Centre for Cities

City Minutes: English Devolution Oct 31, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Anthony Breach, Associate Director at Centre for Cities, to discuss our latest briefing on the upcoming English Devolution White Paper. They discuss their concerns on where the devolution debate currently is and some of the unresolved questions and issues still circulating around the purpose of devolution, what is trying to be achieved and how it should be progressed.

City Talks: Professor Sarah Hall Oct 10, 2024

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Sarah Hall, 1931 Professor of Geography and Fellow of St John’s College Cambridge. They discuss her research on the economic geography of financial services and the uneven economic development that results from global finance dynamics.

In addition, Sarah and Andrew consider these global finance networks and how cities like London maintain their influence in global markets, particularly in the wake of Brexit.

City Talks: Ed Glaeser and the future of global cities Sep 26, 2024

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Ed Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, to discuss the findings of Centre for Cities' recent report on hybrid working in London, Paris, New York, Sydney, Toronto and Singapore.

Ed Glaeser has written several books on the role of cities in creating prosperity over the last two decades – including The Triumph of the City in 2008. In this podcast, Ed and Andrew consider the future of cities as places of work, consumption, and economic activity.

City Talks: Arpit Gupta Sep 19, 2024

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Arpit Gupta, Associate Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business, to discuss his research into the dynamics of urban real estate markets, and how they have evolved in response to changes in remote working and the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the start of the pandemic Arpit began researching the large migration flows of people out of urban areas, trying to understand how remote work was impacting housing decisions and how that was feeding into urban centres. In this podcast, Arpit and Andrew explore how cities' commercial and real estate sectors have evolved in response to remote work and the pandemic and what this means for the future of cities.

City Talks: Why we are seeing a boom in urban economics research Sep 12, 2024

Andrew discusses how urban economics is advancing – from new topics and new sources of data to the theoretical developments of the moment – with three people immersed in the latest research.

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography at LSE, Helen Simpson, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol, and Max Nathan, Professor of Economic Geography at University College London. They discuss the state of research about urban economies in 2024.

We are constantly finding out more about where people live and work, how people move around, where businesses choose to locate, and where people spend their money – all of which adds more depth to our picture of cities. The three researchers describe how new topics are emerging, the enduring relevance of some core urban questions, and how new sources of data – and innovative tools for processing it – are moving research forward, at a time of increasing demand for evidence to shape policy.

City Minutes: Accelerating net zero Sep 10, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Caitlin Rollison, External Affairs Manager, and Audrey-Frédérique Lavoie, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, Accelerating net zero delivery: What can UK cities learn from around the world?

The report explores the need to change how we build, how we move, and how we power our cities in order to meet the government's target of net zero by 2050.

Andrew, Caitlin and Audrey discuss the role cities play in helping the UK meet its net zero target and what they should focus on to bring greenhouse gas emissions down.

City Minutes: Return to the office Sep 03, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Analyst, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, Return to the office: How London compares to other global cities, and why this matters.

New data published by Centre for Cities reveals that central London's return to the office has continued in 2024 but it falls behind in comparison to its international competitors: Paris, New York, Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto.

Andrew and Rob discuss the reports findings on behaviours and attitudes towards hybrid working, and what the future holds for the office.

City Talks: "What Manchester thinks today, the world does tomorrow" Jun 27, 2024

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Brian Groom, author and journalist, whose latest book is Made in Manchester: A People’s History of the City That Shaped the Modern World. The Victorians had a phrase, ‘What Manchester thinks today, the world does tomorrow’. Brian discusses the city’s external global image and the web of contradictory political, economic and cultural associations it has had throughout its history.

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

Listen back to Centre for Cities’ previous conversation with Brian Groom on City Talks for a discussion of his previous work, Northerners: A History from the Ice Age to the Present Day.

City Minutes: Big cities in the UK and the G7 Jun 12, 2024

Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney is joined by Ant Breach, Associate Director, to discuss Centre for Cities’ new report, Climbing the Summit: Big cities in the UK and the G7.

How does the geography of the G7’s economies alter our understanding of how well each nation performs? The report highlights the underperformance of the UK’s largest cities relative to their G7 peers, and how this creates a yawning prosperity gap between the UK and G7 leaders the USA, France and Germany. Why are large places like Manchester and Birmingham, that should have an inherent productivity advantage given their size, falling behind? Paul and Ant talk discuss what the next Government should do to try and address the shortfall.

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

City Talks: Detroit’s ten-year recovery from bankruptcy Jun 10, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by James L. Tatum III, Director of Detroit Bureau at the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, for a discussion about Detroit, a place which suffered the biggest municipal insolvency in history when it filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013. They discuss the city’s route back to financial stability and the recovery of its reputation in municipal bond markets. James Tatum is the author of a recent report, An Assessment of Detroit’s Economic Condition and a Critique of its Economic Development Efforts, to be followed by a second paper on the Detroit’s bankruptcy later this month.

