urban and regional economy essay
TRANSCRIPT
1172934Urban and Regional Economy
What are medium sized cities and how are they different to global/world cities? Why do some underperform and how can we make them more 'resilient'?
Introduction
Medium cities play a major role in countries as Hildreth (2006) highlights that a large
proportion of a country's population reside and do businesses in these cities. Various
measures are used to define a medium sized city, the Smart Cities: Ranking of European
Medium Sized Cities Report (2007) uses population, universities and catchment area
whereas Hildreth (2006) identifies the economic size of the city in the form of gross value
added as a possible indicator. The first section of the essay will distinguish between medium
sized cities and global cities by investigating traits and characteristics of both. Section 2 of
the essay will investigate the reasons behind the underperformance of some medium sized
cities and will look at Stoke-on-Trent as a specific case study to further illustrate
underperformance. The final section places a focus on how we can make medium sized
cities more resilient and this will include examples from the city of Norwich and city of
Exeter that are performing well to highlight strategies in action that make a city more
resilient.
Distinguishing between a Medium Sized City and a Global/World City
A critical point to start with is the understanding that the concept of a medium sized city is
place-specific and Hildreth (2006 p.12) exemplifies this with a simple statement "a city
which is categorised as medium sized in China would be a large or very large city in Europe."
A major characteristic that enables us to distinguish between medium cities and global cities
is the structure of the economy, the medium sized city, according to Hildreth (2007) offers a
localised service within the industry in which they specialise and thus every city is different
due to the nature of the workforce skills and industrial structure Clayton and Morris (2010).
As a result of the differing nature and industry of medium sized cities they perform different
roles within an urban economy and according to Hildreth (2007) this role can change over
time.
Combining Hildreth (2007) and Henderson (1997) the medium sized city has a localised
economy that exhibits certain traits such as a smaller and less specialised workforce,
stronger manufacturing base but weaker in advanced services and more standardised
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products Henderson (1997) whereas in comparison global cities have urbanisation
economies and as Sassen (2012) highlights are strategic cities in the global economy and
through a large and more diversified market allow businesses to have increased interaction
with suppliers and access to knowledge and information enabling them to benefit from
economies of scale McCann (2001). Whereas the world cities are the organizing nodes of
the global economy Friedmann (1995), medium sized cities perform a particular role,
dependent on their structure, within the regional and national economy and in the UK
context are important as the 49 medium cities produced £227 billion of economic output in
2007 Clayton and Morris (2010).
Hildreth (2007) creates a typology for medium sized cities which categories cities into;
industrial, gateway, heritage/tourism, knowledge, large-city region or regional services.
There further exists a pattern that in the UK industrial and gateway cities tend to be
concentrated in the north and midlands with certain traits such as high primary
employment with a low knowledge intensive sector. The south in contrast exhibits more
graduates and a higher knowledge intensive sector displaying characteristics of knowledge
and regional service cities, thus the type of medium sized city in the UK shows evidence of
also being place-specific at the national level which is a result of their structure. An example
of a regional services city is Bristol whereas an example of an industrial city would be Stoke-
on-Trent and the roles they perform depend largely on the access to resources such as clay
for Stoke's pottery industry, in comparison Bristol exhibits a base of universities and is
supported by the M4 growth corridor. In comparison while medium sized cities have a
localised economy and specialise in particular products, they are different to world cities as
Pacione (2009) highlights that world cities show the presence of headquarters of
transnational corporations, high-level service sector, financial institutions and major banks
thus share generic ground.
Connectivity is a major characteristic of cities and has an ever increasing presence in urban
policy both on a regional and national scale. to illustrate, a main section in the Big City Plan
(2010) for Birmingham is that of connectivity and a focus is evident in the Cities of
Tomorrow Report (CTR) (2011). If we take three medium sized cities in the UK: Leicester,
Aldershot and York all show good connectivity within their city region as Aldershot located
on a major transport artery Clayton and Morris (2010) has good connectivity to London and
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the surrounding towns of Reading and Slough. The point being made is that medium sized
cities act as a hub for the surrounding towns and other medium sized cities whereas a global
city such as London is a major global hub with links to other global cities such as New York,
Tokyo, Shanghai and Paris, this is a defining attribute that distinguishes a medium sized city
from a global city.
