NewcastleOwl
18-10-2004, 12:53
There has been much talk and interest on this Forum about regeneration efforts in the city.
One theme which has cropped up, but which I feel merits further exploration, is how to redevelop Sheffield in a distinctive way, compared to other provincial cities?
If you look at Sheffield's urban renaissance compared to other post-industrial Contenental European cities of similar size, you will find it is trailing miles (or should that be kilometres) behind the pack in almost every measurable sense. Which is not surprising when you consider the lack of local intervention powers and local tax raising powers in English cities (outside of London) and the centralisation of the UK around London and SE England.
But even compared to other English 'core cities', it trails decades behind in the regeneration game, perhaps due to the particularly unfortunate blow of traditionally having a one dimensional manufacturing economy devastated by decades of cutlery workshop closures, steel plant closures, pit closures and brewery closures.
But if you redevelop cities in the same way that say Manchester, Leeds, Bristol or Nottingham have been, you bring in not just new prosperity, but new crime, widespread drug abuse, unaffordable house prices, traffic chaos, pressure on green land for development, unfriendly short-tempered materialistic professionals, etc.
Also if you apply the same 'one size fits all' formula for urban renewal / regeneration, you end up with all the cities looking the same.
The ONE ADVANTAGE that Sheffield has in a regeneration sense over all other UK cities (along with perhaps smaller Stoke-on-Trent) is that it can learn from other cities' mistakes of the last 10 / 20 years and can adopt a different approach, so remaining distinctive / unique.
What distinctive features would you like to see preserved / enhanced during the regeneration process?
What mistakes do you think other cities have made in their redevelopment, which Sheffield could learn from?
One theme which has cropped up, but which I feel merits further exploration, is how to redevelop Sheffield in a distinctive way, compared to other provincial cities?
If you look at Sheffield's urban renaissance compared to other post-industrial Contenental European cities of similar size, you will find it is trailing miles (or should that be kilometres) behind the pack in almost every measurable sense. Which is not surprising when you consider the lack of local intervention powers and local tax raising powers in English cities (outside of London) and the centralisation of the UK around London and SE England.
But even compared to other English 'core cities', it trails decades behind in the regeneration game, perhaps due to the particularly unfortunate blow of traditionally having a one dimensional manufacturing economy devastated by decades of cutlery workshop closures, steel plant closures, pit closures and brewery closures.
But if you redevelop cities in the same way that say Manchester, Leeds, Bristol or Nottingham have been, you bring in not just new prosperity, but new crime, widespread drug abuse, unaffordable house prices, traffic chaos, pressure on green land for development, unfriendly short-tempered materialistic professionals, etc.
Also if you apply the same 'one size fits all' formula for urban renewal / regeneration, you end up with all the cities looking the same.
The ONE ADVANTAGE that Sheffield has in a regeneration sense over all other UK cities (along with perhaps smaller Stoke-on-Trent) is that it can learn from other cities' mistakes of the last 10 / 20 years and can adopt a different approach, so remaining distinctive / unique.
What distinctive features would you like to see preserved / enhanced during the regeneration process?
What mistakes do you think other cities have made in their redevelopment, which Sheffield could learn from?