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Urban development corporations, urban entrepreneurialism and locality
Abstract
Along with the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), the Merseyside Development Corporation (MDC) formed the first generation of urban development corporations in the UK. This chapter related the activites of the MDC to current debates in the social sciences and particularly human geography. The first of these debates surrounds the significance of local spatial variation in the operation of socio-spatial economic processes. The second addresses the alleged shift in urban governance in advanced capitalist countries from "managerialism' to "entrepreneurialism'. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the broader lessons that can be drawn from the experience of the MDC for urban policy. -from Author
... In Liverpool, local MPs of all parties backed the establishment of the MDC; of the three local authorities which covered its area, Liverpool City Council was hostile especially from 1983 -1989 when a radical left administration refused to take up its seat on the Board. Relations improved in later years (Meegan, 1999). In Cardiff, the county council and the city council worked closely with CBDC and the city council was allowed to retain some planning powers (Punter, 2006 (Neill et al, 2014b). ...
... In all cases it was extremely difficult to obtain reliable statistical information about the developments. Indicative overall costs MDC: £399m public; £548m private (Meegan, 1999). Includes £20m dredging and restoring dock walls and gates (Parkinson, 1988); £314m bringing derelict land and buildings back into use; £34m business and community development; £16m promotion and marketing (Boland, 2013). ...
... Includes £20m dredging and restoring dock walls and gates (Parkinson, 1988); £314m bringing derelict land and buildings back into use; £34m business and community development; £16m promotion and marketing (Boland, 2013). Final forecast private investment £662m (Meegan, 1999 ...
Available on the RICS Research Trust web site: http://www.rics.org/us/knowledge/research/research-reports/the-new-waterfront/
... Local MP's enthusiasm for the UDC was overwhelming (Hansard 1981:511-531). The transfer or bypassing of the local council was particularly popular for Labour MPs because the local authorities at the time were controlled by Tory or Liberal-Tory administrations (Meegan 1993:10). Thus, the only local opposition that the establishment of the MDC received was from the Merseyside County Council, abolished by the central government in 1986. ...
... The City Council's critical stance was quickly muffled by other political battles with the central government over rate setting and council housing and internally with sections of the local community (see Meegan 1990). Given the intensity of these battles, the Council ignored the MDC even to the extent of not filling their MDC board position between 1983 and 1989 (Meegan 1993:10). This is not to say that local politics did not effect the MDC's efforts to revitalize the waterfront, for according to Meegan (1993:11), the local council's program of municipal socialism (municipal house building and environmental and leisure development) undermined the MDC's industrial efforts by alienating potential private sector investment (see also Parkinson 1990a). ...
... Given the intensity of these battles, the Council ignored the MDC even to the extent of not filling their MDC board position between 1983 and 1989 (Meegan 1993:10). This is not to say that local politics did not effect the MDC's efforts to revitalize the waterfront, for according to Meegan (1993:11), the local council's program of municipal socialism (municipal house building and environmental and leisure development) undermined the MDC's industrial efforts by alienating potential private sector investment (see also Parkinson 1990a). Some have argued that this partially explains the MDC's shift in development strategy further in the direction of infrastructure and tourism and leisure. ...
The French Quarter in New Orleans, a diverse and homogeneous area of unique historic character, is the locus of study. It is an area pregnant with tensions between development interests tied to tourism supported by local political and economic interests, and preservation concerns that have been defended by long standing neighborhood movement organizations. This research addresses the question of how, within these overarching development and preservation frames, subframes can be identified that incorporate elements of diversity/ exclusivity (how different groups, minority racial groups, gays, gutter punks, transient tourists, local lower paid service workers, etc., are considered acceptable or not), homogeneity/ heterogeneity (tolerance of noise, mixed uses, tourist activities, etc.), as well as different visions of what preservation of historic buildings implies. Incorporated in the analysis is concern for the way these frames are constructed in the process of neighborhood organizing and through "life-politics," and how they are related to the unfolding of specific controversies over intervention in the French Quarter.