The demographic indicator of population is an important characteristic in distinguishing
between medium and world cities, however a critical point is that population size will vary
from country to country, and for example the population of a British medium sized city
would be less than that of a Chinese medium city. In the UK context medium sized cities as
highlighted by Hildreth (2007) are those with a population greater than 125,000, excluding
the core cities whereas London being a world city has a population of 8.17 million people
Greater London Authority (2012).
Reasons behind underperformance of some Medium Sized Cities
A range of factors that are interlinked are responsible for the underperformance of some
medium sized cities in the UK, in particular their economic performance is a main issue, a
prime example of this would be Stoke-on-Trent Hildreth (2007). Factors such as
connectivity, reliance on a single economic sector and its proximity to other urban areas are
all reasons that contribute to the performance of a city. Hildreth (2007) highlights that a
city's economic role is shaped by its history and economic structure and that their future is
path dependent and thus will depend on the resources available. A city that has a
dependency on a sector such as manufacturing will have a limited number of options to
improve their economy much like the industrial city and during times such as the recent
recession, the manufacturing sector was hit hardest in the respect that 17% of the total jobs
lost in the UK between Q2 of 2008 and Q4 of 2011 were in manufacturing Philpott (2012),
thus a reliance on a single sector means that as industry declines or raw materials diminish a
city will struggle to recover or maintain growth. The city of Stoke-on-Trent in 2009 had 25%
of its population employed in manufacturing Cities Institute (2011) and in particular the area
depends on employers in ceramics and firms such as JCB and Britannia The Work
Figure 1: Location of Stoke-on-Trent and its proximity to Birmingham and Manchester
Adapted from Hildreth (2010)
Source: Google Earth (2012)
Key
Location of City
Travel patterns of Commuters
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Foundation (2008) thus is an important factor in its weaker economic performance
documented by Hildreth (2007) and is therefore vulnerable to further decline and change.
The relationship that a city has with the nearest
cities is an important factor that somewhat
determines its performance. Hildreth (2010)
identifies a situation where a shadow effect
occurs in which a given city faces competition
from other cities. The competition affects the
growth rate which Cheshire et al (2004) highlight
that a city- region will exhibit slow growth when
it is located close to other growing city-regions.
The concept of the shadow effect concerns
commuting patterns which is directly related to
economic push and pull factors Cheshire et al
(2004) such as wages and job opportunities.
Stoke-on-Trent is a prime example of the shadow
effect in action as in reference to figure 1 the city
is located between the core cities of Birmingham
and Manchester. The Work Foundation (2008
p.29) highlight 'investment is drawn like magnets
towards Birmingham and Manchester' and by
drawing on the economic push and pull factors
there is a movement of people from the Stoke-
on-Trent city- region to the core cities evident in
figure 1 with the thicker arrow representing a
greater number. As a result the notion of 'place'
is a major factor as to why medium sized cities, particularly Stoke-on-Trent underperform
and will continue to be a barrier to growth and investment.
The concept of connectivity is interlinked with city relationships on numerous scales;
international, inter-city or local which Hildreth (2007) argues is important in the modern
global economy and is key, according to the CTR (2011), in creating balanced development.
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Some medium sized cities, such as Stoke-on-Trent exhibit poor connectivity meaning that
they have a reduced ability to access places of interest for cooperation and also knowledge
CTR (2011) but the effects of poor connectivity are best highlighted by the OECD (2011);
reduced economic opportunities, small and medium enterprise development and
employment opportunities which for medium sized cities reduces their overall economic
performance. One of the key challenges facing Stoke-on-Trent is to improve its internal
transport and links between major centres The Work Foundation (2008). There are a
number of instances where poor connectivity is evident, in particular the poor internal
transport of the city. For example the A500 bypasses the city centre, consequently drawing
people away from the city centre rather than encouraging people towards it thus there is
reduced access to places of interest. The poor links between Stoke-on-Trent and other
major centres will leave the city in isolation in a variety of ways such as its labour market
links and ability to access areas of the city leading to a weaker economic performance.
