Towns & CitiesPartners in Urban Renaissance

Project Report

“...the start of a sustainable urbanrenaissance is underway across England. It isno longer necessary to go as far as Barcelonato be inspired by the potential of urban areasto meet the demands of 21st century living...”A conclusion from the Partners in UrbanR e n a i s s a n c e project

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Gateshead Millennium BridgeNottingham Lace MarketBristol College GreenReading The Oracle and River KennetManchester Ancoats Home Zone

Towns & CitiesPartners in Urban Renaissance

Project Report

“...the start of a sustainable urbanrenaissance is underway across England. It isno longer necessary to go as far as Barcelonato be inspired by the potential of urban areasto meet the demands of 21st century living...”A conclusion from the Partners in UrbanR e n a i s s a n c e p r o j e c t

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Contents S u m m a r y1 Introduction

The briefM e t h o dThe Project Report

2 Setting the sceneWhat is renaissance?Why do we need urban policy?

3 ChallengesWorking in a global marketplaceSeeing the big pictureReversing the urban exodusNarrowing the gapsMobilising the wealth of citiesSecuring urban renaissanceDrawing inspiration from elsewhere

4 PerspectivesWhere are the trends pointing?How are the partners doing in relation to others?Can places be categorised into types?How is change managed and what is the general picture?Do visions matter in delivering change?Is sustainable change achievable?What are the views of different stakeholders?How can progress be more effective?What drives renaissance?

5 Five steps to successDeveloping the visionBuilding a concordatCarrying out a phased strategyOrchestrating investmentMaintaining the momentum

6 Eight dimensions of renaissanceCommunity engagementPride of placeHarmonious communitiesNetworks of enterpriseIntegrated transportThriving centresQuality servicesValued neighbourhoods

7 Conclusions and recommendationsLessons from working togetherFindings on progress towards urban renaissanceSome specific issues arisingBarriers to progressUnresolved issues for urban renaissance

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Summary “Renaissance has to cross sectoraland professional boundaries and tofocus on strengths and opportunitiesrather than weaknesses and threats.”Dr Nicholas Falk (URBED)

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Summary The publication of this Report coincides with theG o v e r n m e n t ’s Urban Summit on 31 October and 1November 2002 in Birmingham. It brings together thefindings and recommendations of the Partners in UrbanR e n a i s s a n c e project that was launched in October 2001.The project has involved 24 partner towns and cities acrossEngland and has sought to ‘take the pulse’ of urbanrenaissance delivery following the November 2000 UrbanWhite Paper, Our Towns and Cities: The Future.

The project has been led by the Urban Policy Unitof the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister using an actionresearch approach with consultants URBED. The methodadopted has been innovative in a number of ways. It includedv i s i t s to all 24 partners by the UPU/URBED team and byMinisters, s y m p o s i a at which issues of common concern werediscussed with senior policy advisors from ODPM, otherdepartments, organisations and agencies, eight w o r k s h o p swith adult citizens and two workshops involving youngcitizens from the partner towns and cities, twelve workshopsinvolving property and investor interests, four Looking andListening focus groups, and six events aimed at b r e a k i n gdown the barriers to progress.

Reaching conclusions and making recommendationsfrom such a broad work programme and partnership is nota simple task. To get the full flavour of how 24 very differentplaces are doing in making urban renaissance a reality, all fiveReports of the Partners in Urban Renaissance project shouldbe read. The five documents in the family are:

Project ReportPartner ProfilesCase Studies (54 in total)Workshops ReportBreaking Down the Barriers Report

We set out in this summary the key issues from theWorkshops Report and the findings and recommendationsof this Project Report:

Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s Adult citizens agree on thenational priorities (health, education, employment) butconsider that a different set of local priorities are equallyimportant to their quality of life. In particular they want:

Better maintenance and management of public places– this links directly to issues of safety, crime, drugabuse, drug dealingEncouragement of social enterprise for localenvironmental maintenanceMore use of public space with positive experiencessuch as celebrations, events, festivalsFast responses – for example, temporary hoarding,keeping people informed about developments, findingshort-term uses – to provide confidence where derelicthousing and wasteland give out the wrong messagesActive encouragement of more diverse activities andgathering places for families and older people in townand city centresMore service provision in the evening – drop-in healthcentres, greater use of school facilitiesBetter management of the evening economy –especially better public transport to help safe dispersalof young people at the end of eveningsPublic transport discounts for local people to accesslocal facilities and attractionsMore visible and transparent information about what‘the money’ is spent onInvolvement of more young people in thedevelopment and provision of facilities for themGreater involvement of students in the developmentof their ‘temporary’ home town or cityTo be asked about the outcomes of change for themFeedback on the results of consultations andexplanations of why particular decisions are taken

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Summary Young People’s Wo r k s h o p s The issues and concernsraised by young people in their teens and early twenties werevery similar to those raised by adult citizens. In particularthey are equally concerned about crime, drug abuse, drugdealing, quality of public space and affordable transport toget to and from education establishments and leisure facilities.Interestingly for this age group there was also considerableconcern about affordable housing. In particular youngpeople want:

Better communication between young people,Government and businesses – through youthparliaments and other forumsA Government that listens to young people withmore young people at the heart of decision makingInclusion of young people in recruitmentof youth service providersGreater involvement of the police withyoung peopleA tougher line on people who sell and take drugsBetter information on drugs; a clamp down on placeswhere drugs are sold and takenAffordable, reliable transport, efficient and widespreadAn integral role in the delivery of urban renaissanceand consultation processes – and not treated as anadd-on or a tick-in-the-boxProper facilities for law-abiding young people andnot to be “tarred with the same brush as those whom i s b e h a v e ” – (adult citizens felt equally stronglyabout this issue)

Property Wo r k s h o p s Those who took part in theseworkshops felt strongly that such forums should be morewidely and regularly convened in towns and cities. They arecommitted to supporting the urban renaissance agenda andconsider that it should be a priority for Government. Themain conclusions from these workshops were:

Training and education are important to urbanrenaissance – especially addressing the skills necessaryto deliver renaissance. In the north the issue is skillsshortage; in the south the issue is affordable housingfor those with skillsPublic grant regimes need to be less bureaucraticand not tied by European ‘State aid’ rulesThe planning system needs to be more efficient andquicker to respond. Section 106 Agreements need toreflect market conditions and local authorities need tomake more use of Compulsory Purchase Orders –which the private sector is willing to underwriteUtilities are slow to deliver infrastructure provisionTowns and cities need leaders who will championtheir communities and push changes throughBetter partnership arrangements have to be establishedbetween the public and private sectorsPolicing needs to be improved to make peoplein towns and cities feel saferMore land needs to be brought forwardfor development

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The Project Report finds that the concept of urbanrenaissance (a holistic approach encompassing the physical,social, economic and environmental aspects of regeneration)has taken root. It finds that there is a quiet revolution ofchange going on across the 24 partner towns and cities andthat it is no longer necessary to have to visit continentalEuropean cities to see sustainable and quality improvementsto urban living. The biggest ‘buts’ are that progress is patchyand significant barriers to progress remain.

The key issues and barriers, many of which reflectthe outcomes of the workshops, are:

I s s u e sThe need for positive leadership and attractingand retaining staffDeveloping the right skills and motivatingall concernedEngaging all sectorsEncouraging new employment for local peopleProviding reliable, safe and fast public transportMaximising the role of arts, culture and sportEnhancing the quality and maintenanceof the public realm Broadening the range of housing available

B a r r i e r sReducing crime and physical decayEncouraging enterprise development and job creation Making planning more responsive and transparentFinding new roles for historic buildingsand industrial areas Knitting regeneration areas into the wider communityUpgrading accessibilityFinancing new infrastructure

There are inherent actions for national and localpoliticians, policy advisors and urban renaissancepractitioners in these issues and barriers. However, wealso make the following overarching recommendations as aresult of our work with the 24 partner towns and cities that,if implemented, will enable faster and more effective progresstowards the delivery of urban renaissance:

Use all the arms of government Urban renaissancerequires an holistic approach. There must be moreeffective and inherent cross-cutting policydevelopment and implementation from the ‘centre’ –Whitehall – and from local government. And, as thePartners in Urban Renaissance p r o j e c t has proved,civil servants should ‘get out more’; doing so deliversa dual outcome – practitioners in the field trulywelcome the opportunity to discuss issues face toface and policy advisors in the civil service learn firsthand about actual outcomes (good and bad) fromparticular policiesRelax controls on pathfinders The Government iscommitted to giving more financial freedom to localauthorities who prove they can deliver. This processneeds to be speeded up and perhaps piloted amongstthe 24 partner towns and citiesGive focus and priority to improving the public realmIts importance in the quality of urban life and ininvestment decisions should not be underestimatedEngage Regional Development Agencies more in thedelivery of urban renaissance There is a perceptionthat their focus is too heavily weighted towardseconomic regeneration but, as the Partners in UrbanRenaissance project has shown, economicregeneration cannot be divorced from otheraspects of urban renaissance‘Arcs of opportunity’ should be supported andpromoted by national and local governmentalongside action to tackle poor neighbourhoods.The ‘worst-first’ approach on its own does notdeliver the best or most effective benefits for thetown or city as a wholec o n t i n u e s

Summary

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Programmes of support should be linked withintargeted areas A critical mass of investment is oftenneeded to secure renaissance. The plethora ofinitiatives and partnerships can mitigate against thisand should be rationalised in designated areasMobilise land owned by utilities and public agenciesFor decades people have complained about lack ofprogress in developing major brownfield sites inpublic ownership. English Partnerships’ newresponsiblity should help achieve progress and theCommission for Architecture and the BuiltEnvironment should publicise good and bad practiceUrban renaissance should be popularised A concertedeffort should be made to promote good news stories –not just flagship projects but also smaller projects thatrepresent good practice, and that raise standards – inorder to encourage greater community involvement

The future An urban renaissance is underway acrossEngland as our 24 partner towns and cities have proved –detailed in the Case Studies. A particularly marked successhas been the revival of centres of major cities for urban living,but small and medium sized towns and cities are alsoachieving successes. However they have a long way to gobefore the flight of their population to the suburbs andbeyond is truly reversed. At present the renaissance is largelydriven by young single people who enjoy the excitement oftown and city centres, and professionals who value thevitality and amenities. The challenge is:

How can these trends be extended to other, lessfashionable parts of towns and cities?How can families with children be attracted to stayor move into towns and cities?How can towns and cities become places wherepeople of all types and ages want to live out ofchoice, not necessity – and will they be able toafford to do so?

The Partners in Urban Renaissance project has shownthat attitudes to living in urban areas are starting to changebut while commitment to making towns and cities betterplaces is growing, real barriers to renaissance – many of themof our own making – still exist. If progress is to be maintainedthen central and local government must work together andtry new actions to find a new balance of responsibilities thatwill let urban areas develop as places where people want tobe. England is a small country with a large population.Achieving sustainable renaissance for the 80% of thepopulation who live in urban areas is essential for theeconomic and social success of the country. If we are to livein a more sustainable way in the future, towns and citiesmust be seen and treated as assets, and not as liabilities.

Summary

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“If there’s a problem with drug-useor graffiti in a park, they close it down,but the problem just goes elsewhere...”Young People’s Wo r k s h o p

1 Introduction

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1 Introduction I n t r o d u c t i o n The Urban White Paper, Our Towns andCities: The Futurecommitted the Government to work withtowns and cities to gain a better understanding of how theyare delivering urban renaissance, of what the barriers toprogress are and how they might be resolved. Governmentalso wanted to find better ways of working in partnershipwith places and local authorities wanted more direct access toGovernment. This commitment led to a year-long actionresearch project with 24 towns and cities, a cross-section ofmajor urban areas in England. Ministers launched the projectin October 2001 as:

Towns & Cities: Partners in Urban Renaissance

The project has been led by the Urban Policy Unitof the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) andconsultants URBED (Urban and Economic DevelopmentGroup), with support from King Sturge and MORI and withacademic inputs. ODPM Ministers have been involvedthroughout the project, undertaking visits to the partnertowns and cities, attending a symposium and receivingregular updates of progress.

The locations of the 24 places, together withinformation on where the Citizens’, Young People’s andProperty Workshops were held, are shown in Figure 1.

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1 Barnsley 2 Birmingham 3 Blackburn with Darwen4 Brighton & Hove 5 B r i s t o l6 Croydon 7 G a t e s h e a d8 K i n g ’s Ly n n9 Leeds 1 0 Leicester 1 1 Liverpool 1 2 Manchester 1 3 Medway 1 4 M i d d l e s b r o u g h1 5 Newcastle 1 6 Newham 1 7 Norwich 1 8 N o t t i n g h a m1 9 Plymouth 2 0 R e a d i n g2 1 S h e f f i e l d2 2 Southend-on-Sea 2 3 S t o k e - o n - Trent 2 4 Swindon

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The brief “ ( We want) towns and cities and suburbswhich offer a high quality of life and opportunity for all, notjust the few... people shaping the future... living in attractive,well-kept towns and cities... good design and planningwhich makes it practical to live in a more environmentallysustainable way... towns and cities able to create and sharep r o s p e r i t y... and good quality services.” Urban White Paper,Our Towns and Cities: The Future

The aims of the project were:To find out how the partner towns and citiesare achieving urban renaissanceTo find out what people living and working intowns and cities thinkTo showcase some examples of good practice To identify barriers to progressTo draw some general conclusions on what isdriving change in England’s major urban areas

The project did not set out to be a piece of academicresearch on urban renaissance, or to develop or present acomprehensive set of indicators or statistics on urbanrenaissance. Its focus has clearly been on understanding andlearning about what is happening in ‘real’ places – that is, inthe 24 partner towns and cities.

M e t h o d “Analysis has focused on what we ought todo, and rather less on the equally important question of howwe are going to do it.” Review of the Joseph RowntreeF o u n d a t i o n ’s Area Regeneration Programme

There is already a wealth of academic research intothe state of urban areas. The big issue is not gathering moreevidence on what is wrong, but finding out how to makefaster progress in bringing about the renaissance of urbanareas. This project has tried to break new ground by crossingboundaries using a number of methods within an actionresearch approach, and the Urban Policy Unit/URBEDteam has engaged with a range of stakeholders to establishtheir views on what is really happening and how to bringabout change:

A literature review sought to understand the maintrends and drivers of change, drawing on, for example,the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC)Cities: Competitiveness and Cohesion r e s e a r c hp r o g r a m m eInitial visits were made to all the 24 partner towns andcities to meet key officers (and councillors in someareas), and to visit urban renaissance projects andplaces – successful and unsuccessful. Follow-up visitswere made by ODPM Ministers to enable them to seeat first hand how urban renaissance is being deliveredThree symposia (in Birmingham, Gateshead andReading) brought all the partners together to shareexperience, to agree a common framework for theproject, and to discuss specific issues of concernincluding community cohesion, housing, planning andtransport. Study tours of Gateshead and Reading werealso part of the symposia programmeAn e-mail bulletin was sent to partners periodically tokeep them in touch with progressc o n t i n u e s

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Wo r k s h o p s were held in most partner towns and cities(these are detailed in the Workshops Report):

Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s were run by MORI, withinput from URBED, in eight of the partnertowns and cities to provide a perspective fromlocal residents living in different parts of theirtown or city and having different backgrounds.Questions were also added to MORI’sOmnibus survey (involving over 2,000 peoplethroughout the UK in June 2002) to find outwhether people thought the place where theylive is getting better or worse, and whyàLooking and Listening focus groups were runby MORI and URBED in four of the partnertowns and cities to inform the Government’scross-cutting review on public spaces and togauge attitudes. The four groups were filmedand the resulting video – These are the thingsthat everyday make a difference – wasdiscussed with Ministers and civil servants,and made available to the project’s partnersYoung People’s Wo r k s h o p s were held inLondon and Middlesbrough and broughttogether young people from seven partnertowns and cities to discuss what they thoughtwas good and bad about where they liveProperty Workshops were run by King Sturgeand URBED in 12 partner towns and citieswith property developers and professionals.Discussions were informed by King Sturge’sresearch into property values in eachmarket segment

Breaking Down the Barriers events were run bythe Commission for Architecture and the BuiltEnvironment (CABE) in four of the partner townsand cities and by URBED in two of the partner townsand cities. These events brought Government policyadvisors together with local and national professionalsand practitioners to address specific issues thatpartners had raised as problematic. Figure 2

1 Introduction Figure 2 Breaking Down the Barriers events

To p i c Location and Other PartnersLead Partner in Attendance

1 9 / 0 9 / 0 2 Regeneration of Burslem, Stoke-on-Tr e n t B a r n s l e y, Norwich post-industrial sitesin an historic town

1 9 / 0 9 / 0 2 Job creation, Croydon Nottingham, Plymouth enterprise development S w i n d o nand property holdings

2 3 / 0 9 / 0 2 Assembling the land M e d w a y Plymouth, Southend-on-Sea, Newham, King’s Ly n n

2 7 / 0 9 / 0 2 Countering the effects M i d d l e s b r o u g h Birmingham, Leicester,of major transport R e a d i n ginfrastructure severanceon regeneration projects

0 2 / 1 0 / 0 2 Understanding and Blackburn with Darwen G a t e s h e a dmanaging the impact of physical decayon criminal activity

0 2 / 1 0 / 0 2 Financing infrastructure L e e d s Nottingham, Manchester

Two events were organised by partners themselves –the first, organised and hosted by Sheffield and facilitatedby the District Audit Office, addressed urban renaissanceperformance indicators. Delegates included the NationalAudit Office and the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit.Sheffield, Norwich and Newham subsequently undertookcollaborative work on an indicator model. The second,organised and hosted by Newham, addressed the feasibilityof implementing recommendations in Nicholas Schoon’sbook The Chosen City. This event was chaired byLord (Richard) Best, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, andattended by the author Nicholas Schoon.

