Local and regional government in the UK

The new UK Government has published its program today and there are several references to the future of local and regional government. Under the heading 'Business' it is said that Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) will be replaced by Local Enterprise Partnerships. Further down, under 'Communities and Local Government' the new powers of local government and communities are established.

It is to a great extent what the Conservative party had been announing it would do all along, so there aren't really a lot of surprises. One of the big questions however was what was going to happen to the RDAs in places such as the North East. I don't think this document really clarifies much, although it does mention that the Partnerships "may take the form of the existing RDAs in areas where they are popular." We'll have to wait for more details.

The Atlantic

The magazine The Atlantic has a section devoted entirely to the future of cities. I find this particularly interesting: it's a collection of stories about cities that were published in the magazine over the last 150 years. Take for example a story published in 1906 wondering if New York would ever compare to Paris!

Ranking of European cities

In New Geography among many interesting articles I found this unscientific and completely subjective ranking of European cities. It is nevertheless a fun read. It's just a pitty (for personal reasons obviously) that Lisbon wasn't included...

Florida debunked

I often link in this blog to articles by Richard Florida, even though I disagree with his style of pop economic geography, and his simplistic assumptions about economic development. So as a counter argument I would suggest two articles published in mainstream outlets (i.e. not scientific journals) that debunk Florida's work. The first is a few month's old but very interesting. It was published in the American Prospect in January, although I ounly found it today, and it reflects on how the cities that took his advice are still waiting for a turning point. You can read it here. There is one paragraph that I find particularly funny, as a former manager of Richard Florida talks about his 'rock star' tours after publishing The Rise of the Creative Class:

"There was a tremendous money-generating aspect to Richard's work," Frantz says. "We did it in a grand way. We traveled in style. We stayed in boutique hotels in most of the places we were working." But it is wrong, he says, to see any conflict in Florida's dire pronouncements on the places that bankrolled this success, because he hadn't promised prosperity in the first place. "He wasn't really making prescriptions," Frantz says. "This wasn't Jesus Christ throwing the money men out of the temple; this was an academic. He was a fucking college professor, and you're hoping to resurrect Canton, Ohio? Yeah, good luck with that."

The second was published in a magazine called Fast Company. It's a review of his most recent book The Great Reset. Equally very well written, by someone that is clearly familiar with some of the academic debates. It's available here.

Two articles

Edward Glaeser explains in simple terms the synergies between dense, diverse cities and dynamic labour markets.

Richard Florida discusses spatial variations within the USA in terms of homeownserhip. This is a debate that matters in other countries as well, such as the UK. A very interesting fact is cited right at the beggining: "Yale University's Robert Shiller, the world's leading student of bubbles, housing, and otherwise, found that from "1890 to 1990, the rate of return on residential real estate was just about zero after inflation." Makes you think twice about buying a house!

Spending cuts in the UK

Katie Schmueker from the IPPR North reflects in this article on the regional targeting of public spending cuts in the UK. According to David Cameron, the Conservative leader, the public sector is too large in areas such as Northern Ireland or the North East of England. However Katie argues that if we look instead at public spending per capita London is ahead of all other regions!

Fragmented local government in the US

Bruce Katz, of the Brookings Institution, has a very interesting piece on the Wall Street Journal about the costs of fragmentation in local government. This is an old discussion that has emerged over the years. Planners and Geographers tend to favour a more rational organisation of local government, with a view to making them more efficient in delivering services and managing local and regional economies. However a different version, supported by the notion popularised by Charles Tiebout that citizens vote with their feet, is that fragmented local authorities have the effect of increasing competition between constituencies and therefore promoting greater fiscal responsibility and better local government.

Bruce Katz clearly supports the former and he provides a solid body of evidence as to why it is the best option. His approach of justifying it first as something that makes sense from an economic point of view is probably a good way to convince people that would otherwise not care much if he mainly refered to better governance. The key issue now is whether the Obama's administration emphasis on urban policy will provide the necessary support to introduce sweeping reform. I wouldn't be surprised if reforming local government would lead to as much or even more anger and political opposition than the Health Care bill.

BRICs and the new global economic geography

This article from the Huffington Post talks about the emergence of a new global economic geography as a result of the growing importance of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China). It is not the most accurate piece, since the article recognizes that these countries have different interests, while at the sime time predicting that they will become the next global, rival superpower. It is difficult to conceive how 4 different countries, located in different regions of the world, with different political cultures and with deep rooted suspicions of each other can ever become a superpower. The EU is composed of countries that in theory are closer to each other culturally and is yet to become a strong political entity, particularly in matters of foreign policy. It is nevertheless a topic to bear in mind in the future.

Krugman

Paul Krugman addressed the Association of American Geographers two weeks ago to reflect on the last 20 years of the New Economic Geography (or Geographical Economics, if you prefer). The paper on which his presentation was based is available online here.

For those who didn't attend his presentation it's a good read as it tackles the issue of Economics vs. Geography, with Krugman providing a sensible analysis of the limitations of both disciplines.

New Geography

I should have probably noticed this magazine earlier, but it has only come to my attention now.

New Geography is an excellent source of information for people interested in urban and regional studies. Definitely worth bookmarking!