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Core Cities’ strong growth in the 2010s: Were they ‘leaving behind’ the rest of their regions?

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  • Alan Townsend

    (Durham University, UK)

  • Tony Champion

Abstract

Second-order cities are generally seen as disadvantaged places in the literature on globalisation, but in recent years they have staged a revival in several countries. This article uses two data sources to examine the employment change recorded by Britain’s Core Cities between 2012 and 2017, breaking it down by type of worker, occupation and industry. It aims, firstly, to identify which elements of their growth are distinctive compared to the country as a whole and, secondly, to see how far their growth has been emulated by the areas around them that contain the majority of Britain’s ‘left-behind’ places. The article demonstrates the great strides made by the nine provincial cities combined, substantially exceeding the national rate of increase for male, female, full-time, part-time, employee and self-employed work, notably in the three highest status occupational groups and in all industrial sectors apart from manufacturing and transport, especially business services. It is also found that their growth outstripped that of their local, regional and EU comparators, underlining the importance of direct policy intervention for ‘left-behind’ places rather than relying on ‘trickle-down’ processes, especially given uncertainties about the sustainability of Core City growth in the wake of COVID-19 and Brexit.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Townsend & Tony Champion, 2020. "Core Cities’ strong growth in the 2010s: Were they ‘leaving behind’ the rest of their regions?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(6), pages 566-585, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:35:y:2020:i:6:p:566-585
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094220970913
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ron Martin & Andy Pike & Peter Tyler & Ben Gardiner, 2016. "Spatially Rebalancing the UK Economy: Towards a New Policy Model?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 342-357, February.
    2. Christina Beatty & Steve Fothergill, 2020. "Recovery or stagnation?: Britain’s older industrial towns since the recession," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(9), pages 1238-1249, September.
    3. Tony Champion & Alan Townsend, 2013. "Great Britain's Second-Order City Regions in Recessions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(2), pages 362-382, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Antonioli, Davide & Berardino, Claudio Di & Onesti, Gianni, 2023. "The intersectoral linkages and manufacturing productivity growth in Italian regions using the I-O approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 120-133.
    2. Eduardo I Palavicini Corona, 2021. "Globalisation and local economic development: Place-based and bottom-up public policies in Switzerland and Mexico," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(2), pages 98-114, March.

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