Steering Group A small Steering Group gave theUPU/URBED team direction. In addition, in May 2002,a presentation was given to, and discussion held with, theO D P M ’s Urban Sounding Board to refine the analyticalframework and emerging findings.

àSee Workshops Report

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We are extremely grateful to all who contributedto the Partners in Urban Renaissance p r o j e c tà. Inevitablyinterpretations of our work will differ. The Urban PolicyUnit/URBED team has done its best to check findings withthe 24 partner towns and cities but accepts responsibility forany mistakes or omissions that remain.

Contents of the Project Report The Project Reportis set out in the following sections:

In section 2 Setting the scene we look at the contextof urban renaissance. What is it? Why do we needurban policy?In section 3 Challenges we review the developmentof urban areas drawing on key research into urbantrends and dynamicsIn section 4 P e r s p e c t i v e s we try to establish how wellour towns and cities are doing, based on our visitsand on the Partner Profiles, contrasting what wefound with the views expressed in the Wo r k s h o p sIn section 5 Five steps to success we review how the24 partners are addressing the challenges they faceand we put forward five steps that seem to underliesuccessful transformation – illustrated in theCase StudiesIn section 6 Eight dimensions of renaissance w edivide the Urban White Paper themes into keydimensions that our work shows are required if atown or city is to make sustainable progress towardsurban renaissance – these are also illustrated in theCase StudiesF i n a l l y, in section 7 Conclusions andRecommendations we identify lessons from theproject based on our findings, including work onBreaking Down the Barriers, to inform the futurework of central and local government, policy advisors,policy makers, professionals, practitioners and othersinterested in urban renaissance

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I n n o v a t i o n s The project has sought to make progressin four main ways:

A team approach involving experienced consultantsand researchers working alongside policy advisorsfrom the ODPM’s Urban Policy Unit which benefitedfrom secondments from the HomeGroup and from Manchester City CouncilQualitative research (by MORI) into attitudesto change together with previous urbanrenaissance research Building bridges between policy advisors a n dmakers, local professionals and practitioners,and Government’s Regional OfficesSharing experiences across the 24 partnertowns and cities

C o n s t r a i n t s to the project included diverseexpectations, limited comparable local area statistics, alarge and varied group of places, and limited time to buildthe partnership and trust between all involved.

The Project Report This Report takes account ofprevious researchà but concentrates on findings based on theevidence from our work with the 24 partner towns and citiesfrom October 2001 to October 2002 – including listening toliterally hundreds of people and seeing many urbanrenaissance projects across the partner towns and cities.

The report provides a snapshot of urban renaissancedelivery in different places across England. It sets outchecklists of good practice to help draw up strategies andaction plans and, together with the other four reports, itshould inform policy development and the setting of policypriorities in the future.

1 Introduction

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àSee Bibliography

àSee Credits

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“ I t ’s nice to have a nice-lookingtown centre, but if you have to go backto your council estate and it’s horriblethen it doesn’t matter. . . ”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p

2 Setting the scene

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Why do we need urban policy? Eighty per cent ofus live in towns and cities with populations of over 10,000.That is reason enough to have policies which promote andsupport quality of life, choice, and opportunities.

The various ‘inner-city’ policies and initiatives of the1980s and early 90s produced some advances in regenerationafter the ravages of the economic downturn of that period.H o w e v e r, our meetings with the 24 partner towns and citiesindicated that further progress cannot be made in such crucialurban renaissance fields as education, health or employmentwithout treating the wider urban areas as a whole. Localauthorities point out that Government policy has oftenmissed the spatial dimension, resulting in separate initiativesaddressing particular issues. For example, although highmortality and high unemployment are often to be found inthe same part of a town or city, the causes are subject todifferent policies and different funding regimes each withtheir own separate bureaucracy. The view that problems canbe solved simply through improving individual chances ofsecuring better education or health is too narrow.

H o w e v e r, an holistic approach to urban renaissancerequires a broader perspective than many professionals (orpoliticians) have historically brought to bear. The ESRC’sCities: Competitiveness and Cohesion research programmeinto urban competitiveness and cohesion suggested that citieshave become weak because of lack of good champions, andfragmentation of government.

The task of urban policy is to overcome the tendencyof policy advisors and policy makers to operate withintraditional silos (health, education, employment,regeneration, culture), cut off from the reality that theyare all inter-related and not mutually exclusive. TheG o v e r n m e n t ’s new policy and focus on Local StrategicPartnerships and Community Strategies should help counterthis silo approach since both are cross-cutting and adopt abroad, bottom-up approach to the full urban renaissanceagenda. This needs to be matched by a more holisticapproach at the regional and national levels.

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Setting the scene “Renaissance is wider thanregeneration in that it has an added spiritual dimension, andit should reach beyond the city centre.” Delegate at thep r o j e c t ’s first symposium in Birmingham, December 2001

What is renaissance? All the partner towns and citiesare excited by the idea of changing attitudes to living in urbanareas by securing a higher quality of life that makes the mostof each place’s assets. The big new idea in the Urban WhitePaper (November 2000) was to stop seeing urban areas just asconcentrations of problems. Instead towns and cities began tobe seen as the solution to the fundamental challenges of howto accommodate a growing population by developing moresustainable forms of housing and transport than the earlier‘solutions’ of suburban housing estates. Making our townsand cities places where people live out of choice, notn e c e s s i t y, is seen as crucial to enhancing most people’s qualityof life and to creating a more equal society. The spin-offsfrom high-quality, high-density living in environmentally-friendly places and buildings could also help reduce theresources we take from our planet. Our findings, includingthe successes set out in the Partner Profiles and Case Studies,show that the start of a sustainable urban renaissance isunderway across England. It is no longer necessary to goas far as Barcelona to be inspired by the potential of urbanareas to meet the demands of 21st century living.

2 Setting the scene

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“Since the industrial revolutionwe have lost ownership of our townsand cities, allowing them to be spoilt bypoor design, economic dispersal andsocial polarisation. The beginning of the21st century is a moment of change...We need a vision that will drive theurban renaissance.” Lord Rogersof Riverside, introduction toTo w a rds an Urban Renaissance

3 Challenges

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3 Challenges C h a l l e n g e s Are our towns and cities becoming placesto live in out of choice? Evolution is slow, and it is very hardto get a picture of what is actually going on. While thenational media is full of stories about what is happening tocompanies and to famous people, very little space is givenover to dealing with the state of our towns and cities.

In 1999 the Urban Task Force report with its 105recommendations, made the case for an holistic approachthat goes beyond any one project, programme or department.The idea of a magic solution or ‘one size fitting all’ is rightlydismissed as naïve. However scepticism remains as towhether real progress is possible; some doubt whether designor the spatial dimensions really matter. Evidence is thereforeneeded to show that urban renaissance is not just an emptyphrase, and that visions can be turned into reality. Inreviewing the huge literature on urban renaissance, dynamicsand trends a number of challenges and unresolved issues forthe 21st century stand out, which are quite different fromthose that have faced the UK over the previous 50 years – inthe 1950s the response to the post World War II challengewas reconstruction, the 1960s saw r e v i t a l i s a t i o n , in the 1970sit was r e n e w a l , in the 1980s, redevelopment, in the 1990sr e g e n e r a t i o n and, at the start of the 21st century the focus isshifting towards r e n a i s s a n c e .

Working in a global marketplace “Boosting andrestoring the competitiveness of a city which is in difficultyis an extremely challenging and time-consuming business... tobreak out of a cycle of relative decline requires concertedaction by different stakeholders.” Introduction to the ESRCCities: Competitiveness and Cohesion r e p o r t

Our towns and cities now compete for investmenti n t e r n a t i o n a l l y. Urban policy is dealing with a much morecomplex and dynamic set of forces than it did even a quarterof a century ago. The 1977 Urban White Paper, and previousexperiments with community development projects, focusedattention on the inner city, and the problems arising from thedecline of traditional industry. To d a y, employers operate in afaster moving, global economy that demands ever- h i g h e rstandards, and where information and services are oftentransferred over the Internet. Residents have risingexpectations shaped in part by foreign travel and televisionprogrammes. The general public is also more aware of theneed for more sustainable development, for example, as aresult of traffic congestion and pollution. The design of newdevelopment has to pass many more tests. Many of us live ina much more multicultural society, and one which does notlisten for long to experts or authority. Drug addiction as wellas racial bigotry tears some communities apart, while inothers rising prices squeeze out all but the most affluent.Government is expected to meet demands for vastlyimproved local services – including the maintenance of streetsand open spaces, in addition to education and health.Government is also expected to re-establish the positives ofurban living, including truly integrated rapid transit, thrivingcentres, and stylish new housing that matches the standard setby the best places.

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Partnerships between Government and selectedlocal authorities were followed in the late 1980s and early90s by Urban Development Corporations (UDC) in somemajor cities as a means of promoting private investment.In addition ‘Challenge Funding’ programmes were used tostimulate local partnerships. What tended to matter most inassessment of bids for these funds and in assessment of UDCproposals were the level of financial leverage and the numberof jobs created. Little attention was paid to factors like designand sustainability or to linking initiatives to what was goingon in the wider area. The results were sometimes impressive,with iconic schemes like London Docklands and SalfordQuays, but generally they have not overcome the basicspatial inequalities that make English regions so differentfrom many of their European counterparts. If we are ever tobuild enough quality housing, cut traffic, or make people feels a f e r, a wider focus on urban quality and the wholeconurbation is needed.

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3 Challenges Seeing the big picture “How we live our lives isshaped by where we live our lives... Previous governmentsfailed to stem urban decline because they only addressed partof the problem, and ignored the underlying causes. Often,they forgot that urban policies are not just about bricks andm o r t a r, but about improving the prosperity and quality of lifefor the people who live there. Towns and cities need to belooked at as a whole in an integrated way. ” Urban WhiteP a p e r, Our Towns and Cities: The Future

Comparisons between the European ideal of‘compact cities’ and what is actually happening in Englandshow that there are major gaps that can no longer beaddressed simply by concentrating on small areas or singleissues. For example the European ideal suggests places thatare confident rather than places with which people aredissatisfied and which people cannot wait to leave; it suggestsplaces that are compact rather than sprawling and withpolarised car-based suburbs; it suggests places that areconvivial rather than boring with intimidating centres.

The inner or Victorian areas of British cities haveexperienced problems for decades but it was not until the1970s that experts ‘discovered’ the inner city. The spectre ofwhole areas being abandoned as in American cities alertedUK policy makers to the vicious circle of economic decline,physical decay and social polarisation as traditional industriesand local employment opportunities contracted. Area-basedregeneration projects, and an alphabet soup of specialprogrammes, including environmental improvements,have subsequently tackled the problems of developingderelict land in many of these areas.

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Reversing the urban exodus “There have beensystematic and persistent trends in urban Britain in which themajor conurbations have been the main losers, while smallercities in the south of the country and the New Towns havebeen the main beneficiaries.” ESRC Cities: Competitivenessand Cohesion r e p o r t

Experts consider that two of the most fundamentalindicators of the state of our towns and cities are populationchange and employment change. The general trend has beenfor the smaller towns and rural areas to gain population atthe expense of the central parts of cities and industrial townsthrough a kind of cascade. This is actually much moreimportant than the problem of North-South drift (whichgets more publicity) as most people move relatively shortdistances, and not very often. As in the USA, new jobs havetended to be created on the outskirts of towns, as newbusiness and retail parks have been built alongside motorwayintersections, as in Blackburn with Darwen for example.As a result of the flight of people and jobs from the cities,many urban areas contain residues of problems that pastpolicies have not resolved. But they may also now have theseeds of their own recovery and reinvention as young people,black and minority ethnic groups, and creative enterprisesfind good reasons for moving into areas that were previouslybeing abandoned.

The Urban Task Force argued that the drivers ofchange in the 21st century – ‘the technical revolution... theecological threat... and the social transformation associatedwith increased life expectancy and new lifestyles’ – all favourliving in cities, thus reversing the trends that appliedthroughout the 20th century. At present, while the mainurban areas have the need and potential to accommodatemore people, there have been strong trends workingagainst them.

3 . 33 Challenges Narrowing the gaps “Society is dividing before oureyes, opening up new social futures for the workingpopulation … it is this segmentation of the labour marketthat is sculpting the new and ugly shape of British Society.” Will Hutton, The State We’re In

Will Hutton, Chief Executive, the Work Foundation,talks of the 30:30:40 society, in which only 40% areadvantaged, 30% are being marginalised or are insecure,and 30% of the adult population are either unemployedor economically inactive. These ‘three nations’ live in very different worlds.

A major priority of public policy is to narrow thedifferences within urban areas that leaves many of thoseliving in disadvantaged areas behind – in Leeds this has beencalled the ‘two speed economy’. However the anatomy ofurban deprivation, and the so-called ‘geography of misery’,are now much more complex, and extend far beyond thenarrow boundaries of the Victorian inner city. As many ofthe 1960s tower blocks have been demolished, and some eventurned into desirable apartments, the most disadvantagedareas have become much less obvious. They now includeperipheral council estates, built on garden city principles butcut off from jobs and other opportunities as in the northernparts of Nottingham. In some areas, particularly the NorthWest, terraced houses are being ‘abandoned’ at an alarmingrate. In Manchester for example, a terraced house in the southof the city may be worth as much as £200,000 whereas asimilar house in the north of the city has fallen in value from£30,000 five ago years ago to less than £5,000 in 2002.

The more attractive places tend to be on the periphery,away from where industry used to be, and where most of themodern housing has been built. There are however, also innerareas that have been ‘gentrified’ and where ‘stylish singles’now predominate, as well as some excessively largeconcentrations of council housing on the rural outskirts.

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Mobilising the wealth of cities “The ideal city isa living organism, which is continuously changing andadapting itself to the new demands of life.” J Tanghe, S Vlaeminck and J Berghoef, Foreword to Living Cities

Our major urban areas have to fight back by makingthe most of their economic, social and physical capital. TheCore Citiesà see themselves as the dynamos of their regionaleconomies. Towns and cities are essentially organic andshould not be seen just as a set of problems or machines to befixed with a ‘ t o o l k i t ’ of short-term projects. Dispersal andurban sprawl increase car use, and affect property values,and ultimately people’s savings. Professor Michael Porter ofHarvard University has pointed out that cities should be seenas major potential markets for business. Hence renaissanceshould benefit all and is too important to be left to the publicsector alone. Towns and cities contribute to the ‘wealth ofn a t i o n s ’ by providing, among other benefits:

A cultural identity which comes from their history,including landmark buildings, streets, andwaterways, as well as public institutions suchas theatres and librariesA stock of property which represents a major sourceof individual, business and institutional savingsA melting pot which absorbs all kinds of people, andenables young people and those from elsewhere to getstarted, make their way, and establish their identityAn economic catalyst which creates new markets,business opportunities and jobs, and which helpsadd value through specialised expertiseSustainable development which helps conservenatural resources by reducing the need to consumeenergy and materials

3 Challenges 3 . 5 Securing urban renaissance “The chief function of thecity is to convert power into form, energy into culture, deadmatter into living symbols of art, biological creations intosocial creatures.” Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities

Renaissance is a new way of looking at towns andcities for most people. The idea of an urban renaissance wasfirst promulgated in 1980 through the Council of Europe,with conferences on how to save historic cities. It was inspiredoriginally by the success of Italian and Dutch towns, whichhad prospered over centuries, and by historic English townswith their heritage of streets and squares from the Georgianera. The policy of comprehensive redevelopment thatdominated the post-war period had left a legacy of unlovedconcrete structures and neglected Victorian areas. The switchto conservation, renewal and improvement programmes forareas of 19th century housing underlay the comparativesuccess of cities like Norwich, as well as the gentrification ofmany of London’s inner areas. Could other towns and citiesrecover their attractions as places to live?

In 1999 The Urban Task Force put forward the ideaof an urban renaissance to tackle the twin problems of urbanexodus and derelict land. The Urban White Paper, O u rTowns and Cities: The Future,picked up this concept andwent far beyond the 1977 White Paper by emphasising:

Sustainable development – places that would standthe test of timeUrban design – places of beauty that are a pleasureto be inSocial inclusion or neighbourhood renewal – closingthe gaps in access to opportunities and quality of life

The Urban White Paper represented a shift inthinking from a reliance on top-down planning andspecial programmes, to partnerships that bring in all thestakeholders, that secure community engagement in theprocess and that upgrade mainstream services. We now havethe beginnings of regional government and most of the mainurban areas have unitary status. But in order to achieve moreholistic results, renaissance has to cross sectoral andprofessional boundaries, and to focus on strengthsand opportunities rather than weaknesses and threats.