Resilience
Resilience of cities in this context concerns their economy and Davoudi (2012 p.301)
highlights one definition of the term as the "capacity to absorb shocks and to bounce back"
and Shaw (2012) sees resilience as a dynamic process that provides the foundations for
social, economic and environmental strength.
In order to achieve resilience, medium sized cities must become more competitive which is
focused on in the CTR (2011) and to do this there are a number of critical drivers such as
economic diversity, connectivity and innovation Competitive European Cities (2003).
Diversity is a principle of resilience meaning a city has numerous different components that
are used in conjunction Albers and Deppisch (2012), in terms of the economy this would
mean a balanced economy thus a combination of the industrial, service, financial and
creative sectors that is a characteristic of the entrepreneurial city, a strategy evident in the
Plan for Growth (2011) where there is a emphasis on creating balanced economies, which in
turn particularly from medium sized cities will reduce vulnerability to change Albers and
Deppisch (2012) and will prevent population decline which is a key measure of urban
shrinkage.
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Two important characteristics of a competitive city are innovation and education
Competitive European Cities (2003) and the emphasis is on small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs) that account for almost 60% of private sector jobs Plan for Growth
(2011). Furthermore, the Plan for Growth (2011) has a particular focus on innovation by
SMEs which comes in the form of tax relief on firms undertaking research and development
and more resources and information on intellectual property thus improving the range of
products and services which is vital to local business and subsequently helps to diversify and
expand the city market. Innovation needs to be supplemented by educational
establishments and medium sized cities would benefit from such links. The city of Norwich
as highlighted by Clayton and Morris (2010) spent £2.7 million in 2009 on activities designed
to stimulate innovation and enterprise, the results of this were supporting 745 businesses,
helping create 176 business start-ups and 120 jobs. This approach shows signs of
interdependency in the form of links between SMEs, educational establishments and local
councils and thus these links help to strengthen a particular system Albers and Deppisch
(2012).
Both internal and external connectivity enables cities to become more competitive and
allows coherent spatial development Cities of Tomorrow (2011). The key challenge for
medium sized cities is to strengthen connectivity which is concerned with the mobility
principle of resilience Albers and Deppisch (2012). International and inter-city connectivity
are of particular importance as it allows access to a variety of markets, resources and people
which will contribute to making areas more resilient and reduce vulnerability. A focus of
future urban policy should be to promote networks of road and rail links coupled with the
ability to reach destinations abroad through airports benefitting people and businesses
through their relationship with suppliers and customers. The city of Exeter, documented by
Clayton and Morris (2010) as a medium sized city performing well and according to the
European Business Review Online (2013) Exeter's economy grew 6.6% per annum between
1999-2009 and 4500 jobs were created in construction, services, professional and scientific
activities between 2008-2010 thus showing the diverse economy and resilience during the
recession, is well connected as the airport flies to destinations abroad and is the major
transport interchange of the city-region. The main station Exeter St Davids has links to the
cities of Bristol and Plymouth on the West of England mainline and to London via the Exeter
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to Waterloo line whilst serving local areas through the East Devon growth corridor Exeter &
East Devon Council (2012). The road links are also important as the city is at junctions of the
M5 motorway which have undergone improvement works to allow better access into the
city and to the airport and business parks via the newly constructed A30.
Conclusion
Medium sized cities remain a policy issue for governments through their differing economic
structures of a localised economy and tend to specialize in a particular product whereas the
global city benefits from economies of scale. The medium sized cities perform different roles
which is partly attributed to its history but also access to resources. The underperformance
of some medium sized cities is for a range of reasons such as a narrow range of economic
sectors, poor connectivity and its location to other major cities which has been shown
through the example of Stoke-on-Trent an underperforming city. Medium sized cities need
to become resilient to change and this can be done through increasing competitiveness in a
number of ways such as a diverse economy, improved connectivity and innovation by SMEs.
Word Count: 2,431
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