Assessing sustainability in housing LED urban regeneration : insights from a housing association in Northern England

How far do current assessment methods allow the thorough evaluation of sustainable urban regeneration? Would it be useful, to approach the evaluation of the environmental and social impacts of housing regeneration schemes, by making both hidden pitfalls and potentials explicit, and budgeting costs and benefits in the stakeholders’ perspective? The paper aims at answering these questions, by focusing on a case study located in the Manchester area, the City West Housing Trust, a nonprofit housing association. Drawing from extensive fieldwork and including several interviews with key experts from this housing association, the paper first attempts to monetize the environmental and social value of two extant projects – a high-rise housing estate and an environmentally-led program. It then discusses whether and how a stakeholder-oriented approach would allow more engagement of both current and potential funders in the projects at hand. Findings from both the literature and the empirical data that was gathered show how in current housing regeneration processes, room for significant improvements in terms of assessment methods still exist. Findings additionally show that the environmental and social spillovers are largely disregarded because of a gap in the evaluation tools. This may also hinder the potential contributions of further funders in the achievements of higher impacts in terms of sustainability

What Do Community Benefits Agreements Deliver? Evidence From Los Angeles

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Advocates of community benefits agreements (CBAs) between coalitions of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and real estate developers contend that CBAs promote public accountability and responsiveness to community concerns. This study assesses the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District (LASED) CBA, which scholars and practitioners have described as a model for such agreements. I assess compliance with key provisions of the agreement related to jobs, affordable housing, and parks and recreational facilities. I also assess whether compliance with these provisions has yielded benefits beyond those required under existing laws and regulations. I find that the parties to the agreement have technically complied with many, although arguably not all, of its provisions. But some of the provisions in the CBA are not legally binding, other provisions overlap with requirements that the developer would have had to satisfy even without the CBA, and some reports required by the CBA are unavailable. As a result, outcomes such as living wage jobs and funding for affordable housing units are not clearly attributable to the CBA; other outcomes, such as targeted hiring, are unknown due to a lack of relevant information.Takeaway for practice: Although CBAs may not fulfill all the claims that advocates make on their behalf, they can play important roles in community development by directing public and private spending to underserved neighborhoods. But collecting and verifying the relevant data may be challenging, even if reporting requirements are clearly spelled out in the CBA. As the complexity of a CBA increases, so do the challenges of assessing outcomes and assigning responsibility for those outcomes

History versus equilibrium A debate revisited

Includes bibliographical referencesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:3597. 77152(123) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Industrial land availability in cities, towns and rural areas

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:9350.4898(6) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Rural Change in Europe: Research Programme on Farm Structures and Pluriactivity: United Kingdom Baseline Data, 1987

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.This study sought to reflect the diversity of rural contexts and farm structure across Western Europe. It consists of two surveys - the baseline survey and the final survey. The baseline survey, conducted in 1987, covered basic conditions, work and income patterns of farm households in different socio-economic situations in Europe with a view to further investigation over the next three years of the reasons, extent and effects of change experienced by some of them at farm, local, regional and national levels with special reference to multiple job-holding. The final survey was carried out in 1991. The baseline survey data are held as separate study numbers for each country (see list of constituent studies). The dataset containing the merged data of the baseline and final surveys for all countries is held as SN:2973.Main Topics:Farm size and tenure; agricultural production and livestock; farm buildings and machinery; finance and income. Residence. Household members and farm work forces; agricultural and farm-based activities; off-farm activities

An econometric analysis of the influence of physical constraints on the location of manufacturing employment change

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:9350.4898(7) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Cambridge Centre for Business Research Oxford-Cambridge High-Technology Dataset, 1990-1995

