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City deals – place-based agreements between central and local state actors – are an increasingly common intervention for supporting economic performance in urban areas. This paper presents empirical evidence on the effectiveness of city deals by estimating the impact of the UK's City Deals scheme on rates of economic growth, productivity and job creation across England between 2010 and 2019. Because the City Deals were introduced in two waves, we estimate its effects using a differences-in-differences (DiD) with multiple time periods (MTPs) approach. Our DiD estimates indicate that, overall, the City Deals were associated with improvements in local economic performance, but that the first wave of city deals resulted in gains of around 2.5% to 3% that were not observed in the second wave. These results suggest that city deals are most effective when appropriate institutional structures are in place and highlight the value of MTP approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years sexualised drug use, usually referred to as chemsex, has become the object of intense media health‐related panic and increasing academic scrutiny. Critical social scientists have challenged pathologising perspectives, analysing the socio‐cultural and political economy dimensions of chemsex. Against the silence of geographers in this emerging field, the paper develops a geographical relational analysis of chemsex, focusing on the experiences of gay men living with HIV in two Italian cities (Bologna; Milan) and Italian gay men living with HIV in three English cities (Leicester; London; Manchester). Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, that is, as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. To emphasise the central role of place and geographical knowledge to understand chemsex, the paper builds on 'weak theory', as it conceives things as open, entangled, connected and in flux, while focusing on ordinary practices and heterogeneity in more‐than‐human worlds. Showing how chemsex represents an embodied, relational geographical encounter among different human and non‐human actors, places (both physical and digital), imaginations and desires, the paper highlights the role of sexual practices in the relational construction of place‐making, therefore calling for an increased engagement with sex itself within the field of geographies of sexualities. The paper introduces a relational geographical perspective to the analysis of chemsex. Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, i.e. as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. The paper calls for an increased engagement with the materiality of sex within the field of geographies of sexualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publication of the 2021 Census data revealed that four English cities—Birmingham, Leicester, London and Manchester—are now 'no majority' cities, meaning that no ethnic group, including the White British, comprise a majority (more than half) of their populations. This paper explores the residential diversification of these cities to ask: whether that diversification is reflected in the average neighbourhood of all ethnic groups or just some; whether the decline in the number of White British means that 'enclaves' of other ethnic groups are emerging instead; whether the White British are avoiding living in diverse neighbourhoods; and whether a co‐occurrence of the diversification is that residential segregation between the White British and other groups is increasing within and beyond the boundaries of these cities. Using a harmonised set of cross‐census neighbourhoods to provide a consistent geography across the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses, the results show that the residential neighbourhoods of the four cities have increased their ethnic diversity for the average member of all ethnic groups. Despite some growth in the number of neighbourhoods where a group other than the White British form a majority, especially in Leicester, the overall conclusion is one of residential diversification happening alongside residential desegregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new conceptualization of scale as performative imaginary and deploys that to explore the what, the why and the how questions of scalar fixing. Drawing on city-regionalization in England, it argues that a distinct imaginary of city-regions as economic- and city-centric spaces has been normalized through two forms of knowledge: one rationalizing the scalar positioning of this imaginary, the other demarcating its spatial boundaries. It shows that despite the alignment between enacted scale (what), scalar imaginary (how) and neoliberal political project (why), institutionalization of this imaginary has failed, leading to variable geometries of subnational governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is interest in the circular economy as a framework for transition from a linear take-make-dispose model of production and consumption, to a circular model which decouples economic growth from resource consumption. However, there is limited understanding of how that applies to the city through governance lens. This paper examines evidence from 28 municipalities in London to unpack the 'government' and 'governance' of circular economy in the city. It examines the 'governmentality' of circular economy in planning practice and reflects on what austerity localism and scalar politics might mean for the planning and governance of circular economy in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The literature has hitherto neglected the influence of specific cities on the decision to work abroad, implicitly treating all locations within countries as similar. Using a boundaryless careers and expatriation perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate a range of specific motives that individuals have when working in London, the British capital. Design/methodology/approach – The results of semi-structured, in-depth interviews and a large-scale quantitative survey shed light on the relative importance of individual drives, career and development motivations, family and partner factors, organizational context, national and city-specific considerations to come to London. Findings – A range of London-specific attributes are identified and