e.g. Bradford, Blackburn, Barnsley, Stoke-on-Trent
e.g. Blackpool, Worthing, Bath
e.g. Exeter, Bristol, Leeds, Gloucester, Norwich
e.g. Reading, Aldershot
e.g. Cambridge, Oxford
Regional trends towards…..
North and Midlands
§ Lower knowledge-intensive employment
§ Higher primary employment
§ Fewer graduates
§ More with no formal qualifications
§ Lowest pay
§ Labour productivity is low
South
§ Higher knowledge-intensive employment
§ Higher service employment
§ More graduates
§ Fewer with no formal qualifications
§ Highest pay
§ Labour productivity is high
Source: Hildreth (2007)
Why places (Medium-Sized Cities) are different?
FirmsSource: CABE People
CommunicationsSource: CABE
Institutions and governance
Culture
Knowledge institutions
The built and green environmentSource: www.sheffield.gov.uk
‘Place’assets
People are part of ‘place’People – our characteristics make opportunity a possibility
Place – but opportunities are realised in ‘place’
London
Reading
BrightonHastings
Leeds
Tyneside
TTW area
Towns and cities (or parts of) with higher increasing return industrial sectorsTowns and cities with lower increasing return industrial sectors
Milton Keynes
Cambridge
Newcastle
Sunderland
Teeside
Hull
Sheffield
York
Bradford
Unequal Geography
Kirklees
BarnsleyWakefield
Harrogate
Rotherham
Doncaster
Policy Implications
• North South or more complex
• Internal structural
• External relationships
Why places are different
History is important in influencing future economic and social development
HastingsSource: www.ukstudentlife.com
Cotton industry, Burnley Source:www.weaverstriangle.co.uk
Stoke-on-Trent Source:www.ceramike.com/stoke
Why places are different – Connectivity
City A - Large City B – Medium-sized or small city
City connectivity
International connectivity (airport)
Inter-city connectivity (road and rail)
Local connectivity (functionality of place
Poor internal connectivity - Stoke on Trent
Good internal connectivity -Barcelona
Original City Links Hypothesis
City A - Large City B – Medium-sized or small city
Advanced Producer Services Source: http://www.airninja.com/
Producer Services Source: http://www.apexplaza.co.uk/or advanced manufacturing
City Centre Housing Source: http://www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk/
Low cost housing
Source: Ivor Samuels -http://www.cabe.org.uk/
Traditional manufacturing
Lower paid worker Source: BBC
Higher paid worker Source: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/
Complementary relationship – B to A
Less complementary relationship – B to ASpecialist expert Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Why places are differentProximity and economic relationship to other cities are important, due to inter-dependencies between cities within the national urban hierarchy
Complex network of commuting flows in the London city-regionSource: Hall and Pain, Polynet
Functional Spatial Clusters and the NorthSource: Roles and Economic Functions of the City Regions of the North, IPEG and CUPS, The Northern Way
City A – Economic centre City B – Neighbouring town / city
A B
City B travel to work area
City A travel to work area
1. Independent
A B
2. Isolated
A
A
B
B
3. Dependent
4. Interdependent
City A – Economic centre City B – Neighbouring town / city
City B travel to work area
City A travel to work area
Why places are different: role of labour markets
Labour market patterns reflect other factors:
• Industrial structure
• Housing quality
• Skills and Earnings
•Deprivation
• Also, connectivity and possibly ‘quality of place’
Tirana, Albania
Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire
Questions?
What are the relationships between people and firm movements and location to spatial patterns?
How do density, functionality; connectivity impact on economic and social variables?
At what levels should we seek to understand them:
• Where I live (neighbourhood)?
• How I am governed (local authority)?
• How the economy works (sub-region/city-region)?
What matters most and why? : street layout, buildings, locational factors (e.g. access to water, city centre) and quality
Why places are different?
Relationships between cities: Stoke on Trent: the shadow effect
Manchester South
Birmingham
Stoke-on-Trent
Key
TTWA movements
Net migration movements
Towns and cities (or parts of) with higher increasing return industrial sectors
Towns and cities with lower increasing return industrial sectors
North Staffs - Travel to work patterns
Source: The Work Foundation
Sources: Philip McCann, Henry Overman et al, Paul Cheshire et al and The Work Foundation
Blackpool
Blackburn
Burnley
Greater Manchester
Ribble Valley
M65
To London
To Glasgow
M6
Preston
Rail
Key: Cities with characteristics of
Tourism/Heritage
Regional Services
Industrial
Travel-to-work area
Irish
Sea
Note – brown arrows indicate direction of main travel-to-work movements
M55
M61
Why understanding flows are important -Central Lancashire ‘City Region’ case study
To Manchester Airport
Implications for Urban Policy
Places are distinctive and different (focus on opportunity)
Place is not important and cities are ‘invisible’* (focus on problems) * Source: May and Marvin 2003
Developing framework about how ‘places’ work (‘patterns’) that shape people and firm movement and concentration
No principles about how ‘places’ work, it is about ‘drivers’
Dynamic analysis (inter-dependent drivers of growth)
Static analysis (independent drivers of growth)
Overlapping geography (e.g. functional economy)
Particular geography (e.g. neighbourhood)
Inter-dependent placesIndividual places (‘Places as islands surrounded by open sea’)
Emerging view?Old view?
Implications for Urban and Regional Policy
The world is ‘flat’ -national or local institutional solutions (e.g. Prod in UK: 3)
The world is ‘spiky’ –single ‘spike’ London and South East (e.g. major investment decisions)
The world is ‘spiky’ –multiple spikes – London, Manchester, Glasgow etc (e.g. City Relationships)
Source: inspired by Professor Philip McCann
Conclusions
• Typology helpful with limitations
• A ‘spiky’ world (how ‘spiky’) and a ‘flat’ world
• Medium-sized cities: structural and relationship factors
• Labour markets seem key in interpreting place
• Integrating different concepts of ‘place’
• Governance challenges
– Horizontal
– Vertical
– Leadership
– Governance
• Bigger challenges for sub-national economic development
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