Thomas Ellerton

PhD student (ESRC Funded)

Space, scale and the coordination of regeneration activity.

Since the Labour government came to power in 1997, it has promoted the idea of `joined-up´ working. This implies that in order to improve the effectiveness of urban regeneration and activities such as public service delivery, the plethora of different organisations and agencies involved in the process must work together to ensure effective coordination of policy.

The research that I am undertaking aims to explore the connections and disconnections that are created through the regeneration process. Regeneration is seen as a networked activity; however, it is clear that there are various difficulties in ensuring that `joining-up´ happens. With there being a number of organisations involved, difficulties such as organisations having different ways of working, and also different goals that they need to achieve are common within regeneration networks. There are further problems, as many of the regeneration organisations/policies operate on different spatial scales within a city. Whilst mechanisms may be set up to encourage connections to be created, it is clear that the above complications have the potential to create disconnections in the process.

The research is based on case study work in Liverpool, and will be completed in two main stages. The first stage will review the structures that frame decision making within the city, looking at the different mechanisms for coordinated regeneration activity at different scales. Following from this, two smaller scale case studies will then allow for a more detailed analysis of how the different local, city level and national priorities come together at the neighbourhood scale in two areas with different challenges and opportunities.

email : t.j.ellerton@sheffield.ac.uk