their importance assessed. A new framework of individual international mobility drivers is developed. Research limitations/implications – There is limited generalisability of findings of interview studies, especially as "white collar" workers and managers were interviewed. Theoretical contributions consist of the development of a framework for city attractiveness assessment and further insights into international mobility drivers and barriers. Practical implications – The findings reiterate the importance of individual preparation of international sojourns based on proactive location choice. They also inform city policy considerations and organizational strategies, policies and practices with respect to international mobility. Originality/value – The paper moves the literature on new international careers and global mobility to go beyond the organizational perspective to assess city attractiveness factors. The paper develops a framework for evaluating city attractiveness and assesses London's "pull factors". This results in major implications for public policy, organizational resourcing and individual decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to examine a pan-regional initiative, The Northern Way. The argument is framed within the on-going city-region debate to demonstrate some of the challenges and difficulties of working in collaboration and partnership across associational networks. It seeks to highlight the importance of institutional and local legacies and politics for understanding the nature of this particular form of pan-regional arrangement. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on existing literature and other secondary source material from policy and guidance documents, participant observation in regional and sub-regional meetings, and supplemented with primary interview data. Findings - The Northern Way, promoted by central government to manage decline in the Greater North of England, demonstrated a continued legacy of regional disparities and an attempt to move city actors from inter and intra regional rivalry towards collaboration and partnership. As an associational network, the fluidity of scales and wide ranging social forces impacted on coordination and integration of processes, institutions, plans and strategies. This emergent governance form exemplified institutional turbulence, as powers were re-configured continuously across: scales and, across policy sectors and policy actors. The Northern Way was a very complicated arrangement of networks across regional and sub-regional territories, and its lack of autonomy from central government hampered its overall effectiveness and strategic approach. Originality/value - The paper provides a valuable insight for academics, practitioners and policy makers into some of the challenges and difficulties of managing across a pan-regional associational network. It is original because most of the earlier literature focuses solely on city-regions rather than a specific pan-regional initiative such as the one under enquiry here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Advocates of the role of city-regions in economic development seek lessons from other countries to boost the case. But processes of lesson learning raise many challenges and the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to argue that it is necessary to shift from descriptive comparison to a better understanding and explanation of what works where. Design/methodology/approach - The approach taken in the paper is to review recent debates about the design of comparative studies and suggests a range of comparative questions. Findings - The paper draws on insights from the ESRC Research Seminar and other papers in this issue and helps clarify some of the issues that may be involved in developing a better comparative understanding of the emergence and impacts of new "experimental", time-limited regional institutions. Research limitations/implications - The paper argues for more rigorous comparative research. Practical implications - Questions are raised about current lesson learning concerning the governance of city regions. Originality/value - The paper contributes to new debates about the potential of comparative study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harrison J. Life after regions? The evolution of city-regionalism in England, Regional Studies. This paper examines the evolving pattern of city-regional governance in England. Following the demise of English regional policy in 2004, city-regions have come to represent the in vogue spatial scale amongst policy elites. The result has been a proliferation of actual and proposed policies and institutions designed to operate at a, variously defined, city-regional scale in England. Nevertheless, attempts to build a city-regional tier of governance have been tentative and lacking coherence. Alongside this, city-regions are to be found emerging alongside existing tiers of economic governance and spatial planning. Arguing that what is being witnessed is not ‘life after regions’ but life with, or alongside, regions, the analysis presented argues that to understand why contemporary state reorganization results in a multiplication of the scales of economic governance and spatial planning, it must be recognized how the state shapes policies in such a way as to protect its legitimacy in maintaining regulatory control and management of the economy. The final section relates these findings to wider debates on state rescaling and speculates on the future role of transition models in sociospatial theory. Harrison J. La vie après la région? L'évolution de la cité-région en Angleterre, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner la tendance à la gouvernance en Angleterre à partir de la cité-région. Suite au déclin de la politique régionale anglaise en 2004, la cité-région représente l'échelle géographique en vogue parmi les élites politiques. Il en a résulté une prolifération de politiques et d'institutions actuelles et proposées mises au point afin d'être appliquées à l'échelle de la cité-région en Angleterre et définies de différentes manières. Cependant, les tentatives de construire un niveau de gouvernance à l'échelle de la cité-région ont été à la fois hésitantes et manquant de cohérence. Egalement, la naissance de la cité-région va de pair avec des niveaux existants de gouvernance économique