articles & blogs 2006
Bid for more family homes faces tests
Publication: Regeneration and Renewal
Date: 08/12/2006
Author: Max Nathan
The Government's latest guidance for planning authorities on housing aims to ensure that more family-friendly homes are built in cities. Can it overcome the factors that militate against the construction of family homes, asks Max Nathan?
Barker Review of Land Use: Initial Reactions
Date: 06/12/2006
Author: Max Nathan
The Centre for Cities reaction the Barker Review of Land Use.
Leitch Review of Skills: Initial Reactions
Date: 06/12/2006
Author: Patricia Seex
The Centre for Cities initial reaction to the Leitch Review of Skills.
Eddington Transport Study: Initial Reactions
Date: 06/12/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
The Centre for Cities initial reaction to the Eddington Transport Study
Big ideas beneath Whitehall jargon
Publication: Public Servant
Date: 24/11/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
Dr Adam Marshall of the Centre for Cities says that the local government white paper is an important first step on the road to devolution.
Tax Incentives for Social Investment
Publication: Incentives for Growth
Date: 17/10/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
This chapter in a new Smith Institute publication examines the legacy of the social investment task force, set up in 2006 by the Chancellor to encourage more private investment in disadvantaged communities. In particular, it explores the emergence of the community development finance sector and the impact of one of the task force's key recommendations, community investment tax relief.
Beyond City Living: Remaking the Inner Suburbs
Publication: Built Environment
Date: 01/10/2006
Author: Max Nathan and Rachael Unsworth
Counting cranes on city skylines is a good measure of urban change. Over the past ten years, British cities have improved their economic and social performance (ODPM 2006b). But many challenges remain, even in the big provincial cities at the heart of the UK's urban renaissance.
Inner city economist
Publication: Planning Resource
Date: 22/09/2006
Author: David Dewar
Urban researcher Dermot Finch insists that the planning system should be giving a much higher priority to the crucial case for economic growth, reports David Dewar.
Whitehall must let north have the powers to prosper
Publication: The Financial Times
Date: 21/09/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
Northern regions and cities will only be able to catch up when they have the powers to do so, argues Dermot Finch in the Financial Times.
Power signals for the white paper
Publication: Public Servant
Date: 25/08/2006
Author: Adam Marshall and Max Nathan
The Greater London Authority (GLA) review is big news, and not just for the capital. The government has promised to give Ken Livingstone significant new powers – over housing, planning, skills and climate change. He has not got everything he asked for, but his new powers will help him to grow London’s economy.
Manchester's Vision
Publication: Prospect 'The Quarter' supplement
Date: 24/08/2006
Author: Max Nathan
Can Manchester reinvent itself as an "ideopolis"? Max Nathan evaluates Manchester's project to become a centre for innovation
US v European cities
Publication: BBC Online Magazine
Date: 22/08/2006
Author: Adam Marshall and Max Nathan
UK cities are enjoying a renaissance, but which branch of the urban evolutionary tree to follow? Continental cities are much beloved, but policy-makers look to the States for inspiration, say Adam Marshall and Max Nathan of the Centre for Cities.
Regions, city-regions - different sides, same coin
Publication: Local Government Chronicle
Date: 03/08/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
We need regions and city-regions. The Centre for Cities and others would prefer a stronger city-region focus and more radical devolution. But let's keep focused on the main prize — more powers for our towns and cities, so they can grow their own economies.
Mayor's victory sends national signal
Publication: Regeneration and Renewal
Date: 21/07/2006
Author: Adam Marshall and Max Nathan
By devolving greater control over a slew of issues to London's elected mayor, Ruth Kelly sent a clear message to other cities: you too can have these powers if you elect strong leaders.
Give us the money... LGC Debate
Date: 20/07/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
Adam Marshall of the Centre for Cities and Heleen Jalvingh from the Local Government International Bureau go head to head over whether northern city regions deserve European structural funds.
The role for CSR in regeneration policy
Publication: Corporate Citizenship Briefing
Date: 19/07/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
CSR efforts should complement business-led renewal, with one strategy for business-deprived areas and another for those hardest-to-reach areas.
