What Poverty really looks like in the UK

Author: Deniz Sevinc Originally published by CityREDI here In 2012, the UK had a higher poverty rate than most EU member states. While poverty rates have declined since then, this progress is now at risk since policy changes under the 2017 Autumn Budget. UK Poverty 2017 underlines that “overall 14 million people live in poverty …

How poor is poor? The many dimensions of poverty in the UK

The neglect of quality-of-life aspects, with an over-emphasis on income, makes it hard to tackle poverty, writes Deniz Sevinc for the LSE Business Review. Read the full article here  

The end (of the project) is near

Author: Professor John Bryson, City-Region Economic Development Institute, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham It is with both a sense of sadness and satisfaction that I write this blog. Sadness because the Urban Living Birmingham project has now formally completed – although outputs and outcomes will continue to be produced into the New Year. Satisfaction …

From Birmingham with a Smile: Public Art, Streetscapes and the ‘Economic’ Impacts of a Liveable City

Author: Professor John Bryson, City-Region Economic Development Institute, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham 29 November 2017  Cities should be interesting places to live and work. They should be places for serendipitous encounters with people, buildings and streetscapes – including green infrastructure. The best street environments are spaces for display, entertainment and encounter. Many cities …

The Autumn Budget 2017: For Whom and for What Purpose, or Just an Exercise in Whistling in the Wind?

Author: Prof John Bryson, University of Birmingham I find the political and media worlds in the UK increasingly depressing. I had wondered if this was a new form of illness, perhaps Brexitis. I have been reflecting on my increasing disillusionment with both British politics and the media and I have discovered the origins of my …

The Geovation Challenge: Greener, Smarter Communities

Author: Gauri Kangai, Associate Innovation Executive, Geovation, Ordnance Survey The Greener, Smarter Communities and Cities Geovation Challenge is focussed on developing solutions to communities’ real needs for future-proofing the communities and cities in which we live. Geovation sees ‘smart communities’ as placing people first, with technology, simply, as one ingredient. Joined by our lead sponsors, …

Final dissemination event, 1st November

Author: Joanne Leach It is hard to believe that a year and a half has almost passed since the Urban Living Birmingham (ULB) project began investigating the critical challenges facing Birmingham and how end-user innovation might be encouraged in order to address them. Although this work is not yet complete (the project does not formally …

Skype Session: Systems thinking support for end-user innovation

Urban Living Birmingham is pleased to be hosting the next in the series of Urban Living Birmingham Skype Sessions. This session, titled ‘Systems thinking support for end-user innovation’, will be hosted by Chris Bouch. A brief description of the session follows. If you are interested in attending, please contact Chris at c.bouch@bham.ac.uk with your Skype …

The economic black hole at the heart of the shift to electric vehicles

This blog was originally posted by The Conversation It has been re-posted by CityREDI Authors: Professor John Bryson and Anastasios Kitsos Published: 04/08/2017 Source: Charging more? nrqemi/Shutterstock The ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040 is perhaps the most significant policy announcement made by the UK government in the past …

Birmingham: a city of visible negatives and hidden positives

Below are contributions in response to a request for the best and worst of Birmingham. They formed part of an impromptu exhibition held at the March 2017 Urban Living Birmingham Touchstone Group Meeting. From the author, David Thew, Secretary to the Futures Network West Midlands (FNWM) VISIBLE NEGATIVES Congestion Without appropriate action, there is a …