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àThe Core Cities group comprises Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle,Nottingham and Sheffield. It was established to promote the crucial and distinctive role that majorcities play in regional and national economies.

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Drawing inspiration from elsewhere “L i v a b i l i t ycannot be measured in indices, benchmarks or the numberof golf courses per 100,000 people. Livability stems from thearduous team work required to improve a system... regions –led by vibrant central cities – create livability thoughparticipative planning.” To w a rds Livable Communities: areport 1975–2000, Partners for livable communities, USA.

Can towns and cities reinvent themselves? All the24 partner towns and cities are well aware of the warningsigns of property abandonment, crime linked to drugaddiction, and traffic congestion. They want to avoidbecoming like American doughnuts with holes in theirmiddles. Meanwhile the centres of many American cities aremaking a comeback by increasing levels of security andattracting people back to live in them. The same idea is nowtaking hold in many of the partner towns and cities, as wellas elsewhere in England.

More people are now also looking to Europe forinspiration. Most of the Core Cities are members ofEuropean networks, as are other partners like Croydon andNorwich. A few Regional Development Agencies are alsotaking account of best European practice. While it is Spanishcities like Bilbao and Barcelona that have received mostattention in the UK architectural press, even more inspirationcan be drawn from northern cities in Scandinavia andHolland, where there are greater similarities in culture andclimate. Dutch and Danish experience of making streetspleasant for walking and cycling has enabled them to counterthe growth of car usage, despite rising prosperity, and manyEnglish towns and cities, such as Middlesbrough, are drawingon this expertise. The Dutch approach to planning has givenrise to the European Spatial Development Perspective andgroups of cities collaborating in sub-regional networks.These examples show how new high-density, high-qualityurban housing is successfully competing with lower- d e n s i t ysuburban estates, partly because such housing supportsmodern rapid transit systems, and encourages more walkingand cycling. Examples are now emerging in England and notjust in the northern cities but also in parts of the South Eastas our Case Studies illustrate.

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“Our aim is to make urbanliving a positive experience for them a n y, not the few; to bring all areasup to the standard of the best; and todeliver a lasting urban renaissance.”John Prescott, Foreword to Our Towns and Cities: The Future

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P e r s p e c t i v e s In section 3 of this Report (Challenges)we have shown that England’s major urban areas are engagedin a long-term battle on many fronts, including economic andsocial, to re-establish and maintain their attractiveness toresidents and investors alike. Our work with the 24 partnertowns and cities has found that there is a quiet revolutiongoing on with some successes that match best practice inEurope and America.

Before drawing conclusions from such widelydifferent places, and with many different types of evidence,it is helpful first to consider:

Where are the trends pointing?How are the partners doing in relation to others?Can places be categorised into ‘types’?How is change being managed and what isthe general picture?Do visions matter in delivering change?Is sustainable change feasible?What are the views of other stakeholders –young and adult citizens, property/investorinterests and local authorities?How can progress be made more effective?What drives renaissance?

Where are the trends pointing? As regeneration takesa generation (or a couple of decades) according to some of theCase Studiesà, it is helpful to see how much has changed inthe life of English towns and cities over such a period.

A number of underlying trends affect all of the 24partner towns and cities. They are also reflected in theCitizens’ Workshop discussions:à

P o s t - i n d u s t r i a l i s a t i o n Cities and industrial towns havelost their traditional economic base but are generatingnew kinds of jobs, for example in tourism and theevening economy. Over the last 20 years the numbersof non-manual workers have risen from about half totwo-thirds of the working population. The maingrowth has been in part-time jobs and in womengoing back to work.Household change The family is no longer the basicunit, leading to new markets for apartment living.Half the household population is now singles, andthe numbers have risen by 50% over the last 20 years.Moreover single person households account for 75%of projected household growth reflecting also thegrowing numbers of elderly people and familyb r e a k - u p s .Urban flight We found that people are coming backto live in the centres of big cities like Manchester, andalso areas like Stratford (Newham). However placeslike Blackburn with Darwen and Stoke-on-Tr e n tcontinue to see people move out to neighbouringareas. In England over the last 20 years three millionhave gone to live in homes in the suburbs. Such sprawladds to congestion with suburban dwellers travellinginto towns and cities and ultimately is self-defeating.H o w e v e r, developers are building at half the densitythat is now recommended, and therefore onlyaccommodating a fraction of the forecast demand fornew houses, with house building at its lowest levelsince 1924.c o n t i n u e s

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I n s e c u r i t y A major reason for wanting to leave townsand cities is growing concern and perceptions aboutcrime and aggression. This is partly a result ofpublicity given to street crime and crime to supportdrug addiction. It can be made worse by the lack ofpeople on the streets for example, in the West End ofNewcastle, and also in some of the suburbs ofSwindon. The Looking and Listening focus groupsfound that poor urban design is one cause of peoplefeeling insecure, another is places that are no longeroverlooked by anyone. The Citizens’ Workshops alsorevealed major concerns about empty buildings andthe need to attend to the basic problems first, likecleaner streets. Unequal mobility Dispersal of jobs, retailing andpopulation, combined with more car usage is aformula for increased congestion and pollution. Overthe last 20 years passenger miles by car have gone upby about 50%. Retail spending on comparison goodssuch as clothing and durable goods is concentrated inthe 200 largest retail centres, whose share of themarket has gone up from 50 to about 75%. Localcentres accessible on foot have seen their sales declineand this was a major cause of concern to the moreelderly participants in the Citizens’ Workshops. Alsoresidents on limited incomes often cannot afford thecost of travel to new centres. There is also a concernthat good jobs in city centres are being taken by thoseliving outside their boundaries. In Birmingham, 37%of jobs are taken by people commuting in fromoutside the metropolitan area. Polarisation Research by the Centre for AnalysingSocial Exclusion shows that all the English regionshave much greater disparities than their Europeancounterparts. The disparities grew during the previous‘free market era’, and are only gradually beingnarrowed. It suggests that they stem from thecombination of a weak economy, poor schooling andextreme differences in income. They also reflect realdifferences in the nature, quality and distribution ofthe housing stock.c o n t i n u e s

Loss of local control Mergers and acquisitions havesapped local autonomy. Remote financial institutionshave ended up owning commercial property andcontrolling investment in some urban areas.Compared with the optimism after World War II,many planners say they feel powerless to shape changeand secure quality, particularly where demand is weak.There is also a real concern in the regions that Londondominates investment and that many of its problemsstem from overheating.

Anne Power and Lord Rogers of Riverside also bringout these trends in Cities for a small country.

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In drawing any overall conclusions from our workwith the partner towns and cities, from existing indicatorsand from the Wo r k s h o psà, it seems that:

Major urban areas are not achieving their full potentialdespite positive trends across a number of indicators.Core Cities however are getting better. Loss ofpopulation seems to be slowing down, they havebecome centres for government and services such aslaw and accountancy, and they have benefited fromthe growth of their universities. The ‘knowledgeeconomy’ is boosting their spending power – inSheffield for example the university is thought to bringin about £500 million per year to the city’s economy.Their shopping offer has become notably stronger,attracting new private investment on a major scale –although this is often in contrast to other towns andcities in the same region.The rapid decline of traditional industries in the1970s and 80s had a much greater negative impacton northern towns and cities than those in the south.Although, some southern towns – for examplePlymouth and Medway – were also particularlyadversely affected. The overall outcome was awidening of what is termed the North–South divide.These towns and cities are achieving some successes inturning around their centres and in developing newindustries, especially in the service and newtechnology sectors. However it is questionable,given their starting point in comparison with others,that they will ever be able to close that widerNorth–South divide.c o n t i n u e s

How are the partners doing in relation to others?The performance of a town or city can be judged from manydifferent perspectives, it all depends on where you stand andwhat indicators you chose to use. Moreover, there is nogeneral agreement on what the headline indicators for urbanrenaissance should be. Rankings are often unfair and averagesare misleading. Administrative boundaries can also influenceapparent performance – for example, while Leeds performswell in comparison to others on many indicators this is partlybecause the city council’s boundary is relatively widely drawnand takes in rural and countryside areas as well as the cityitself. The complex anatomy of towns and cities requiresseparate information on their centres, inner areas anddifferent types of suburb but there is no ready source ofsmall-area data or statistics.

As we said in the introduction to this Report, we didnot set out to produce a new, comprehensive set of indicators.We wanted to take the pulse of urban renaissance in differentplaces around England by looking at developments andchanges, and listening to people in those places. In manyways, given the differences between every town and city,what matters most is change over time in individual places.The question should be – “is a particular town or city a betterplace to live, work and play now than it was, say ten orfifteen years ago?” Consequently, in the Partner Profiles wehave set out a range of illustrative data for each of thepartners, rather than making direct comparisons betweenthem. Of the data used – population, employment,unemployment, income support claimants, life expectancyand ethnicity are available from the Office of NationalStatistics; education is available from the Department forEducation and Skills; and house prices are available from theLand Registry. These categories are generally accepted asrelevant measures of urban renaissance (or decline) but theyare not necessarily comprehensive.

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Can places be categorised into types? Every place isdifferent, and no one size fits all in terms of delivering urbanrenaissance, but it can be helpful in trying to identify issues,strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and ways forward togroup similar places together. During our work with the 24partner towns and cities, and as the Partner Profiles bring out,we have found some common factors among the Core Cities,among the towns and cities undergoing industrialrestructuring (primarily but not solely in the north),and among the southern towns and cities:

Core Cities see one of their main challenges now asconnecting poorer, peripheral neighbourhoods to thenew opportunities in their centres, and many arehaving to address housing market failure. They arebest positioned to attract major inward investment totheir centres because of their relatively large shoppingo f f e r, their cultural resources, and their knowledgebase. In addition to performing well against otherEnglish cities, they are also keen to do so against theirEuropean counterparts – for example in their publictransport systems. The Core Cities also provide manyexamples of good quality urban design, featuring in anumber of ‘good practice’ guides and publications.Restructuring industrial towns and cities, such asS t o k e - o n - Trent, face particular challenges inimproving their skills base and in raising publicfunding for infrastructure projects. However, theyshare with the Southern towns and cities issues such asimproving their cultural offer, reusing their heritagebuildings and waterways, dealing with urban and ruralpopulations, reducing the physical barriers of 1960s –80s road infrastructure and Victorian railinfrastructure, and generally improving their image.Southern towns and cities, such as Reading, facedifferent challenges as well, especially in providingsufficient affordable housing (as a result of escalatingprices and scarcity of brownfield sites) and managingtraffic congestion. Many also need support inmasterplanning and urban design.

4 Perspectives Despite some positive trends, the main urban areasstill score poorly on those indicators that particularlyaffect where people want to live – education andhousing. Families especially are influenced by theeducation offer; it is a major factor in their decisions tomove out of a town or city. Although there are somepositive trends – for example, Birmingham’s schoolresults have been praised by the Audit Commission –the majority of the 24 partner towns and cities havelower rates of educational attainment than the restof the country. It is not, therefore just the mostdisadvantaged areas that under-achieve in education.In terms of housing, the ideal is a supply across allprice bands including the highest. Indeed the relativelysmall proportion of homes in the higher price category(2% in Manchester for example compared with 15%nationally) indicates how much the major cities’profiles differ from that of the country as a whole.This is why Newcastle, in its ‘Going for Growth’strategy is keen to secure more executive housingin the city.In terms of aspects of economic performance, Englishtowns and cities tend to lag behind their Europeancounterparts in rates of innovation and wealthcreation. A better understanding of what factors andconditions encourage private investment in particularareas will help towns and cities exploit their potentialand narrow the gaps within England and with Europe.O D P M ’s Urban Policy Unit is working with the CoreCities group (all of whom are involved in the P a r t n e r sin Urban Renaissance project), HM Treasury and theDepartment of Trade and Industry to gain a betterunderstanding of the factors and conditions thatencourage private investment. The outcome of thiswork should assist not only the Core Cities, but othertowns and cities too. An interim report from thiswork will be launched at the Urban Summit inOctober 2002, and the final report will be publishedin Spring 2003.In addition the Property Wo r k s h o psà highlighted thelack of skills in industrial towns and cities (largely butnot solely in the north) as a major constraint toinvestment and renaissance. They also highlighted thehigh risks and costs to the private sector of bringingbrownfield land back into use which were not entirelyrecognised by the Government’s current grant regimes.

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How is change being managed and what is thegeneral picture? “Physical transformation is only part ofthe regeneration process; everything is interrelated; thetrickle-down effect does not always work.” U r b a nRegeneration Handbook,B U R A

Our work with the 24 partner towns and cities revealeda great enthusiasm among local authorities for the idea of urbanrenaissance. Most want to go beyond regeneration but areconcerned that funds tend to be concentrated on renewing theworst areas, and on economic development. They are moreinterested in learning from each other rather than just beinggiven directives or audits, and want more freedom andfl e x i b i l i t y. The participants in the Citizens’, Young People’s andProperty Workshops all wanted to make urban living a betterexperience for everyone, suggesting that concentrating publicspending largely on small areas – albeit the most deprived – isperhaps potentially self-defeating.

Ministers and the UPU/URBED team heard about andsaw success stories in all the partner towns and cities – and so,clearly at one level urban policy is working. But the contrastsbetween the centres of the Core Cities and the rest of the urbanarea in their regions have widened.

Compared with a couple of decades ago, the centres ofthe Core Cities have been transformed, and there has been agrowth in the evening economy in most towns and cities. Entire‘quarters’ have been rediscovered, repaired and recreated, whichis the essence of urban renaissance. City centre living isbecoming fashionable again. There are some places whosedesign quality rivals the icons of Bilbao or the best USdowntown areas. Furthermore, a cross-sectoral approach isbeing taken, working through partnerships, as a result ofsuccessive bidding for funds and, more recently, as a result ofthe Government’s Local Strategic Partnerships policy. Thoughmany complain about the complexity of funding regimes, andthe number of partnerships, surprisingly few local authoritiesseemed to be completely overwhelmed by the task. Localauthorities are approaching the same task in very different ways,and though it is still far from clear what works best, long-term,top-level commitment is an essential. In a few places theRegional Development Agencies are actively promoting andsupporting the urban renaissance agenda. However theachievements are still patchy. Community engagement is still inits infancy in most places, and even where it has been appliedmost, there are criticisms, such as a lack of accountability andresponsiveness.

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Do visions matter in delivering change? “ ( u r b a nrenaissance) requires shared pride and vision, confidence andi d e n t i t y...” Comments at the first Partners in UrbanRenaissance symposium, Birmingham 2001

A clear focus on priorities is needed because demandsalways outstrip resources, and public funds need to be usedto pump-prime rather than displace private investment.Visions help to get everyone working together, providingthey are well communicated. Almost all the local authoritieswe visited had clearly articulated visions and strategies,though they had been produced in quite different ways. Theyrealised the need for balanced incremental development, inwhich each success widens the options for the next stage.Those places that had made most progress also had well-developed systems for generating visions and communicatingthe results. They also had effective and focused leadership andsupportive private sectors. Their visions went beyondconventional land use planning. They were part of a processof building concordats among public agencies and others tomobilise funding. They helped to implement partnershipworking for areas undergoing change, such as town and citycentres centres, waterfronts, or old industrial quarters. Whileit is often strong leadership that gets the praise for successstories, behind it is the patient process of building a sharedvision and a phased strategy capable of being implementedover many years as some of the Case Studies show.

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Is sustainable change achievable? ‘Sustainablity’ is aconcept that is not widely or easily understood. Most peoplein towns and cities equate it with ‘environmental issues’ –including avoiding waste of resources, making the lot of thepedestrian better as opposed to catering for the car, andimproving the quality of public space. Sustainable urbanrenaissance is achievable but it requires an holistic approachacross the physical, economic and social aspects of life inurban areas as well as the environmental. The process shouldbegin with public space and the needs of pedestrians. Theseare things that our workshop participants particularlyidentified with in terms of creating places where people reallywant to be. Some public space projects were considered to becosmetic but we found plenty of examples of places wherethe benefits would be long-term – or sustainable. The publicsector budget is usually not sufficient to achieve sustainabilitycompared to the total investment usually required forsignificant areas. It is therefore crucial to mobilise privateinvestment – sometimes by making a start using publicfunding in the first phase of any renaissance project. Anexample is Bede Island, a former scrap yard in the centre ofLeicester where initial improvements to public space werefunded by the public sector and made it possible to negotiatehigher standards in the next phase being undertaken by aprivate housebuilder.

An important ‘social’ consideration in achievingsustainable renaissance is ensuring that benefits (for exampleof improved urban design, improved public space, improvedtown and city centres) can be spread and the gaps betweenthe better off and the less well-off narrowed. The alternativeis alienation, social exclusion and, potentially, conflicts andd i s o r d e r. An important message from local authorities thatare tackling social exclusion, such as Sheffield and Plymouth,is the importance of taking community participation beyondconsultation and giving local groups a stake in the processplus plenty of support.

Facilities for young people are also crucial tos u s t a i n a b i l i t y. The involvement of young people in theprovision and use of facilities can help turn aroundmarginalised communities, as happened in King’s Lynn forexample, and S t o k e - o n - Tr e n t ’s Young People’s LocalStrategic Partnershipà. It is clear from the Young People’sWo r k s h o p sà that there is a great enthusiasm for involvementin the urban renaissance debate and in the delivery of urbanrenaissance; young people care as much about their town orcity as adults do and are keen to make a positive contribution– not just as an interest group but as an integral part of theprocess and the practice.

