A large scale integrated Sustainable Urban Futures Programme is needed to deliver a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery for urban areas
Authors: Glenn Athey, Alex Frost, Kostas Gkrimmotsis and Pete Tyler, Cambridge Econometrics
As the UK economy seeks to build back better from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic it is important that UK Government policy responds to the highly differentiated impact that Covid-19, and other major issues like Brexit and the Environmental Crisis, are having on England’s urban areas.
Research commissioned by the City Regions Board of the Local Government Association for England and Wales and completed by Cambridge Econometrics revealed in the report A vision for urban growth and recovery | Local Government Association shows that urban areas suffered from higher Covid-19 caseloads, and had significant risk factors for Covid-19, including lower health and a higher rate of pre-existing conditions, more at-risk jobs, higher public transport use, housing overcrowding, and larger BAME populations.
The renewal of British urban areas, following a half a century of deindustrialisation, is a job half-done and many urban areas remain vulnerable to further extensive economic change
Many urban areas have relatively low levels and growth of productivity and earnings, entrenched income inequality and housing need. Added to these are the challenges of climate change, accelerating digital transformation of the workplace, the contraction of retail and the need to replace obsolescent commercial floorspace that is not fit for purpose in a post-Covid world. Within the next six months, urban areas will have to deal with slower economic growth and address the impact of Covid-related economic restructuring on traditional land-use patterns.
Major challenges such as Covid-recovery and Climate Change will require integrated, long-term solutions for urban areas
It is imperative that local authorities are able to work in partnership with other key stakeholders to develop and implement integrated solutions for recovery and growth, However, at the present time the national policy and funding landscape appears fragmented and confused.
The national policies that impact upon urban areas are diverse and it is difficult to see how they enable joined-up solutions to solve the major challenges such as rising unemployment, inequalities and climate change. Thus, the recently announced levelling up funds have seven identified programme streams that are mostly concerned with infrastructure funding – as well as the National Infrastructure Commission.
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Taking lessons from the 1970s and 1980s, we should implement an ambitious long-term urban programme – the Sustainable Urban Futures Fund
During the 1970s and 1980s, Government failed to appreciate the sheer scale of the problems being faced by urban areas provoked by deindustrialisation and to provide the resources at scale required to tackle them. This eventually led to integrated programmes being designed and implemented in the 1990s and 2000s.
The current plethora of small initiatives, that are competitive, usually for a prescribed use, and funded over short time-horizons - do not provide a basis for a sustainable recovery that is inclusive and addresses climate change. What is needed is an integrated programme that encourages local government, national government, the private sector and communities to work in partnership.
Our vision for urban recovery and growth must be to ensure an integrated programme for urban recovery and growth that delivers:
We propose a policy vehicle – The Sustainable Urban Futures Fund – which could provide long-term, large-scale funding for integrated urban programmes.
The proposal is for 5-7 year funding, scalable to each locality (£25m-£250m per annum), in a single pot for use on the priorities facing the urban area (whether economy, inclusion, sustainability, housing or infrastructure). This could be in the form of grant funding and / or evergreen funding. It could be allocated to combined authorities, urban authorities and/or urban partnerships on a competitive basis. National objectives could be set between central and local government. Awards would be based on need. This long-term fund would lead to economies of scope and scale, achieve much higher impacts, and would gain more private sector leverage and buy-in than small individual grant schemes. Led by urban authorities working in partnership with national government, the private sector and communities, this Fund would enable the large-scale, funded programmes that can deliver the required integrated urban place-based solutions.
You can read the full report A vision for urban growth and recovery at the Local Government Association website. You can learn more about the research team at Cambridge Econometrics here.
Photo by Brian Lewicki on Unsplash