... The MTF had a remit to ''devise innovative strategies and projects to turn around Liverpool's long-term problems and encourage private-sector investment'' (Murden, 2006;445). A few months before the riots, the government had also created the Merseyside Development Corporation (MDC) -one of the first two Urban Development Corporation's (UDC) in the country (Meegan, 1999). The MDC was primarily concerned with physical regeneration. ...
... It was a 'pump-priming organization that would encourage private-sector investment and jobs while bringing land and buildings back into effective use' (Murden, 2006;439). The MTF and MDC were a major element of Liverpool's regeneration and development governance during this period and initiated, or were involved with, much of the physical regeneration of the city during the 1980s, including the regeneration of the central docks (Fig. 4), the International Garden Festival of 1984, and the creation of industrial space (Meegan, 1999;Murden, 2006). A city facing distressing economic circumstances might hope for a strong alignment of local and national political and financial capacity to act in addressing the resulting challenges. ...
This Profile focuses on patterns of growth, decline and renewal in Liverpool (UK) over the past 200 years. In this period, the city has seen extremes of both prosperity and decline. It pioneered many of the elements of the modern industrial metropolis, only to deurbanise during a ruinous late 20th century decline, halving its population. The centre has now been successfully re-urbanised and the city population is growing, but spatial inequalities remain intense. As a focus for policy remedies from across the ideological spectrum, Liverpool offers an instructive archive of approaches of continued relevance and interest.
... Within a theme of broad policy continuity, therefore, the UDC is seeking fresh ideas and signalling a desire for a break with the details of previous urban renewal strategies. In Merseyside, byway of contrast, many staff of the Merseyside Development Corporation transferred from Merseyside County Council (abolished by a Conservative government in 1986), and Meegan (1993) suggests that this has certainly assisted it to create constructive working relationships with local authorities. Perhaps more significantly, pursuing a property-led urban regeneration strategy was always more problematical in the fragile property market of Liverpool than it appeared to be in London's booming docklands (Meegan 1993). ...
... In Merseyside, byway of contrast, many staff of the Merseyside Development Corporation transferred from Merseyside County Council (abolished by a Conservative government in 1986), and Meegan (1993) suggests that this has certainly assisted it to create constructive working relationships with local authorities. Perhaps more significantly, pursuing a property-led urban regeneration strategy was always more problematical in the fragile property market of Liverpool than it appeared to be in London's booming docklands (Meegan 1993). In Cardiff, too, as close examiners of the local scene we feel (though it is difficult to provide conclusive evidence in its support) that CBDC has become more open to discussion with both local authorities and local community groups since the local property boom collapsed around 1989/90: 'going it alone', in splendid isolation, is not aviable option in a declining property market. ...
This article discusses the changing nature of British urban policy in the context of upheavals in the system of local governance and their implications for urban regimes. It does this through an evaluation of urban development corporations, a policy initiative in which are embedded many of the principles of an emerging system of local governance. In particular it poses two questions: to what extent do the contours of a new local governance system overshadow the more traditional system; and to what extent does the experience of UDCs suggest possibilities for local variations in and local political ‘capture’ of central government policy initiatives, specifically through the integration of UDCs into local urban regimes?
... Οη UDC αλαδεηθλύνληαη θαηά ηελ δεθαεηία ηνπ 1980 σο ν θαζνξηζηηθόηεξνο ηξόπνο αζηηθήο αλάπηπμεο θαη αλαγέλλεζεο (Meegan, 1999). Σπλεηζθέξνπλ θαζνξηζηηθά ζηελ αλάπηπμε λέσλ θαη ζηε δηαρείξηζε ησλ πθηζηάκελσλ νηθηζηηθώλ πεξηνρώλ, ζηε δεκηνπξγία ελόο ειθπζηηθνύ πεξηβάιινληνο γηα ηελ πξνζέιθπζε επηρεηξεκαηηθώλ δξαζηεξηνηήησλ, ζηελ αλαδσνγόλεζε πεξηνρώλ πνπ παξαθκάδνπλ θαη ελ γέλεη ζηελ εμαζθάιηζε ηεο αλάπηπμεο ησλ ηδηνθηεζηώλ θαη ηεο γεο. ...
