On Tuesday 2nd May City REDI’s Catherine Harris presented her research on EU entrepreneurs in Birmingham in response to Brexit at the event Understanding Brexit and migration: implications for Birmingham. The event was held at the Impact Hub Digbeth and was a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick. Birmingham is … Continue reading “Understanding Brexit and migration: implications for Birmingham”
Category: Policy
Local Authority funding in the UK – More ‘graphs of doom’ ahead?
Local government funding has been under severe pressure since the 2008 crisis. This has stress-tested the local authority finances and capacities to identify efficiency savings leading to severe warnings such as Barnet Council’s graph of doom. In this blog, I am bringing together official figures of the drop in local authority funding in order to … Continue reading “Local Authority funding in the UK – More ‘graphs of doom’ ahead?”
Fiscal devolution in the UK – the facts
Local government funding is once again coming to the fore, especially now that we are approaching the mayoral elections next week on the 4th May. In this blog, City-REDI’sTasos Kitsos discusses fiscal devolution in the UK compared to international experiences. No big introduction needed. This post looks into the numbers related to the extent … Continue reading “Fiscal devolution in the UK – the facts”
From Boston with Ducklings! Interdependent Challenges and Urban Living and the Management of Complex Cities
In this blog, Professor John Bryson, City-REDI, discusses his recent visit to Boston, for the Association of American Geographers: On Saturday 8 April 2017, the Urban Living Birmingham project organised two sessions at the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers, Boston. The sessions explored the integrated and interdependent challenges that are facing cities this … Continue reading “From Boston with Ducklings! Interdependent Challenges and Urban Living and the Management of Complex Cities”
Birmingham Business School hosts CABS Annual Research Conference
Birmingham Business School hosted The Chartered Association of Business Schools Annual Research Conference last week. City-REDI’s Professor Simon Collinson and Rebecca Riley were at the event to share their knowledge and expertise on some of the crticial issues facing Business Schools. The following piece was written by Isabelle Szmigin, Deputy Dean of Birmingham Business School and Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer. On … Continue reading “Birmingham Business School hosts CABS Annual Research Conference”
WMCA Productivity and Skills Commission Launch – Call for Evidence
Achieving the scale of ambition… Today was the launch of the West Midlands Combined Authority Skills and Productivity Commission call for evidence. The WMCA Productivity Leadership Group, led by Dr Andy Palmer and bringing together business leaders from across the LEPs, will ensure that WMCA plans to drive productivity are designed by and for local … Continue reading “WMCA Productivity and Skills Commission Launch – Call for Evidence”
Metro Mayors – Next Steps for Devolution in England
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) hosted their event ‘Metro Mayors: next steps for devolution in England’ last week in the run up to the Mayoral elections which will take place in several major city-regions next month on the 4th May. City-REDI’s Charlotte Hoole was … Continue reading “Metro Mayors – Next Steps for Devolution in England”
Developing Citizen-Centric Urban Services: End-user Innovation in Birmingham
Citizens have direct experience of the ‘problem spaces’ within urban systems and are more likely to be motivated to change existing services than incumbent providers (Noveck, 2016; Borgers et al., 2010). Consequently, it has proven valuable for the public sector to co-create with citizens (users or consumers), through capturing their ideas and integrating users’ knowledge … Continue reading “Developing Citizen-Centric Urban Services: End-user Innovation in Birmingham”
Manufacturers in the UK – Taking Their Eye off the Ball
Here, City-REDI’s Amir Qamar discusses the fate of British manufacturing after Brexit. The fate of the British manufacturing industry is currently unclear, with many organisations concerned about the effects that Brexit may have on their business; however, the potential impact will become much clearer once the government negotiates with the EU and concrete trade deals … Continue reading “Manufacturers in the UK – Taking Their Eye off the Ball”
Employed worklessness and other oxymora
Tasos Kitsos comments on the latest ONS release of employment on zero-hours contract. On March 15 2017, ONS released its latest estimate (Oct to Dec 2016) of people employed on contracts that do not guarantee a minimum amount of hours. Ready? Here it is… 905,000 (or 2.8% of those employed). The figure itself may not … Continue reading “Employed worklessness and other oxymora”