The government's review of sub-national economic development and regeneration: key issues

We are now in the midst of another concerted attempt by Government to make sense of and tidy up the sub-national governance of economic development and regeneration. This is a challenging task made all the more difficult by being undertaken in a UK context following a period of uneven devolutionary change and cross-cut by new and existing scales of institutions and spatial policies at the sub-regional, city-regional, regional and pan-regional levels as well as the economic slowdown. The current endeavour has taken the form of the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration led by HM Treasury, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Communities and Local Government department and the consultation Prosperous Places: Taking Forward the Review of Sub National Economic Development and Regeneration (hereafter SNR). We recognise that SNR is emergent 'policy-in-the-making', containing some potentially radical steps for government across a range of geographical levels, and represents a laudable attempt to establish a clearer framework replete with challenging opportunities for RDAs, local authorities and other existing and emergent spatial institutions. Our purpose here is to raise some key issues for debate and reflection as part of the process of addressing sub-national economic development and regeneration policy and governance

Book review: the UK regional-national economic problem: geography, globalisation and governance by Philip McCann

In The UK Regional-National Economic Problem: Geography, Globalisation and Governance , Philip McCann analyses growing economic disparity across the UK regions, including the North-South divide, challenging many of the key assumptions that have shaped understandings of the UK’s ‘regional problem’. While a dense read, this is a convincing challenge to the dominant orthodoxy on regional development in the UK that John Tomaney hopes will generate wider debate

Book review: rethinking the economics of land and housing by Josh Ryan-Collins, Toby Lloyd and Laurie Macfarlane

In Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing. Josh Ryan-Collins, Toby Lloyd and Laurie Macfarlane offer a critical exploration of the UK land economy and its impact on contemporary issues such as housing policy. This is a crisp and incisive critique of the inadequate treatment afforded to land and housing within mainstream economics that provides readers with a credible set of alternatives, writes John Tomaney

Book review: from boom to bubble: how finance built the new Chicago by Rachel Weber

In From Boom to Bubble: How Finance Built the New Chicago, Rachel Weber offers an ‘elite ethnography’ of the ‘Millennial Boom’ of urban construction experienced in the city of Chicago between 1998 and 2008. Challenging traditional understandings of cycles of commercial property development, this book not only offers insight into Chicago’s overbuilding but also establishes an extensive research agenda within the field, finds John Tomaney

Book review: developing England's north: the political economy of the Northern Powerhouse edited by Craig Berry and Arianna Giovannini

In Developing England’s North: The Political Economy of the Northern Powerhouse, editors Craig Berry and Arianna Giovannini bring together contributors to explore different facets of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ as announced in a Manchester speech by then UK Chancellor, George Osborne. This is a valuable collection that shows the incoherence and ineffectiveness of the NP, and the urgent need to develop political and economic alternatives, writes John Tomaney

A mess of pottage? The North of Tyne deal and the travails of devolution

John Tomaney focuses on the proposed deal between government and the North of Tyne area. He explains why it fails to meet the government's own definition of appropriate devolution arrangements, and why local government leaders have nonetheless accepted it

Book Review: Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming by Andreas Malm

In Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, Andreas Malm traces our current environmental predicament to the rise of the steam age in Britain driven by capitalist concerns. This is a superbly written, measured and rigorous book, finds John Tomaney, which should be read by anyone interested in the history of fossil capital

Best bookshops in Newcastle upon Tyne

In this bookshop guide, John Tomaney takes us on a tour of some of the best bookshops in the UK city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the wider North East. If there’s a bookshop that you think others should visit in a particular city, further information about contributing follows this article

Book review: Ultra: the underworld of Italian football by tobias jones

In Ultra: The Underworld of Italian Football, Tobias Jones immerses himself in the culture of Italian football ultras, exploring the rituals of different ultra groups, their infamous links with violence and contemporary far-right politics alongside the enduring left-wing identities of some ultras. Jones is an expert and sympathetic guide through this world, showing ultra culture to be as much about complex issues of belonging as it is about the love of the game, writes John Tomaney

Book review: little platoons: how a revived one nation can empower England's forgotten towns and redraw the political map by David Skelton

In Little Platoons: How A Revived One Nation Can Empower England’s Forgotten Towns and Redraw The Political Map, David Skelton argues that a renewed ‘One Nation’ Toryism can rejuvenate ‘forgotten’ or ‘left-behind’ towns such as Consett in Country Durham. This book signals the Conservative electoral interest in forgotten towns, but falls far short of a credible and serious programme for their revival, writes John Tomaney. Little Platoons: How A Revived One Nation Can Empower England’s Forgotten Towns and Redraw The Political Map. David Skelton. Biteback. 2019