Centre for Cities

About this podcast

City Talks from Centre for Cities explores the key issues facing cities and towns in the UK and beyond. Host Andrew Carter interviews leading thinkers in the urban policy field, as well as experts from Centre for Cities about their research and ideas on improving the economies of cities and large towns.

Centre for Cities

Episodes

2021
City Minutes: How realistic is a 15 minute city?
Coined in Paris, the idea of the 15 minute city is that people can access all the services and amenities they need in their daily lives within a 15 minute journey by foot or by bike. It’s a concept that has grown in popularity over the last 12 months in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and shifts towards remote working. Will Covid-19 make the 15 minute city a reality? For this episode of City Minutes, Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney joins Andrew Carter to unpack the merits and challenges posed by the idea of the 15-minute city, which he also discusses in his latest blog.
February 23, 2021
10 min
City Talks: Giles Wilkes on designing a successful industrial strategy
For several years’ governments have promised an Industrial Strategy to address the UK’s sluggish productivity, address regional inequality and prepare the UK economy for its post-Brexit future. However, no government has yet provided a comprehensive proposal on how this would transform the economy and create a more prosperous country. To discuss the role of the Government in economic planning, how it develops industrial strategy, and the challenges that it faces Andrew Carter is joined by Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, Specialist Partner at Flint Global and former Special Advisor to Theresa May and Vince Cable. Giles is the author of the Institute for Government’s new paper How to design a successful industrial strategy.
February 5, 2021
48 min
City Minutes: Outlook 2021 — Covid and levelling up
The Prime Minister has promised to ‘level up’ the national economy – that was a big challenge even before the pandemic, but how has Covid changed that task? After the most challenging of years, Cities Outlook 2021 assesses the scale of the impact of the Covid pandemic on urban life, on the Government’s promise to level up the economy, and the prospects for the future. Andrew Carter is joined by Senior Analyst Elena Magrini to discuss the different challenges that cities and towns up and down the country face, and what places should do to address the short term challenge of Covid and the longer-term task of levelling up.
January 25, 2021
9 min
City Talks: Tony Travers on the Mayor of London
Twenty years ago, London became the first city in the UK to establish a directly elected mayor, marking the beginning of two decades of local government transformation. Since then the three Mayors of London have shaped the capital, and set a precedent for the creation of similar positions in other English cities. To discuss the office of Mayor of London – its origins, powers, limitations and future – Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Tony Travers, Visiting Professor in LSE Department of Government, Director of LSE London and co-author of London's Mayor at 20: Governing a Global City in the 21st Century.
January 18, 2021
58 min
2020
City Talks: Pat Ritchie on the biggest challenges for Newcastle
The pandemic has hit the UK's biggest cities hardest. In Newcastle's centre, overall footfall is currently at 43 per cent of what it was before Covid. This recovered to only 80 per cent when restrictions were relaxed over the summer — mainly because those who could do so continued to work from home. This week, Andrew Carter is joined by Pat Ritchie, Chief Executive of Newcastle City Council, Chair of Core Cities Chief Executives Group and Chair of the Government Property Agency. Pat and Andrew discuss the biggest challenges for Newcastle, including how the city has been impacted by Covid-19 and what the council is doing to respond. They also explore how the future for Newcastle might look in the context of city devolution, levelling up, and building back better. Finally, Pat responds to the Government's announcement on the planning algorithm and reflects on how councils and central government have been working together on Covid.
December 17, 2020
48 min
City Minutes: How has the pandemic affected air quality in cities?
Covid-19 restrictions have pushed concern about air quality down the political agenda. Many councils that had been planning to introduce measures to reduce air pollution levels in their cities have postponed or cancelled them. Despite this, after an initial drop in air pollution this year it has since been rising again. As a result, NO2 levels have now hit or exceeded pre-pandemic levels in around 80% of places studied according to new research by Centre for Cities and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. To discuss this issue in more detail, Andrew Carter is joined by the authors of the new research Centre for Cities’ Valentine Quinio and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air’s Hubert Thieriot.
December 10, 2020
11 min
City Talks: Ben Wilson on the history of cities - humankind's greatest invention
For thousands of years people have been drawn to cities for trade, learning, religion, power and entertainment. From Ancient Uruk and Rome through to modern megacities such as New York and Shanghai, cities have shaped the way people interact and driven human progress forward. To discuss in more detail how cities have shaped history, bestselling writer and author of a new book Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention, Ben Wilson, joins Andrew Carter for this episode of City Talks. He argues that with over half the world's population now living in cities, and cosmopolitanism under attack from nationalist sentiment, it has never been more important to understand cities and the role they have played in making us who we are.
November 16, 2020
57 min
City Minutes: How important is getting an EU trade deal to Britain’s cities?
At the end of next month, the UK will leave the Brexit transition period and, if a trade deal with the EU is not agreed, will begin trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms. The EU currently is the largest export market for every single city and large town in Britain and so trading under these terms would be damaging to local economies, particularly those in Northern England that are more reliant on trade with the bloc. For this episode of City Minutes Researcher Tom Sells joins Andrew Carter to discuss his new analysis of the export profiles and key trading partners of Britain’s cities, and what the future could hold for their economies as we exit the transition period.
November 2, 2020
10 min
City Minutes: Reforming business rates
Business rates are one of the most important taxes for local government, yet our current system has come under huge scrutiny in recent years. The tax has been blamed for the struggles of retailers, the death of the high street and for exacerbating the country’s economic divides. How should the business rates system be reformed? For this episode of City Minutes Andrew Carter is joined by Centre for Cities' Senior Analyst Kathrin Enenkel and Researcher Tom Sells to discuss their new work setting out the problems with the current system and how they should be fixed.
October 29, 2020
12 min
City Talks: Sir John Armitt on the future of UK infrastructure
From HS2 to Northern Powerhouse Rail to a proposed Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge, improving the infrastructure that links us together is a key cornerstone of the Government’s levelling up agenda. What role does infrastructure play in creating economic growth? How should local political leaders be involved in commissioning projects in their areas? And have the huge changes brought about by Covid-19 changed the UK’s future infrastructure priorities? To discuss these issues, and more, Andrew Carter is joined by Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission and former Chief Executive of Network Rail. He is also the author of the independent Armitt Review of long-term infrastructure planning in the UK.
October 22, 2020
50 min
City Talks: Politicians on levelling up during the Covid-19 pandemic
