Centre for Cities

City Minutes: Where are the missing workers?

Britain’s jobs miracle has been widely discussed. Most commentators agree that, despite Britain’s economic uncertainty, the labour market remains robust. But go below these national headlines and explore the labour market in different cities across the country and a more complicated picture emerges.

In under ten minutes, Chief Executive Andrew Carter speaks to Analyst Elena Magrini about latest research by the Centre for Cities and the OECD into economic inactivity.

Background reading: 

• Where are the missing workers?
• How have cities changed in the last century, and what factors have affected their growth and decline?
• Lessons on how to help left behind places.

City Minutes: What's driving self-employment in cities?

Since the financial crisis, Britain’s urban areas have seen a self-employment boom. But too many people working for themselves lack access to training — raising concerns about their long-term security and many cities’ future economic strength.

In just ten minutes, Analyst Elena Magrini explains how changes in the labour market and the gig economy are playing out differently across the country and finds that there are a few industries driving self-employment in cities.

Background reading: Self-employment in cities 

City Talks: Party conference special - where do politicians stand in the devolution debate?

Britain's Brexit challenges have pushed important domestic policy debates off the political agenda. Devolution to England's cities stalled as politicians became increasingly detracted by withdrawing Britain from the EU.

At this year's Labour and Conservative party conferences Andrew Carter caught up with senior politicians and figures from the business community to discuss how they want to kick start the devolution agenda in the months ahead.

He spoke to:

• Jim McMahon MP, Shadow Devolution Minister, about empowering councils, dealing with austerity and Labour's devolution policy.
• Cllr Abi Brown, Conservative Leader of Stoke on Trent Council, about the city's economic progress, working with the Government and what she wants to see from Boris Johnson on devolution.
• Chris Fletcher, Director at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, about the impact of Brexit on Manchester, what having a metro mayor has meant for the city region and what the business community wants from candidates in the next mayoral election.  

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

City Talks: Jonathan Rodden on the deep roots of the urban-rural political divide

In 2016 Donald Trump became US President despite winning almost 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

In this episode of City Talks we talk to award-winning academic Jonathan Rodden, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and author of the book Why Cities Lose.

He explores the origins of America’s urban-rural political divide and explains how economic geography shapes elections – both in the USA and beyond.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

 

City Talks: Dr Julie Grail, Chris Brown and Rebecca McDonald on the future of the British high street

Many British high streets face a bleak future as policymakers are failing to identify a clear economic focus to city centre regeneration strategies. But contrary to popular belief, our research has shown that not all city centres are failing.

While cities such as Newport and Wigan struggle, others thrive.  

To discuss why this is, Andrew Carter is joined by Dr Julie Grail – Founder of The BIDs Business and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management; Chris Brown – Founder and Executive Chair of Igloo, and Rebecca McDonald – Analyst at the Centre for Cities. 

The panel discusses why retail became such a dominant feature of the high street and compares the role of online retail today with the out-of-town shopping centres of the past.

They look at examples from high streets across the UK, and the latest research by the Centre for Cities into the health of high streets, to develop a sustainable future for the British high street. 

City Talks: Otto Saumarez-Smith on the politics of 1960s radical urban renewal

In this episode of City Talks, Andrew Carter is joined by Otto Saumarez Smith, Assistant Professor in Architectural History at the University of Warwick, to discuss his book Boom Cities: Architect Planners and the Politics of Radical Urban Renewal in 1960s Britain.

Otto discusses the rapid rise and fall of modernist urban planning in 1960s Britain and charts the transformation of many historic city centres.

He explains the philosophical, political and cultural post-war debates that underpinned these transformations and how they shaped Britain’s cities for years to come.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

City Horizons: Britain beyond Brexit with Gavin Kelly and Nick Pearce

What shape will the UK’s economy, constitution and politics take once the Brexit storm clears? Listen to a recap of our July 2019 City Horizons event, where the Resolution Trust's Gavin Kelly and the University of Bath's Nick Pearce, discussed their major new book, Britain Beyond Brexit.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Horizons series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

City Talks: Michael Parkinson on bringing Liverpool back from the brink

Thirty years ago Liverpool was a city teetering on the brink. Years of economic decline were breaking of the former imperial city’s social and political fabric. The scale of the challenge facing Liverpool was so great that many commentators predicted that it would never recover.

They were wrong.   

To discuss Liverpool’s remarkable social and economic recovery, Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Michael Parkinson, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Civic Engagement University of Liverpool and author of Liverpool Beyond the Brink: The Remaking of a Post Imperial City.

Professor Parkinson charts the journey that Liverpool has made since its mid-1980s nadir, explains the measures taken to pull it back from the brink and offers his thoughts on what lessons Liverpool’s regeneration has for other cities.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

 

City Talks: Neil O’Brien MP on building a strong national economy from the bottom up

In this episode of City Talks, Andrew Carter is joined by Neil O’Brien, who is MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, and former special advisor to Prime Minister Theresa May as well as to the erstwhile chancellor George Osborne. He is also the author of many reports, the latest one being Firing on all cylinders: Building a strong economy from the bottom up, which was published by Onward, the advisory board of which he is a member.

This report, which forms the basis of this episode, examines the actions that need to be taken to make all parts of the country and all groups in society share in the benefits of the growing economy – in short, a ‘trickle-up’ plan. It also proposes an approach to spurring growth which is pro-business, but in a way which aims to help the neediest places help themselves to move forward.

The discussion looks at what has and hasn’t worked historically in terms of stimulating growth, particularly in places outside London, as well as rebalancing the economy.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

City Talks: The rising threat of air pollution in cities – and how to fight back

More than 90% of the world's population is exposed to air pollutant concentrations exceeding World Health Organisation guideline levels, while globally four-and-a-half million people died prematurely from particle and ozone pollution in 2015.  While air pollution is a problem in both rural and urban areas, particular types of pollutants tend to be more concentrated in cities. And as more and more of the population shifts to living in cities, an ever greater proportion of people are living closer to pollution sources.

Why don’t we understand air pollution better? And how have we allowed it to build to the crisis we have today?

To answer these questions, Andrew Carter is joined by Gary Fuller who is Senior Lecturer in Air Pollution Measurement at Kings College London, a leader of the London Air Quality Network and the author of a brilliant, if somewhat scary, book entitled The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution - and How We Can Fight Back

Dr. Fuller challenges common misconceptions around what creates air pollution and how it's measured and argues that to change the future of our planet and collective global health, both city-level and national government action are essential.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.