Centre for Cities

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Arjan Schakel, Research Professor at the University of Bergen and expert on regional governance and territorial politics. They discuss Arjan's work on the Regional Authority Index, which measures the authority in self rule and shared rule exercised by regional governments, in order to get a sense of how regional level authority and autonomy differ across countries.  

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Associate Director, to discuss our latest report Breaking the Bottlenecks: Reforming ‘anti-supply measures' to support urban housebuilding. They dive in to each of the five anti-supply measures we identified that should be reviewed by national Government and in the new version of London Plan as well as the moderate and bold reforms we propose for each measure to help cities play their role in meeting the 1.5m housebuilding target. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, to discuss the results of last week's local elections and what they mean for growth in the country. They explore the myth of "left behind" places and how government policy should respond to the political discontent signalled by the rise in votes for Reform UK. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Michael Albertus, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. They discuss Michael's latest book, Land power: who has it, who doesn't, and how that determines the fate of societies, which tackles how land came to be power within human societies, how it shapes power and how its allocation determines the major social and economic challenges that society has grappled with.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dan Tomlinson, MP for Chipping Barnet since 2024 and the national champion for the Government's growth mission. They discuss Dan's background as a councillor and former policy wonk, why he decided to enter the world of politics and his ambitions to help reform the planning system and deliver on the Government's growth mission.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dame Kate Barker, a British economist appointed by the Government in 2003 to conduct an independent review of UK Housing Supply which presented recommendations to the UK government for securing future housing needs. Twenty years on from the publication of the Barker report Andrew and Kate reflect on what has changed in housing and planning, what has remained largely unchanged and the lessons that can be learned for the future. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dr Tasos Kitsos, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics and International Business and member of the Centre for Business Prosperity, Aston Business School, Aston University and Holly Lewis, co-founding partner of We Made That. They discuss the findings of Tasos' new paper ‘Don't Shoot the Pianist: Creative Firms, Workers, and Neighborhood Gentrification', written alongside Max Nathan and Diana Gutiérrez-Posada.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by George Freeman MP, former Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology and currently a Global Growth and Trade Envoy for this government. They discuss the upcoming national Industrial Strategy, the possibility of the UK becoming a science superpower and the role of R+D in levelling up. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, to discuss the findings of our flagship report 'Cities Outlook', our annual health check of the economic performance of urban Britain. They discuss variation in wages across the country, what drives this variation, and what policy will need to do for the Government to achieve its aim of raising living standards everywhere.

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by the Rt Hon Greg Clark, newly appointed member of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council and previously Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Greg shares his reflections on the English Devolution White Paper published this week and how he sees Industrial Strategy and English Devolution fitting together.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Associate Director and Maurice Lange, Analyst to discuss the findings of our new report series ‘Restarting housebuilding' that looks at Private and Public housebuilding as well as Land Value Capture. They discuss the current policy landscape, including the Government's pledge to build 1.5million new homes, and the implications of these reports for any future housebuilding reforms.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Analyst, and Oscar Selby, Researcher, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, ‘Spending time: the role of the visitor economy in UK cities'. The report explores what visitors to different places spend their money on and how this shapes local economies. Andrew, Rob and Oscar discuss the key findings from the report, including which cities can be classed as a destinations and the differences between day and overnight visitors. 

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Mark Muro, senior fellow at Brookings Metro, to discuss place based industrial strategy. They explore what the UK can learn from the US, the CHIPS Act, as well as the implications of Donald Trump's re-election.

This episode of City Talks is taken from a recent Centre for Cities keynote event with The Rt Hon Greg Clark, in partnership with Warwick Business School. MP for Tunbridge Wells from 2005 - 2024, Greg Clark served as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and as Financial Secretary to the Treasury as well as many other Ministerial positions. Chief Executive Andrew Carter joined Greg to discuss his time in government, industrial strategy and devolution.

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Giles Wilkes, senior fellow at the Institute for Government, specialist partner at Flint Global and former advisor to Vince Cable and Theresa May to discuss industrial strategy and the recent Green Paper. They explore what we might expect from this Government's strategy, some of the similarities with the 2017 version, as well as what merits, if any, come from having an industrial strategy in this country.  