In delivering sustainable renaissance thought alsoneeds to be given to the overall approach. Cities for a smallc o u n t r yargues for starting with the centre and workingoutwards – as in Manchester and Birmingham for example,But we also found examples where the regeneration of thefringe areas into attractive places to live, as in Brighton &Hove, had created confidence for the next stage ofrenaissance process. This can be more effective than thetraditional ‘worst first’ approach.

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4 Perspectives What are the views of different stakeholders? – youngand adult citizens, property/investor interests and locala u t h o r i t i e s ? “The real role and contribution of urbanregeneration is far more than can be expressed simply interms of the input of finance or the output of Tr e a s u r y -approved deliverables.” Urban RegenerationH a n d b o o k , B U R A

Practitioners are agreed that best practice involvespartnership, strategy and sustainability. The starting point isfinding some common ground among all the stakeholders.We therefore sought to go beyond official statistics andaccounts, through a series of workshops.

What do young and adult citizens want? With MORIwe ran workshops in eight of the partner towns and cities,plus four Looking and Listening focus groups on publicrealm issues and two Young People’s Workshops. Despitesome general pessimism about urban areas, and takingaccount of the differences between each place, we found greatcause for hope. Young people say they would like to do moreand ways need to be found of harnessing their energy andparticipation in the renaissance agenda particularly. There isconsiderable consensus on the basic importance of a well-maintained public realm, the idea of ‘pride of place’ and theimportance of community engagement. There are threefurther points. First, local residents really do care about theirtown or city, and what happens to it. They particularly likeplaces with a strong identity or history, such as Norwich andNewcastle. However, they can also be supportive of modernarchitecture where the scheme produces real public benefits.Second, young people tend to be more positive than oldergenerations, and deep-seated attitudes are changing as a resultfor example, of foreign travel and education. However, theytoo are concerned about the dangers posed by drugs, andwant more places they can call their own. Third, people arevery concerned about the amount of control they have overtheir lives. They become angry when they perceive benefitsgoing to others, while everyday problems in theirneighbourhood are neglected. They would often prefer toleave decisions to experts (contrary to much receivedwisdom), but they want to be consulted, and to havefeedback. This means there is a need to raise aspirations insome areas. It is also important to bear in mind, in respectof people’s views, that whether a place is going up or downdepends on who they compare themselves with.

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What do local authorities want? The greatest concernof the partners is for more financial autonomy – ‘free the 24’was a popular slogan. Some felt that the profusion ofpartnerships and the many different funding sources aremaking the urban renaissance process unnecessarilycomplicated. They welcomed the opportunity not only tofind out what others were doing, but also to put their viewsacross to the ‘centre’ – Whitehall. There is a dilemma that thevery authorities that are often most receptive to the idea ofurban renaissance are in locations with the least potential forviable property development, as measured by land values.Furthermore, there is also a dilemma that pressing for qualitycan simply force development out of town into the nextdistrict. Another challenge is effective communicationbetween local authority, communities and the private sector.Low turnout at elections suggests disengagement but thereare other channels – Local Strategic Partnerships,Community Strategies, local Chambers of Commerce,and so on. However, we found several cases where the localauthority thought they had good relationships with citizensand the property sector, but the workshops indicated realdivisions. The workshops showed the difficulties of buildingtrust without changes to the way resources are raisedand allocated.

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What do investors want? Investors and developersbasically want to make money, but encouragingly there is realinterest from many different areas of the private sector in thepotential for urban renaissance, and for what some call ‘newproperty products’. This was reflected in high rates ofparticipation and positive views expressed at most of theWorkshops. While there are still relatively few good examplesof mixed-use, high-density, high-quality design development,ideas which have been pioneered in the centre of the CoreCities are beginning to spread. A major concern is that somelocal authorities and Regional Development Agencies are notmaking full use of their powers, such as CompulsoryPurchase Orders, to assemble complex sites. They do notthink grant regimes reflect the realities and cost of brownfielddevelopment especially in areas of low demand. Localauthorities are also sometimes spreading development toothinly by not concentrating on where the best prospects are.Local developers see themselves as the best people to act asthe drivers for change, and are worried that they may getsqueezed out by national organisations. They argue that tocompete with out-of-town development some relaxation ofstandards is needed in places where the market is weak.Access to grant aid funding also needs to be greatlysimplified. Urban Regeneration Companies may providethe necessary vision, but will they be able to mobilise theresources to sustain partnerships and hence deliver results?

More detailed accounts of the views of young andadult citizens and property/investor interests can be foundin the Workshops Report.

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How can progress be more effective? “ C i t i e sevolve organically: learning, maturing, adapting... Glasgow,Birmingham and Manchester are recreating themselvesthis way, small area by small area.” Anne Power and LordRogers, Cities for a small country

How do cities learn? One of the reasons why businessis sometimes credited with being better at development thancentral and local government is the private sector’s apparentability to concentrate on a limited number of objectives, andto back them with whatever resources are needed. What iscalled the ‘learning curve’ means that over time organisationsbecome more efficient at what they do. The key torenaissance seems to be ‘persistence, persistence andpersistence’. The most successful places put a stress onlearning from elsewhere. Thus Norwich, which, incidentally,was the first city to take traffic out of its centre, was inspiredby other European cities to draw up a masterplan for itsriverside. Newham engaged consultants who had beeninvolved in repositioning Barcelona. Birmingham drew initialsupport from leading urban designers from the USA. The 24towns and cities are now becoming a learning network, withNorwich drawing on experience in Leeds of upgrading publicsquares, Sheffield, Newham and Norwich in dialogue abouthow best to assess performance, the Breaking Down theBarriers events bringing together partners with similarchallenges, and the symposia enabling discussion and debateon common policy issues. All this indicates a real attitudechange over the last 25 years. Though the models are not asplentiful or well documented as they should be, the CaseStudies show that a renaissance is underway, and that‘learning by doing’ is the best way of building capacity.

Where does the impetus come from? The virtuousspiral of renaissance depends on co-ordinated efforts overmany years, and so it is hard to isolate any one driving force.Yet some lessons can be drawn from the Case Studies,particularly those that involve transforming an entire area orq u a r t e r. There are a number of catalysts for renaissance:

Universities not only bring in young people fromoutside, who may then stay on, and who occupyhouses that might otherwise have been abandoned,but also can develop significant sites near the citycentre, for example Leeds and PlymouthProfessional services such as law and accountancythat have concentrated and expanded in the regionalcapitals, along with Government functions, canprovide tenants for well-designed new office blocksin new well located quarters, for example NewcastleYoung professionals who want to live closer to thecentre and its leisure attractions, can be customers fornew apartment buildings, and conversions of oldbuildings into loft apartments, for exampleStratford and ManchesterBlack and minority ethnic groups who have movedinto 19th century housing left behind by those movingto the suburbs, can provide the missing ingredient ofentrepreneurship, for example Leicester and StratfordCommunity groups who want to stop decline canprovide a positive force particularly if they promotethe reuse of neglected assets, for example Sheffieldand Reading

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What drives renaissance? In getting the processgoing, and producing a step change from regeneration torenaissance, certain types of ‘physical’ opportunity standout – the rediscovery of water fronts, the adaptive re-use ofbuildings, the creation of entertainment quarters and newarts facilities, the reconnection of streets and squares to forma high public quality realm, and the development of stylishnew arts facilities.

There are also a number of approaches to the processof urban renaissance – although there is, of course, no singlemodel applicable in all cases – and lessons in this respect canbe drawn from different types of success stories across the 24partner towns and cities. In brief, the starting point isr e c o g n i t i o n of the need for radical change, possibly sparkedoff by a visit abroad, the loss of a major employer, or theopportunity to attract new investment. While the impetussometimes comes from a change of politicians or seniorofficers, in some cases it can be traced to individuals withinthe wider community. After some research and reflection,including comparisons with other places, there usually seemsto be some kind of event to develop or crystallise the vision.This will tend to focus initially on a distinct area or corridor,for example a waterway, or the main town centre, wherechange is possible and needed. Whether the vision ormasterplan receives a great deal of publicity or not, the nextstage is the resolution to implement projects that help tobuild confidence and show the way. Individually they maynot add up to much but over time they change attitudes, andhelp to attract investment from outside. Initially, for examplethe pioneers can be small local enterprises looking for betterpremises. The first new housing can look out of place inretrospect because developers lack confidence, which is whyr e p a i r (including repair to public space) is so important earlyon. Community groups sometimes act as pioneers, but maylack vision. They may be more supportive if the wholeprocess is seen as one of r e d i s c o v e r y rather than as imposingsomething from outside. In time local developers andcommunity enterprises tend to be displaced by national andinternational organisations.

Though there are differences between the maininterest groups, there are also some important areas ofcommon ground. Rising house prices and land values play akey role in starting the engine of urban renaissance as can beseen from research into changing attitudes to urban living,such as ‘But Would You Live There?’à. However,development on its own is of little value unless communitiesfeel engaged and the gaps are narrowed. There is a danger ofsome parts of English towns and cities following a model inwhich poorer people or businesses are displaced bydevelopment without compensation, and the gaps widenrather than narrow. There are plenty of examples ofsuccessful Single Regeneration Budget projects, where thosegetting jobs have left the neighbourhood to be replaced bythose who are less fortunate and have less choice. Industrialtowns are losing the more able, who tend to seek theirfortunes in the centres of the Core Cities, or in the suburbs ofsmaller towns. However, public sector financial regimes tendto prevent successful places from reinvesting the result ofhigher land values in improving infrastructure or theenvironment. One authority talked of ‘perverse incentives’,w h e r e b y, in their view, central Government rewards failurerather than success.

It is worth considering the adoption of the continentalmodel, where increased land values feed back into the locala u t h o r i t y ’s resources. This enables the attractiveness ofexisting areas to be enhanced and maintained. Renaissancewould then create many more jobs, at the same time as itbuilds confidence and self-esteem.

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àSee Bibliography

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The rebirth of L e e d s started in the 1970s after the citywas connected to the M1 and a modern road system, thusencouraging office development in the centre. However, itsrenaissance probably started after the city sought to promotethe growth of the evening economy as a way of attractingyoung people. The universities became very popular, andhave expanded in a quarter close to the city centre, whilestudents have taken over 19th century terraces nearby. Therediscovery of the waterfront was given a small boost by theLeeds Development Corporation, but it was localentrepreneurs who brought about the first new uses, suchas a Design and Innovation Centre attracting small creativebusinesses into the area. The Leeds Initiative, which playeda key role in creating a sense of partnership, helped buildbridges between the private sector and the council, and thishas broadened to involve first the universities, followed bythe voluntary sector. The Vision for Leeds process helped toarticulate priorities, and gave birth to a host of partnershipsaround specific themes. Notably the city is shifting awayfrom dependence on the car, with a high-quality tram systemthat will link up disadvantaged inner areas with the centre,while sites that were once reserved for offices, industry orparking have been turned into high-density housing.

In N e w h a m , an exciting-looking new bus station, andthe rebuilding of the railway station, is being followed by thedevelopment of a station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link,after a long campaign to get the route through East London.The strategy for the Stratford Arts Quarter has created aseries of attractions that will add up to a new Late NightZone. In turn young professionals who would previously nothave considered East London are moving in to the oldterraced houses, and also former council blocks that havebeen converted into apartments, pushing up house prices.This in turn has caused the developers of the railway lands tochange their scheme so it is now anchored on housing and anew regional shopping centre, rather than offices.

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The Case Studies, one of the four other documentssupporting this Project Report, sets out success stories whereelements of these physical opportunities and approaches tothe process of urban renaissance are reflected. The examplesset out below briefly tell the story of urban renaissance infour very different places. The stories highlight a number ofcommon themes, despite the differences between the places,and a number of the approaches raised in this Perspectivessection of the Project Report:

N o t t i n g h a m grew as a regional shopping centrewhen a redundant railway station was redeveloped.However its renaissance as a city started with thepedestrianisation of the central area, inspired by experiencein Leeds, and the availability of funding from the EuropeanUnion. Efforts to reuse empty textile factories in the LaceMarket, with an initial focus on tourism, were boosted whenfurther educational colleges took over some of the moredifficult buildings. The waterfront has taken off as a newleisure quarter, but it was the relocation of a local newspaper,which set the tone for the high standard of new buildings,and also the Inland Revenue who in moving their nationalheadquarters to Nottingham were persuaded to use aninternationally known architect.

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The starting point for the renaissance of R e a d i n g ,which had suffered from the closure of traditional industrieslike biscuits and bulbs, was the reopening of the canalthrough from the River Thames to the River Kennet. Thiswas promoted by a local activist who persuaded the councilto require all developments to link up with the canal. Theupgrading of the shopping centre, thanks to one of the firstTown Centre Management schemes, and high-qualitypedestrianisation, and the prevention of out of towncompetitors, enabled the local authority to secure a high-quality redevelopment of the brewery site that it hadacquired. This has become the Oracle, which combinescovered shopping with restaurants and bars looking out tothe restored canal. In turn, new high-quality business parkshave been developed on the periphery. One helpful factorhas been the growth of the university, which in turn hashelped to develop the sense of partnership and sharing ofinformation between the council and property investors.

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“A vision for the future isfine but it needs milestones throughwhich to see physical as well as socio-economic and skills change...”Property Wo r k s h o p

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Developing the vision Facing up to reality and seeingthe potential together is the first step.

The idea of vision is as old as Solomon. Organisationsthat have vision literally have a clear idea and can see wherethey are going; they are not blinded by barriers or divertedby day-to-day upsets. Though leadership is vital, with powerso divided, a clearly articulated and shared vision helps to setpriorities, and to mobilise the resources needed to changedirection. As one partner said, “shared pride and vision...(perceptions and attitudes are key to) confidence and identity.Town and cities should identify their own character and placein the urban hierarchy”.

A succession of government guidance has encouragedthe development of visions and strategies for town and citycentres, and for neighbourhood renewal, and they haveformed an important element in bidding for resources.But there are many more examples where the vision nevergelled, or was lost in fruitless arguments, consultancyreports that gathered dust, or simply lacked the capacityto convince anyone.

Experience Visioning is not something that can beleft to experts, it has to engage all the stakeholders. Henceaction planning, involving brainstorming techniques, isincreasingly being used. The Leeds Initiative held six roundtable conferences plus surveys, and followed it up fiveyears later to kick-off work on their Community Strategy.The impetus originally came from the invitation fromGovernment to produce a City Pride Prospectus. InCroydon, the impetus for Croydon 20-20 was to changethe image of a ‘1960s concrete car park’ and the processwas largely funded by private landowners with a stake inthe town centre, which has helped improve public-privaterelations. Some authorities have drawn up visions thatencompass the whole city, and tried to engage the widerc o m m u n i t y. Action planning processes with communityparticipation have also been used successfully in N e w h a min East London (Newham 2010) and Brighton & Hove.

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Five steps to success While recognising that all townsand cities are different, our work with the 24 partners hasshown that some successful common approaches can beidentified. In order to learn lessons from these approacheswe have, in this section, developed and grouped them into anumber of processes – or steps towards renaissance.

There is no magic formula for renaissance, rather thereare many variants. To many practitioners the basic principleswill seem common sense. We do not set out to provide acomprehensive blueprint, but rather to understand commonthemes and describe some of the extensive good practice thatis evident around the country. The processes that we haveidentified, particularly from the visits and the literaturer e v i e w, are set out under five headings that can form aseries of steps which build on one another. They are:

Developing the visionBuilding a concordatCarrying out a phased strategyOrchestrating investmentMaintaining the momentum

Many examples of good practice are referred to inthis section of the Report. Where a full case study on aparticular project or theme is included in the Case Studiesreport, the place name is highlighted. The wider context tomany of these renaissance success stories is also set out inthe Partner Profiles.

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Building a concordat Partnerships mean nothingwithout commitment of resources. As changing attitudes cantake several decades, and the private sector is risk averse, thelocal authority needs to take the lead in getting the differentparts of the public sector to work together for the commongood. It needs to commit the initial ‘pump-priming’resources towards turning the vision into reality.

The ever changing tapestry of Government and localinitiatives can lead to cynicism. Formal commitments areneeded to overcome the sceptics, and MORI has found thateven designation of a priority area can cause people to believethings are getting better. As one partner commented, urbanrenaissance is “a long-term process; there is a need to acceptthere will be economic downturns without losingc o n f i d e n c e ” . The French have gone for ‘contrats de villes’ tobind both central and local government to a commonpurpose. We have used the word concordat to mean anunderstanding, which may involve a formal or legalisedpartnership, so that the different arms of government andothers are committed to working together for a definedperiod of years before reviewing the arrangements.

