THE CITY REGION

The Welsh Government Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science Minister, Edwina Hart, established a task & finish group in November 2011 to consider the potential role of city regions in the future economic development of Wales. Their task is; to decide, on the basis of objective evidence, whether a city region approach to economic development will deliver an increase in jobs and prosperity for Wales as a whole. If this is the case, what parts of Wales should be included and why, and what is needed for the approach to be successful?

The introduction to the Task & Finish Group’s paper - ‘City Regions’ Definition & Criteria raises a number of immediate issues, the first and foremost being the suggestion that the Welsh Government would need to see very compelling evidence before committing to such an approach. This may be my subjective (cynical?) reading of the following;

City Regions are a tool, not a panacea. The approach provides one potential solution to policy or market failure.

The city region approach is a long term one – 20, 30 or 40 years. It requires developing a vision for the future: 2030 is now closer to us than 1990 …

Access to economic mass, skills, transport are important enablers of growth,productivity and innovation.

Successful international city regions tend to have a core theme/focus: Vancouver (airport); Bilbao (culture); Lille (connectivity); Rotterdam (logistics). 

Co-operation on (a) regionally significant project(s) should come first, followed by strategy/vision. Governance should be tackled last.

I query the statement that ‘City Regions are a tool, not a panacea’ for, in my view, city regions are a given, economically, socially and culturally and have been through the course of human settlement. Great cities attract the brightest and the best, those that adapt and change remain great. Cities compete with cities for the investment and development capital, not regions against regions. Can you name what ‘regions’ Vancouver, Bilbao, Lille and Rotterdam are in? Possibly, but the point to be made is the city is the ‘bigger brand’. The suggestion is that for Wales, or its sub-regions, to prosper economically, socially and culturally we need to have strong cities. Is the Task and Finish Group then asking the right questions? Further concerns are raised with their statement that ‘Co-operation on (a) regionally significant project(s) should come first, followed by strategy/vision. Governance should be tackled last.’  

My proposition is that governance is central to the issue and is not something to be ‘tackled last’. Wales appears to have a surfeit of government and a paucity of governance. Cities should by their very nature be centres of excellence and reflect that concentration of excellence in their civic administration –governance. Strong, healthy, dynamic cities regenerate themselves but in Wales regeneration has become a byword for government intervention. We have too many small unitary authorities, perhaps too small to attract and retain the excellent.  Furthermore we have seen these authorities competing amongst each other for the investment and development capital (i.e. financial subsistence) allocated by the regional government. Tribalism and parochial interest has bedeviled constructive discussion and any progress in advancing effective city regional strategy in the past.

I will focus here on the capital, Cardiff, to explore this point further. There are those in the capital who have claimed that regional investment has been dictated by an ‘ABC policy’ (Anywhere But Cardiff) and they in turn reminded that they had many fences to mend with their neighbours. This was manifested on the publication of the document Cardiff- A Proud Capital which many outside the city interpreted differently – ‘proud’ as in ‘selfish and arrogant’. Over a long period the city has been envied and unloved by its neighbours. To advance and develop any ‘co-operation on (a) regionally significant project(s)’ we must necessarily address the ‘concentric circles of self- interest’ that exist in Wales. What little progress has been made with collaborative working must be consolidated but a city region might only succeed if Cardiff can demonstrate effective, productive and beneficial civic leadership. If its civic leaders are unable to persuade its citizens and the people of Wales of the advantages of a strong capital we cannot persuade anyone else. This relates to what JK Galbraith called ‘the bi-modal symmetry of power.’ The majority must recognize that Cardiff is the defined and established centre and be persuaded to accept that it is a credible international ‘brand’. The operative word is credible- real and achievable- not selected from the portfolio of marketing consultants. Whilst generally critical of the persistent obsession with branding, identity and image I have to concede it is an essential element.Throughout history mankind has sought a collective identity, frequently that afforded by a city. The key word here may be SOUGHT – it has to be something they want to be part of. If the ‘bi-modal symmetry of power’ is to be realized the people of Wales have to really believe in Cardiff. The challenge is therefore for Cardiff develop an identity and implement a vision that everyone wants to be part of. This may be achieved if a compelling case is made with evident and tangible benefits for all, not the publication of yet more pretentious claims. We have witnessed the manifest failure of attempting to become a clone of Barcelona, Bilbao and Baltimore (although, viewed from Penarth on a sunny day, the skyline of Cardiff Bay does now look a lot like Benidorm.)