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Anthony Breach, Associate Director at Centre for Cities, to discuss our latest briefing on the upcoming English Devolution White Paper. They discuss their concerns on where the devolution debate currently is and some of the unresolved questions and issues still circulating around the purpose of devolution, what is trying to be achieved and how it should be progressed.

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Sarah Hall, 1931 Professor of Geography and Fellow of St John's College Cambridge. They discuss her research on the economic geography of financial services and the uneven economic development that results from global finance dynamics.   In addition, Sarah and Andrew consider these global finance networks and how cities like London maintain their influence in global markets, particularly in the wake of Brexit.

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Ed Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, to discuss the findings of Centre for Cities' recent report on hybrid working in London, Paris, New York, Sydney, Toronto and Singapore.   Ed Glaeser has written several books on the role of cities in creating prosperity over the last two decades – including The Triumph of the City in 2008. In this podcast, Ed and Andrew consider the future of cities as places of work, consumption, and economic activity.

In this episode of City Talks Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Arpit Gupta, Associate Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business, to discuss his research into the dynamics of urban real estate markets, and how they have evolved in response to changes in remote working and the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic Arpit began researching the large migration flows of people out of urban areas, trying to understand how remote work was impacting housing decisions and how that was feeding into urban centres. In this podcast, Arpit and Andrew explore how cities' commercial and real estate sectors have evolved in response to remote work and the pandemic and what this means for the future of cities.

Andrew discusses how urban economics is advancing – from new topics and new sources of data to the theoretical developments of the moment – with three people immersed in the latest research.   Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography at LSE, Helen Simpson, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol, and Max Nathan, Professor of Economic Geography at University College London. They discuss the state of research about urban economies in 2024.   We are constantly finding out more about where people live and work, how people move around, where businesses choose to locate, and where people spend their money – all of which adds more depth to our picture of cities. The three researchers describe how new topics are emerging, the enduring relevance of some core urban questions, and how new sources of data – and innovative tools for processing it – are moving research forward, at a time of increasing demand for evidence to shape policy. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Caitlin Rollison, External Affairs Manager, and Audrey-Frédérique Lavoie, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, Accelerating net zero delivery: What can UK cities learn from around the world? The report explores the need to change how we build, how we move, and how we power our cities in order to meet the government's target of net zero by 2050. Andrew, Caitlin and Audrey discuss the role cities play in helping the UK meet its net zero target and what they should focus on to bring greenhouse gas emissions down.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Analyst, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, Return to the office: How London compares to other global cities, and why this matters. New data published by Centre for Cities reveals that central London's return to the office has continued in 2024 but it falls behind in comparison to its international competitors: Paris, New York, Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto. Andrew and Rob discuss the reports findings on behaviours and attitudes towards hybrid working, and what the future holds for the office.  

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by Brian Groom, author and journalist, whose latest book is Made in Manchester: A People's History of the City That Shaped the Modern World. The Victorians had a phrase, ‘What Manchester thinks today, the world does tomorrow'. Brian discusses the city's external global image and the web of contradictory political, economic and cultural associations it has had throughout its history. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it. Listen back to Centre for Cities' previous conversation with Brian Groom on City Talks for a discussion of his previous work, Northerners: A History from the Ice Age to the Present Day.

Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney is joined by Ant Breach, Associate Director, to discuss Centre for Cities' new report, Climbing the Summit: Big cities in the UK and the G7. How does the geography of the G7's economies alter our understanding of how well each nation performs? The report highlights the underperformance of the UK's largest cities relative to their G7 peers, and how this creates a yawning prosperity gap between the UK and G7 leaders the USA, France and Germany. Why are large places like Manchester and Birmingham, that should have an inherent productivity advantage given their size, falling behind? Paul and Ant talk discuss what the next Government should do to try and address the shortfall. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by James L. Tatum III, Director of Detroit Bureau at the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, for a discussion about Detroit, a place which suffered the biggest municipal insolvency in history when it filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013. They discuss the city's route back to financial stability and the recovery of its reputation in municipal bond markets. James Tatum is the author of a recent report, An Assessment of Detroit's Economic Condition and a Critique of its Economic Development Efforts, to be followed by a second paper on the Detroit's bankruptcy later this month. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Tim Leunig, who has had a notable career being a policy adviser to several senior Cabinet figures including two Chancellors as well as being an award winning economic history academic at the London School of Economics. He talks here about his role in the Government's Covid-19 furlough scheme, how think tanks can build trust and influence in Whitehall, and what economic historians can teach policymakers. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it. To stay updated on Tim Leunig's work, subscribe to his Substack.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Tom Dobson, Managing Director of Quod, Heather Sargent, Barrister at Landmark Chambers, and Ant Breach, Associate Director at Centre for Cities, to discuss the Labour party's proposals to release land for housing development on what it calls the ‘grey belt' – poor-quality or unsightly greenbelt land. If elected to government, Labour will come under immediate pressure to implement planning reforms and boost housebuilding. Labour has pledged that it would build 1.5 million homes and sees the ‘grey belt' as an important route to doing so. Are its proposals enough to fill the housebuilding shortfall and relieve the pressure on cities? How would greybelt development work in practice? And what more needs to be introduced? This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and author of Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy. Neil talks about the patterns that emerge when comparing the characteristics of innovative economies around the world, why policy makers are starting to think and talk differently about Silicon Valley and lessons the UK can learn from Switzerland about using labour policy and devolution to improve economic productivity. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Adam Hawksbee, Deputy-Director of Onward and Chair of the Towns Unit at Number 10 Downing Street and the Department for Levelling Up – also known as the Government's Towns Czar – and by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities. The Government has a £1.5bn long-term plan for towns. So, how should we be thinking about towns and should this shape the work of Centre for Cities? This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by three people with insights into several upcoming 2024 Metro mayoral elections to find out more about the candidates and discuss some of the local issues that voters will be thinking about when they go to the polls on 2 May. He speaks to Jane Haynes, Politics and People Editor at Birmingham Mail and Post, and Birmingham Live, about the race for Metro mayor of the West Midlands. Then Oliver Pridmore, Agenda Editor at Nottingham Post and Nottinghamshire Live, joins Andrew to discuss the first-ever Metro mayor elections in the East Midlands. Finally, he speaks to Rob Parsons, Northern Agenda Editor at Reach, who is covering the Tees Valley Metro mayoral elections and the race to be the first Metro mayor of the North East. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney and Associate Director Anthony Breach, here to explain why 2024 represents a major milestone in devolution in England. They look ahead to May's mayoral elections, when eleven areas and over a third of the UK population will be covered by Metro mayors, and discuss how mayors' influence over national policy debates is likely to grow in future. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Analyst at Centre for Cities and author of a new report, Donation nation: The geography of charitable giving in the UK. Rob looked at giving patterns and asked the question, does local giving behaviour match this variation in need and does it go to the causes that most reflect local need? He outlines his findings and tells Andrew about the implications of the findings for local authorities, and where national policy and the ‘levelling up' agenda can help. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

This is a special episode of City Minutes looking at the findings of Cities Outlook 2024 – Centre for Cities' annual snapshot of economic activity in the UK's urban areas. In part 2, Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney to discuss the importance of urban economies in the UK and why we're all affected by urban areas' economic performance over time. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

