Liverchester/Manpool? The Curious Case of the Lack of Intra-Urban Leadership in the Twin Cities of the North-West

Policy ‘R&D’, capacity and advocacy in English Combined Authorities

“…City-regions would perform as ‘engines’ of national economic growth and wealth generation (Glaeser, 2011), and, as such, the prosperity of the peripheral regions or hinterlands was dependent upon their city regions (Davoudi, 2008; Rodiquez-Pose, 2008). The city was also seen as having an integral role as an ‘ideapolis’ for the new ‘knowledge economy’ (Williams et al, 2006; Headlam, 2014).…”

Real Geographies, Real Economies and Soft Spatial Imaginaries: Creating a ‘More than Manchester’ Region

“…The impulse to create and promote new regional identities based on new regional geographies remains strong in many parts of the world. Whether dreamed up by backroom teams of planners, celebrity architects, private businesses, environmental lobbyists or ambitious politicians, there is no shortage of recent examples of attempts to argue that existing political boundaries for cities and regions do not reflect, for instance, the changing realities of a globalized economy (MacLeod and Jones, ; Deas, et al ., ; Harrison, ; Headlam, ). Sometimes these interventions simply fade away, but on other occasions they gain sufficient momentum and backing to lead to sustained efforts to develop a new regional identity.…”

“…Empirically we seek to apply this framework to a succession of attempts to create new regional spaces around Manchester over the past 50 years, with a particular emphasis on those initiatives that have sought to establish a strategic framework which embraces both Manchester and the neighbouring city of Liverpool, arguably with limited success (Deas, ; Headlam, ). The reason for choosing Manchester as the focus is primarily because it has been a fertile testing ground for new ideas about how to create new urban‐regions for the past 50 years or so, involving a succession of initiatives.…”