Η έννοια της αστικής ανάπλασης, βρίσκεται τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες στο επίκεντρο των πολεοδομικών πολιτικών, ως μια δυναμική έννοια, καθώς ανάλογα με το ειδικότερο πλαίσιο πολιτικής και τη χρονική περίοδο αναφοράς, λαμβάνει διαφορετικές εκφάνσεις σε κάθε κράτος. Σήμερα, σε ευρωπαϊκό επίπεδο τουλάχιστον, έχουν μελετηθεί και αναλυθεί διαχρονικά ένα σύνολο από διαφορετικούς στόχους και μέτρα με σκοπό την αναδιαμόρφωση του χώρου.
Η προσέλκυση και η εξασφάλιση χρηματοδοτικών πόρων για την υλοποίηση προγραμμάτων αστικής ανάπλασης στην Ευρώπη αλλά και στον υπόλοιπο κόσμο, αποτελεί έναν από τους κρισιμότερους παράγοντες για την υλοποίηση των σχετικών πολιτικών. Οι πόροι μπορεί να προέρχονται τόσο από τον δημόσιο όσο και από τον ιδιωτικό τομέα, με τις πλέον σύγχρονες προσεγγίσεις να δίνουν ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη συμμετοχή του ιδιωτικού κεφαλαίου, τις λεγόμενες συμπράξεις.
Στα πλαίσια αυτά, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη το σύγχρονο παγκοσμιοποιημένο περιβάλλον αλλά και τη χρηματοοικονομική ύφεση των τελευταίων ετών, φαίνεται να παρατηρείται μια μεταστροφή του τρόπου υλοποίησης των πολιτικών ανάπλασης, πράγμα που οδήγησε -σε ορισμένες περιπτώσεις εκούσια και άλλοτε ακούσια- στον μετασχηματισμό των αναμενόμενων αποτελεσμάτων, και εν τέλει σε νέα χαρακτηριστικά πολιτικών. Δεν είναι τυχαίο εξ άλλου το γεγονός ότι σε χώρες όπως η Αγγλία, με μακρά παράδοση στις πολιτικές ανάπλασης, μετά το 2010, φαίνεται να αναδύονται νέοι μηχανισμοί και προσεγγίσεις για τη βελτίωση και την αναδιαμόρφωση του χώρου.
Η οικονομική ύφεση φαίνεται να είναι το χαρακτηριστικότερο παράδειγμα
που μας δείχνει πόσο στενά συνδεδεμένη είναι η πολιτική αστικής αναγέννησης με ευρύτερες κοινωνικοοικονομικές και πολιτικές διεργασίες. Ωστόσο, πρέπει να επισημανθεί πως η φιλοσοφία και αρκετές από τις βασικές αρχές που διέπουν τη σύγχρονη φάση των αναπλάσεων (από τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του '90 και έπειτα) παραμένουν ίδιες. Οι μετασχηματισμοί της τελευταίας πενταετίας αφορούν αλλαγές στο λεγόμενο μείγμα πολιτικής, όπως η ολοένα αυξανόμενη εμπλοκή του ιδιωτικού τομέα, η μεγαλύτερη έμφαση στα ζητήματα κοινωνικής δικαιοσύνης, συνοχής και ισότητας, η ιδιαίτερη μεριμνά για την παρακολούθηση της αποτελεσματικότητας των παρεμβάσεων, αλλαγές που προέρχονται και από τις κατευθύνσεις της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.