This special episode of City Minutes examines the findings of Cities Outlook 2024 – Centre for Cities' flagship economic health check of the UK's urban areas. In part 1, Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney to discuss Chapters One and Two of the report, where Centre for Cities shows what has happened to people's incomes up and down the country since 2010, a record period of historically weak productivity growth. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dr Lucy Montague, Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture and co-author (with David Rudlin and Vicky Payne) of High Street: How Our Town Centres Can Bounce Back from the Retail Crisis (RIBA Publishing, 2023), which surveys the current state of the UK's bricks-and-mortar retail sector in a hundred case studies – from traditional high streets to out-of-town retail developments, in places both big and small. They discuss what happened in the sector during the 00s and 10s, the origins of the current crisis, and the impact of Covid. Despite its many challenges, Lucy finds reasons for optimism on the high street, as long as the UK is open to change – whether it's stronger planning policy to encourage a greater mix of uses or action on business rates reform. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Cllr Huw Thomas, Labour Leader of Cardiff City Council since 2017. Cllr Thomas talks about Cardiff's economic role in the city-region, describes the balance between competition and collaboration that it takes to make city-region devolution succeed, and explains why leading a city council is “a job like no other”. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Cllr Mike Ross, Liberal Democrat Leader of Hull City Council since May 2022. They discuss Cllr Ross' lessons from over twenty years of public life, how the city used the experience of being City of Culture to change perceptions and put Hull on the map, and the question of devolution in East Yorkshire and the Humber. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Alex Niven, Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University and author of several books including The North will Rise Again: In Search of the Future in Northern Heartlands (Bloomsbury, 2023). They discuss attempts to revive the economic fortunes and empower the people of the North of England after deindustrialisation, questions of Northern identity and Alex's immersion in the poetry and culture of the Northeast. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Cllr Jane Mudd, Labour Leader of Newport City Council since 2019. They discuss her stance on working with business to improve the city-region, the changes the city is making to improve transport sustainability, and what Newport's status as the ‘Gateway to Wales' means for her as leader. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, is joined by John Stevenson, who is the MP for Carlisle, Chair of the Northern Research Group of MPs and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Key Cities. The two discuss the role Carlisle plays in its regional economy, why the Northern Research Group of MPs is pressing for more devolution of powers from Westminster to the North of England, and what John has learned about leadership during his time in the House of Commons. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Caitlin Rollison, External Affairs Manager at Centre for Cities, to discuss the new report Gear shift: International lessons for increasing public transport ridership in UK cities. They discuss whether Covid really was a meaningful turning point in how we travel around UK cities, how public transport usage in UK cities compares with European counterparts, and the policy initiatives around the world that have made a big difference to public transport ridership. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Mayor Marvin Rees, who has been Mayor of Bristol since 2016 and has given city leaders and city networks a voice on a national and international level as Chair of Core Cities UK and Co-Chair of the UK Future Cities Commission. They discuss Mayors' political roles in UK cities, the need for more housing, and the role of cities to tackle the climate crisis, which Marvin made the subject of his TED talk a year ago. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to Centre for Cities' newsletter to hear about new episodes in this series: https://www.centreforcities.org/cities-bulletin/

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Mayor Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, for a discussion about what the role of a Metro Mayor means for people in the North of England, how local government is funded, and plans to bring transport in Liverpool back into public control. This episode is the first episode of Centre for Cities' City Leaders series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to Centre for Cities' newsletter to hear about new episodes in this series: https://www.centreforcities.org/cities-bulletin/

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Senior Analyst, to discuss which powers should be devolved to UK cities. Their discussion focuses on the proposals put forward in a new report, In place of centralisation: Devolution for London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, commissioned for The Economy 2030 Enquiry funded by the Nuffield Foundation. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Researcher Matthew Coombes, author of Miles better: Improving public transport in the Glasgow City Region, to discuss the potential for bus franchising to help Glasgow reach its economic potential. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, Ant Breach, Senior Analyst, and Jess Tulasiewicz, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, to review key moments at two action-packed party conferences in Manchester and Liverpool. They discuss a Conservative party conference dominated by the decision to cancel HS2's northern leg, Labour's bold ambitions on housebuilding, and more. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities to discuss Paul's new briefing, Do city centres really benefit their wider areas?. They discuss how improving and expanding Manchester and Birmingham city centres can bring benefits to places like Oldham and West Bromwich, and the role this plays in levelling up. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Director of Policy and Research Paul Swinney is joined by James Evans, Research Fellow at Centre for Cities and author of the new report, Innovation hotspots: Clustering the New Economy, which identifies 344 hotspots of ‘new economy' activity where promising businesses are clustering together. Paul and James discuss the findings and why new economy hotspots are an urban phenomenon. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities to discuss Paul's new briefing, Trickle Out: How cities help their surrounding towns. They discuss the relationship that big cities have with their surrounding areas, how this impacts on quality of life in nearby places, and how we can help towns take advantage of having a big city nearby. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Christian Wolmar, the writer and broadcaster and specialist in British transport. He is the author of several books, including Fire & Steam: How the Railways Transformed Britain, Are Trams Socialist? Why Britain Has No Transport Policy, and most recently British Rail: A New History, published by Michael Joseph in 2022. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Researcher Stuart Bridgett, author of Pot Luck: What government needs to do to streamline local government funding, to discuss the Government's long-anticipated plan to simplify the funding landscape for local authorities, first promised in the 2022 Levelling Up White Paper. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.