Explore Centre for Cities' debut research and analysis into the UK's cost of living crisis and how it is playing out across the UK.
This report sets out what the cost of living crisis is, what is driving it, and how the squeeze on disposable incomes is likely to be felt across the UK’s cities and largest towns.
The UK is in the grip of a cost of living crisis, and there is a clear North-South divide in how it is playing out across the country. Explore the latest data for your city or large town.
The recently announced package to tackle the energy crisis is welcome but like previous measures, it does not address the existing North-South divide in energy needs.
The geography of the cost of living crisis persists, with cities and large towns in the North most impacted by soaring costs.
Andrew Carter is joined by Valentine Quinio and Guilherme Rodrigues to unpack the findings of their latest report looking at the UK’s cost of living crisis.
There is a clear North-South divide in the current cost of living crisis. This is partially explained by lower income levels outside the South of England but there are also local factors driving this.
Centre for Cities advocates that levelling up should improve standards of living across the country and help every place to reach its productivity potential, with a focus on improving the performance of the UK’s biggest cities as a means to address regional inequalities.
Investment zones will need to help struggling places offer something different to businesses, rather than doubling down on what they already have, if they are to improve their fortunes.
To pass the Nissan test, policies will have to address the reasons for why knowledge-intensive activities do not locate in the parts of the country the policies are attempting to target.
Paul Swinney reflects on Liz Truss’s first speech as PM, outlining how levelling up can play into her pro-growth goals and how she can use the agenda to the UK's advantage.
Chief Executive Andrew Carter on what the next prime minister must prioritise to successfully level up the country.
Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney assesses the long-awaited Levelling Up White Paper
The publication of the white paper has been followed by 100 days of inaction. Now the Government is fast running out of road to do anything before the next election.
Yesterday’s white paper is good in its intentions, but falls down on its longer-term vision and funding to support this
In advance of the Government’s forthcoming Levelling Up White Paper, this briefing sets out what the levelling up agenda should aim to achieve and a strategy for achieving it.
A short blog series examining different Mass Transit System funding models from around the globe.
The first blog in Centre for Cities' TfL series looks at how the pandemic has affected London’s transport network, and why TfL should move away from a fare-driven funding model.
The second blog in Centre for Cities' TfL series shows that while Hong Kong’s mass transit operator may not be the answer to TfL’s short-term funding issues, it needs to be considered in the long-term.
The third blog in Centre for Cities' TfL series explores how Paris uses local payroll taxes to fund its public transport network.
The fourth blog in Centre for Cities' TfL series looks at Singapore's urban mobility model which shows that congestion charging and ULEZ are not the only policies available to simultaneously raise revenue and reduce car use.
The fifth and final blog in Centre for Cities' TfL series draws inspiration from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Analyst Guilherme Rodrigues explains how following other cities’ examples could help TfL diversify its revenue sources.
Urban public transport networks in Britain not only vary between cities, but also differ when compared to their European counterparts. Comparisons of this nature offer multiple lessons for how to improve the networks and infrastructure of big UK cities.
Ten case studies comparing the public transport networks and urban form of UK and Western European cities
Major cities across the North are lagging behind their European counterparts in providing access to quality public transport networks, costing the Northern economy more than £16bn in lost productivity.
This report examines whether intra-urban public transport plays a role in the underperformance of big British cities and sets out the implications that transport has for the levelling up agenda.
Poor urban transport costs the UK more than £21 billion per year, with less than half of people in big cities outside London able to reach their city centre quickly using public transport networks
Senior Analyst Anthony Breach and Researcher Guilherme Rodrigues join Andrew Carter to discuss the main findings of their recent report comparing intra-urban public transport in the UK and Europe’s biggest cities.
How public transport reforms in Portugal could be replicated in Greater Manchester and other UK city regions.
Cities Outlook 2022 looks in-depth at the state of UK high streets to get a sense of the short-term impact of the pandemic on Britain's town and city centres and the long-term consequences and implications this has for the Government’s levelling up agenda.
Covid-19 has ‘levelled down’ prosperous high streets, but poorer areas face bigger problems this year
Not all high streets have been evenly affected by Covid-19, Cambridge and Mansfield serve as telling examples.
Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Senior Analyst Kathrin Enenkel and Analyst Valentine Quinio to unpack the main findings and implications of Cities Outlook 2022
How have two years and three lockdowns changed our shopping habits, and what does this mean for the future of our city and town centres?
Our analysis shows that the city centres that were the strongest performers pre-pandemic were hardest hit by Covid-19
As part of our ongoing work into levelling up, we've produced a four-part blog series and accompanying City Minutes episodes which explore the nature of the cities versus towns debate and identify what needs to happen to bring greater prosperity to struggling towns.
Senior Analyst Kathrin Enenkel on the relationship between UK cities and towns and the implications this has for people and policy makers.
Ignoring the relationship between cities and towns makes it harder to bring greater prosperity to struggling towns.
Why levelling up towns must mean increasing investment in skills, housing stock and the attractiveness of a place – in conjunction with improving the performance of cities.
Senior Analyst Kathrin Enenkel on how we can level up struggling towns and why improving the performance of cities will be crucial to levelling up towns across the UK.
Why transport policy shouldn’t be at the core of the levelling up agenda.
Why investment in rural towns should focus on skills, health and social infrastructure.
This report examines the pattern of private sector growth within the UK’s seven-year jobs miracle to inform how new jobs can be created as the Government looks to ‘build back better’ and level up the country.
This report, published in partnership with Clarion Housing Group, analyses how the pandemic has affected people’s spending, saving and debt, and evaluates what this means for the recovery of the UK’s cities and largest towns.
Centre for Cities tracks the latest unemployment claim statistics across the UK's cities and largest towns.
Explore the scale of the COVID—19 outbreak in cities and towns from March 2020 — March 2022
Almost 10 million new jobs will need to be generated to recover from the pandemic, making job creation the most pressing policy challenge we face in the immediate future.
Centre for Cities tracks the recovery of high streets in Britain's cities and large towns from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Want to know how your city fares on key indicators like population, start-ups and housing?
Go to the city-by-city page
Andrew Carter and Tony Travers reflect on Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement with discussions focusing on the future of local government.
This episode of City Talks delves into the detail of the CHIPS Act, exploring the new $280bn programme within the context of the UK’s levelling up agenda.
Browse our annual flagship reports.
Cities Outlook 2022 looks in-depth at the state of UK high streets to get a sense of the short-term impact of the pandemic on Britain's town and city centres and the long-term consequences and implications this has for the Government’s levelling up agenda.
After the most challenging of years, Cities Outlook 2021 assesses the impact of Covid on urban life and on the Government’s promise to level up the economy.
Poor air quality impacts on the health of residents and workers in cities in particular. Cities Outlook 2020 calls for urgent action from local and national government to clean up the air we breathe.
As a decade of austerity comes to end, this year’s edition of Cities Outlook looks at how city spending has changed.
We actively look to partner with like-minded businesses, universities and funders to help us realise our ambition to improve the economic performance of the UK's largest cities and towns.
Find out how to partner with us