Στην παρούσα εργασία, θα παρουσιαστούν οι βασικοί παράγοντες που οδήγησαν στον επαναπροσδιορισμό των πολιτικών αστικής ανάπλασης του ευρωπαϊκού χώρου, στην περίοδο της ύφεσης, και θα αναλυθούν ειδικότερα εκείνοι που σχετίζονται άμεσα με τα χαρακτηριστικά των σύγχρονων συμπράξεων. Θα συζητηθούν επίσης οι σύγχρονες προσεγγίσεις πολιτικών ανάπλασης του χώρου της Αγγλίας και της Γαλλίας που φαίνεται να οδηγούν σε μια νέα -όχι όμως πρωτόγνωρη- περίοδο αστικής αναγέννησης. Τέλος, θα επιχειρηθεί μέσα μια συγκριτική αξιολόγηση των διάφορων πρακτικών να αναδειχθούν νέου τύπου διαφαινόμενες τάσεις.
... Οι UDC αναδεικνύονται κατά την δεκαετία του 1980 ως ο καθοριστικότερος τρόπος αστικής ανάπτυξης και αναγέννησης (Meegan, 1999 (Thornley, 1999). Η εμπειρία πολλών ετών στη δημιουργία συμπράξεων μεταξύ του ιδιωτικού και του δημοσίου τομέα, είχε σαν επιστέγασμα το κείμενο του Urban Task Force του 1999, το οποίο συνοψίζει τις απόψεις για μια περισσότερο ολοκληρωμένη προσέγγιση του ζητήματος των συμπράξεων και θέτει το πλαίσιο μιας νέας πολιτικής. ...
During the last decades, the concept of urban renewal is at the heart of urban planning
policies, and as a dynamic concept it takes different forms in each state, according to
the particular policy framework as well as the reporting period. Today, at a European
level at least, there have been studied and analyzed over time a set of different goals
and factors contribute to urban formation.
Attracting and securing financial resources for the implementation of urban
regeneration programs in Europe and throughout the world, is one of the most critical
factors for the implementation of relevant policies. These resources may come from
both public and private sectors, with the most modern approaches to place particular
emphasis on the involvement of private capital, the so-called partnerships. In that
context, considering the modern globalized environment and financial recession,
investigation includes –among other themes- the interconnections of urban
regeneration policies with the broader socio-economic and political processes.
However it should be noted that the philosophy and many of the basic principles of
the modern phase of regeneration (from the late 90s onwards) remain the same. The
transformations of the last five years and changes in the so-called policy mix, such as
the growing involvement of the private sector, greater emphasis on issues of social
justice, cohesion and equality, the special care to monitor the effectiveness of
interventions, are some changes that come from the guidelines of the European Union.
This thesis attempts to investigate the most modern renewal policies, those who
described by the term of "urban regeneration". Specifically in a first phase, there will
be a research and clarification of the theoretical framework of the different
manifestations of urban renewal policies. At next phase there will be a research at the
most critical factors that determine the design and successful implementation of such
policies. Thus as the present work focuses on the search for specific features which
constitute the essence of an integrated regeneration policy, which is controversial
issue -even in the scientific community- since many of the parameters of different
types of regeneration policies are indistinguishable.
Then, there is an attempt for identifying current approaches of regeneration policies in
the European area. As case studies, England and France are chosen since they are countries with a long tradition in the query object. The ultimate goal, is to investigate
whether the promoted urban renewal interventions in the Greek space, do have the
characteristics of modern European urban regeneration policies, and finally to
formulate prospects and possibilities on implementing such policies in the Greek
territory.
... Over 180,000 jobs were lost in Merseyside between 1966 and 1981 -a situation that has resulted in a persistent level of high unemployment. Simultaneously, there was a series of inner-city riots in the early 1980s and a dynamic set of political dog ghts that rarely escaped the front pages of the national press in the 1980s (see Boland, 1999;Gifford et al, 1989;Meegan, 1990Meegan, , 1993Merseyside Socialist Research Group, 1980). ...