et de planification géographique. En affirmant que l'on n'assiste pas à ‘la vie après la région’ mais plutôt à la vie avec (ou à côté des) régions, l'analyse présentée affirme que, pour comprendre pourquoi la restructuration contemporaine de l'Etat finit par une multiplication des échelles de gouvernance économique et de planification géographique, on doit reconnaître comment l'Etat met au point des politiques de façon que l'on puisse légitimer le maintien du contrôle réglementaire et la gestion de l'économie. Le dernier chapitre rapporte ces résultats à de grands débats sur la restructuration de l'échelle de l'Etat et spécule sur le futur rôle des modèles de transition dans la théorie socio-géographique. Cité-région?Gouvernance?Angleterre?Régionalisation?Restructuration de l'échelle de l'Etat?Modèles de transition Harrison J. Ein Leben nach den Regionen? Die Evolution des Stadtregionalismus in England, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird das sich herausbildende Muster der Verwaltung von Stadtregionen in England untersucht. Seit dem Niedergang der englischen Regionalpolitik im Jahr 2004 sind die Stadtregionen bei den politischen Eliten als räumlicher Maßstab in Mode gekommen. Dies führte in England zu einem Wuchern der tatsächlichen und geplanten Politiken und Institutionen zur Funktion auf einer – unterschiedlich definierten – Ebene der Stadtregionen. Gleichzeitig aber verliefen die Versuche des Aufbaus einer Verwaltungsebene auf dem Niveau der Stadtregionen zögerlich und inkohärent. Darüber hinaus entstehen Stadtregionen neben den vorhandenen Ebenen der Wirtschaftsverwaltung und Raumplanung. In dieser Analyse wird die These aufgestellt, dass wir nicht Zeugen eines ‘Lebens nach den Regionen' sind, sondern vielmehr eines Lebens mit (oder neben) den Regionen. Ebenso wird argumentiert, dass man zum Verständnis der Frage, warum die aktuelle staatliche Neuorganisation zu einer Multiplikation der Maßstäbe der Wirtschaftsverwaltung und Raumplanung führt, erkennen muss, wie der Staat die Politik so gestaltet, dass seine Legitimität bei der Bewahrung der ordnungspolitischen Kontrolle und Wirtschaftsverwaltung geschützt wird. Im letzten Teil werden diese Ergebnisse in den Zusammenhang der breiteren Debatte über eine staatliche Neuskalierung gestellt, und es wird über die künftige Rolle der Übergangsmodelle in der sozioräumlichen Theorie spekuliert. Stadtregion?Verwaltung?England?Dezentralisierung?Staatliche Neuskalierung?Übergangsmodelle Harrison J. ¿Vida tras las regiones? La evolución del regionalismo metropolitano en Inglaterra, Regional Studies. En este artículo analizamos el modelo evolutivo de la administración regional metropolitana en Inglaterra. Desde la desaparición de la política regional inglesa en 2004, las regiones metropolitanas representan ahora la escala espacial de moda entre las élites de la política. Esto ha llevado en Inglaterra a una proliferación de las políticas presentes y planificadas y las instituciones diseñadas para operar a una escala con varias definiciones de regiones metropolitanas. Sin embargo, los intentos de construir un nivel de administración en las regiones metropolitanas han sido vacilantes y con falta de coherencia. Asimismo, se ha observado que las regiones metropolitanas surgen junto con niveles existentes de administración económica y planificación espacial. En este análisis que presentamos argumentamos que lo que se observa no es una ‘vida tras las regiones’ sino una vida con (o junto a) las regiones, y sostenemos que para entender el motivo por el que la reorganización contemporánea de los órganos estatales lleva a una multiplicación de las escalas de administración económica y planificación espacial, hay que reconocer de qué modo el estado forma las políticas para proteger su legitimidad a la hora de mantener el control regulador y la gestión de la economía. En la sección final relacionamos estos resultados con los debates más extensos sobre el reajuste estatal y especulamos sobre el futuro papel de los modelos de transición en la teoría socioespacial. Región metropolitana?Administración?Inglaterra?Transferencia de competencias?Reajuste estatal?Modelos de transición [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, the systematic reuse of brownfield land, also known as previously developed land (PDL), has been a core component of urban regeneration strategies in England. This paper investigates the emerging spatial patterns of reused PDL and analyses to what extent this reuse reaches into the most deprived neighbourhoods as a general trend and in a number of exemplary urban areas in England. The underlying question is to investigate how far generic brownfield reuse targets contribute to increased physical regeneration in the most deprived areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Physical access to food may affect diet and thus obesity rates. We build upon existing work to better understand how socio-economic characteristics of locations are associated with childhood overweight. Design: Using cross-sectional design and publicly available data, the study specifically compares rural and urban areas, including interactions of distance from supermarkets with income and population density. Setting: We examine cross-sectional associations with obesity prevalence both in the national scale and across urban and rural areas differing in household wealth. Participants: Children in reception class (aged 4–5) from all state-maintained schools in England taking part in the National Child Measurement Programme (n 6772). Results: Income was the main predictor of childhood obesity (adj. R-sq=.316, p<.001), whereas distance played only a marginal role (adj. R-sq=.01, p<.001). In urban areas, distance and density correlate with obesity directly and conditionally. Urban children were slightly more obese, but the opposite was true for children in affluent areas. Association between income poverty and obesity rates was stronger in urban areas (7·59 %) than rural areas (4·95 %), the former which also showed stronger association between distance and obesity. Conclusions: Obesogenic environments present heightened risks in deprived urban and affluent rural areas. The results have potential value for policy making as for planning and targeting of services for vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the different ways in which the participatory