How have some troubled cities overseas turned themselves around? What did they invest in? How did they organise themselves? Cities are concentrations of economic activity where businesses tend to locate, not just because many of their customers are there, but also because that’s where most of the skilled workers live and where – more broadly – innovation is happening. Economists call this agglomeration effects. But these benefits do not come automatically. Some cities have successfully reinvented themselves, but others struggled in this transformation, such as Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. What lessons can be learned for the UK from successful Turnaround Cities?
Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:
- Philip McCann, Professor of Urban and Regional Economics at Alliance Manchester Business School
- Susanne Frick, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Blavatnik School of Government
- Ian Taylor, Research and Policy Associate, Blavatnik School of Government
For more information on the topic:
- Resolution Foundation (2023), Lessons from successful ‘turnaround’ cities for the UK, London.
- Susanne Frick and Paula Prenzel (2023), Turnaround Cities: German Case Studies. Insights from Dortmund, Duisburg and Leipzig, Blavatnik School of Government.
- Susanne Frick(2023), Turnaround Cities: French Case Study: Insights from Lille, Blavatnik School of Government.
- Susanne Frick (2023), Turnaround Cities: Spanish Case Study: Insights from the Basque Country & Bilbao, Blavatnik School of Government.
- Ian Taylor (2023), Turnaround Cities: Anglo-Saxon Case Studies. Insights from Pittsburgh (PA), Newcastle (NSW) and Windsor (Ont.), Blavatnik School of Government.
- Philip McCann (2021), The Fiscal Implications of ‘Levelling Up’ and UK Governance Devolution, Productivity Insights Paper, No. 008, The Productivity Institute.
About Productivity Puzzles:
Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Productivity Puzzles
Join Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies at the University of Manchester, and the managing director of The Productivity Institute as he brings you discussions with leading minds from the UK and abroad about how to improve productivity for almost everything: from health care to car manufacturing, at national and regional levels, for business and for your own personal productivity.
This podcast series investigates why UK productivity is lower than in many other countries and why are there such large differences in productivity across and within the regions and devolved nations. We’ll also get the best insights from research on smart policies and effective business practices to increase productivity and find out how this will drive prosperity, wellbeing and inclusive sustainable growth.
Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research project involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight regional productivity forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government.
Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk
The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. To find out more, visit: https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/