The financial aspect of Premiership football is currently attracting huge attention. Hardly a week goes by without some new story breaking about the game, whether it is a record transfer, a wage or television deal, or the building of a new stadium. Yet there has been little, if any, investigation into just how the newfound wealth from Premiership football impacts on the locality. In this article, the authors present an initial indication of how the two Premiership clubs situated in Merseyside are linked into the local economy. It is based on a survey of club suppliers an d local businesses located around the two grounds of Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs. It shows Premiership football to be more than a dependent consumer service activity in the local economy with a potential for exploitation in terms of supplier networks, tourism an d image boosting. The authors argue that this is a subject area that requires further research and understanding, an d more serious attention as a feature of local economic policy.
... Urban development began in 1981 with Merseyside Development Corporation's (MDC) regeneration of the dock estate. MDC adopted the property-led, 'trickle down' philosophy of the Conservatives, which involved the controversial transfer of planning powers from the local authority (Meegan, 1999). Between 1981 and 1998, £314 million was spent bringing derelict land and buildings back into productive use, £34 million on business and community development and £16 million on promotion and marketing. ...
This paper responds to recent calls for more academic research and critical discussion on the relationship between spatial planning and city branding. Through the lens of Liverpool, the article analyses how key planning projects have delivered major transformations in the city's built environment and cultural landscape. More specifically, in concentrating on the performative nature of spatial planning it reveals the physical, symbolic and discursive re-imaging of Liverpool into a 'world class city'. Another aspect of the paper presents important socioeconomic datasets and offers a critical reading of the re-branding in showing how it presents an inaccurate representation of Liverpool. The evidence provided indicates that a more accurate label for Liverpool is a polarised and divided city, thereby questioning the fictive spectacle of city branding. Finally, the paper ends with some critical commentary on the role of spatial planning as an accessory to the sophistry of city branding.
... Both its port and its manufacturing industries, the major economic pillars of the glorious past, were in strong decline while the services sector grew only slowly. As a result, unemployment steadily increased (Meegan, 1993). In the 1990s, Liverpool's economy recovered somewhat but was still not in good shape, despite the fact that relatively low-paid jobs for skilled workers were created (Savitch & Kantor, 2002, p. 66). ...
Savitch and Kantor explain divergent trajectories of urban development with the help of four variables, namely, market conditions, inter-governmental support, local culture and popular control in their theory. In this article, we apply Savitch and Kantor's theory to the urban tourism development of Antalya, Amsterdam and Liverpool. The case study is partly based on written documents and partly on face-to-face interviews with representatives from public, semi-private and private organizations of the tourism sector. We found that Savitch and Kantor's theory of urban development is only partly helpful in explaining divergent urban tourism development trajectories. A centralized unitary state does not necessarily lead to a social-centred urban development trajectory but can be just as good a pre-condition to a neo-liberal urban development strategy as seen in Antalya and Liverpool. And although market conditions are favourable, an integrated inter-governmental support, a well-developed popular control, and a post-materialist culture have enabled Amsterdam to follow a social-centred urban policy, it has unintentionally and paradoxically resulted in gentrification and a commodification of heritage and culture. A strong social-centred urban policy in a first stage has created an urban milieu that has become exploited by gentrifiers and the tourism industry in a later stage.
... Thus, for example, while the Changing Urban and Regional Systems (CURS), or 'localities' initiative, concluded that places make a difference to the way wider global processes unfold locally, Cox (1994) is surely correct in noting that such studies were conceptually limited by failing to address what powers they possess to transform wider global processes (see Cooke, 1989; also see Massey, 1991 for a critique of CURS). In addition, such studies were characterised more by descriptive than analytical content, while failing to specify why local variation was, if at all, a determinant factor in socio-spatial processes (also see Meegan, 1993). ...
