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Fast Growth Cities — 2021 and beyond
By
Kathrin Enenkel
,
Tom Sells
| 5 March 2021
Fast Growth Cities — 2021 and beyond
By
Kathrin Enenkel
,
Tom Sells
| 5 March 2021
Select Chapter
Executive summary
Labour markets, skills and education
Businesses and growth
High streets and city centres
Housing and planning
Transport
Economic impact of the pandemic
Introduction
Why these cities matter – strengths and opportunities of the Fast Growth Cities
Constraints on future growth
Fast Growth Cities before the pandemic
1. Labour markets, skills and education
Figure 1: Nearly all Fast Growth Cities have more people in employment than the national average
Case study 1: Addressing a low employment rate with job creation through inward investments
Figure 2: The share of people employed in high-quality sectors in the Fast Growth Cities is above average
Figure 3: Fast Growth Cities are employment hubs for their surrounding regions
Case study 2: Coping with a lack of degree-level workers
Figure 4: Skill levels vary across the Fast Growth Cities
Figure 5: Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford make strong contributions to the higher education sector in Great Britain
2. Business and growth
Figure 6: Most Fast Growth Cities have higher than average shares of people employed in more productive industries
Figure 7: Milton Keynes and Swindon drive productivity growth within the Fast Growth Cities
Box 1: Measuring innovative capacity
Table 8: There is a strong variation in innovation systems across the Fast Growth Cities
Case study 3: Completing the local innovation system
Case study 4: Generating spillovers from the university to the business sector
3. High streets and city centres
Figure 9: The majority of Fast Growth Cities have high shares of retail space in their city centres
Figure 10: Many Fast Growth Cities are attractive places for holiday and business trips
4. Housing and planning
Figure 11: The high demand for housing in many Fast Growth Cities has led to high house prices
Figure 12: Most Fast Growth Cities made strong efforts to deliver more housing
Case study 5: Reducing unaffordability and increasing the stock of houses
Box 2: How energy efficient is the domestic building stock in the FGCs?
5. Transport
Figure 14: For all Fast Growth Cities, the car is the most common mode of transport
Case study 6: Greater Cambridge transport strategy
Figure 15: Accessibility by car is higher than by public transport for all Fast Growth Cities
Conclusion
The impact of the pandemic on FGCs
Figure 16: The Fast Growth Cities are strongly affected by the crisis, but most of them are less affected than other UK cities
Figure 17: Not all high streets recovered at the same speed after the first national lockdown was relaxed
Figure 18: Cities such as Norwich, Oxford and Cambridge that are more dependent on visitors from outside the city centre, such as students and tourists, saw slower recoveries
Figure 19: After the first national lockdown was relaxed, spending in the Fast Growth Cities did not return to pre-lockdown levels
What needs to change
Appendix
05
Appendix
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