Centre for Cities: 5 years on
Date: 13/04/2010Centre for Cities celebrated its fifth birthday in March this year. Tom Bloxham, who is preparing to step down as chair of the Centre, spoke to R&R recently about the achievements of the Centre and the value of its work:
"The value of the Centre is that it's not just theory from boffins; its research is based on empirical evidence from doing a lot of work inside cities," says Bloxham, adding that he believes the think-tank has been hugely influential in the development of city-regional policy in England."
He highlighted city governance as a key area where the Centre has made an impact:
"The judgement of whether or not Centre for Cities has been a success is down to what difference it has made and I think there are real examples of where it has done that. (RR: Such as?) I think the city governance - giving more powers to the good cities and making city regions... I think that lesson has been picked up and subscribed to by all the parties."
"...I think it's important for politicians to be able to have some space where ideas can be debated outside of party political lines. And the annual survey of which cities are doing better and which are doing worse. (Cities Outlook) Clearly there's still a problem with the north south divide. Part of the solution is cities and where cities have a vision and leadership then they can create genuine wealth and prosperity for their inhabitants."
See a full transcript of Tom Bloxham's interview with R&R
But the challenges David Milliband highlighted at the Centre's launch in 2005 still, for a large part, sound familiar to those facing our cities today.
He spoke about the importance of city leadership, the need to focus on skills as well as physical regeneration and the positive role a strong city can play within its region and in relation to its neighbours.
Our Cities Manifesto picks up on the key issues facing the UK's cities today and sets out our policy recommendations for the next Government.