This of course proposes that strong and effective civic leadership may be part of the solution in Cardiff but the more cynical might suggest that it may not be in the political interest of the Welsh Government to have a strong and more autonomous city. I have referred above to the perceptions of the ‘ABC Policy’ and ‘concentric circles of self- interest’. For many this was manifested in the Wales Spatial Plan (WSP) – People, Places, Futures which was originally adopted by the National Assembly for Wales in November 2004. Whilst that Plan recognized the importance of the capital city it appeared to have no practical effect. Certainly as regards the capital someone found it hard to use the word Cardiff when writing the Wales Spatial Plan. As I recall the preferred euphemism at the time was ‘capital region’. Any questioning of this at the time was met with the response by officers of the Assembly Government that such discussion would not be viewed favourably. To explicitly challenge it might prejudice the necessary investment and resources that the capital needs to succeed. Put simply the terminology used may be interpreted as an implicit but pervasive threat that the city must ‘toe the line’ as regards regional governmental policy. This may not be considered surprising if the WSP were seen only as an expression of the policy and of the priorities of Assembly. Or indeed its superior authority – that’s realpolitik for you.

However, for others, the WSP read as a catalogue of constraint not an enunciation of the opportunity afforded by the city and again this must surely need to be addressed under the term ‘governance’. As stated above the importance of the city is a given and, in my own direct experience in the property and construction industry the region is clearly defined by the property and related markets. Property values as a measure and indicator evidence the city as the apex of such markets. However both the industry and the professions also recognize that cities do not and cannot exist in isolation and the city region is a given. They must co-exist and work with and for their hinterland to prosper. High property values and the levels of economic activity that generate them are simply not sustainable without an effective engagement with the region, the most obvious example being in the available supply of suitable labour in successful urban centres. The quality of that labour force, their education, housing, entertainment, ease of access to the city and all other factors must necessarily be taken into account by the commercial property developer. The property and construction industry may only be motivated to participate in this debate through self- interest but that interest necessarily extends to the city region. It might have been wise to have had someone from that industry on the Task and Finish Group – or any commercial industry- to ensure effective engagement. That said, there are many in industry and the commercial professions in Wales now suffering from consultation fatigue.

Having focused on Cardiff to rehearse some of the governance issues we might then turn to other city regions. Swansea Bay/ Ospreylia is perhaps the most obvious candidate and one where moves have been made on cooperation on regionally significant projects. The fragility of such arrangements may best be illustrated by the proposed new research and innovation campus for Swansea University which would largely be located in the adjoining borough of Neath and Port Talbot. In that connection I will refer to only those matters in the public domain, for example, that the members of Swansea City Council overruled their officers and opposed the planning application submitted to Neath and Port Talbot. It might be suggested that they would not have opposed that application had the subject land been within the City.

At best an uneasy truce is maintained on matters which impact across current political boundaries such as the location of and access to new schools in adjoining boroughs, planning for retail parks and superstores, waste disposal, highways,etc. For this to be an effective city region the matter of governance is unavoidable for, at best, co-operation is wasteful in terms of human resources within the three authorities ‘co-operating’. The three unitary authorities in that area are to be commended for making what progress they have and we can only speculate as to whether they would have made three times the progress if they were one authority.

We then turn from Ospreylia to perhaps the more thorny subject of Carport. Newport has been designated a city, has historically served a region and continues to do so. However, in many areas- economically, socially and culturally- it clearly falls under the penumbra of Cardiff. To use again a simple anecdotal example from the property market, the received wisdom is that the business parks at J28 of the M4 – Cleppa Park, Celtic Lakes et al- would be more successful if they had a Cardiff postcode and telephone number. It might be reasonably assumed that hell will freeze solid before Newport becomes an eastern suburb of Cardiff. The Task and Finish Group then has to ask what practical benefit would the notion of ‘city region’ confer on Newport? It clearly cannot compete with Cardiff or Bristol so what rationale could be conjured up to support such a strategy? In addressing this the Group must then raise questions as to the role and purpose of these cities as the locomotives of regional regeneration. Answers may not be easily found in the proposition that ‘Successful international city regions tend to have a core theme/focus: Vancouver (airport); Bilbao (culture); Lille (connectivity); Rotterdam (logistics)’.