The continental model
Publication: Birmingham Post
Date: 04/07/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
What can we learn from our cousins across the Channel? Adam Marshall examines city regions in other European countries.
Business startups
Publication: The Times Back to Life regeneration supplement
Date: 26/06/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
Dermot Finch calls for tailored interventions to boost demand in business-deprived areas.
Think cities – and give Britain a lasting legacy
Publication: Yorkshire Post
Date: 15/05/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
In the coming months, we need to make hard choices, and concentrate resources on cities in order to spark wider economic growth.
Giving cities more power over their economic destinies
Publication: Double devolution: the renewal of local government
Date: 10/05/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
This article is taken from a new book on devolution from the Smith Institute, edited by Geoff Mulgan and Fran Bury of the Young Foundation. In it, Dermot Finch argues for bold steps towards differential financial devolution, with more powers for our biggest city-regions.
City regions must be EU funding focus
Publication: Regeneration & Renewal
Date: 28/04/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
Following the launch of a government consultation on the next round of EU structural funding, Adam Marshall argues that it must spend what may be the UK's last slice of this money on the large conurbations in the North and Midlands.
More power to the Mayor?
Publication: Planning in London
Date: 12/04/2006
Author: Adam Marshall and Max Nathan
The Mayor and GLA need more strategic powers to bolster economic growth in the capital, say Adam Marshall and Max Nathan
Cities must prepare for a greyer future
Publication: Regeneration & Renewal
Date: 31/03/2006
Author: Max Nathan
Predictions of a big growth in older single households pose a major challenge for planners, says Max Nathan.
Dealing with the data: what happens now
Publication: New Start
Date: 31/03/2006
Author: Max Nathan
They say good things come in threes. The government’s new household projections tell three big stories and present three big issues for policymakers. So are they good or bad? Max Nathan examines the challenges new housing projections present to policymakers.
Are Local Area Agreements in LA-LA land?
Publication: The MJ
Date: 30/03/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
The Government needs to make a real commitment to financial devolution for cities, as the jury is still out on LAAs.
Why less can mean more for our cities
Publication: Regeneration & Renewal
Date: 17/03/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
Next week's Budget will herald a major review of a whole range of regeneration programmes. It should work towards reducing the number of initiatives and concentrating on strategic city-regional projects, says Dermot Finch.
Mind the enterprise gap
Publication: LEDIS
Date: 01/03/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
Promoting enterprise in areas of deprivation is one of the Government’s key economic policy goals - and a very difficult one to achieve. High levels of deprivation are strongly correlated with low levels of enterprise. But the cause and effect dynamic is less clear.
Reshaping the city
Publication: Regenerate
Date: 24/02/2006
Author: David Blackman
We should stop looking to the USA to tell us how mixed communities can work, says the renowned expert on urban society, Richard Sennett - an American. And on this point at least, Dermot Finch, director of Centre for Cities, is happy to agree.
We'll build this city
Publication: Public Finance
Date: 24/02/2006
Author: Adam Marshall and Chris Urwin
Councils are too small and regions are too big – but city-regions are the perfect size for taking charge of economic development. Adam Marshall and Chris Urwin explain why devolution to this level makes sense.
It's time to devolve responsibility for regeneration, transport and skills to city-regions
Publication: New Start
Date: 24/02/2006
Author: Adam Marshall
England’s biggest city-regions need more financial powers to promote economic growth. Devolving regeneration, transport and skills budgets to the city-regional level in Greater Manchester and Greater Birmingham, overseen by directly-elected city-region mayors, would offer a bold experiment in financial devolution.
City centre living and urban renaissance
Publication: Sustain
Date: 01/02/2006
Author: Max Nathan
Big cranes on city skylines tell a story of change. Over the past 10 years, British cities have got better – and city centre living is at the heart of urban renaissance. But is it just about lofts and latte, or is something more important going on?
Metropolitan mayor good for US - and us
Publication: Policy Review
Date: 06/01/2006
Author: Dermot Finch
It is worth stepping into a political and economic minefield to drive forward city-regions, argues Dermot Finch