Covid-19 has made the job of levelling up the UK much harder than it was a year ago. While the Government grapples with the economic and public health effects of the pandemic, many of the policies planned to grow cities’ and towns’ economies – from the devolution white paper to the Green Book review – have been postponed. So what does the future hold for the levelling up agenda and the people and places it was intended to help? To get a sense of this Andrew Carter spoke to local and national politicians from the two main political parties: Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Councillor Abi Brown, Conservative Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council Councillor Peter Lamb, Labour Leader of Crawley Borough Council Ben Bradley MP, Conservative MP for Mansfield
October 8, 2020
70 min
City Minutes: Re-writing the Green Book for levelling up
The Government plans to reform the Green Book of guidance on how it invests public money. This follows criticism from politicians and other commentators who have suggested that, in its current form, the Green Book inhibits the levelling up agenda by skewing infrastructure investment towards London and the South East. Are these criticisms fair? And how should the Government use a reformed Green Book to make investment decisions to level up the country? To discuss this Andrew Carter is joined by Anthony Breach, author of Centre for Cities’ new report Re-writing the Green Book for Levelling Up.
September 28, 2020
11 min
City Minutes: Levelling up local government in England
Reform of England’s local government system is long overdue. There are currently 349 local and combined authorities with overlapping responsibilities and competing interests. This bureaucratic and complex system makes long-term strategic decision making difficult and holds back the places that need to be levelled up. In his latest report Centre for Cities’ Policy Officer Simon Jeffrey proposed redrawing the English political map, replacing the 348 existing authorities with 69 unitary or combined ones with greater powers and resources and whose political boundaries match the economic geography in which people live and work. For this episode of City Minutes, he joins Andrew Carter to discuss his proposals in more detail.
September 21, 2020
12 min
City Minutes: The impact of Eat Out to Help Out on cities
The Government launched the Eat Out To Help Out scheme to support the hospitality sector and encourage people to return to restaurants and cafes. More than 64 million meals were sold as part of the scheme, but it had mixed successes in city and town centres up and down the country. Using footfall and spend data from the Centre for Cities High Streets Recovery Tracker, Researchers Valentine Quinio and Lahari Ramuni join Chief Executive Andrew Carter to evaluate the scheme and to make recommendations for what should replace it.
September 17, 2020
11 min
City Talks: Debbie Weekes-Bernard on race, ethnicity and devolved policy making
The killing of George Floyd in the US, the Black Lives Matter protests and Covid-19 have shone a spotlight on many of the systemic injustices that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people still face. From interactions with the police to structural inequalities in our public services and many statues' problematic legacies, cities - where people from different backgrounds come together - are frequently the places where this is experienced most acutely. This week, London's Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility, Community Engagement Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard joins Andrew Carter to discuss her role in this key year, the effect of Black Lives Matter on her work and the the role that devolved policy makers should play in making cities' fairer places for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people.
September 11, 2020
56 min
Dafni Papoutsaki on the links between internal migration and social mobility
For lots of young people, leaving their hometowns to head to university or build a career is an important rite of passage. Many people still head to London in search of those streets paved with gold but, in recent years, other cities such as Manchester and Glasgow have also drawn in increasing numbers of people. However, as a new paper from the Social Mobility Commission - Moving Out to Move On - shows, those who choose to move to prosperous cities such as London are usually more from privileged backgrounds and have university degrees. Meanwhile, people from less privileged backgrounds are less likely to move altogether - and those that do tend to move to less economically successful areas and, as a result, have fewer opportunities open to them, even after they move. To discuss this issue in more detail, Andrew Carter is joined by Dr Dafni Papoutsaki, Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies and co-author of the Social Mobility Commission's new report.
August 26, 2020
47 min
City Minutes: Where in the UK is it hardest to find a job?
The Covid-19 pandemic has created an employment crisis. There are now 730,000 fewer employed people in the UK than when lockdown began. However, different places have been hit harder than others. In Luton and Slough, the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits has risen by more than double than in York. This variation means that unemployed people will have a much harder time getting a new job in some places than others. Our recent research with Indeed found that there is nine times more competition for a job in Middlesbrough than there is in Cambridge. To discuss the reasons behind this, and what policymakers can do to help out of work people, Andrew Carter is joined by Pawel Adrjan, Head of EMEA Research at Indeed and Economics Research Fellow at Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, and Elena Magrini, Senior Analyst at Centre for Cities.
August 14, 2020
9 min
City Talks: How are cities across the globe responding to Covid-19?
Cities have been epicenters of the global Covid-19 pandemic. While life for the public has changed immeasurably in just a few short months, urban authorities have also had to quickly respond to new challenges and responsibilities to keep their residents safe – often bringing them into conflict with national and state governments. To discuss how the public and policymakers across the globe have adapted to the pressures of the pandemic, Andrew Carter is joined by resident experts from three cities: CityMetric’s Editor Sommer Mathis, in New York City, USA Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Salvador Adriana Campelo, in Salvador, Brazil Centre for Cities’ Senior Analyst Kathrin Enenkel, in Berlin, Germany Together they reflect on their own experiences in lockdown in cities across the world, and provide insight into how their city, state and national governments have handled the crisis.
July 3, 2020
51 min
City Minutes: How a flexible zoning system would end the UK housing crisis
The housing crisis remains one of the biggest challenges the UK faces. While many young people in high demand cities and towns struggle to afford decent accommodation, homeowners in parts of the Greater South East have gained vast amounts of housing wealth in recent years. For this episode of City Minutes, Centre for Cities’ Housing Analyst Anthony Breach joins Andrew Carter to discuss his latest report Planning for the future: How flexible zoning will end the housing crisis. Drawing concerning comparisons with the ‘shortage economies’ of the former Eastern Bloc, he argues that our discretionary, case-by-case planning system rations land, restricts the supply of new homes and decreases affordability. He calls for the UK to scrap this approach and adopt a flexible zoning system, as seen in countries such as Japan and parts of the USA.
June 25, 2020
10 min
Professor Francesca Gains on gender, representation and devolution
While the representation (or lack) of women in the House of Commons is often discussed, female involvement at senior levels of local government and devolved urban authorities is rarely discussed. Perhaps as a result, there are currently no female metro mayors and just 21% of local authority leaders are female – often meaning that women and gender issues are frozen out of the local policy making process. This week, Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Francesca Gains, Professor of Public Policy and Academic Co-Director of Policy@Manchester at the University of Manchester to discuss how having women in decision making positions and robust equalities legislation in place affects policymaking for the better. Francesca highlights areas where there is significant under-representation of women, ethnic minority groups and people with disabilities, and explains how this plays out when forming the policy response, particularly in times of crisis. Resources: On Gender Mind the Gap – Getting Women’s Voices into Policy Making
June 16, 2020
49 min

