Urban policy - helping people or helping places? New evidence from London on social exclusion and the spatial articulation of the distribution of income

That local job creation within a large urban labour market does not have a significant long term influence on the unemployment rates of local residents has long been documented (for example in Cheshire, 1979; Burridge & Gordon 1981; Gordon & Lamont, 1982). Urban ?regeneration policy? continues, nevertheless, to be targeted at small areas within large cities. This has been a continuing element in British urban policy, for example, since the Innner Urban Areas Act of 1978. An explicit aim of such urban policy has been to ?regenerate local economies and provide jobs for local people?. Increasingly European regional policy has also attempted to intervene on the basis of smaller areas within large urbanised regions. In the literature two mechanisms have been explored to explain the failure of local job creation to influence the unemployment rates of local residents. The operation of housing markets and social housing systems and the way that these generate social segregation means that the source of unemployment differentials across urban areas is primarily that poor neighbourhoods are where those with a higher propensity to be unemployed are concentrated. In addition it has been shown that interaction between local labour markets linked by significant commuting flows means that any differential opportunities that result from local job creation are quickly diffused throughout the set of interacting labour markets. Commuting flows adapt so that characteristic specific unemployment rates tend to equality throughout the urbanised region. This paper examines evidence relating to an additional mechanism: local migration. Data were collected for one area of regeneration in west London - Harlesden. This area was the recipient of a City Challenge grant of ?37.5 million running over 5 years from 1993. It is quite typical of disadvantaged neighbourhoods within large British cities. It grew up on the back of a successful industrial economy which has now been subject to 35 years of decline. It has a large concentration of ethnic minorities and - despite evidence of some success in local job creation - a relatively worsening unemployment rate over the 5 year regeneration period. Data for three samples of people of working age were collected: a sample of those who had lived within the area throughout the period of the regeneration; a sample of ?outmovers?; and a third of ?inmovers?. The samples were large enough for statistical analysis and the differing labour market experience of the samples over the five year period was compared. Differences were very substantial, with the out-movers having far the greatest labour market success. The results reinforce the important role of housing markets in articulating overall social inequality to generate the observed geographical patterns of poverty and social exclusion in urbanised regions. They also reinforce the need to distinguish between the goals of regenerating local economies within cities and that of improving the lives of the most disadvantaged. They also underline the need to think more carefully about what exactly is meant by the aim of providing jobs for local people. These and other implications for policy are explored. Burridge, P. and Gordon, I. (1981) Unemployment in the British Metropolitan Labour areas. Oxford Economic Papers, 33, 274-97. Cheshire, P.C. (1979) Inner areas as spatial labour markets: a critique of the inner area studies. Urban Studies, 16(2), 29-43. Gordon, I. and Lamont, D. (1982) A model of labour-market interdependencies in the London region. Environment and Planning A, 14, 238-64.

The distinctive determinants of European urban growth: Does one size fit all?

This paper investigates growth differences in the urban system of the EU12. Alternative dependent variables - growth in population and real GDP per capita - are analysed and instructive differences emerge. The US model which assumes perfect factor mobility does not seem well adapted to European conditions. There is evidence strongly suggesting that equilibrating flows between cities are highly constrained in the EU. Models in which growth of real GDP p.c. are the dependent variable perform well and make it possible to test significant hypotheses. Evidence is found which is supportive of a spatial adaptation of the endogenous growth model with the relative size of the university sector having a highly significant role in explaining growth differences. In addition the analysis supports the conclusion that systems of urban governance are strongly related to growth. The variables are formulated in a way which tests hypotheses derived from 'fiscal federalism' viewing growth promotion as the production of a local public good. While international factor flows appear to be constrained as an adjustment mechanism the density of urbanisation in regions of the EU12 seems to produce a strong local 'growth shadow' effect consistent with commuting flows having an important role in spatial economic adjustment processes. Finally new evidence is found supporting the conclusion that integration shocks in the EU favour core areas but that this effect tends to fade with time.

Capitalising the value of free schools : the impact of supply characteristics and uncertainty.

There has been a growing literature in both the US (for example Haurin and Brasington 1996, and Black 1999) and the UK (for example Gibbons & Machin, 2003) that estimates the way in which school quality is capitalised into house prices. Cheshire and Sheppard 1995 and 1999 estimated hedonic models in which the quality of the secondary school to which a household was assigned was a significant variable which provided evidence that secondary school quality was being capitalised into the price of houses. In contrast Gibbons and Machin concluded that primary schools were more significant. Each of these analyses is predicated on the assumption that the value of local schools should be reflected in the value of houses. We argue here that this is rather too simple. We should expect variation in the capitalised price of a given school quality at either primary or secondary level according to the elasticity of supply of ‘school quality’ in the local market, the certainty with which that quality can be expected to be maintained over time and the suitability of the dwelling to accommodate children. These factors will vary systematically between and perhaps within cities. This paper explores the sources and the impact of such variations as well as the impact of model specification. The results provide new evidence on the complex and subtle ways in which housing markets capitalise the value of local public goods such as school quality and perhaps most importantly suggest that this is highly non-linear: houses in the catchment areas of only the best state schools command substantial premiums but such capitalised values can be very substantial indeed.