E x p e r i e n c e There are a growing number of examples,including several City Challenge projects that show how aconcerted effort to invest public resources can make a hugedifference. The concordat needs to start with tying in thelocal authority’s own departments as in the Leeds Initiative.It may comprise several agencies working together, as in thecase of N e w c a s t l e ’s Grainger Town Partnership, or extendinto joint local authority working, as in the collaborationbetween Gateshead and Newcastle over the waterfront andEuropean Capital of Culture 2008 bid. Concordats can alsoinvolve partnerships with the private sector. The B r i s t o lInitiative launched a series of distinct partnerships, such asthe Cultural Development Partnership, which helped to turnthe heart of Bristol around and which improved relationsbetween the Chamber of Commerce and the council. TheC r o y d o n Marketing and Development Company is chargedwith creating links with the private sector. Norwich p r o v i d e san interesting example of how a local authority withoutaccess to European Structural Funds has benefited from beingpart of cross-national networks involving similar cities. Theexperience of Urban Regeneration Companies will beinteresting and we found that both Sheffield and Leicester areexerting an influence through the good relationships theyhave with the council and other agencies (unlike some of theearlier Urban Development Corporations in the early 1990s).

5 Five steps to success Good practice The process of developing the vision isas important as the results, and may include:

Analysing trends to understand the drivers for changeand their impact on the place in questionCommissioning opinion surveys or holding focusgroups with different interestsMapping indicators, using Geographic InformationSystems, to show up disparitiesBenchmarking the town, or parts of it, againstcomparable places in this country and abroad, usingreadily available indicatorsIdentifying strategic themes that will move the areaf o r w a r dOrganising events such as round table conferences,visioning weekends, planning for real events toidentify strengths and weaknesses, opportunities andt h r e a t sPublishing drafts with an inspiring theme forc o m m e n tUsing the local media and information technologysuch as a website to generate discussion

The lessons are that the vision and strategy hasto match the context, as one size does not fit all. A goodapproach is to start with the big picture, building onstrengths, and making connections with new developmentand sources of investment. It also helps to focus on themesor areas where results can most readily be shown. Anindependent facilitator can help, but in the end the visionmust be homemade. An existing partnership may takeresponsibility for the process, or the process itself can helpbuild up the partnership. The resulting document (orCD-ROM in the case of Newham) should set specificand measurable targets. The visioning process needs to befollowed up, and repeated periodically as the context changes.It should be bold but tempered by realism – not everyonecan play in the Premier League, and towns and cities needto develop market niches.

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Carrying out a phased strategy Setting spatial priorities,working out timing and devising projects should follow onfrom the vision and concordat. Behind all the grand projectsthat get press coverage are usually a host of smaller projectsthat lay the foundations for further investment. Buildingconfidence is crucial to changing an area’s image. Pilot projectsthat help show the way forward are vital to winning thebacking for flagship projects that then turn the area around.

The language of action plans, allocating responsibilitywith deadlines and budgets is commonplace, but there is adanger of trying to do too much with too little in the way ofresources. The challenge is building confidence so that peoplebelieve an area is going up not down. The approach needs tobe ‘holistic’, as one partner said “A high-quality environmentfor urban living is important, but so are better mainstreamservices, especially education. It includes social and economicaspects as well as physical”.

E x p e r i e n c e Some of the most impressive projects haveinvolved waterfronts, as in the case of Newcastle/Gateshead,B i r m i n g h a m ’s Brindleyplace and Reading’s Oracle Centrewhere it is perhaps easiest to secure high-quality, high-density,mixed-use development. But the groundwork has usuallystarted with something much more modest, such as restoringthe canal or reusing an existing building in an imaginative way.It was Manchester’s success with the Commonwealth Gamesthat secured national coverage. But the quality of design incentral M a n c h e s t e r dates back to projects in Hulme ten yearse a r l i e r, and the resulting design guide, which was then adaptedto cover the rest of the city. Strong partnerships committed togood urban design also enabled the city to respond swiftly tothe challenges created by the IRA bombing in 1996. The wayin which one phase leads on to another can also be clearly seenby following through the successive phases of theB i r m i n g h a m Highbury Initiative, which is currently focusingon the suburban neighbourhoods, now that the city centre hasits own momentum. Reading shows how lifting the quality ofa town can progressively lead to higher standards ofdevelopment and property values. N e w h a m ’s experience withthe Stratford Transport Interchange is another example ofhow the exciting long-term vision for the Lower Lea Va l l e yarc of opportunity is being progressively turned into realityworking outwards from the centre. Each stage widens theoptions and makes it easier to attract private investment.Newham has been able to monitor progress against agreedobjectives, which helps to maintain interest and support.

5 Five steps to success Good practice It takes time to build an effectivepartnership, but there are a number of useful tools:

Setting up forums to bring business interests togetherUsing visions and strategies to enlist the supportof other public agenciesArranging study tours to find out how others havecoped, and to provide inspirationOrganising conferences or ‘away days’ on themes thatdraw potential partners togetherCommissioning joint research with other publico r g a n i s a t i o n sMaking and taking on secondmentsWorking through intermediary and professionalassociations, such as the English Historic To w n sForum, or the Association of Town CentreM a n a g e m e n tSecuring support from the Regional DevelopmentAgencies and where relevant, other agencies such asEnglish Partnerships and English HeritagePublishing a statement of intent

In the end a partnership or concordat depends onpeople rather than formal structures. It does seem essentialto employ committed staff to service the partnership and itsworking groups. As well as a board made up of the local‘great and good’, who are prepared to put time into workingtogether for a common good, there needs to be a budget toensure that the wider community is engaged whereappropriate. High-quality communications and well-managed periodic meetings are essential to keeping partnerson board. It is important to be seen to be making progress.

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Orchestrating investment While the initial fundsfor pump-priming investment often need to come from thepublic sector, private investment is then crucial if a majoramount of refurbishment or renewal is to be carried out.Commercial demand and profitability vary hugely aroundthe country as the property indicators, identified by KingSturge for the Property Workshops, show. But there aresome common principles that can help attract investmenteven in areas where the initial prospects look poor.

Developers need confidence, which can come fromprojects that stimulate demand. Creating confidence cantake years to build, but can be destroyed overnight. Henceappropriate developers need to be involved. In the earlydays the support of local entrepreneurs and social enterpriseswill be vital because no national organisation is likely to takean interest. One of the partners commented that “it takesoccasional leaps of faith”. An area needs the image of aplace that is ‘going somewhere’, rather than sinking intoa slough of despond. Another partner pointed out that“public engagement can be achieved through less technicalapproaches and more of an appeal to hearts and minds”.The Property Workshops brought out the danger ofencouraging development in too many placess i m u l t a n e o u s l y, which can deter investors.

E x p e r i e n c e It is easiest to attract private investmentin southern towns and cities where values are highest.H o w e v e r, the most impressive examples of generatingprivate investment tend to be from the Core Cities, likeN o t t i n g h a m ’s Waterfront or the Millennium Quarter inM a n c h e s t e r, where areas that were once avoided by theprivate sector are now in hot demand. Nottingham showshow securing quality design can add value but also howtiming is all-important. There are also more peripheral areasthat are attracting inward investment like M e d w a y, w h e r epublic private partnerships and the careful investment ofpublic funds have opened up areas for quality developmentthat were initially of no interest to the private sector. Othernoteworthy examples include the use of land pooling forBristol Harbourside, the way partnerships have been usedto mobilise investment in Croydon Tramlink, and the wayan ambitious vision for derelict land in King’s Lynn hasgenerated developer interest where none existed.

Good practice Useful ways of buildingconfidence include:

Commissioning a public realm strategy, coveringsuch aspects as lighting, linkages and public artMaking a success of initial projectsPutting on public events, such as concerts ortheatrical performances in the streetsProducing and publishing development briefs for keysites covering desired and acceptable uses, densities,and arrangements for accessDrawing up design guides, with examples of thestandards that are being soughtUsing awards to promote better qualityPublishing newsletters and involving the local media

From the time it takes between identifying theopportunity to collecting awards for achievement, it is clearthat the process needs to be carefully phased in ways thatproduce ‘early wins’. It is also a good idea to celebrate avictory every six months to keep everyone’s spirits up, evenwhen there may be little in reality to show for all the effort.This means starting where it is easiest to show results, ratherthan concentrating on ‘worst first’. Investing in the ‘software’of people can be as important as the ‘hardware’. It isimportant to tackle what concerns people most, ratherthan assuming benefits will trickle down. Different types ofstrategies are needed for securing economic developmentand for tackling social exclusion. However, improving theupkeep of the public realm is fundamental to everyone.

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Maintaining the momentum What matters to bothoccupiers and investors is long-term demand. Propertyvalues depend on continual management and maintenance,backed up by information to show that it is ongoing.Urban renaissance is too important to be a political fador an academic arguing point.

Mechanisms are therefore needed to help keep activitygoing and investment flowing after the initial excitementhas been forgotten. Of course this involves good projectmanagement, but it is much more complex and demandingthan simply checking outputs against stated objectives. Asone partner pointed out there is “an opportunity for a newprofessionalism, particularly the development of new skillsand flexibilities”.

Experience Every successful place involves a mass ofdifferent projects, which need to reinforce each other. Muchof the innovation has come from the voluntary sector, orpeople crossing from one sector to another. Some of the mostimpressive experience comes from places that some hadwritten off, like S h e f f i e l d , where an Urban RegenerationCompany (Sheffield One) is making an impact, along withSheffield First, which is responsible for building partnerships.Community based or social enterprises have played leadingroles in reviving peripheral housing estates, and also increating new industries. Drawing in people from the worldof business can help to cut the red tape and confusion, andSheffield has introduced a simple system for monitoringperformance against objectives. B a r n s l e y has generatedconsiderable enthusiasm through the visioning process(supported by the Regional Development Agency, Yo r k s h i r eForward), and the creation of town teams but recognises thatthe vision now needs to be turned into do-able projects, withan organisation to ensure that the barriers are broken down.

Good practice Local authorities can make riskydevelopment projects more viable in a number of ways:

Improving maintenance standardsInvesting in creating a pride of place, including new orrefurbished squares, tree-lined avenues, better lighting Assembling complex sites, including land-pooling andthe use of Compulsory Purchase Orders to relocatenon-conforming usesSetting up public private partnerships for complexprojects, including new infrastructure, such asintegrated rapid transitMarketing the place imaginatively, for example usingconcepts like quarters and zones, corridors and arcs,and initiatives and partnershipsCreating property forums and publicisinggood news storiesRediscovering and repairing what is already therePromoting catalytic projects, includingcultural facilitiesControlling the release of development sites

Living communities are essentially organic, notmachines, and so they need to be treated with sympathy,rather than fixed with tool-kits. As a consequence the taskcannot be entrusted to any one profession. Indeed it calls fora dedicated group of urban practitioners. In time these canbuild up a track record, which enables more ambitiousprojects to be taken on elsewhere.

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Good practice Ways of keeping going include:

Creating broadly based partnerships that bringtogether representatives of the main public, private,and community interestsSetting up development trusts to enable communitybased organisations to build up assets and a senseof engagementUsing Urban Regeneration Companies to bring landinterests together, and act entrepreneurially but withthe public interest in mindTracking performance in terms of outcomes, not justoutputs, using a simple matrix of indicatorsActing opportunistically in terms of making sitesor buildings available in line with demand withina flexible long-term development frameworkor masterplanCelebrating success, including ensuring the processis fun for allUsing town teams and Town Champions to keepup pressure for change

Urban areas are too complex for there to be a singlesolution, and most areas are at different stages of evolutionthat call for different responses. When there is ‘market failure’due to a decline in demand, strong public leadership backedby upfront investment is needed. Consequently while someparts are going through what may later be called arenaissance, others will require renewal to root outunacceptable living conditions and to provide good enoughbasic services. As the following section illustrates, urbanrenaissance needs to be judged in economic and social aswell as environmental terms, and may sometimes becriticised for failing in terms of design and sustainabilitygoals. Yet by following the five basic management or processsteps, and applying the right techniques, given enough timeand leadership, it is possible to change an area’s trajectoryin ways that will benefit the wider community.

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“Its only a minority of young people who spoil it for the restof us...” Young People’s Wo r k s h o p

“In certain areas there’s atendency to criminalise young people,but there is very little for young peopleto do... it’s important that there arepublic spaces for young people to gatherand do productive things.”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p

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Community engagement “The planners are a problem– they consult because they have to but they don’t want to.”“What would maintain my interest is if I saw something thatwas going to impact on my life and make a difference.”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

The first dimension or pre-condition for urbanrenaissance is the participation of local residents andbusinesses in planning and delivery. Community engagementcuts across all the steps in the process, and it goes beyondconventional consultation as the Case Studies for thepreceding section illustrateà. The foundations for successfulurban renaissance lie in making people feel they have somecontrol over their lives, and some influence over whathappens in their neighbourhood. Both the Citizens’ and theYoung People’s Workshops found that people have strongviews, but feel that few people listen, and that conventionalapproaches to consultation are not seen as changing anything.The turn-out rates at local elections are in the bottom quartilefor most of the Core Cities and Restructuring industrialtowns and cities. One aspect of living in a disadvantaged areais being cut off from other people, and better-off peopleenjoy access to others both at work and in their leisure time.We must face up to a deep-rooted cynicism about the politicalprocess, combined with a babble of communications that arenot getting through. A local authority may believe that it is amodel for working in partnership, but evidence from ourWorkshops suggests that sometimes those living andinvesting in the area may hold a different view.

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Eight dimensions of renaissance Processes are all verywell, but it is what happens on the ground that really shapesattitudes and behaviour. So what is needed to make morepeople feel they are living in towns and cities out of choicerather than necessity? As ever, there is no simple answer andviews differ according to age and social class, as the Citizens’Workshops foundà. However, the over-riding message is totackle all the dimensions, rather than relying on just oneproject or service to do the trick, so that a virtuous spiral iscreated. This section brings together findings from the CaseStudies, visits and workshops, as well as some previousresearch to put forward checklists of good practice. Startingwith the Urban White Paper, we have identified eightdimensions of urban renaissance, which were amplifiedthrough the Citizens’ Workshops and Case Studies. We havealso reviewed available indicators, though as noted earlier inthis Report existing indicators need to treated with care. Theeight dimensions of sustainable renaissance are:

Community engagementPride of placeHarmonious communitiesNetworks of enterpriseIntegrated transportThriving centresQuality servicesValued neighbourhoods

These are the building blocks for an urban renaissance,and their application is summarised and illustrated below.Other key ideas, such as high-quality design andsustainability are cross-cutting principles that needto be applied generally.

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There is an abundance of research and good advice onhow to engage resident communities, and general agreementthat community participation should start early and beproperly resourced. As Rowntree’s Local PovertyCommission found, people in disadvantaged areas often lackthe time, money and confidence to play an active role. Thosetaking part in our Citizens’ Workshops and in the Lookingand Listening focus groups all received a small payment, andenjoyed the process, which may help explain why theyworked so productively. Equally important are mechanismsto engage the local business community, including smalllandlords and their property advisors. Surprisingly littleattention has been paid to this, outside a few outstandingsuccesses, such as Reading’s Property Forum. Our PropertyWorkshops all pressed for more regular communications.

A checklist of possible good practice drawn fromthese includes:

Area committees with budgetsSurveys and focus groups to probe into what concernspeople mostAction planning using various techniquesto secure involvementForums that meet periodically to review progress andraise issues for consideration by planners or policyadvisors and makersDevelopment trusts that enable communities toacquire and manage assetsCommunity arts to raise aspirations and buildcapacity and confidence among local peopleInvolvement of livewires or community activistsResources for capacity buildingSpecial initiatives to involve young people, althoughtheir meaningful integration into wider communityactivities and partnerships is also essential

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Of course conflict and misunderstanding indevelopment are inevitable, but can the gaps be bridged?In some places, where efforts have been made in the past toenable people in communities to contribute to the overallvision through surveys, MORI has found that the issuesthat concern people at the local level are very different fromnational or even city priorities. Where communities areactively involved in bringing about environmentalimprovements, such as the inner suburbs of B i r m i n g h a m i nBalsall Heath and Moseley or parts of L e e d s , a difference canclearly be seen over time. In P l y m o u t h , it was the efforts oflocal women who wanted to improve a particularly poor areaof 19th century terraced housing that led to the idea ofpromoting an urban village in Devonport, an importantpart of the New Deal for Communities in the area. There areimpressive examples of faith communities setting up projectsthat apply the principles of mutual aid, such as Share IT inS o u t h e n d - o n - S e a . Both the arts and sport are being used toreach out to people who would otherwise be missed.Southend is also taking part in Eastern England Arts’ ‘ A r tG e n e r a t e s ’ programme. Leeds, Gateshead and Nottinghamwere granted Beacon Council status in February 2001 for‘Regenerating Through Culture, Sport and To u r i s m ’ .Similarly Blackburn with Darwen has set up CommunityRegeneration Zones with local budgets. But perhaps the mostintriguing projects of all are in industrial towns such asS t o k e - o n - Tr e n t with its Young LSP and M i d d l e s b r o u g h ,with its Young Mayor, where young people are starting toplay an active role in expressing their needs and shaping thec i t y ’s and town’s future.

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New ideas are being tried, such as neighbourhoodwardens, and a British version of the US BusinessImprovement District. Our Case Studies have singled out arange of possible approaches. In B a r n s l e y ’s N e i g h b o u r h o o dPride programme, the starting point has been improving theway the council and its contractors maintain public spacesthrough multi-functional teams for each of the nine Forumareas the district is split into. In S o u t h e n d - o n - S e a , which likeany resort has an abundance of public space, the excellentway the parks are looked after is encouraging families tomove into the surrounding areas. The state of existingbuildings can be a real deterrent to investment, which iswhy the refurbishment and adaptive reuse of S w i n d o n ’sold railway works is seen as key to the area’s future (thoughunfortunately the layout of many of the new housing estatesand development of commercial ‘oases’ surrounded bydeserts of parking has created a car dominated environment).