By my recollection Vancouver has a bit more going for it than an airport. That said none of our cities have anything going for them if we rely on our present airport. As to connectivity they are on the western side of an island to the North West of Europe so logistics would be illogical. So what, in the jargon of the marketers, is their Unique Selling Proposition? What are the features of our cities that will attract the attention of the brightest and best?

This may be broadly termed ‘culture’. In a 2006 paper on the future of Cardiff I offered three themes that I had some personal empathy with. They were entertainment, education and experiment and I outlined how the three might be interrelated as regards their contribution to a dynamic urban centre.

ENTERTAINMENT

At that time there was still discussion regarding the failure of Cardiff to secure the status as a Capital of Culture and I suggested that a problem with such contests was not least the definition of ‘culture’. I understood that it was taken in a wider sense for the purposes of that particular civic beauty parade and not solely confined to the arts. However it is defined it may be accepted that Cardiff and Wales have an established tradition of active participation and success in collective and populist entertainment. The word ‘collective’ again provides the thread in this argument in that historically we have had also had traditions of such collective participation in arts and culture whether these be choirs, brass bands or amateur theatricals. Whilst such practices have declined Cardiff and Wales evidence continued social and physical engagement with activities such as sport and other performing arts. Many people will still go to a place at some expense and personal discomfort to be part of a social event despite the availability of digital entertainment.  Welsh entertainers continue to achieve wider distinction and renown.

Continuing this theme it may be suggested that we have a particular ‘disposition to social life’ and that participation in such activity evidences a general love of life. If so then I suggest it is an attractive proposition and we may do a lot worse than reinforcing hwyl as a native tendency rather than striving to import any alien characteristics. As to the city, widespread recognition that it offers a diverse and rich range of entertainment must be considered an asset.

The Capital of Culture bid by Cardiff outlined what is needed in terms of developing and rounding out the offer, particularly in the visual arts and full engagement with the wider community - in the widest sense. The emphasis is on inclusivity not exclusivity and engaging the maximum number of people.

EDUCATION

My 2006 notes were originally prepared for people who speculate on futures through property investment and development. As with the reality of a city region many of them may take it as a given that the future is about what the young will do not what the old have done. Developing, attracting and retaining the brightest and best is essential for the future of the city. Asking what we can do to facilitate and enable greater national and international recognition as a centre of learning and research must be a central question.

It is obvious to those who accept the city region as a given as defined by its catchment area of skilled labour that this would be one of the biggest university towns in country if better defined. Linking back to the foregoing point on entertainment and amenity the attractions of Cardiff must undeniably attract and benefit students at Pontypridd and Newport. That gives the region an exciting and dynamic young population, a highly skilled workforce which might potentially provide the entrepreneurial and innovative commercial base we need. In short an available workforce which is clearly superior to that available elsewhere.

I hasten to add that this does not support the notion that merging higher education establishments in Cardiff, Treforest and Newport into a single institution may be beneficial. That is an entirely separate issue which I will be deal with in another blog.

EXPERIMENT

As with any commercial enterprise we can only succeed by innovation. A depressing aspect of Cardiff- A Proud Capital was the emphasis placed upon the development of an enlarged and enclosed shopping centre, another football stadium and an ‘international sports village’. These amenities may add to the diversity and range of entertainment outlined above but differ little from any town and city bidding to be shortlisted for a super casino. In hindsight that document did in fact appear to be merely something produced to that end.

We will not achieve distinction by borrowing ideas. Unless we can genuinely claim originality and be seen as a place where new ideas are formed we will not have a future. The caveat on Higher Education above is again relevant and the pursuit of excellence dealt with in another blog. In the context of the city region debate it is relevant in the sense that we must necessarily decide whether we are going to back winners or subsidise losers.

Coupled with these three themes there is of course the role of the city in commerce. The Task and Finish Group must necessarily consider the historic role of the city as a place of exchange and how that may be perpetuated. For as long as people have gathered together for mutual defence and worship they have also gathered at market and that function, I suggest, will continue. The National Assembly may wish to distribute wealth more evenly and it is a worthy objective. We will however by attempting to buck a trend of several thousand years if we try to prevent people gathering at the largest convenient market. Further advances in information technology will inevitably lead  to more changes in working, shopping and social habits but will not completely replace major commercial and cultural centres. That may be due in part to mankind’s disposition to social life and well established patterns of behaviour such as the collective pursuit of abundance