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The project investigates the extent, nature and importance of technological, information and other linkages between firms themselves and between firms, research institutions and other private and public sector bodies in the Cambridge and Oxford regions and addresses the question of how far these territorial clusters reflect the core characteristics of an 'innovative milieu', that is, a form of networking characterised both by vertical subcontracting chains and horizontal linkages with the providers of financial, technical, fashion, design, marketing and training services and advice.Main Topics:This dataset was created from face to face interviews using a stratified random sample drawn from two databases of high-technology firms in the Cambridge and Oxford regions, with data from the Cambridgeshire County Council's Research Group, Oxford Trust and British Telecom. The dataset consists of 100 high-technology firms, 50 from each region, using a detailed semi-structured questionnaire devised in consultation with a Business Users Group established by the project and including experts such as the Director of the St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge. Prior to the interview the participants were sent a pre-interview fact sheet, which they were asked to complete. The questionnaire covered the following topics: general characteristics, origins and entrepreneurship; Cambridge/Oxford as a high-tech location; growth and acquisitions; innovation activity; links with the university and research institutions; inter-firm networks; and scale and networking. The pre-interview fact sheet covered questions on the firm, the workforce and trade

Cambridge Centre for Business Research SME Dataset, 1987-1995

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The research programme had five objectives: to draw upon and develop recent theoretical contributions to the study of industrial organisation, firm behaviour and organisational change in a way which enabled them to be applied to the study of small firm creation, growth and development; to employ this framework to analyse empirically the determinants and constraints upon small business birth, growth and survival in a range of industries including hi-tech sectors, knitwear, printing and publishing; to employ the theoretical framework to analyse empirically the role of interfirm relationships and industrial districts in small firm creation, growth and development; to provide a detailed empirical analysis of the role of acquisition activity in the growth of small firms; to use the results of the theoretical and empirical research programme to evaluate policy proposals at a local, national and European level on a range of issues affecting the creation and growth of small firms. The methodology included econometric and case study analysis. Individual projects were conducted against a background analysis derived from a national postal survey of 2000 businesses and official statistics on the small business sector. The aim of the study was to create a longitudinal panel of small to medium enterprise (SME) data relating to a wide range of non-financial and attitudinal characteristics, and also including a limited number of financial variables not normally available in modified company accounts, from the national postal survey mentioned above. The initial survey was conducted in 1991 (covering 1987-1990). A first recall survey of the same population took place in 1993, and a second in 1995. The initial deposit of this study included only the results of the first survey. For the second edition of February 2002, the data and documentation were updated to include the 1993 and 1995 recall surveys.Main Topics:This dataset consists of two data files, sbe.por and cbr321.por. The first file, sbe.por, contains the responses to a 1991 survey of over 2000 independent small and medium-sized businesses in the manufacturing and business services sectors in England, Scotland and Wales. The questionnaire covered the years 1987-1990, and included topics on the role of independent small businesses, where respondents were asked their views on the roles of such businesses in economic activity and the challenges involved in running them; general characteristics of the business, where the questions were related to the history, ownership and character of the business as well as questions about the chief executive/partner/sole proprietor; commercial activity and competitive situation where the respondent was asked about the key characteristics of the business in terms of its suppliers, customers and competitive situation. Other sections covered: workforce and training (employment figures, recruiting difficulties and whether training was provided); factors affecting expansion and efficiency (designed to help with the understanding of principal factors which affect the rate of development of the business and the use of and access to business advice); technology and innovation (questions on the role of technological change and innovation in the development of the business); acquisition activity (intended to explore the role of acquisition and takeovers in the development of the business; and finance (designed to obtain some basic financial information about the profitability and sources of finance available to the business and the cost of borrowings. The second file, cbr321.por, contains data from 893 firms from the 1991 survey, along with their responses to two recall surveys conducted in 1993 and 1995. To be included in this data file, firms had to respond to the surveys in both 1991 and 1995. The two files should not be used together as one partially duplicates the other. The first recall survey (1993) consisted of a very brief questionnaire, which focused on finance characteristics but also included a few brief questions on general business characteristics and total employment. The second recall survey (1995) had a particular emphasis on innovation and innovation-related expenditure, but also included questions on the same topics as the first survey. A brief faxed questionnaire was sent to those firms unable to complete the full 1995 questionnaire, which included innovation and finance questions