In some other places, imaginative urban design isbeing used to change the image, with noticeable results. Forexample Brighton & Hove’s Place to Be initiative has used theexciting boardwalk along the beach to demonstrate the city’snew vision of being a Continental-style resort as part of itsurban design policy. Blackburn with Darwen has used highlyvisible public art to make entry to the town centre morememorable, and is one of a number of towns whereGroundwork Trusts have been working with communitygroups to find new uses for derelict land. M a n c h e s t e r i susing design guides to remake the centre, and knit it into thesurrounding areas. Leicester has a strong urban design sectionand Belgrave Road is a notable example of how groupsof incomers can bring dying areas back to life throughdiversifying the roles of fringe or secondary shopping areas.

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Pride of place “It (the Millennium Bridge) makes youproud, it makes you tingle... everyone talks about it, likes it.”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

The most obvious sign of places that are cared for is apublic realm that is clean, safe and welcoming. The MORIOmnibus survey brings out the importance of this factor inhow people feel about their areas above national issues likeeducation and health. It plays such a key role in makingpeople want to move out, yet so little has been done toaddress the underlying concerns. The video we produced(These are things that everyday make a difference) for theG o v e r n m e n t ’s Cross-Cutting Review on Public Spaces earlierin 2002 clearly shows widespread concern to improve theway public spaces are looked after, and also to design newdevelopment so that places are more walkable. People feelbetter living in places with a strong identity, such asNewcastle, particularly now that the waterfront has beenrevitalised and made a national success. But while the ‘grandprojects’ with National Lottery funding are the ones that getmedia attention, it is the everyday things that make adifference. In particular both adults and young people agreeon the need for better facilities for young people, to provideconstructive alternatives and activities away from crime andother anti-social behaviour such as vandalism. Law-abidingyoung people feel as depressed and intimidated by thebehaviour of their less law-abiding contemporaries asolder citizens do.

There is no simple indicator of pride of place. Theamount of derelict land must have some impact on morale,particularly if there are lots of small sites close to wherepeople live. This is the case in many of our 24 towns andcities, even though such sites are still only a small proportionof the whole urban area. Amenity, such as greenery or views,affects house prices, and views of water and/or trees can addvalue to property. Yet the efforts that have gone into homeimprovements and DIY have not been matched by publicexpenditure on the public realm. Indeed as the area of publicspace has expanded, with many town centres becomingpedestrianised, the budget for maintenance has actually beencut back. Many studies have lamented the loss of people ina u t h o r i t y, such as park keepers and wardens.

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Harmonious communities “(I want to) live out in thecountry because it’s quiet and tranquil.” Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p“If people with choices choose to live in our urban areas theywill help to look after them, reducing road traffic and crime.”Nicholas Schoon, The Chosen City

At the heart of what most people are looking for areplaces that minimise stress and disorder. Noise and aggressionare good reasons for wanting to move away from urban areas.The top reasons given for people thinking their town or cityhas become a worse place to live are crime-related (muggings,burglaries, vandalism). In addition to the 43% of MORIrespondents citing that reason, significant numbers (includingyoung people themselves) mentioned young people hangingaround, poor local facilities particularly shops, more litter,and the presence of drugs and drug dealers. There is littlepoint responding with evidence that things are not as bad aspeople think they are. What changes attitudes is publicisingexamples where places are being made to feel safer and moreharmonious. Significantly, while higher social classes aremore concerned about youths hanging around, the greatestconcerns about crime are felt by young people (perhapsbecause they are the most likely to be the victims, and cansee what is really going on).

Most of the indicators for security are questionabledue to differences in reporting (and indeed a sustainedcampaign to tackle crime in one of our partner cities actuallyled to a marked increase, as people felt there was more pointin reporting offences). Research into the causes of both crimeand racial conflict shows the importance of going beyond thefigures and symptoms. For example most crimes areopportunistic rather than planned by professionals. Offencesto get money for drugs now account for the bulk of those inprison. Poorer housing areas end up acting as sinks. As mostcrimes are committed close to home, those living in thepoorest areas suffer most, particularly as they often cannotafford to be insured. Some of the worst areas are no longerthe inner areas, but the peripheral estates. Racial conflict ismuch less widespread as a cause of disharmony than crimefor example, but equally corrosive. The aggression anddamage to property causes those who can to leave, leadingto further polarisation, and eventual abandonment.

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Possible ways of developing a pride of place include:

Maintenance audits and the use of indicators to assessstreet cleanliness and repairPlacechecks, and the use of teams of local people toidentify what they like and dislike, using photographsEmployment of more maintenance staff and wardens Demonstration projects including the upgrading ofparks and public squaresDesign guides and the use of development briefs thatput pedestrians rather than cars firstDevelopment and community trusts that takeon the improvement of eyesores, and the reuseof neglected sitesThe use of public art and greenery, for example,Britain in Bloom

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There are no easy answers to what are highlycontentious problems, but a possible way forward lies in:

Balanced neighbourhoods that try to avoid thedomination of large areas by too many of anyone age, race or income groupA variety of housing with no obvious distinctionsbetween what is rented and what is owner occupiedDesign of permeable areas in which spaces areo v e r-looked, walking and cycling encouraged,and cul-de-sacs avoidedBetter lighting, reinforcing key routes to publictransport and local facilitiesHigh levels of noise insulation (linked to measuresto make housing more sustainable and less wastefulin terms of energy)Higher standards of maintenance in areas usedby the general publicThe use of wardens or rangers to allow instantresponse and avoid the ‘broken windows’ syndromeRecruitment and training of local residents toprovide community care services (and alsopathways into work)Home Zones, where children can play safely in thestreet, and well-maintained play areas for childrenCommunity-based arts and sports projects

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It is a waste of resources to rebuild areas again andagain. Great care also needs to be taken so that – for example– designating areas for Neighbourhood Renewal does notcompound the very problems they are intended to tacklethrough stigmatisation and postcode discrimination.Blackburn with Darwen has crowded inner areas lived inlargely by people of minority ethnic background, while largeri n t e r-war houses on the former council estates that would besuitable for larger families had been standing emptyà. Onecitizen commented “different communities need to livet o g e t h e r ” and “ i t ’s very segregated as well... and that’sprobably where the racism stems from”. Self-esteem andindividual hope can be raised through sports and culture, asin the case of G a t e s h e a d , now known for the Angel of theNorth and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and alsoin Leeds. In West Everton in North L i v e r p o o l , the problemsof reaching agreement over developing part of a park as anUrban Village point to the need to work with communities,and to ensure that affordable houses for local people areprovided before prices start to rise. The gentrification inBrighton & Hove, which has pushed up house prices, hasalso created a very vocal community, and their Foyer projectshows one way of ensuring that local young people are notsqueezed out, but get a helping hand. Brighton & Hove i salso a good example of a highly walkable city, thanks to itshigh densities and permeable pattern of streets and lanes.Many concerns relate to what happens after dark.Nottingham has had to deal with the side effects of avibrant evening economy, but has concentrated newbars and nightclubs next to offices along the waterfront,where they cause less conflict.

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Inner city areas are no longer the ‘seedbeds fore n t e r p r i s e ’ they once were. Barclays Bank has found thehighest business formation rates are in places like Bath andBournemouth that offer the most appealing environmentsfor those with the capital and skills needed to start a viablebusiness. But high rates are also found in London, withNewham doing well, which reflects a combination of amulticultural population, a historic availability of a rangeof premises (including railway arches), and access to markets.Croydon currently does less well, but is in the top quartileand has been actively encouraging networkingà. Anoutstanding performer among the 24 towns and cities isBrighton & Hove for a variety of reasons, including thesetting up of an Enterprise Hub supported by the SouthEast England Regional Development Agency.

But can those without much of a tradition ofenterprise or immigrant communities fight back? The casestudies of both S h e f f i e l d a n d S t o k e - o n - Tr e n t show howgroups of old buildings can be turned into incubators, and acluster of enterprises developed around a particular strength.In P l y m o u t h , one of several cities aiming to encourage thegrowth of clusters through City Growth Strategies, there hasbeen collaborative working between the university and themain hospital to encourage the growth of biotechnologybusinesses in a new science park. The biggest problems affectareas that lack an economic specialism or a tradition ofenterprise and that are being priced out of the world market.Blackburn with Darwen’s Technology Management Centreprovides one possible answer through the provision of sharedsupport services for manufacturing companies. Communityenterprise could also have an important role to play, as thecase study about community-based partnerships inSheffield i l l u s t r a t e s .

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Networks of enterprise “I use the Docklands imagewhen going for a job” “How much of the new employmentis for local people or are they just bringing in people fromo u t s i d e ? ” Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

Dynamic and diversified local economies with laddersof opportunity are essential to stability over the longer term.The growth in the number of jobs over recent years hasdiverted attention from the longer-term challenge of findingnew economic roles and job opportunities for those living inindustrial towns and cities. Unemployment could easily riseagain, and many of the new jobs, for example, in call-centres,are particularly vulnerable. The Citizens’ Workshop inNewcastle highlighted the problem of the northern regionlosing population because there was no longer a wide enoughrange of jobs to keep the most talented. In contrast, thestrength of many of the other Core Cities is the attractionsthey hold for young people on their way up.

The most successful economies are those with highrates of business formation, and where Small and MediumEnterprises play a leading role in the economy and widen therange of jobs available. The Core Cities have higher businessformation rates than the national average, but the wealthcreated in almost all our regions lags behind European levels.This is in part because of a failure to turn new ideas intosaleable products. The areas associated with high technologyinnovation and the knowledge economy in Europe tend tobe concentrated around universities and ‘technopoles’, suchas in southern Germany or the South of France, but theinternational success stories also include traditional industrialareas like northern Italy. What these have in common ishighly supportive environment. Now that IT and cheap airtravel has made the ‘global economy’ a reality, many alsobelieve it is the quality of life or lifestyle that will havemost effect on an area’s economic trajectory. Hencehousing, economic development and urban regenerationare inter- r e l a t e d .

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Integrated transport “No good having a good outerrail network if you can’t get inside Reading when you wantto go.” “Maybe I’m a bit cynical... but I just don’t believewe’re ever going to have an efficient integrated transportsystem.” Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

The best means of enabling people to create and shareprosperity is well-connected city regions with suburbs thatare knitted together. Towns and cities grew up on the backof the quality of their transport links, which enabled theirb e t t e r-off residents to spread into the suburbs and beyond.Growing car usage, longer journeys to work, and thepressures of global competition put a premium on thoseplaces that can offer the best connections. Unfortunatelymost English towns and cities have poorer transport linksthan mainland Europe, where cycling and the use of publictransport is not reserved for the poor or eccentric. They arebecoming excessively car-dependent or addicted. Hencethere is a huge task in improving the alternatives to the car,particularly for better-off people, who no longer need toget into the town or city centre to meet most of their needs.There is also a major issue of how to link funding forimprovements to infrastructure with urban development.Though they can raise property values, increases in businessrates go to the Government’s central pot for redistributionrather than to the local area from which they derive (Thisis addressed in the Breaking Down the Barriers Report).

The changing image of towns and cities likeManchester and Croydon is in part attributable to theintroduction of trams like those in Continental cities, andC r o y d o n Tramlink forms one of our Case Studies.Transport policy aims to integrate different modes, andthe idea of ‘rapid transit’ in which it is faster and morecomfortable to go by public transport than by car is startingto take hold particularly in the Core Cities. Instead oftraditional public transport, which is generally discredited,rapid transit is far more appealing. Leeds has already donethis with its upgraded railway station, guided buses, andplanned Supertram routes. N o t t i n g h a m ’s Big Wheel( Transport Strategy) CD-ROM is an excellent exampleof how to communicate the benefits of integratedtransport imaginatively.

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Some of the mechanisms that are being used toencourage the birth and survival of Small and MediumEnterprises, including community businesses, are:

Managed workspace and the provision of businessincubators or enterprise hubs offering flexiblepremises on ‘easy in easy out’ terms, with access tosupporting servicesThe conservation of industrial and commercialareas that offer cheap premisesThe development of secondary or fringe shoppingareas with incentives for bringing empty shops backinto use for other purposesThe use of mentors, business angels and otherforms of encouragement to new enterprises withgrowth potentialSupport for networks including the provisionof entrepreneurial management skills trainingand business clubsLinks between centres of knowledge such asuniversities, hospitals, and large employers,and the development of small enterprises intheir supply chainsSupport for community enterprise and thesocial economy

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English towns and cities have a long way to goto catch up with their European counterparts in termsof integrated transport, which includes:

Stylish and well-connected transport interchangesin the city centreFrequent, reliable bus and rail services connectingup to the suburbsPlanning and design for pedestrian priority inthe centresSafer cycling including traffic calming, cycle lanesand parking facilitiesQuality bus corridors to increase usage andattract people away from their carsSmart ticketing to encourage frequent useof public transportAffordable fares for the young and those inlow paid jobsTransport Development Areas of high densitybuildings around interchangesDevelopment partnerships for new infrastructureGreen travel plans negotiated with major employersCommunity transport services to meet special needsBreaking transport corridors up into a series ofenvironmental ‘rooms’ with different policies so thatthe road design and parking policies suit the contextDiscouraging major roads and reallocating spaceto other users

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Major roads and railway lines often sever areas withdevelopment potential from the wider communityà.N e w h a m ’s Stratford Interchange not only shows howdevelopment needs to be phased, but provides fine examplesof the use of good modern design to change an area’s image atthe same time as making travel easier. While public attentiontends to be concentrated on the high profile projects, like thehigh-speed lines from London to the Channel Tunnel, or upthe West Coast Main Line, experience suggests that thesmaller projects can be just as important. R e a d i n g ’s Q u a l i t yBus Service Corridor shows how passengers can be wonback by providing highly reliable services with good waitingfacilities and modern buses. Also, as a good example ofprogressively extending the public realm, B r i s t o l ’s L e g i b l eCity Initiative has pioneered the use of better signing to makethe city centre more comprehensible. King’s Lynn has had amajor road scheme approved through its Local Tr a n s p o r tPlan because of its regeneration benefits in opening upbrownfield land rather than simply because of its transportbenefits. Southend-on-Sea provides another good exampleof how to secure support for a far-reaching transport plan.

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In assessing the 24 partner towns and cities, vacancyfigures are misleading. This is because of the amount of spacein the pipeline in some of the larger centres. However, figuresfor retail yield show a marked difference between theattractiveness to investors of the Core Cities and the rest.àOur Case Studies focus on ways in which town centres coulddifferentiate themselves. Leeds Millennium Square providesan interesting example of extending the public realm througha programme of town squares, largely funded by developingadjoining sites. N o r w i c h is one of the best-known examplesof the power of conserving the historic fabric, but has alsodeveloped an exciting new entertainment area along its river,on land formerly owned by Railtrack among others, as partof a mixed-use retail and housing scheme. B i r m i n g h a m ’sstrategy has been to create a variety of quarters connectedby a high-quality public realm. Middlesbrough has madegreat advances in town centre management and now runsits services through an independent company. Other relevantCase Studies include the improvement of local centresin Sheffield.

The ingredients for successful town and citycentre revitalisation include:

Strategies for differentiating the roles of centresand linking them togetherNew uses for vacant shops on the fringe or edgeof town centres, such as for leisureDevelopment of culture and entertainment quartersEthnic specialisation for some local centresInclusion of new ‘magnets’ such as health or trainingCo-ordinated management and higher standards ofcleanliness and securityHigh-quality public realm with upgraded squaresTown centre management evolving into town centrepartnerships with property owners

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Thriving centres “Shopping centres are popularbecause it’s a clean safe environment... you don’t feelt h r e a t e n e d . ” “Centres tend to be improved but not thesuburbs: suburbs are where people live and need a facelift.”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

To achieve the twin goals of environmentalsustainability and social well being, vibrant city centres mustoperate as a network with viable local centres. The heart andsoul of a town or city is its centre. English towns and citieshave to cope not only with out-of-town competitors offeringfree easy parking and extended opening hours, but also with alarger number of centres in closer proximity than on theContinent, and little recent tradition of city living. TheMORI Omnibus survey shows that while those in the highersocial classes think that the town and city centres have oftengot better, there are concerns about the state of local centres,particularly among older people who are more likely todepend on them. Even though property developers andinvestors think towns and cities are getting better, fewthink they have achieved their potential.à

Though originally it was feared that the out-of-townregional centres would harm the Core Cities, they have allfought back with considerable success, making the most oftheir full range of attractions, and upgrading their publicrealm. The damage really seems to have hurt the smallertowns and cities most, particularly the old industrial towns,and also those that have smaller catchment areas. Many haveambitious plans for redeveloping and extending their 1960scovered shopping precincts, but the market may be saturated,with Britain having 31% of Europe’s retail floor spaceaccording to a feature on urban regeneration in The Observer (July 2002). Centres now need to competeon quality, and not just on the size of their retail offer.Several of the partners complained about institutionalinvestor owners of their shopping centres, such as insuranceand pension companies, who lack the incentive to invest insmaller places and tend not to engage readily in discussionsabout renaissance.