An Exploration of the Help-Seeking Experiences of Patients in an Allied Professions-Led Rapid Access Chest Pain Pathway – A Qualitative Study

Objective: A number of studies have explored delayed help-seeking practices for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and have cited multiple intersecting factors which may play a role (e.g. attributing symptoms, age, gender, ethnicity and contextual influences). However, the pathway to diagnosis for suspected Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) symptoms in a Rapid Acess Chest Pain Clinic (RACPC) context is underexplored. The objective of this study was to explore patients’ help-seeking experiences of accessing RACPC services: from the point at which they notice and interpret symptoms to their decision to seek help from their GP, attend a RACPC, and receive a diagnosis Design: Qualitative study Setting: Interviews were conducted in RACPC at Queen Mary’s Roehampton Hospital, London, United Kingdom Participants: Maximium Variation sampling was used to recruit 30 participants referred to a RACPC, including 15 men and 15 women utilising sampling dimensions of age, ethnicity and occupation. Methods: Semi-structured interviews that focused on the patient experience of their pathway to diagnosis in RACPC. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the interview data. Results: The interpretation of symptoms was shaped by multiple factors; reluctance to seek help contributed to delay; with various factors acting as drivers as well as barriers to help-seeking; and referrals to RACPC were based on symptoms as well as patient need reassurance. Conclusion: We found complex issues shaped the patient decision-making when accessing the RACPC, including making sense of symptoms and help-seeking practices. These findings can be used to develop health promotion literature to encourage early help-seeking and improve of RACPC services

Housing in Europe: a different continent - a continent of differences

This article provides the introduction to the special issue on ‘Housing in Europe: a different continent – a continent of differences’ in the Journal of Housing Economics in 2018. Europe is a large continent with a long and rich history, consisting of around 50 countries with vastly different institutional settings and government policies for housing and an abundance of quasi-natural experiments. Some countries have remarkably rich public data and some institutions and policy assumptions are all but the opposite of those familiar to US institutions. In this introduction we briefly outline the seven papers of this issue that exploit in one way or another this extraordinary richness for research. Each paper provides novel insights and has important implications. Collectively, they illustrate the potential opportunities for new and exciting research on housing in Europe

Suction force-suction distance relation during aspiration thrombectomy for ischemic stroke: A computational fluid dynamics study

Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) is the major type of stroke occurring in patients. Aspiration thrombectomy, which uses suction to remove the thrombosis, is a promising technique in the clinical treatment of AIS patients. In this research a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted to model the blood flow dynamics in a simplified cerebral model during an aspiration thrombectomy procedure. The flow system being analysed was a typical in vitro cerebral flow model, and the system parameters were set based on the clinical and in vitro data reported in open literature. The simulated flow field features showed good correlation with the in vitro response as reported in literature. The CFD study provides detailed technical data including the peak velocity occurring at the catheter tip and the suction force-suction distance relation during the aspiration thrombectomy procedure, which are useful new knowledge and have the potential to influence future catheter design as well as clinical operational protocols used during thrombectomy intervention

Land use regulation and productivity – land matters: evidence from a UK supermarket chain

We use unique store-specific data for a major UK supermarket chain to estimate the impact of planning, which restricts both the size and location of stores, on Store output. Using the quasi-natural experiment of the variation in planning policies between England and other UK countries and a difference-in-difference approach, we isolate the impact of Town Centre First (TCF) policies. We find that space contributes directly to the productivity of stores and planning policies in England directly reduce output both by reducing store sizes and forcing stores onto less productive sites. Our results suggest that since the late 1980s planning policies have imposed a loss of total output of at least 18.3 to 24.9%. This is equivalent to more than a ‘lost decade’ of output growth in a major sector generated directly by government policy

A2_1 How to train your Kraken

We investigate wave propagation through water and its frequency dependance to determine the maximum distance Davy Jones’ Kraken can be from the Flying Dutchman and still hear his summoning call. We found the range to be 3.2 ± 0.7 km, which is much less than expected as the Flying Dutchman is unlikely to be able to produce sounds loud enough for a greater range