5.2.1 regeneration

• What are characteristics of a successful area?

  • High rates of employment
  • High rates of inward migration (both internal and international)
  • Higher levels of income
  • Low levels of multiple deprivation
• What are characteristics of an unsuccessful area?

  • High property prices
  • Skills shortages in urban and rural areas e.g. teachers, healthcare workers
  • Congestion of roads and public transport
  • Strains on services, such as healthcare and education
• What do some areas experience after economic restructuring?

  • Some places experience a spiral of decline after economic restructuring due to a change in economic sectors
  • The spiral of decline is sometimes termed the negative multiplier effect
• Why does the spiral of decline occur in urban areas?

  • due to deindustrialisation, where factories close and unemployment increases
  • Skilled, local people leave the area to find work, leaving behind the less skilled or older workers, who would be difficult to retrain
• Why does the spiral of decline occur in rural areas?

  •  due to a decline in the primary sector (e.g. agriculture) or the mechanisation of farming, leading to unemployment
  • Young people leave the area, leaving behind an ageing population
  • Decline in rural services (e.g. post offices, banks, petrol stations) due to less demand
• What can economic decline lead to?

  social decline:

  • Less investment in public services (healthcare, education)
  • Unemployment can lead to depression and an increase in drug use
  • Increased crime and anti-social behaviour
  • It is difficult to break the spiral of decline and stop the area from declining without intervention e.g. regeneration strategies
• What are different regeneration strategies?

  construction of infrastructure

  retail-led regeneration

  marketing heritage and culture

  construction of housing

  sustainable communities
• Who funds construction of infrastructure, why ?

  infrastructure projects are generally very expensive and so require government funding

  most projects are public-private partnerships; the government provides the majority of capital needed while private companies fulfill and manage the plans
• What different government departments are involved in construction of infrastructure?

  local councils: aim to improve their region to attract new businesses and regenerate a deprived location

  department for culture, media & sport: markets the UK's image abroad,

  UK trade and investment: supports UK businesses and tries to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI)
• What is HS2 an example of, what is it?

  an infrastructure project in the UK

  HS2 is a proposed high speed rail network which would connect London to Birmingham and then Manchester to Leeds (this got scrapped due to rise in costs)

  the project at first had an estimated cost of £33 billion, it's now projected to be £93 billion?, so the project has gone over budget

  it's aim is to reduce travel times and increase connectivity between the North and South of England to reduce disparities between the two (N/S divide)

  an estimated 60,000 jobs are expected to be created
• What are the costs of infrastructure regeneration?

  some large-scale projects can be risky to agree to, as their cost can increase with inflation or changing circumstances e.g. the price of supplies may change since original planning

  e.g. HS2
• What are the benefits of housing construction - regeneration strategy?

  increases the supply of housing which is a major issue facing the UK currently (lack of affordable housing)

  construction jobs are created in the process

  caters for a variety of people: first-time buyers, apartments for young people and families looking for affordable multiple bedroom houses
• Costs of housing construction as a regeneration strategy?

  greenfield developments are more profitable for companies than regenerating existing brownfield sites, so habitats are often lost and natural environments damaged

  lots of housing that is branded as 'affordable' isn't

  there are limited projects which actually aim to improve social housing, so there is still a limited supply of this housing