principles of Agenda 21 are being put into practice in the UK, by reference to research in three 'progressive' localities: Kirklees, Leicester and Mendip. The investigation includes an examination of the reasons why a participatory approach is being adopted, how the local authorities are engaging the public in Local Agenda 21 (the levels, methods and scope of participation) and how effective their approaches have been. The research reveals that a variety of participatory methods and techniques are being employed at various scales. The three authorities emphasize a listening and open approach to the decision-making process, but despite their commitment to participation there had been limited success in securing widespread involvement of people, and especially disadvantaged groups, in the process. Key issues to emerge are the importance of the commitment of key elected representatives and the need for participation to be an ongoing commitment with a preparedness to begin with 'where people are at' rather than to set aspirations too high. The implications are that change is needed in the way local authorities relate to the communities they serve, but this will place considerable demands on already stretched local authority resources, particularly where positive action is needed to 'build capacity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on policy mixes tends to focus on the instruments that different jurisdictions adopt to tackle public problems, and how policies may complement or conflict with each other. Fewer studies examine the factors that influence instrument choice, particularly within multilevel contexts, despite a recognition that policy mixes to tackle similar issues vary substantially across and within countries. We present a new framework to help understand and predict policy choice in subnational governance, arguing that the level of local support for action influences the type of policy a city adopts, whereas top‐down drivers shape the breadth of instruments it deploys. Drawing on in‐depth stakeholder interviews and documentary analysis, we apply this framework to explain why two contrasting English cities selected their own distinctive policy mixes to combat air pollution. We suggest that where top‐down drivers for action are strong but bottom‐up support is muted, as was the case in Nottingham, municipal governments are likely to adopt a broad range of largely (re)distributive, informational and administrative instruments to tackle policy problems. Where local support is strong, as in Westminster, city authorities prefer to introduce regulations, because restrictions entail fewer political costs in these contexts and are more likely to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how international biodiversity commitments (Aichi targets) made in 2010 have been incorporated into spatial planning policy in England. The article analyses the moral, scientific and instrumental arguments underlying the Aichi targets and how they are reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework for England, together with views on the spatial planning approach to biodiversity expressed by local actors in spatial planning. The article concludes that biodiversity has been 'mainstreamed' in English spatial planning policy, but with spatial variations in policy approach between protected sites and the wider countryside and urban areas and with responsibility for biodiversity enhancement in the wider countryside and urban areas relying mainly on local policy and instrumental arguments that are likely to lead to tensions over the 'replaceability' of nature. The concept of connectivity is identified as key to a successful biodiversity strategy, but challenges to achieving connectivity in practice are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: Ever since the United Kingdom published its second sustainable development strategy in 1999, the legitimacy-governing construct of quality of life has been refashioned in the English policy context to accommodate a novel intergenerational dimension. This paper examines the magnitude of this sustainability transformation by examining the operationalisation and reported outcomes of formally established sustainable quality of life data in conjunction with commensurate quality of life information compiled twenty years previously, amongst 63 matched city locations. Conceptually, we find that although the sustainable quality of life data is comparatively more sophisticated in its environmental connotation it has not managed to reconcile this effort with the social and economic domains of sustainability, tending instead to neutralise the distributive, class-based tenor of its predecessor. Empirically, meanwhile, we find that whereas Northern-based city locations perform comparatively worse on the sustainable quality of life rankings Southern ones do much better. We also find that while the lowest scoring localities tend to be afflicted by similar types of quality of life deficiencies the top ones shine on a diverse range of issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article focuses on the importance of the community context for voluntarism within shifting discourses of localism in England and Scotland. Mobilising communities through the encouragement and support of voluntarism is an important policy and practice driver in both jurisdictions, but is non-reserved. In this context, we outline the ways localism discourses have been mobilised, drawing on case study research in deprived urban areas of Scotland and England to explore the implications of these for sustaining voluntarism. We argue it is important to recognise that the social, spatial and economic context in which voluntarism takes place is multi-layered: some acts are undertaken through an organisation, others may be part of one-to-one acts of helping, or through semi-formal or informal neighbourhood/community groups. If expectations of further voluntarism are to be realistic and sustainable, discourses of localism must support this at the local level and recognise the diverse range of both visible and less visible acts which take place over time. Otherwise unrealistic, unsustainable and ultimately unachievable models and amounts of voluntary participation may be asked of communities, posing serious challenges for 'localism' discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]