"Eight urban areas deliver 27 per cent of England's wealth": British cities are rising fast
Britain’s cities, the Economist reported recently, are growing at “almost Victorian speed.” Between 2001 and 2011, the population of Manchester, the Victorian city par excellence, grew by an astonishing 19 per cent. Over the same period, London’s population grew by 12 per cent and Birmingham’s by nearly 10 per cent.
There is a close correlation between the growth of these cities, their ability to attract talent, jobs and investment and the contribution they make to the country’s economic wellbeing. Everyone knows that London is an economic dynamo, but other big cities are too. Between them, eight urban areas —Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield—deliver 27 per cent of England’s wealth.
The Core Cities advocacy group argues that Britain’s cities could do even better if they controlled more of their finances and policies. Typically, a British city controls just 5 per cent of the taxes raised from local people and businesses, compared to New York’s 55 per cent. The figure is even higher in many European cities. Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs economist who now chairs the independent City Growth Commission, agrees: “If you look at some of the most successful economies in the world, where many cities play a critical role, they enjoy some degree of independence over their finances and policy choices, China, Germany and the US, all being good examples.”
O’Neill doesn’t say what would happen to the rest of the country if cities won more powers to raise tax—and keep the revenues. Nevertheless, there is compelling international evidence for the economic benefits of urban self-government. In their book The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley argue that American cities and metropolitan areas are “fixing our broken economy.” With the federal government and many state legislatures stuck in partisan gridlock, it is cities that are grappling with a range of “super-sized economic, social and environmental challenges.” Katz and Bradley think that this lesson applies in Britain, too. “Reviving the UK,” they have written, “means unleashing the full potential of these powerful economies.” And to do that requires “radical devolution to the places where the economy actually comes to ground.”
The political theorist Benjamin Barber, author of a new book entitled If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, goes even further. Nation states, he argues, are no longer capable of meeting the distinctive challenges of the early 21st century, such as global pandemics, crime and terrorism. Our best hope, in his view, lies in a global system of networked urban centres; what he calls a “global parliament of mayors.”
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Britain’s cities, the Economist reported recently, are growing at “almost Victorian speed.” Between 2001 and 2011, the population of Manchester, the Victorian city par excellence, grew by an astonishing 19 per cent. Over the same period, London’s population grew by 12 per cent and Birmingham’s by nearly 10 per cent.
There is a close correlation between the growth of these cities, their ability to attract talent, jobs and investment and the contribution they make to the country’s economic wellbeing. Everyone knows that London is an economic dynamo, but other big cities are too. Between them, eight urban areas —Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield—deliver 27 per cent of England’s wealth.
The Core Cities advocacy group argues that Britain’s cities could do even better if they controlled more of their finances and policies. Typically, a British city controls just 5 per cent of the taxes raised from local people and businesses, compared to New York’s 55 per cent. The figure is even higher in many European cities. Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs economist who now chairs the independent City Growth Commission, agrees: “If you look at some of the most successful economies in the world, where many cities play a critical role, they enjoy some degree of independence over their finances and policy choices, China, Germany and the US, all being good examples.”
O’Neill doesn’t say what would happen to the rest of the country if cities won more powers to raise tax—and keep the revenues. Nevertheless, there is compelling international evidence for the economic benefits of urban self-government. In their book The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley argue that American cities and metropolitan areas are “fixing our broken economy.” With the federal government and many state legislatures stuck in partisan gridlock, it is cities that are grappling with a range of “super-sized economic, social and environmental challenges.” Katz and Bradley think that this lesson applies in Britain, too. “Reviving the UK,” they have written, “means unleashing the full potential of these powerful economies.” And to do that requires “radical devolution to the places where the economy actually comes to ground.”
The political theorist Benjamin Barber, author of a new book entitled If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, goes even further. Nation states, he argues, are no longer capable of meeting the distinctive challenges of the early 21st century, such as global pandemics, crime and terrorism. Our best hope, in his view, lies in a global system of networked urban centres; what he calls a “global parliament of mayors.”
Read more big ideas;
Rejectionist politicsThe politics of resentment will be a powerful, destabilising force in 2014
Secular stagnation The global economy might have been in trouble long before 2008
The new cold war US negotiations are stirring up tensions between two clusters of allies
Beginning of the end of QE When central banks stop pumping money into the world's economies, there's no telling how markets will react
Coalitions of the willing As more countries wield more power, bilateral deals and pacts between allies will become the norm
Growth leaves wages behind It's not the size of the economy that counts, it's what you do with it
Personalised Medicine Genetic testing will make treating illnesses cheaper and more efficient
Cloud Scepticism Public concern about government surveillance will make users and regulators wary of remote data storage
The new news Online media brands have changed the way we consume and produce journalism, and that's no bad thing
Peer to peer living Disruptive marketplaces like Airbnb are shifting power away from hierarchies and towards networks of individuals
Pop up everything Temporary venues have altered urban lifestyles forever
