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Engaging universities in ‘Pride in Place’ and levelling up
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal,
17
(4),
419-430
(2024)
Abstract
This paper presents a perspective on delivery of ‘Pride in Place’ based on a multidisciplinary researcher/policy/practitioner forum discussion. Injecting dynamism and breaking the cycle of spatial inequality are core aims of the Levelling Up White Paper. A mission is ‘to restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost’. But how will this be delivered and measured? Much more policy thinking is needed to connect the mechanisms identified as drivers — the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) spending, local leadership and civic institutions — into a joined-up strategy. This paper focuses on issues that need to be addressed: what we mean by pride in place, how to engage with felt experience, how to build pride in place at local and regional level, and what role, if any, universities might play.
Keywords: pride; community; place; university; inequality; levelling up
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Bec Riley is an Associate Professor, Co-Director of City-REDI and Lead of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Strategic Co-ordination Hub (LPIP Hub) at the University of Birmingham. She has over 25 years’ experience in economic development and place-based projects, working in the private sector and the public sector prior to joining the University of Birmingham. She is particularly interested in the role universities can play in place growth and the impact universities can have on public policy.
Des Mcnulty is a former politician who served in senior roles in local government and the Scottish Parliament. Returning to academia in 2012, he became Assistant Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow with responsibility for civic engagement and public policy and post-retirement continues to work on civic and policy engagement, both in Glasgow and nationally as chair of the LPIP Strategic Hub board.
Anne Green is Professor of Regional Economic Development and Co-Director at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. She is a geographer by background and has wide-ranging interests in issues associated with local economic development, labour markets and public policy.
