Tag Archives: centre for cities

Can universities power an urban renaissance?

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Image: Flickr user Phillip Capper via Creative Commons

Glasgow University image: Flickr user Phillip Capper via Creative Commons

By Morwen Johnson

“If you want to build a world class city, build a great university and wait 200 years” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the 1960s)

The evolution of cities, and the rise and fall in their populations, is nothing new. For hundreds of years, people have moved in order to seek opportunities for themselves and their families, and with these population shifts come new challenges. Within the UK, we have seen the industrialisation of the 19th century (and rapid urbanisation) give way to post-industrial decline and the magnet effect of London and the South East, attracting jobs, investment and higher skilled workers.

Earlier this week I attended a talk by Bill Kistler of the Urban Innovation Network which looked at city competitiveness and specifically, the potential contribution of universities.

Survival of the fittest?

Work such as A century of cities has highlighted that to be successful, cities must adapt by reinventing their economies. Understanding how cities compete (regionally, nationally and internationally) in order to sustain their populations and economies, and if necessary stimulate renewal, has also been brought to the fore by the current devolution agenda.

Universities are ‘anchor institutions’ – organisations whose characteristics include spatial immobility, large size and strategic contribution to the local economy as purchaser and employer. And so far this year, BIS, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies and Universities UK have all published reports looking at anchor institutions and the role of universities in economic development. This builds on the Witty Review of 2013 which argued that universities “have an extraordinary potential to enhance economic growth”.

The Glasgow story

Within the context of Glasgow, there is a strong imperative to address these challenges. In 2005, the six parliamentary constituencies with the highest rates of premature mortality in the UK were in Glasgow. Programmes such as GoWell have been working to assess the effects of ongoing regeneration on area-based health and social inequalities. And £24m funding from the Technology Strategy Board (now Innovate UK) has been used to develop the Future City Glasgow project, using open data and technology to improve the lives of citizens.

Now there is another major opportunity to leverage change – the University of Glasgow’s planned campus refurbishment and expansion into the former Western Infirmary site is estimated to represent investment of up to three quarters of a billion pounds over the next decade. How this investment can be used to benefit the wider city is therefore a pertinent question.

Universities in place-making

Kistler argued strongly that universities are not separate entities but part of the fabric of the city. They are bound together in a shared destiny, as human and intellectual capital is fundamental to city competitiveness. It is also a reciprocal relationship – just as students make decisions on where to study based on various factors including quality of life, quality of the university and the labour market capacity of the area, so do graduates and employers make decisions on where to base themselves.

Universities can offer a chance to redefine places – recent examples from around the world of universities which have used expansion or investment as a catalyst for the revitalisation of their local area include for example, the innovation district Stockholm Life, the Campus Diagonal-Besòs hub development in Barcelona, and the University of the Arts London relocation to Kings Cross and Elephant and Castle as part of wider regeneration plans.

Opportunity or obligation?

As discussed during the event Q&A however, universities also have a social obligation to ensure that they use their position to address inequalities and ensure that economic benefits are distributed across a city. As we’ve previously pointed out in relation to the Core Cities devolution agenda, the rhetoric around growth has a tendency to focus on infrastructure and macroeconomics – ignoring social challenges such as skills, poverty and under-achievement. There are also real risks of negative consequences of gentrification and the crowding out of lower skilled roles by underemployed graduates.

Universities (and cities) operate in a strange dynamic of both competition and cooperation with their neighbours. Building a world class city, or even creating a city where people want to work and live, is not a passive process. Rather than ‘building and waiting’ (in Moynihan’s words), local authorities, business, the third sector and education institutions must jointly develop a long-term strategic vision. And part of that conversation has to be about considering who the winners and losers might be.

Further reading

Our Director, Rebecca Riley, was at the recent OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Forum and wrote about how leadership contributes to inclusive growth at local and city level.

Follow us on Twitter to see what developments in public and social policy are interesting our research team.

We’ve made some of our member briefings freely available. View a selection of our economic development publications on our website.

 

They are driving economic change in cities, but what are ‘knowledge-focused industries’?

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knowledge workersA Century of Cities, a reflection on urban economic change since 1911, was recently published by Centre for Cities. An informative read, which does something many economic development reports do not do, it looks at the history of a place to see how it arrived where it is today. I am a great fan of this approach, and carried out similar research in the past, it’s vital to our understanding of cities, their landscape, assets, structure and culture.  The report did however, make me reflect on the term ‘knowledge industries’, and the time period chosen.

What is a knowledge industry?

The report defines this in a traditional way, related to knowledge intensive business services. From a historical perspective, all growth and change has happened through innovation, change and the application of the technology available at the time, whatever that may be. Structurally these changes often lead to jobless growth, where the technology replaces the human labour cost. In pre-industrial society, big changes related to agricultural technology such as crop rotation or the plough. New technology which revolutionised jobs and industries. During the industrial revolution, cotton was the knowledge industry, driving innovation in the northern towns, with ready labour pools, the right climate and access to energy from fast running water. The growth of empire fuelled demand for the technology and knowledge Britain had. Machinery and weavers with the knowledge to use it, became the knowledge workers. On the back of industrialisation, and the need for new, quicker production methods, many northern universities were established, grew and flourished. It is easy to view previous periods through modern eyes and view old established industries, as exactly that, old, low skilled and low knowledge because of our own new perspectives on what constitutes ‘knowledge’. Ask any 20 year old about a typewriter and you can witness this same derision about ‘technology’ and ‘knowledge’ worker.