This paper provides a critical account of aspects of the policies and practices of the British Urban Development Corporations (UDCs), seeking to situate them within debates concerning the changing nature of urban politics in a context of global economic restructuring. How far are development policies of the type propagated by UDCs open to influence by local actors and agents and is it possible for locally determined agendas to be given prominance in the face of the overwhelming political and fiscal powers vested in the new institutions of local governance? How do the UDCs integrate themselves into and through the local state apparatus, and how do their powers contribute to a transformation in local modes of governance? Are such political and institutional transformations a prerequisite for the UDCs to operate and how far do they represent either localised forms of political corporatism or, conversely, the authoritarian hand of the central state apparatus? Are the UDCs impervious to local political pressures which seek to contest their strategies of entrapping global investment flows, and if so, how? Such questions are considered in the context of the case of one of the British UDCs, the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation. -from Authors
... The recent Inner City 100 idea, for example, is explicitly business-led regeneration and follows the Boston USA programme of the same name which is accredited to Michael Porter, the Harvard Business Professor. Harvey's work tted neatly into analyses of the work of urban development corporations (Meegan, 1993). But we need to look beyond Harvey to inquire into and explain the emergence and dynamics of programmes like City Challenge, the SRB and other recent initiatives such as the New Deal, Action Zones, Urban Regeneration Companies, the Excellence in Cities programme, Inner City 100 and so on. ...
... Over 180,000 jobs were lost in Merseyside between 1966 and 1981 -a situation that has resulted in a persistent level of high unemployment. Simultaneously, there was a series of inner-city riots in the early 1980s and a dynamic set of political dog ghts that rarely escaped the front pages of the national press in the 1980s (see Boland, 1999;Gifford et al, 1989;Meegan, 1990Meegan, , 1993Merseyside Socialist Research Group, 1980). ...
The financial aspect of Premiership football is currently attracting huge attention. Hardly a week goes by without some new story breaking about the game, whether it is a record transfer, a wage or television deal, or the building of a new stadium. Yet there has been little, if any, investigation into just how the newfound wealth from Premiership football impacts on the locality. In this article, the authors present an initial indication of how the two Premiership clubs situated in Merseyside are linked into the local economy. It is based on a survey of club suppliers and local businesses located around the two grounds of Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs. It shows Premiership football to be more than a dependent consumer service activity in the local economy with a potential for exploitation in terms of supplier networks, tourism and image boosting. The authors argue that this is a subject area that requires further research and understanding, and more serious attention as a feature of local economic policy.
This chapter demonstrates that Canary Wharf would not have happened without the London Docklands Development Corporation’s initial ‘localised Keynesianism’ and that the LDDC would not have happened without Michael Heseltine, something reinforced by recently-released archival material. It shows that the LDDC was an extremely un-Thatcherite mechanism for achieving urban regeneration, involving a great deal of intervention in the market, and staffed primarily by public sector officials, many of whom arrived from left-wing Labour councils elsewhere in London.
This paper presents a case study of Liverpool focusing on the transformation of the urban landscape associated with housing development. After examining different types of housing development with reference to housing policy initiatives and their underlying processes at various levels, the paper identifies some contrasting features of urban spatial transformation. First, this transformation is characterised by the city-wide spread of socio-economic downgrading caused by private de-investment in the production sphere, in contrast to the pockets of socioeconomic upgrading resulting from private investment (on the urban fringe) and reinvestment (on the waterfront) in the consumption sphere. Secondly, the city has witnessed significant residential improvement (especially in the inner city) due to its success in securing public resource allocation, in contrast to economic devastation illustrating its increasing marginalisation in the movement of private investment.
