14 December 2010
Many attempts to regenerate former industrial cities have been unsuccessful, according to the Centre for Cities.
A report from the think-tank, published today, called for a new approach to regeneration focused on the specific needs of individual areas and their existing residents.
Centre for Cities’ research found that many regeneration projects had failed to turn around local economies. It criticised the focus on building housing, office blocks and science parks on the assumption that economic growth would follow, noting that the average underperforming regeneration project in England generated 40% fewer jobs than anticipated. Vacant housing in these areas has remained, and vacant office space is often difficult to let.
Centre for Cities chief executive Alexandra Jones said: ‘In the past, city leaders and national government have championed the replacement of out-of-use steel works and empty terraces with office and apartment blocks. These projects did not improve opportunities for local residents in the way they had hoped, and public and developer finance is now limited.’
Today’s report calls on both national and local politicians to acknowledge that a strictly growth-focused regeneration strategy is not always the right one and can have negative as well as positive consequences. Building recreation space and adapting existing housing stock might be a more successful approach, the think-tank said.
‘Shifting plans from building a science park to creating a public park in these places is not about giving up on growth – it’s about improving the areas for local residents, who should be at the heart of the decision-making process,’ Jones said.
‘This is an approach that has worked for US and German cities. Ambition and innovation from city leadership are the key ingredients.’
