| Sheffield and Belfast comeback hailed |
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| Wednesday, 14 May 2008 | |
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Two UK cities are completing a full recovery after the collapse of the manufacturing industry.
A new analysis from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) of seven major European cities - including Sheffield and Belfast - found they are successfully rebuilding their environment, economy and society from a low point of industrial decay and unemployment. All seven adopted a similar blueprint to haul themselves back onto the world stage using tactics which included bidding for high-profile sporting and cultural events, cleaning and renovating squalid streets, restoring major landmarks, training citizens in new skills and mixing funding from public and private sources. Resilient The former industrial giants are now developing high-tech businesses, halting the population drain from inner-cities and, in some cases, have already seen employment outstrip the number of jobs lost in manufacturing. The report, Transforming cities across Europe, is produced by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at LSE. Researchers have spent two years studying in detail the cities of Belfast, Sheffield, Leipzig, Bremen, Bilbao, Turin and St Etienne. Anne Power, professor of social policy and the report’s author, said that these former industrial cities had proved far more resilient than many people dared hope. “During the 1980s and 90s they lost up to 80 per cent of their manufacturing jobs and this led to polarised neighbourhoods, crumbling city centres and creaking public transport, schools and healthcare. Their very future was in question,” she explained. Urban environment The report shows a pattern book of recovery that the cities used to fight back. They adopted multiple strategies which did not only focus on their economy but also involved improving the urban environment and helping their disadvantaged populations back to work. “It’s clear that cities cannot recover without mixing all three of these elements,” Power concluded. Transforming cities across Europe is an interim study and will be followed by a final report in early 2009. Professor Power’s co-authors are Jörg Plöger and Astrid Winkler. The project has been funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Academy for Sustainable Communities and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, now the Department for Communities and Local Government. Related articles
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