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

City Talks: Tim Leunig May 30, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Tim Leunig, who has had a notable career being a policy adviser to several senior Cabinet figures including two Chancellors as well as being an award winning economic history academic at the London School of Economics. He talks here about his role in the Government’s Covid-19 furlough scheme, how think tanks can build trust and influence in Whitehall, and what economic historians can teach policymakers.

This episode is part of Centre for Cities’ City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it. To stay updated on Tim Leunig’s work, subscribe to his Substack.

City Talks: Can we address the housebuilding crisis by building on the ‘grey belt’? May 23, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Tom Dobson, Managing Director of Quod, Heather Sargent, Barrister at Landmark Chambers, and Ant Breach, Associate Director at Centre for Cities, to discuss the Labour party’s proposals to release land for housing development on what it calls the ‘grey belt’ – poor-quality or unsightly greenbelt land.

If elected to government, Labour will come under immediate pressure to implement planning reforms and boost housebuilding. Labour has pledged that it would build 1.5 million homes and sees the ‘grey belt’ as an important route to doing so. Are its proposals enough to fill the housebuilding shortfall and relieve the pressure on cities? How would greybelt development work in practice? And what more needs to be introduced?

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

City Talks: Sharing the benefits of a high-tech economy May 06, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and author of Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy. Neil talks about the patterns that emerge when comparing the characteristics of innovative economies around the world, why policy makers are starting to think and talk differently about Silicon Valley and lessons the UK can learn from Switzerland about using labour policy and devolution to improve economic productivity.

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

City Talks: The UK’s towns tsar Apr 15, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Adam Hawksbee, Deputy-Director of Onward and Chair of the Towns Unit at Number 10 Downing Street and the Department for Levelling Up – also known as the Government’s Towns Czar – and by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities. The Government has a £1.5bn long-term plan for towns. So, how should we be thinking about towns and should this shape the work of Centre for Cities?

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

City Minutes: Key races in the 2024 Metro mayor elections Apr 11, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by three people with insights into several upcoming 2024 Metro mayoral elections to find out more about the candidates and discuss some of the local issues that voters will be thinking about when they go to the polls on 2 May.

He speaks to Jane Haynes, Politics and People Editor at Birmingham Mail and Post, and Birmingham Live, about the race for Metro mayor of the West Midlands. Then Oliver Pridmore, Agenda Editor at Nottingham Post and Nottinghamshire Live, joins Andrew to discuss the first-ever Metro mayor elections in the East Midlands. Finally, he speaks to Rob Parsons, Northern Agenda Editor at Reach, who is covering the Tees Valley Metro mayoral elections and the race to be the first Metro mayor of the North East.

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

City Minutes: Why mayoral elections matter Mar 05, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney and Associate Director Anthony Breach, here to explain why 2024 represents a major milestone in devolution in England. They look ahead to May’s mayoral elections, when eleven areas and over a third of the UK population will be covered by Metro mayors, and discuss how mayors’ influence over national policy debates is likely to grow in future.

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

City Minutes: The geography of charitable giving in the UK Feb 06, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Analyst at Centre for Cities and author of a new report, Donation nation: The geography of charitable giving in the UK. Rob looked at giving patterns and asked the question, does local giving behaviour match this variation in need and does it go to the causes that most reflect local need? He outlines his findings and tells Andrew about the implications of the findings for local authorities, and where national policy and the ‘levelling up’ agenda can help.

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

City Minutes: The latest data on economic performance across the UK Jan 22, 2024

This is a special episode of City Minutes looking at the findings of Cities Outlook 2024 – Centre for Cities’ annual snapshot of economic activity in the UK’s urban areas. In part 2, Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney to discuss the importance of urban economies in the UK and why we’re all affected by urban areas’ economic performance over time.

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

City Minutes: How places have fared since 2010 Jan 22, 2024

This special episode of City Minutes examines the findings of Cities Outlook 2024 – Centre for Cities’ flagship economic health check of the UK’s urban areas. In part 1, Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney to discuss Chapters One and Two of the report, where Centre for Cities shows what has happened to people’s incomes up and down the country since 2010, a record period of historically weak productivity growth.

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

City Talks: Are we seeing the arrival of the post-retail High Street? Jan 11, 2024

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dr Lucy Montague, Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture and co-author (with David Rudlin and Vicky Payne) of High Street: How Our Town Centres Can Bounce Back from the Retail Crisis (RIBA Publishing, 2023), which surveys the current state of the UK’s bricks-and-mortar retail sector in a hundred case studies – from traditional high streets to out-of-town retail developments, in places both big and small.

They discuss what happened in the sector during the 00s and 10s, the origins of the current crisis, and the impact of Covid. Despite its many challenges, Lucy finds reasons for optimism on the high street, as long as the UK is open to change – whether it’s stronger planning policy to encourage a greater mix of uses or action on business rates reform.

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

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