Archives: Reports

Green and pleasant land? Rural resilience in the Welsh Marches

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores the economic and environmental challenges facing one of the UK's most distinctive rural regions. In his new report for the LPIP Hub, Professor Calvin Jones explores the economic, demographic and environmental challenges facing one of the UK's most distinctive rural regions. The report highlights an ageing population,...

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Place capacity and institutional thickness: Leadership, agency and the governance of English devolution

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores why some English city-regions turn devolved powers into effective strategy while others struggle to get off the ground. This report examines how institutional capacity, leadership and governance shape the success of devolution and place-based development in England. The report revisits the concept of institutional thickness, arguing that...

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Development corporations

This report from UK think tank City-REDI calls for a stronger evidence base to identify which models, powers and financing approaches work best in different circumstances. This report provides a timely stocktake of how development corporations have been used across the UK, the emerging pipeline of new proposals, and the conditions likely to determine their...

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Fiscal devolution and place investment: Will it unlock growth everywhere and redistribute prosperity?

This report from UK think tank City-REDI argues that fiscal devolution works when it is designed as 'capability devolution' and fails when it is merely risk transfer. The Chancellor's Growth Plan commits to 'unlocking growth in every part of Britain' and Andy Burnham has highlighted the same direction of travel in his speech on 29th...

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Addressing local economic disparities: Learning from policy failure

This report from UK think tank City-REDI examines why the UK remains one of the most interregionally unequal countries in the industrialised world. This report examines why, after more than four decades of national policy, the UK remains one of the most interregionally unequal countries in the industrialised world. Drawing on the academic discipline of...

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Evaluation of career coaching for young people at risk of being NEET

This report from UK think tank City-REDI evaluates career coaching for young people at risk of being NEET. PfPP2 provided career coaching and mentoring, group career readiness sessions and employer engagement for 102 young people identified at risk of becoming NEET(not in education, employment or training) in Year 10 in five East Birmingham secondary schools....

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Communities in their places evidence review

This report from UK think tank City-REDI finds that successful interventions require long-term investment, community-led participation and supportive national frameworks. The LPIP Hub 'Communities in their Places' evidence review shows that while communities are central to addressing local economic, social and environmental challenges, their ability to do so varies widely depending on policy frameworks, resources...

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Towards a place-based qualitative data observatory

This report from UK think tank City-REDI responds to Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub work on data devolution, transparency, and place productivity. Building on this existing research, it argues that current UK data infrastructures do not yet accommodate the heterogeneous forms of qualitative data on which local, regional and national policymakers increasingly rely. To...

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Outside-In: The role of social entrepreneurs in public sector transformation

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores the role of social entrepreneurs as 'outside-in' actors in public sector transformation. This policy paper explores the role of social entrepreneurs as “outside-in” actors in public sector transformation. It argues that, in a period of profound institutional transition, public systems need to learn not only from within...

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Building intergovernmental capability through secondments: Lessons from Japan for the UK

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores how secondment can systematically build capability, share knowledge and address resource constraints across levels of government. This policy briefing, from the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub, explores how England’s devolution reforms could work more effectively by using staff secondments as a core part of the delivery system....

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