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C r o y d o n ’s Education Action Zone provides a goodexample of improving links with local businesses and parentsas a means of raising standards. In L e i c e s t e r the involvementof university students in a health centre in a verydisadvantaged area has not only provided them withpractical experience, but encouraged much higher standardsof primary care. Sometimes new buildings can be used todemonstrate a whole new approach – such as the combinedcouncil offices with new housing scheme in K i n g ’s Ly n nwhich was one of the finalists in the Prime Minister’s awardfor design. It is also possible to change the attitudes andbehaviour of the customer. In M e d w a y, not only is a newHealthy Living Centre making people more responsiblefor their own health, but a ‘Children’s University’ is gettingyoung people and their parents to think about what isrequired to access the jobs of the future. In M i d d l e s b r o u g hhelp is being provided to get people living on a peripheralestate back into work and schools are also at the heart ofregeneration in N e w c a s t l e . Self-esteem is developed throughparticipation in arts and sports in Leeds.

A checklist for possible action needs to cover:

Improved or new schools at the same timeas new housingSpecialist schools appealing to the widercatchment areaCommunity colleges‘Healthy living centres’ and group medical centresMixed-use development with housing aboveEmployment services linked to job andtraining opportunitiesCommunity arts and sports programmes

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Quality services “ We need more youth centres –there used to be places for young people, but where canthey go now?” “Show us what you’ve done with the money. ”Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

Key roles in closing the gaps between the best andworst urban areas are played by the health, education andleisure services. The Urban White Paper put a renewed stresson improving public services and ‘joined up government’.As people live longer, and also are more likely to live on theirown, families with children at school have become theminority of households. While each service is highlyspecialised, the comments coming out of the Citizens’and Young People’s Workshops suggest that providersare sometimes too cut-off from customers.

Our Citizens’ Workshop in Newham found realpride in the architecturally striking new university built inthe Docklands, as a local facility that children could aspireto. Accessibility also matters and the award-winning PrivateFinance Initiative funded hospital in Norwich came in forconsiderable criticism because of its location on the outskirtsof the city. Those who have left are often attracted by bettereducational prospects in the smaller towns and villagessurrounding our major urban areas. Surveys of buyers ofnew houses with children found that 57% put education asthe top factor. Research carried out for the Urban Task ForceBut Would You Live There?found in contrast that the ‘urbanpioneers’ tended to be young people attracted by the range ofleisure facilities and lifestyles available near the centres. Oncethey have young children, then concerns about the quality ofschooling as well as requirements for more space drawsthem away.

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At this stage in the delivery of urban renaissance thereare relatively few success stories of turning once condemnedareas into valued neighbourhoods, but there are enough tosuggest a way forward. In Manchester, probably the mostimpressive single example in England today, the industrialquarter of Ancoats is being promoted as an urban village andnational house builders have now woken up to the prospectsthat local developers have pioneered. Developers are comingup with radically different products. Flats were once seen asplaces for the poor to live, but conversions of old industrialbuildings are now being marketed as ‘stylish city centre loftliving’. Hulme has been turned from a notorious post-warblunder into a good place to live where grants are no longerneeded to secure high-quality high-density private housing.At the other extreme, the suburban inter-war housing areasof Speke Garston in Liverpool are once again popular placesto live, in no small part due to the efforts of local communityassociations. As far as industrial towns are concernedL e i c e s t e r ’s Bede Island provides an inspiring example ofhow former scrap-yards can be turned into a mix of uses,including part of the university. As a result, grants are notgoing to be needed in the next phase. In the South, some ofthe best examples of renaissance are probably Reading andBrighton & Hove where developers are keen to build more.The mixed-use scheme for the New England Quarter nextto Brighton Railway Station provides a good example of howareas that were once considered unsuitable for housing arenow being developed as high-density, mixed-use quarters.

Good practice can include:

Urban villages (or Millennium Communities),with a mix of usesDesign guides for sustainable urban neighbourhoodsNew forms of apartments and tenures forexample, private for rentHigh-density mixed-use quartersP e p p e r-potting social housingStabilisation of demandPublic intervention in areas of abandonmentand affordability for key workersDevelopment of new housing around transportroutes and corridors

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Valued neighbourhoods “High density is O Kprovided it is to a good standard... it needs to be maintainedor monitored or it will become the slums of the future.”“Living next to a corner shop might be acceptable, but not to anight club...” Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p s

Strong balanced housing markets, with choices for all,are as important in the over-heated areas of the South, as inthose facing abandonment in the North. Some areas haveexcessive amounts of empty houses, while other apparentlysimilar areas are buoyant. House prices are escalating in theSouth while house-building rates remain low. As urbanpolicy has shifted from comprehensive redevelopment tomaking living in urban areas more appealing, so housingpolicy must broaden from a focus on the needs of those inthe worst housing or the homeless, to a wider concern withcreating a more balanced housing market – a conclusion fromboth the Gateshead Symposium and a seminar organised byNewham to discuss The Chosen City.

The property indicatorsà highlight areas whereproperty values within towns are much lower than in thesurrounding area. We have seen that many of the conditionsthat once drove the middle classes out of the city centres,such as the polluted atmosphere, no longer apply, whilethere are other factors potentially pulling them back. At theseminar on The Chosen City, there was general support foroverturning the ‘money-go-round’ that saps cities of muchof their talent, and reinforces patterns of social exclusion andunsustainable forms of development. P l a n n i n g also has a keyrole to play but needs to match the context.à

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“Ideally I’d like to live somewherewhere I could leave my bloody frontdoor open and know damn well thatn o b o d y ’s going to walk through it andnick my stuff... I’d like to live somewherewhere there’s a community spirit thatinvolves all the community and not justcertain groups, and I’d also like to livesomewhere where I don’t see heroin andcrack cocaine being dealt openly on mystreet...” Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p

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Lessons from working together The Partners inUrban Renaissance project has started to change workingmethods and relationships amongst the partners, andbetween Government officials, local authorities and otherstakeholders. In this respect the significance of the project isthat it has covered the widest elements of urban renaissance,exploring and exchanging experience with different parts ofcentral and local government across a range of medium andlarger towns and cities, and with other key stakeholders –both in the public and private sectors. As one partner said atthe third symposium in Reading in September 2002, “ . . . t h e r eare many well-established networks bringing together townsand cities with similar interests and backgrounds – forexample the Core Cities, the English Historic Towns Forum– but the Partners in Urban Renaissance project, for the firsttime, has brought together very different places to debate allaspects of urban renaissance, to identify common concernsand to engage with Government on those concerns”.

Partner towns and cities have been able to draw onthe experience and knowledge of one another in addressingparticular issues – through symposia, through events theyhave organised themselves, and through the Breaking Downthe Barriers workshops. Recognising the constraints of theproject, referred to in the introduction to this Project Report,there has been a positive response from the partners reflectedin the time and effort committed to arranging productivevisits (including those undertaken by Ministers), attendingsymposia and responding to the evolving outputs. There hasbeen a strong interest in the project from property developersand investors, and from the various groups of young andadult citizens we brought together. Ministers and key policyadvisors have benefited from first-hand contact withpractitioners across the partners and with the manycommunity and voluntary groups involved. Thus, theproject has successfully and productively crossed manyof the traditional boundaries of responsibilities and interests.

Further the action research approach adopted for theproject and the different components of the method adopted,have provided a wide ranging overview of urban renaissancethat is far richer than conventional forms of research.

The concept of the Partners in Urban Renaissanceproject, linking research policy and practice together,potentially has wide ranging appeal and we hope thatothers with an interest in furthering the delivery of urbanrenaissance will use it as an inspiration for their work.

Conclusions and recommendations The P a r t n e r sin Urban Renaissance project has found evidence of an on-going process of urban renaissance across England. Differentplaces are at different stages but the tide seems to be turning.Our evidence also shows that there are some commonbarriers to making faster progress, but that the context andchallenges are very different. Grouping our 24 partner townsand cities into places which are ‘ R e s t r u c t u r i n g ’, or ‘S o u t h e r n ’or ‘Core Cities’ has helped us draw general conclusions andmake recommendations for central and local government,practitioners and others.

The project set out to look systematically at howurban renaissance is being tackled in 24 towns and cities, toidentify good examples of the progress that is being made,and to identify barriers to progress. We have sought evidencefrom local authorities, local residents, property investorsand young people across the partners. The project has alsobrought central Government, through the Office of theDeputy Prime Minister, and local authorities into a newpartnership, and begun to make links with some of the otheragencies and organisations involved. As well as the lessonsfrom the project itself, it has shown the potential benefitsof a new way of working together.

This final section:

Sets out lessons from working togetherDraws together the main findings on progressIdentifies some key barriers to urban renaissanceMakes recommendations on what central and localgovernment, practitioners and others can do tospeed up the processSummarises outstanding issues that might providean agenda for the future

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Findings on progress towards urban renaissanceThe findings essentially provide a snapshot of work inprogress in changing urban living from a number ofp e r s p e c t i v e s . Assessing overall progress is essentiallysubjective because of the lack of up to date comprehensivestatistics at the small area level, and the differences betweenplaces. However, despite a generally negative view thatcomes out of the MORI Omnibus survey (June 2002),àreal improvements are being made on the ground. Theproblem is that progress is often very patchy, and is notnecessarily engaging or benefiting all parts of the community.

Some general observations The most visible andwidely reported progress has been made in the centres ofalmost all the Core Cities, where lively new quarters haveemerged, rapid transit systems are in operation or beingintroduced, and people are starting to move back to live.But, even where significant progress has been made thereis evidence of ‘two speed’ cities, with areas of decline anddeprivation continuing, or in some cases worsening, onlya mile or so away from a booming city centre. The issue ofnarrowing the gap remains a significant challenge for theCore Cities – and for other towns and cities.

Despite the higher income levels in the S o u t h e r ntowns and cities, which are reflected in higher land valuesand house prices in many places, the picture is more mixed.There are particular concerns about how to secure the higherquality needed to stop urban sprawl, but also some excellentexamples of good design and high-density developments ifonly the lessons could be spread more effectively. Southerntowns are also struggling with affordable housing provisionfor key workers and others.

The picture in the R e s t r u c t u r i n g towns and cities,particularly but not exclusively in the North, is very different.Problems of housing abandonment are clearly evident insome areas, while others are thriving. Housing abandonmentis not, of course, the preserve of Restructuring towns andc i t i e s . Many of the Core Cities are affected too and whilethe Government is addressing the issue through the HousingMarket Renewal initiative, many more pockets andneighbourhoods on the brink of collapse need carefulmonitoring. A particular issue with the Restructuring groupof towns and cities is identifying and developing a vision forthe future and the all-important strategy for its delivery.

The following lessons on working together emergedfrom the different elements of the initiative:

The workshops, focus groups and symposia show thevalue of bringing people together to discuss concerns,policies and ideas face to face (even though this takesmore resources than electronic communication). Theyalso give the opportunity for practitioners to listen toand question policy advisors and makers directly, andhelp to build consensus on a number of issuesThere were considerable benefits from making visitsto all 24 partners, which included discussions withcouncillors, officers and members of the communityas well as tours of projects which illustrated particularachievements and problems‘Whitehall’ civil servants experienced the towns andcities at first hand, and could identify good examplesof aspects of urban renaissance as a result. Ministerswere able to see the breadth of the urban renaissanceagenda and how different elements linked togetherRelationships between Government and localauthority officers and councillors were strengthenedH o w e v e r, the process of working together takesconsiderable effort. It takes time to build up trust,particularly when so many different organisationsare involved. Also bringing the right peopletogether to discuss common issues or barrierstakes a lot of organising

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Reliable, safe and fast public transport is one of the bestways of tackling social exclusion, as well as makingtowns and cities more sustainable and more liveable.We saw projects that are helping to overcome physicaland psychological isolation, by linking up peripheralestates with new job opportunities. The Young People’sWorkshops also emphasised the need for affordabletransport that would enable young people to pursue awider range of leisure, educational and employmentopportunities. But we also found a tendency for newdevelopments to be sited in locations that were nothighly accessible. It also seems unrealistic to enforce thesame standards for new developments throughout thec o u n t r y, given very different densities of development.Arts, culture, entertainment and sport are playingimportant roles in urban renaissance across all typesof towns and cities, although again affordability andaccessibility can be barriers for the less well-off. Asymbolic expression of renaissance in many places isthe creation or renewal of public squares and spaces.While iconic buildings, festivals, exhibitions and eventscan bring life to town centres, and change their imageto the outside world, they can also create a sense ofresentment if action is not also taken to improve thestandards of the environment closer to home. The quality and maintenance of the public realmare crucial to renaissance.If towns and cities are to be places where people chooseto live, a full range of housing should be available tomeet each stage in the lifecycles of their residents. Thereis a stark difference between towns and cities in theNorth that are experiencing a collapse of the housingmarket in some areas, and those in the South, wherethere is a lack of affordable housing, and concernsabout over-development. Higher density and mixed-use schemes are much more acceptable in the CoreCities and some of the Southern towns and cities.The greatest challenge is how to broaden the rangeof housing in the Restructuring towns and cities,given the high risks and relatively low house prices.A further issue is how the Southern towns and citiesare to secure higher design standards, and much moreconsideration needs to be given to how a shift awayfrom a car-based culture can be achieved.

Some specific issues arising:

The importance of positive leadership w a semphasised, particularly in the Property Wo r k s h o p sbut also in the symposia. Leadership can emerge fromdifferent sectors and at different levels. However theproliferation of partnerships and initiatives makes ithard to maintain the momentum, particularly whenpolicies and structures seem to be continuallychanging. Furthermore, the most successfulpartnerships involve winning teams, not just a fewwell-known stars. Partners identified a growingproblem in attracting and retaining staff, partlybecause of a generally negative image of localgovernment as a career, and partly due to a lackof direct control over resources.Developing the skills required to devise and deliverurban renaissance strategies is crucial, but so too ismotivating all concerned. This will be particularlyimportant if the new mechanisms of CommunityStrategies and Local Strategic Partnerships are tobe made to work as intended.The development of Local Strategic Partnerships hashighlighted the importance of ensuring that all sectorsare engaged. We found a desire for greaterinvolvement among business people, adult and youngcitizens alike. Their views can be tapped in differentways, but they need more feedback on a regular basis.Encouraging new employment in towns and cities isintegral to urban renaissance, and we found someimpressive projects, particularly as far as support forsmall enterprise is concerned, and in the growth ofhigher education. But our Citizens’ Wo r k s h o p sexpressed concern that many of the new jobs, as wellas town centre housing, were for better-off incomers,and not for ‘local people’. The Property Wo r k s h o p salso highlighted a local skills gap, which can deterinvestment. Unless the economic base of towns andcities is strengthened the disparities will grow.

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Finding new roles for historic industrial areas W h i l ethere are impressive case studies of revitalising oldindustrial quarters in the Core Cities these have takendecades to achieve. Many Restructuring towns andcities have interesting areas in them but the risks forthe private sector, are too high for the likely returns.Knitting regeneration areas into the wider communityA combination of railway lines, waterways and ringroads can often cut off the areas with the mostdevelopment potential from the rest of the town orc i t y. These need to be developed in ways that do notcompete with the town or city centre, and better waysare needed of crossing the divides.Upgrading accessibility Many towns and cities areconcerned about being seen as peripheral, andinvestment in both highways and inter-city transportis therefore crucial to attracting quality jobs and goodhousing. There is also a view that development in theNorth could help reduce pressures in parts of theSouth. Discussion at the Reading Symposium(September 2002) highlighted the fact that the waytransport projects are evaluated is perceived as missingout their impact on regeneration and renaissance.There is also an issue about how transport hubs andrailway lands can contribute to urban renaissancemore widely than just in London.Financing new infrastructure The challenge ofidentifying sufficient local sources of finance and thehigh costs of opening up major sites, is making itdifficult to take advantage of opportunities created byindustrial restructuring. This is a particular problemin places that are not covered by European StructuralFunds. Some of the partner towns and cities areconsidering options such as the use of infrastructurebonds, and variants of the USA’s BusinessImprovement District.

Barriers to progress The 24 partner towns and citiesidentified major barriers to making faster progress towardsurban renaissance. Work was progressed on a number ofthese, both through discussions at the symposia, and throughBreaking Down the Barriers Workshops that broughttogether local authority officers from relevant places, policyadvisors and makers and outside experts. Some preliminaryconclusions are set out below:

Reducing crime and physical decay A fundamentalconcern of both adult and young citizens is makingplaces feel safer. In part this is about minimising anti-social behaviour, but there is a much more intractableproblem related to drugs, and drug-related crime. Thediscussion at the Gateshead Symposium (March 2002)showed that community cohesion needs to be given ahigher priority if urban renaissance is not to be stalled.Encouraging enterprise development and job creationMost authorities recognise the importance ofencouraging indigenous growth rather than relyingon inward investment, which may be transient, butthe Learning and Skills Councils may miss out onencouraging entrepreneurship. There is potential tosimplify access to the support available in some areasby taking a regional approach. Securing an increase inthe supply of premises calls for changes in the businessrating system so as to penalise those who keepbuildings empty, and so as to provide incentives fornew firms to occupy space in areas of high vacancy.Making planning more responsive The planningsystem is not always considered by those ‘on theground’ to be supportive of the urban renaissanceagenda. Developers want a faster response, moretransparency and more certainty, and the revisionof the planning system towards Local DevelopmentFrameworks is intended to achieve this. However,policy advisors need to be sure that what is intendedis actually delivered locally and need to recognise thatcompetition between neighbouring local authoritiescan be counter-productive. It is also the case that aregional perspective is required in a number of places.

