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This article explores how relationships between policy actors at different scales, and their changing character over time, shape the production of spatial imaginaries and their use in transport infrastructure planning. Based on research on the planning of a major rail project in Northern England between 2011 and 2022, the article illustrates how spatial imaginaries reflect interactions between national, sub-national, regional and local institutions. Drawing on a programme of interviews with policy actors, the research highlights the tensions manifested in planning for transport infrastructure about which places are prioritized in policy, and the institutional influences shaping these decisions. The article develops understanding of how inter-scalar politics influences the production of spatial imaginaries and how these imaginaries are in turn utilized in support of transport infrastructure plans by policy actors at different spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research indicates that urban asset bases in English cities are a viable predictor of competitive performance. Underlying asset bases, however, were found to have an impact on the strength or weakness of this prediction.

The authors discuss the politics and policy implications in the UK from the shift away from the new localism model in city planning to the alternative model of new regionalism. Implications for Regional Development Agencies in Manchester and North West England are examined.

This article examines the changing scalar political relations underpinning English city-regional governance. Drawing on case study research in Greater Manchester, the article demonstrates how locally rooted discourses around inclusive growth and inclusive economies have been deployed to challenge the city-region's historically dominant agglomeration-based model. Using the analytical lens of scalar postpolitics, the article shows how the earlier technocratic approach adopted by national and city-region leaders attracted criticism in the face of continuing socio-spatial inequalities within Greater Manchester. We highlight the contrasting experiences of Oldham and Trafford, two boroughs of Greater Manchester, to reveal how local geographies were central to challenging the previously dominant model and promoting new thinking around inclusive growth and inclusive economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased policy interest in geographical mobility necessitates a fuller understanding of the uneven spatial patterning of migration in Europe. This paper reports on research exploring the experience of cities and regions in respect of migration, and the socio-economic factors associated with disparities in net migration across sub-national areas. This involved modelling the relationship between net migration over the period 2001-2006 and the underlying socio-economic circumstances across European cities and regions, and generating an area typology that captured variable experiences with regard to migration. The results of multivariate analysis suggest that urban areas are more likely than other types of areas to have net in-migration levels which exceed those expected given their socio-economic characteristics, both for places with flourishing economies and unmet demand for labour as well as those whose economic fortunes are less buoyant. The results also suggest that the experience of cities and regions is polarized, with large urban areas featuring prominently among the best and worst performing areas in respect of net in-migration. The potential implication of this complex pattern is that bespoke, rather than blanket, policy interventions are required to address the variable experiences of cities and regions in relation to migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collective viewpoint concludes the special issue investigating austerity era regeneration by weaving different threads from each published article together with further insights. It is a collaborative effort -- a synthesis of some diverse views and opinions -- that seeks to extract some key themes, trends and possibilities relating to regeneration beyond austerity. Despite some significant concerns, the broader 'regeneration project' continues in distinct ways and at different paces. Through this paper, the authors attempt to stimulate debate concerning the evolution and recasting of regeneration over future years. It is hoped that this may lay some of the foundations for a new, more positive and progressive regeneration narrative, grounded in micro-practices and the particularities of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline or withdrawal of funding for targeted regeneration initiatives in England, linked to the wider programme of austerity in public finances, presents major challenges for deprived neighbourhoods. Government's expectation is that the demise of most neighbourhood-focused regeneration initiatives will be offset by the increased involvement of a host of local, voluntary and private-sector actors as part of a wider programme of localism in which civil society assumes responsibility for public policy and service delivery functions previously exercised by the state. This paper assesses the scope for and likelihood of this radical transformation by considering the experience of four neighbourhoods in Manchester. Through a programme of interviews with a range of stakeholders, the paper explores the implications posed by recent policy reforms for levels of resident activism and engagement, and considers the degree to which neighbourhood actors can build capacity in order to contribute meaningfully to future regeneration efforts. The paper concludes that sustained intervention is needed to ensure that raised levels of social capital resulting from past policy initiatives do not dissipate. Developing community capacity in deprived neighbourhoods, the paper concludes, requires concerted and concentrated policy intervention that is at odds with government's current emphasis on laissez-faire localism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]