This paper argues that the role of key individuals in the governance of urban regeneration is often overlooked in empirical studies and theorizations, despite it often being an important causal factor in urban change. The paper provides a “starter” conceptualization of this phenomenon through combining Weber's [(1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organization—Translated by A.M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (London: Collier Macmillan Publishers)] conceptualizations of authority and Kim, Dansereau and Kim's [(2002) Extending the concept of charismatic leadership: An illustration using Bass’ (1990) categories, in: B. J. Avolio & F. J. Yammarino (Eds) Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead, Vol. 2, pp. 143–172 (Amsterdam: JAI-Elsevier Science)] typologies of leadership. Detailed research into the economic regeneration of Liverpool, UK, between 1978 and 2008 is drawn upon and a series of key individuals highlighted which played important roles in governance and policy outcomes. It is argued that, whilst the action of individual agents should not be isolated from wider structures and institutional settings, it is often necessary to consider their activities more substantially if a deeper understanding of the causalities behind urban and economic change is to be gained.
This book provides a comparative account of the process of urban regeneration and examines the factors influencing these processes, as well as the consequences of their implementation. Through a mixture of theoretical discussion and a series of case studies a thorough examination is made of the extent to which these different European old industrial conurbations are facing similar problems.
The purpose of this paper is to advance the research agenda on British tourism policy by unravelling the critical issues for the tourism sector in Liverpool associated with its connectivities with the rise and diffusion of urban entrepreneurialism as the new dominant policy strategy for local economic development. It focuses on the role of the key players involved in tourism-related governance and the extent to which policy processes can be exploited to encourage increased competitiveness. The research strategy it proposes emphasizes the need to demarcate strong (innovative) and weak (reproduction) competition in tourism policy initiatives, because these dimensions have major impacts on the success and failure of local tourism regimes. It is hoped that this study will contribute to an emerging agenda on the determinants of urban tourism competitiveness policy.
This paper presents a case study of Liverpool focusing on the transformation of the urban landscape associated with housing development. After examining different types of housing development with reference to housing policy initiatives and their underlying processes at various levels, the paper identifies some contrasting features of urban spatial transformation. First, this transformation is characterised by the city-wide spread of socio-economic downgrading caused by private de-investment in the production sphere, in contrast to the pockets of socio-economic upgrading resulting from private investment (on the urban fringe) and reinvestment (on the waterfront) in the consumption sphere. Secondly, the city has witnessed significant residential improvement (especially in the inner city) due to its success in securing public resource allocation, in contrast to economic devastation illustrating its increasing marginalisation in the movement of private investment.
The paper attempts to address recent debates surrounding the supposed emergence of a ‘Europe of the Regions'—from the perspective of a city situated at the core of a lagging region’ on the European periphery, Liverpool. After briefly exploring whether the social and economic regeneration of Liverpool makes sense in this European context, the paper attempts to explain why the city's political participation in Europe has hitherto been relatively limited, drawing upon a combination of economic, social, political and cultural factors. Some of the constraints and choices that the city is facing in its attempts at urban regeneration are used to throw light on broader issues surrounding local and regional development in the European context and political and policy lessons are suggested.
Urban managers have been faced by growing problems in recent decades. Social and economic inequalities within cities have steadily grown, whereas shifting global economic relations have led to the polarisation of more and less successful local (urban) economies. At the same time many nation-states, such as Britain, have opted for greater deregulation and a resurgence of neoliberal strategies of governance, which have had the effect of disempowering local communities and managers just at the time when they would appear to be most vulnerable to the forces of change.
In this context a range of authors have argued that the way forward for city authorities is through developing an institutionally based set of local networks and alliances in which a range of interests are represented politically and through which wider global economic forces can be better ‘held down’ at the local level. This ‘institutional thickness’ varies from city to city and this paper, in comparing Cardiff and Sheffield as two case studies, addresses the ways in which institutional relations have developed in those cities and the degree to which they represent effective forms of inclusive local political mobilisation and wider economic leverage. I argue that processes of ‘institutional thickness’ in cities does not necessarily create inclusive forms of local political representation and that institutional presence and interaction and the local policymaking processes they are part of, may in fact reinforce existing local social, economic, and political relations and divisions rather than leading to the encouragement of local corporatist relations.
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