Work by Jeremy Howells on economic geography highlights that knowledge “involves applying reason to experience” and knowledge exists within individuals, and that body of individuals is what drives industry growth. He goes on to say “knowledge is constantly evolving, constructed and deconstructed”, this process is highly localised, both in time and geography.

The roles of cities

Cities therefore facilitate this knowledge growth, the density of population, endless possibility of interaction, and transfer of people across businesses, personal contacts and networks drive this knowledge interchange. This tacit knowledge drives innovation, resilience to change, ability to respond to risk and shocks. Knowledge exchange has always been a key driver for businesses locating in proximity to one another, sharing workers and knowing your customers.

The question is, is any industry completely devoid of knowledge, and why have places failed to utilise knowledge to their advantage across all industries? It is easy to group all manufacturing into low skilled, low knowledge base, but the reality is much more complex, how do BAE or Astra Zenica fit into this classification?

The term knowledge worker implies that all other workers are ‘non-knowledge workers’ when in reality every industry has a rich, diverse business and people base which organically prepares them for shocks and change. You can only change the path of places by ensuring they retain their knowledge base, both professionally and personally, investing in their attractiveness and the quality of opportunity for the knowledge workers, whatever the industry.

The Idox Information Service can give you access to a wealth of further information on cities and economic development, to find out more on how to become a member, please contact us.

Industrial revolutions: capturing the growth potential

Technology and Innovation Futures: UK growth opportunities for the 2020s

Knowledge-based hierarchies: using organizations to understand the economy (CEP occasional paper 43)

Residential location of knowledge-workers: the role of amenities, workplace and lifestyle

The creative knowledge city in Europe: structural conditions and urban policy strategies for competitive cities

Scenarios for the knowledge economy: strategic information skills

The geography of knowledge: never so close but never so far apart

Britain’s cities push for more powers

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Manchester Town Hall: (Photograph, James Carson)

On 9 February, leading politicians, decision makers and academics will meet in Glasgow to discuss how more powers can be devolved to the UK’s cities. The meeting is being organised by the Core Cities group, which advocates a bigger say for Britain’s major cities outside London.

The Glasgow gathering is the latest sign of a growing appetite for financial freedom for the UK’s cities and regions.  The movement picked up pace during the Scottish independence referendum campaign with the pledge by political party leaders at Westminster to give more powers to the Scottish Parliament.  The subsequent publication of the Smith Commission’s recommendations  prompted Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council and chair of the Core Cities UK cabinet, to respond:

“What’s good enough for the Scottish Parliament should be good enough for big cities across the UK. Today’s commission report unveils significant fiscal devolution for Scotland and the power to retain more of the tax revenue it raises. This is something that Core Cities UK strongly advocates for cities on both sides of the border, giving us the power to make a difference on the ground and unlocking their full potential.”

But even before the Smith Commission had reported, devolution for cities was rising up the political agenda, and the major Westminster parties had already started setting out their proposals:

  • In November, the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, unveiled a plan to give Manchester new powers over transport, planning, housing, police and skills. Similar packages are proposed for Leeds and Sheffield, part of the government’s commitment to build a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ as a counterbalance to the ‘London super-region’;
  • The Labour Party has promised that, if elected to government, it will pass control of business rates to the major cities, and that the House of Lords will be replaced by a senate of elected regional and city representatives;
  • The Liberal Democrats have called for devolution on demand to be offered to any part of England with a population in excess of one million.

Politics is one factor driving the demand for more city devolution; another is the economic situation. As the Centre For Cities recently observed:

“From a public finance perspective, there is an increasing realisation that future reductions in public sector expenditure will be impossible to deliver without changing the way public services are designed and delivered, and this requires more to be done at the local level.”

For many, the moves to cut the purse strings held by Whitehall and Westminster are long overdue.  The City Growth Commission noted in October that the UK has the most centralised system of public finance of any major OECD country, with sub-national taxation accounting for only 1.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to 5% in France and 16% in Sweden.

The Commission argued that more powers for the cities would build on the momentum of the government’s City Deals by creating stronger, more inclusive and sustainable growth in the UK, and suggested that London, Manchester and West Yorkshire are already equipped to take on the risks and benefits of fiscal and funding devolution.  While some, including the Prime Minister, welcomed the report, others, such as Stephen Brady, leader of Hull city council felt short changed:

“I’m really, really disappointed that Hull once again has been overlooked in favour of the bigger cities. We’re like the forgotten city, despite being strategically so important. We’ve won the City of Culture 2017 bid. What else can we do to prove that we want to be given the chance to run things ourselves?”

His response is a reminder that establishing a comprehensive devolution settlement that covers all of Britain will prove challenging.

Ultimately, the real prize of city devolution could be a fairer society. A report from the International Monetary Fund in April 2014 found that decentralising government expenditure and revenue can help achieve a more equal distribution of income. But the authors stressed that this would require several conditions to be fulfilled, including comprehensive decentralisation on both the expenditure and revenue sides.

During its Glasgow meeting in February, the Core Cities group promises to unveil a ‘Charter for Local Freedom’ setting out the powers  it wants central government to devolve down to cities. And with cities set to play a key role in shaping the outcome of the general election, it’s clear that this is one issue that will continue to build. As Alexandra Jones from the Centre for Cities observes:

“The debates about devolution and the city regions have not always had political momentum; there’s no shortage of that now.”

Further reading

We’ll be attending the Core Cities Devolution Summit on 9 February – follow @idoxinfoservice for live tweets and this blog for follow-up commentary.

Devo-City: a short guide to Britain’s devolving city regions in words and data

Tales of the cities

Economic growth through devolution: towards a plan for cities and counties across England

Charter for devolution

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