Do We Need a Plan for England?
Back in the 2000s an enthusiastic Regional Development Agency chair went to visit his responsible Minister and asked if we could have a national spatial plan. The response was telling: ‘Oh, we don’t want one of those. Everybody would be able to see what we were doing’. Recently an eminent transport planner made a similarly downbeat point: ‘We are so far adrift on coherent strategic thinking (our strategy is to make it up as you go along) that a spatial plan looks like a fantasy. Maybe it’s something we could get to, after development of a set of coordinated measures’.
Posted on: 21 June 2023
Revealing the political foundations of the UK’s COVID-19 crisis
To celebrate the launch of COVID-19 and the Case Against Neoliberalism: The United Kingdom’s Political Pandemic, co-author James Hickson provides an overview of the book’s central arguments and its implications for post-pandemic policymaking.
Posted on: 4 May 2023
Unleashing imaginative power in the Liverpool City Region
In the second of a two-part blog, Heseltine Institute Visiting Fellow Mark Swift discusses how policymakers can work with communities to harness imagination. Highlighting a range of positive examples from Liverpool City Region, the blog also identifies a variety of strategies designed to promote imaginative policymaking.
Posted on: 20 January 2023
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Unleashing our imagination for political and social change in the Liverpool City Region
In the first of a two-part blog, Heseltine Institute Visiting Fellow Mark Swift discusses the use of imagination in policymaking. Citing a range of examples of creative thinking in the public and third sectors, Mark highlights a range of methodologies designed to harness our collective imagination.
Posted on: 18 January 2023
Liverpool City Region’s Freeport is now open, but what exactly is it?
Liverpool City Region’s (LCR) new freeport has received sign-off from the government, following approval of its full business case earlier this week.
Posted on: 12 January 2023
Place-based employment support conference co-hosted by the Heseltine Institute, University of Liverpool and City-REDI/WMREDI, University of Birmingham
On Thursday 16th June the Heseltine Institute at the University of Liverpool and City-REDI/WMREDI at the University of Birmingham are co-hosting an event in Liverpool on the theme of Employment Support and Future Skills: Benefits of a Place-Based Approach.
Posted on: 16 June 2022
Developing local solutions to the problem of precarious work
In his last blog, James Hickson showed how the rise of precarious working arrangements – such as zero-hours contracts and gig economy work – threatens worker freedom, the wellbeing of communities, and local economic prosperity across the UK. Here he explores how innovative local solutions are now required to help disrupt and dismantle this unjust economic model.
Posted on: 21 March 2022
Precarious work is on the rise: Why is this a problem?
In the first of two blogs, Heseltine Institute Research Associate James Hickson explores the scale of precarious work in the contemporary UK labour market, and outlines why this poses a distinct threat to individuals, communities, and local economies.
Posted on: 8 March 2022
Trickle Down Economics Doesn’t Work: Michael Gove, New Public Management and the Levelling Up White Paper
James Coe discusses whether the Levelling Up White Paper reflects a shift away from trickle down economics, towards greater government intervention. James is Head of Sustainability, Policy, and Civic Engagement at the University of Liverpool.
Posted on: 3 March 2022
Blog
Do We Need a Plan for England?
Back in the 2000s an enthusiastic Regional Development Agency chair went to visit his responsible Minister and asked if we could have a national spatial plan. The response was telling: ‘Oh, we don’t want one of those. Everybody would be able to see what we were doing’. Recently an eminent transport planner made a similarly downbeat point: ‘We are so far adrift on coherent strategic thinking (our strategy is to make it up as you go along) that a spatial plan looks like a fantasy. Maybe it’s something we could get to, after development of a set of coordinated measures’.
Posted on: 21 June 2023