 |
 |
To whom it may concern, I would be grateful if you would circulate the following message on Economic Geography Research Group Message: The Great Regional Awakening: New Directions RSA annul conference, Dublin 4-7th June 2017 SS40. What Future for Area Based Regeneration Initiatives in an Era of Inclusive Growth? Session organisers: David McGuinness: [log in to unmask] Paul Greenhalgh: [log in to unmask] Department of Architecture & the Built Environment, Northumbria University, UK The UK has a rich post-war history of area based regeneration initiatives (ABIs) aimed at improving socio- economic and environmental conditions in the most deprived communities. Recent ideological struggles between socio-pathological and structural explanations of deprivation came to a head in 2008 with publication by Policy Exchange of a report which suggest that ABIs were simply throwing good money after bad on areas that had little prospect of improvement; more recent evaluations (Lawless et al, 2012, Beatty et el, 2010 ) indicated that ABIs are not effective at reducing entrenched deprivation by themselves. For the first time in over four decades, England had no national strategy or framework for regeneration nor any dedicated funding targeted at the country’s most deprived communities (Work Foundation 2012; Robson 2012). Is this non-intervention approach a triumph for socio-pathological explanations of poverty and a return to a Victorian culture of poverty thesis? More recent research by the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) suggest a rebalancing of national policy priorities in England with a more inclusive approach to economic growth is required. This session will question what this more inclusive approach implies for deprived communities and whether reintroduction of spatially focussed regeneration programmes are needed to prevent further isolation of peripheral/socially excluded communities. A wider aim of the session is to gather international experience of ABIs and explore best practice in terms of regeneration interventions aimed at reducing socio-economic deprivation. Finally, we wish to consider the wider meaning of inclusive growth for communities at the margins of metropolitan city-region growth models. The objective of this special track is to bring together a collection of papers that address these or similar issues from an international perspective. We envision contributions covering topics such as: Comparative studies of the strengths and weaknesses of ABIs including neighbourhood approaches Deconstructing the concept of ‘Inclusive Growth’ to explore what it can offer communities with intractably high levels of deprivation how are facing sustained economic decline Critiques of how we measure success in terms of regeneration and growth. Should initiatives be measured in terms of reducing the gap between deprived areas and more successful communities? or is ensuring the gap does not widen further a significant achievement in itself? Exploring the case for a new generation of ABIs and questioning what will happen to the most deprived communities, if the tacit policy of managed decline continues. What other models exist for regenerating deprived communities beyond ABIs? Is there international evidence of other successful approaches (e.g. community-led regeneration) Submission guidelines Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a 250 word abstract (text only) through the Regional Studies Association conference portal by Friday 24th February 2017. Proposals will be considered by the Conference Programme Committee against the criteria of originality, interest and subject balance. https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=149 Regards David McGuinness Senior Lecturer in Urban Regeneration and Planning Faculty of Engineering & Environment Northumbria University Sutherland Building, SUB007c Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST United Kingdom + 44 (0) 191 2273655 [log in to unmask]