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In addition we make the following overarchingrecommendations also to national and local politiciansand governments and their policy advisors and makers, andto practitioners and others. We consider that, if implementedthey will have a positive impact on all the major barriersto progress:

(i) Use all the arms of government D e l i v e r i n gsustainable urban renaissance, including changingattitudes, requires continuing and concerted action onall aspects of urban living – that is housing, transport,employment, education, healthcare, crime and anti-social behaviour and the environment. It is crucial tosecure support at regional, local and national levelsacross government and its agencies – for example, theHousing Corporation, the Regional DevelopmentAgencies, English Partnerships and English Heritage.At the highest level in Government, the SocialExclusion and Regeneration Cabinet Committeebrings together the relevant Secretaries of Stateincluding the Deputy Prime Minister. However co-operative working across departments below that levelis far from universal or effective, and there is littleevidence that policy advisors in different departmentspay regard to the spatial dimension of urban policy. Inaddition, as the Partners in Urban Renaissance p r o j e c tshowed, there is considerable mutual benefit to be hadfrom a more outward facing approach by thoseworking at the centre. Similar concerns apply tothe local government structure where health andeducation in particular tend not to be integral tothe urban renaissance agenda in many places.Wer e c o m m e n d, therefore, that ODPM considersestablishing an Urban Renaissance Forum withrepresentation from across Whitehall involvingDirectors, Divisional Managers and Team Leadersto discuss how to deliver more effective joining-up ofpolicies impacting on towns and cities, to implementnew processes and practices and to monitor change.We also recommend that local authorities and theLocal Government Association consider a similarapproach to encourage and deliver more effectivejoining-up at that levelc o n t i n u e s

R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s In essence the two previoussections of this Report (Specific issues arising, and Barriersto progress) carry their own inherent recommendations fornational and local politicians and governments and theirpolicy advisors, and for urban renaissance practitioners inrespect of:

I s s u e sPositive leadership and attracting and retaining staffDeveloping the right skills and motivatingall concernedEngaging all sectorsEncouraging new employment for local peopleThe provision of reliable, safe and fast public transportMaximising the role of arts, culture and sportThe quality and maintenance of the public realm Broadening the range of housing available

B a r r i e r sReducing crime and physical decayEncouraging enterprise development and job creation Making planning more responsive Finding new roles for historic buildings andindustrial areas Knitting regeneration areas into the wider communityUpgrading accessibilityFinancing new infrastructure

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(iv) Engage Regional Development Agencies in urbanr e n a i s s a n c e The RDAs have an important role to playnot just in assisting with land assembly and makingsites ready for private investment, but also in raisingskills through Regional Centres of Excellence.Currently there are disparities in the level of supportbeing given to the urban renaissance agenda acrossthe RDA network, and there is some confusion inall quarters about the extent of interest they shouldbe taking. We recommend that ODPM and theDepartment for Trade and Industry recognise moreexplicitly RDAs’ important role in the delivery ofurban renaissance through the targets they are setand through the corporate planning guidance issuedto them. We also recommend that RDAs’ themselvestake the lead from those of their group who are givingurban renaissance a high profile backed by theresources to deliver.(v) Promote arcs of opportunity, as well as tacklingproblem areas Urban policy has traditionally targetedthe most disadvantaged areas concentrating on ‘worstfirst’ and paid less attention to places that are at riskor just on the up-turn where significant results andknock-on effects can be achieved with limited publicfunds. A continuing and strong focus ondisadvantaged areas clearly must remain a priorityfor Government but we recommend that, throughits agencies including RDAs, it should also define andsupport areas of opportunity or growth and helplocal authorities commission masterplans – especiallywhere the defined areas cross administrativeb o u n d a r i e s .c o n t i n u e s

(ii) Relax controls on pathfinders One of the bestincentives for collaboration is the reduction ofcontrols. In this respect the ComprehensivePerformance Assessment regime is intended tohelp group local authorities according to theirperformance. Collaborative partnerships, such asthis project or the Beacon Council initiative, shouldbe backed-up by changes that give local authoritiesmore freedom over budgets and over the use of thosebudgets to support urban renaissance. A related issueis the balance of funding for local authorities. Atpresent 25% of their revenue funding is raised locallyand the remaining 75% comes from Governmentgrant and redistributed business rates. In its LocalGovernment White Paper (December 2001),Government promised a review and considerationof reform options. We recommend that Governmentcontinues to give priority to reforming local authorityfinances and to reforming control over those financesand considers using a ‘pathfinder’ approach (forexample, with some or all of the 24 partner towns andcities) where changes need to be tested and refined. (iii) Improve the public realm Higher standards ofmaintenance, better quality design and improvedlighting all have a direct effect on attitudes and prideof place. Good public realm and positive attitudesabout a place can, in turn, encourage privateinvestment. Acknowledging the ‘resource’ argumentusually proffered, we nevertheless recommend t h a tlocal authorities give priority to this neglected areaand allocate funds that reflect the size and importanceof the public realm. Local authorities should alsoensure that strategies for community engagement areused to prioritise how improvements are made, andto ensure that local communities play their part.

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(viii) Popularise renaissance More good news storiesare needed to change attitudes, and the process ofrenaissance needs to be made more fun and moreinclusive (as was made clear in the Partners in UrbanR e n a i s s a n c e p r o j e c t ’s workshops with adult andyoung citizens and with property and investorinterests). As well as the big flagship projects, whichalready secure media coverage, publicity is neededfor smaller but nonetheless significant projects.We recommend that Government, local authoritiesand other agencies should extend the process ofidentifying, publishing and promoting examplesof good practice. This will not only help raise theprofile of urban renaissance but will also encouragegreater community involvement as their achievementsget recognition.

(vi) Programmes of support should be linked withinpriority areas Where there is a commitment to tackle areally disadvantaged area, it is vital to secure a criticalmass of investment and to sustain higher standards inkey services. Bringing together the range of initiativesand partnerships usually operating in such areaswould be a good start so that there isone point of responsibility and one partnershipresponsible for delivering a range of programmes.This could be backed up by consideration of financialincentives to trigger private sector investment. Wer e c o m m e n d that the ODPM’s Urban Policy Unitshould undertake further work on the feasibilityof such an approach.(vii) Mobilise land owned by utilities and publica g e n c i e s For decades people have complained aboutlack of progress in developing major brownfield sitessuch as railway lands, gas works and old unusedhospitals. English Partnerships’ new role announcedby the Deputy Prime Minister in Summer 2002should assist positive progress in the re-use of thesebrownfield sites. They represent a public resourceand one that should enable the principles of urbanrenaissance to be applied on a significant scale – aswith the Millennium Communities programme.There is also a particular opportunity aroundtransport hubs for creating demonstration projects.We recommend that the Commission forArchitecture and the Built Environment should takesteps to identify and publicise good and bad practicein the re-use of public lands, with a focus ontransport hubs.

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(iv) Incentivising financial institutions In the enddevelopers build what financial institutions areprepared to fund, and they are concerned about risksand returns. As well as resolving the ongoing issue ofgap funding, there is a more complex issue of how farboth planning and fiscal incentives can be used tocreate a more level playing field between complex buthighly accessible urban sites, and simpler ones on theperiphery that are only accessible by car.

The Partners in Urban Renaissance project has shownthat attitudes to living in urban areas are starting to changebut while commitment to making towns and cities betterplaces is growing, real barriers to renaissance – many of themof our own making – still exist. If progress is to bemaintained then central and local government must worktogether and try new actions to find a new balance ofresponsibilities that will let urban areas develop as placeswhere people want to be. England is a small country with alarge population. Achieving sustainable renaissance for the80% of the population who live in urban areas is essential forthe economic and social success of the country. If we are tolive in a more sustainable way in the future, towns and citiesmust be seen and treated as assets, and not as liabilities.

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Unresolved issues for urban renaissance Inevitably thePartners in Urban Renaissance project has raised a numberof issues for which it is difficult to make recommendationswithout further work and consultation with partners.We set these out briefly below:

(i) Building skills and experience Attracting andretaining good people is essential. However therecontinues to be a shortage of people who understandhow to manage the development process as well as ashortage of experience and skills across the urbanrenaissance agenda – from planning, to transportprofessionals and project managers. Devices likesecondments and study tours could help, as couldRegional Centres of Excellence proposed in the UrbanWhite paper but yet to be delivered across all regions.Work is needed on how to support and encouragelearning networks, and on how to encourage thegrowth of capable ‘urban practitioners’, perhapsdrawing on the success of MBA programmes inthe private sector. (ii) Measuring success, particularly quality One reasonwhy more resources are not devoted to improvingurban quality is the difficulty of measuring outcomesas opposed to outputs. Changes in attitudes seemimportant, and ways are needed of monitoring themover time. Also in order to benchmark towns andcities against comparable places, meaningful indicatorsneed to be available for different types of area, as theyare beginning to be for town centres. There is an issueof how to choose a limited number of ‘headlineindicators’ from the hundreds potentially available.The Urban Policy Unit’s work on urban indicatorswill inform this debate, and a progress report willbe available at the Urban Summit.(iii) Assessing the impact of investment on renaissanceThere is currently no way of knowing how far majortransport infrastructure projects are affecting propertyvalues or changing attitudes to living and working inurban areas. At present the main stress is still oncongestion and safety, and it is hard to justify extraspending, for example to open up jobs for those whoare excluded, or to change the image of an area. Wi t ha huge programme of investment in public transportu n d e r w a y, work is needed on how to gauge theregeneration and renaissance potential.

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“For all the thousands of people that do town planning at uni, I don’tknow where they all are now. . . ”Young People’s Wo r k s h o p

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3 5 L a n d r y, C. (2000), The Creative City ( E a r t h s c a n )3 6 Local Futures – www.localknowledge.co.uk, Local Futures Group

3 7 MORI Omnibus survey – www.mori.com/ominibus; and see also DETR (2000), Living in England: Attitudes and Aspirations( D E T R )

3 8 Mosaic Multimedia – www. m i c r o m a r k e t i n g - o n l i n e . c o m3 9 Mumford, L. (1970), The Culture of Cities (Harcourt Brace, New Yo r k )

4 0 Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (2001), Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chests: a grant programme supporting community involvement in neighbourhood renewal

4 1 Partners for Livable Communities (2000), To w a rds Livable Communities: a report 1 9 7 5 – 2 0 0 0 ( Washington DC)

4 2 Pharoah, T. (1992), Less Traffic Better To w n s (Friends of the Earth) 4 3 P o r t e r, M. (1998), The Wealth of Nations(Harvard Press, Boston)4 4 P o w e r, A. and Rogers, R. (1997), Cities for a small country(Faber & Faber)4 5 P o w e r, A. and Mumford, K. (1999), The Slow Death of Great Cities? Urban abandonment

or urban renaissance (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)

46 RICS (2001), Cities in Competition(RICS Foundation) 47 Roberts, P., Sykes, H. (200) Urban Regeneration Handbook4 8 Robson, B. et al (1994), Assessing the impact of urban policy( H M S O )4 9 Robson, B. et al (2000), The State of English Cities ( D E T R )5 0 Rudlin, D. and Falk, N. (1999), Building the 21st Century Home: the sustainable urban

n e i g h b o u r h o o d(Architectural Press)5 1 Russell, H. (2001), Local Strategic Partnerships: Lessons from new Commitment

to Regeneration ( Yo r k )

5 2 Schoon, N. (2001), The Chosen City(Joseph Rowntree Foundation)5 3 Sykes, H. and Roberts, P. ed. (2000), Urban Regeneration: A handbook ( S a g e )5 4 Social Exclusion Unit (2002), Making the Connections: Transport and Social Exclusion

Interim Findings5 5 Stewart, K. (2002), Measuring Well-being and Exclusion in Europe’s Regions(Centre

for Analysing Social Exclusion, London School of Economics)

5 6 Tanghe, J., Vlaeminck, S. and Berghoef, J. (1984), Living Cities (Pergamon Press)5 7 Turok, I. and Edge, N. (1999), The Jobs Gap in Britain’s Cities: employment loss and

labour market consequence(Policy Press)

5 8 University of Sheffield (2000), Improving Urban Parks, Planning Areas and Green S p a c e s ( D T L R )

5 9 Urban Task Force (1999), To w a rds an Urban Renaissance (Stationery Office)6 0 URBED (1997), Town Centre Partnerships(Stationery Office)6 1 URBED, MORI and the University of Bristol (1999), But would you live there? Shaping

attitudes to urban living (DETR/Urban Task Force)6 2 URBED and the Bartlett School of Planning (2000), Living Places: Implementing an Urban

Renaissance in the South East (HMSO); and see also www. c h a n g i n g p l a c e s . u r b e d . c o m

6 3 Wates, N. (1996), Action Planning: how to use planning weekends and urban design action teams to improve your environment(Prince of Wales Foundation)

6 4 Young, K. and Grayson, L. (1994), The Quality of Life in Cities (British Library)

1 3 0 / 1 3 1

1 Arts Council of England ed. Stetter, A. (2002), Pride of Place: how the Lottery contributed £1 billion to the arts in England ( A u g u s t )

2 Barclays Bank (2002), Competing with the world: a study of the economic development strategies of some of the world’s richest regions

3 Begg, I. ed. (2002), Urban Competitiveness: Policies for Dynamic Cities(report of the ESRC Cities research programme) (Policy Press)

4 Brennan, A., Rhodes, J. and Ty l e r, P. (2000), The Nature of Local Area Social Exclusion in England and the Role of the Labour Market 16 (1) (Oxford Review of Economic Policy)

5 Burrows, R. and Rhodes, D. (1998), Unpopular Places? Area disadvantage and the geography of misery in England (Policy Press)

6 Cabinet Office – Social Exclusion Unit (2001), A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: National Strategy Action Plan

7 C a r l e y, M. et al (2000), Regeneration in the 21st Century(Policy Press)8 Carmona, M. (1993), The Value of Urban Design (Thames Te l f o r d )9 CB Hillier Parker Research – www. c b h i l l i e r p a r k e r. c o m1 0 CEC (1990), Green paper on the Urban Environment Commission of the European

C o m m u n i t i e s1 1 Champion, A. (1999), ‘The Flight from the Cities’: Paper presented to expert seminar

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1 2 City Growth Strategies perspective (2001) – http://www. s b s . g o v.uk/ content/pdf/city_growth_strategies_final_prospectus.pdf

13 Council of Europe (1980), A Better Life in To w n s

1 4 Dabinett, G. et al (2001), A Review of the Evidence Base for Regeneration Policyand Practice ( D E T R )

1 5 Del Tufo, S. and Gaster, L. (2002), Evaluation of the Commission on Poverty, Participation and Power ( York Publishing)

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Better Practice1 8 DETR (2000), Our Towns and Cities: The Future(Stationery Office)1 9 DETR (2000), Local Quality of life counts , A handbook for a menu of local indicators of

sustainable development 2 0 DETR (2001) Regional quality of life counts, Regional versions of the national ‘headline’

indicators of sustainable development.

21 ESRC (2000), Cities: Competitiveness and Cohesionresearch programme report

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The Partners in Urban Renaissanceproject was run by a joint team comprisingmembers of the Urban Policy Unit (Office ofthe Deputy Prime Minister) and consultantsURBED (Urban and EconomicDevelopment Group), with the support anddirect involvement of ODPM Ministers.

The project would not have succeededwithout the commitment of all 24 partnertowns & cities. Ministers and the

UPU/URBED team are especially grateful tocouncillors, officers, residents, businessesand community groups who contributedto the project.

The project was assisted by a SteeringGroup comprising Joyce Bridges (DivisionalManager Urban Policy Unit), ProfessorMichael Parkinson (John Moores UniversityLiverpool), Professor Simon Marvin (SalfordUniversity), Tony Rich and Jerry Unsworth(Local Government Association), and JonRouse (Chief Executive, CABE). The projectreports were designed and produced byCartlidge Levene.

A considerable number of otherorganisations and individuals also took part andwe would like to thank:

The Commission for Architectureand the Built Environment

King Sturge

M O R I

Professor Sir Peter Hall(Institute for Community Studies)

Professor Michael Hebbert(Manchester University)

Les Sparks

Martin Delaney (Omerge Recordings)and Sue Berry

Youth workers from the towns and cities whoparticipated in the Young People’s Wo r k s h o p sand Teesside University for hosting theMiddlesbrough event

RBA consultants

Birmingham, Gateshead and Reading forhosting the symposia

The Architecture Foundation (Hannah Ford)

South East England Development Agency forsupporting the symposium at Reading

Sheffield and Newham for organisaingand hosting events

Richard We b b e r

Experian Goad

Government Regional Offices

Other divisions of ODPM –housing and planning

Other Government departments, agencies andorganisations including: HM Tr e a s u r y, HomeOffice, Department for Transport, HighwaysAgency and Railtrack (now Network Rail)

C r e d i t s

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