Centre for Cities

About this podcast

Categories

About this podcast

Categories

Centre for Cities

Episodes

City Minutes: How realistic is a 15 minute city?

City Talks: Giles Wilkes on designing a successful industrial strategy

City Minutes: Outlook 2021 — Covid and levelling up

City Talks: Tony Travers on the Mayor of London

City Talks: Pat Ritchie on the biggest challenges for Newcastle

City Minutes: How has the pandemic affected air quality in cities?

City Talks: Ben Wilson on the history of cities - humankind's greatest invention

City Minutes: How important is getting an EU trade deal to Britain’s cities?

City Minutes: Reforming business rates

City Talks: Sir John Armitt on the future of UK infrastructure

City Talks: Politicians on levelling up during the Covid-19 pandemic

City Minutes: Re-writing the Green Book for levelling up

City Minutes: Levelling up local government in England

City Minutes: The impact of Eat Out to Help Out on cities

City Talks: Debbie Weekes-Bernard on race, ethnicity and devolved policy making

Dafni Papoutsaki on the links between internal migration and social mobility

City Minutes: Where in the UK is it hardest to find a job?

City Talks: How are cities across the globe responding to Covid-19?

City Minutes: How a flexible zoning system would end the UK housing crisis

Professor Francesca Gains on gender, representation and devolution