Regeneration EQ4

Topic 20: Players and stakeholders of regeneration

Key ideas

• Main players and their priorities:

Player	Typical priorities/attitudes
National government	Economic growth, housing targets, the national image.
Local council / metro mayor	Jobs, council tax base, local services, re-election.
Developers / private investors	Profit and return on investment.
Local residents (long-term)	Affordable homes, services, keeping the community.
New residents / businesses	Amenities, connectivity, property values.
NGOs / community groups	Social justice, heritage, the environment.

• Conflicts between players:
  • Profit versus affordability, e.g. developers using "viability assessments" to reduce affordable-housing quotas.
  • Heritage versus modernisation.
• Attitudes vary with players' values: for example, neoliberal (market-led) approaches versus community-led ones.

Topic 21: Measuring the success of regeneration

Key ideas

• Success depends on who you ask and which criteria you use.
• Economic measures:
  • employment and unemployment;
  • income;
  • business start-ups and closures;
  • investment;
  • footfall.
• Social measures:
  • reduced deprivation, e.g. IMD rank change;
  • life expectancy and health;
  • educational attainment;
  • crime;
  • population change.
• Demographic measures: population growth, age structure, in-migration of young people.
• Environmental measures: dereliction, air and water quality, green space, biodiversity.
• Perception measures: residents' satisfaction, place image, media coverage.
• Different timescales: short-term gains (e.g. construction jobs) versus long-term sustainability.

Exam technique (20 marks)

Question: "Evaluate the success of regeneration in one urban place you have studied."

• Set your criteria: economic, social, environmental and perception-based, for different groups.
• Use your case study with data, e.g. the Stratford jobs figures versus house-price rises and displacement.
• Weigh: who gained and who lost?
• Conclude: e.g. "a success for the place but less so for some of its original people".

Self-test

Q1: Give two economic and two social measures of regeneration success. A: Economic: unemployment rate and the number of new businesses. Social: change in IMD rank and change in life expectancy (or crime rates).

Q2: Why might residents and developers judge the same scheme differently? A: Developers judge success by profit and land values, which rise. Long-term residents may judge it by affordability and community, which may worsen if gentrification displaces them.

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