Geographically-Targeted Urban Policies and the

Complications of Space: Some Thoughts

City Futures ‘09, 4-6 June 2009, Madrid

Alasdair RaeDepartment of Town and Regional Planning

University of Sheffield, UK

AESOP 2009: ‘Why can’t the future be more like the past?’

Liverpool, UK – July 15-18 2009

Overview1. Context (is the pot boiling again?)

• And, will the future be like the past?2. Placing ABIs (conceptually/spatially)

• Rise to prominence of ABIs• Urban problems or urban

symptoms?• A spatial framework

3. England’s North West (exemplar?)• Post-industrial challenges• Policy responses• Some spatial data: commuting

4. Complications• Spatial complexity is a reality• How should we understand it?

5. Where now for ABIs?• Re-invigoration or re-evaluation…

Why ask the question?

• 40+ years of urban policy• New commitment in US…

– e.g. Obama, 13 July 2009

• What are the alternatives?• Questioning policy models• Will the future of urban

policy be just like the past?

1. Context

Rise to prominence of ABIs

• Markets:– Inefficiency– Failure

• Spatial strategies• People vs. places?• ‘Good’ policies for

‘bad’ areas?• ‘Pathological’ issues Cabrini-Green, Chicago, USA (2008)

2. Placing ABIs (conceptually/spatially)

Urban problems or urban symptoms?

• What is the focus?

– Efficiency– Effectiveness

• Orientation reflected in policy formulation

• Ontological paradox?Tourcoing, Lille Métropole, France (2009)

A spatial framework

• Macro-spatial (e.g. UK)

– National scale

– Poverty as problem

– Inequality

• Meso-spatial (e.g. France)

– Spatial mismatch

– Locational disadvantage

– Inefficiency

• Micro-spatial (e.g. US)

– Internal problems

– Local solutions

– Inadequacy

Nation

City

Neighbourhood

Post-industrial challenges

• North West England– Dominated by Manchester and Liverpool– 4.0 million people in two metro areas– High levels of deprivation, lots of intervention

Urban policy

interventions

Economic re-structuring

3. England’s North West (exemplar?)

North

West

Policy responses

Some spatial data: commuting

• Targeted areas are not islands• Evidence of spatial mismatch• Labour market ‘inefficiencies’?

WardIMD Rank

Internal Flow

Inflow

Outflow

Net Flow

Self Contain-ment (%)

Workers Living Locally (%)

Commuting 5km or More (%)

Princess (Knowsley) 1 139 378 1,108 -730 11.15 26.89 54.37Breckfield (Liverpool) 2 452 1,539 2,400 -861 15.85 22.70 24.79Bradford (Manchester) 3 565 5,254 1,987 3,267 22.14 9.71 33.15

Granby (Liverpool) 4 441 1,805 2,028 -223 17.86 19.63 24.71

Speke (Liverpool) 5 465 836 1,799 -963 20.54 35.74 43.73Longview (Knowsley) 7 177 395 1,130 -735 13.54 30.94 49.12

Spatial complexity is a reality

• Reality = challenging • Heal the patient by

dressing the wound?

• Is the model correct?

• Spatial dynamics, e.g. mix = movement Toxteth, Liverpool (2005)

4. Complications

How should we understand it?

• Need a coherent spatial framework

• Focus on mobility

• Understanding the ‘problem’

• Evaluation factors

Red Road Flats, Glasgow, Scotland (2004)

Re-invigoration or re-evaluation…

5. Where now for ABIs?

• New wave of policy transfer?

• Continue ‘spatial rationalist’ approach?

• More fundamental re-think?

• No urban policy? What then?