Our two core research specialisms are in analysis of place and of foundational reliance systems. In every case the emphasis is on engaging specifics because patterns of settlement and mobility are always different and reliance systems are variously organised and owned. No two projects are the same but here are two samples of our work which show our capacity to reframe problems through analysis and offer practical steps forward
‘Things have to change’: elite priorities vs. household priorities in the EU’s recovery strategy and institutions (August 2023)
There may be consensus about the need for change in Europe, in the wake of a pandemic and an energy crisis, and to secure an adequate response to nature and climate emergency, but there is a gulf between the priorities of elites and of households. This report presents two contrasting framings: the EU economic framing of ‘making the economy work’, using recovery funds and the European Investment Bank to secure growth in new digital and green industries; and an alternative, foundational framing of ‘making the household work’ by directly improving liveability. The report argues that orthodox policies will not meet the priorities and needs of households for improved essential services and social infrastructure, as well as securing higher residual income, without policies that support bottom-up initiatives and social innovation.
Municipal Trading Then and Now: a Foundational Perspective – public interest report (2023)
This report provides a foundational analysis of contemporary municipal trading – attempts by local authorities in the UK to find new revenue streams and/or to directly provide services to residents. Recent high profile failures, from energy retailing by councils in Bristol and Nottingham to large scale property investment at Spelthorne, Woking and other councils, raise questions about whether and how such activities can produce good outcomes in service and financial terms. The report sets such current enterprise in a historical perspective, outlining how municipalities in the late nineteenth-century were able to raise capital and operate financially viable foundational services – gas, water, electricity and transport – that transformed urban life. Along with those successes were also risks, and the report reflects on these to explore the conditions under which contemporary municipal trading could align meaningful social outcomes with financial viability.
Tourism Briefings – background for UKRI Slate Valleys Project (2023)
These three research briefings were produced as background for an UKRI community research project. The empirical focus is on what tourism is in Gwynedd and could be in the three slate valleys. The remit was to produce not a report with recommendations but briefings summarising available information and providing some basic analysis. Briefing 1 covers tourism as it is in Gwynedd. Briefing 2 looks more broadly at the development of the community tourism alternative mainly outside Wales. Briefing 3 summarises the available information and evidence on mainly UK walking trails.
Briefing 1 – Tourism in Gwynedd
Briefing 2 – Community tourism
Briefing 3 – Walking trails
NHS Wales as a Driver of Economic Value – public interest report (2022)
This report explains how NHS Wales can be not an anchor but a driver of economic and social benefits because of its size and the importance of employment costs as the largest element of expenditure. NHS Wales drives economic value primarily through wage support for Welsh households because more than 2/3rds of every pound of NHS revenue goes out in wages through nearly 100,000 pay checks every month. There is the potential to do more by scaling back the import of “ readymade “ workers trained abroad and developing strategies of “ grow your own “ local work force development, as progressive Health Boards are already doing. This can be backed up by more focused strategies of procurement which recognise the importance of creating a financially sustainable and socially responsible supplier base.
Jobs and Liveability – report for Karbon Homes (2022)
This is a report on three low income urban districts in and around Newcastle on Tyne. It questions the assumption that more and better paid jobs will semi automatically solve the liveability problems of low income households in these districts solve social problems. Low paid workers pay more tax and lose Universal Credit benefits as income rises so the worker retains no more than 30p from every extra pound of wages, Low residual incomes (after paying for essentials) led to stressed households and depressed districts even before the current cost of living crisis. Improved liveability in low income districts requires jobs plus changes in many areas of public policy,
Restanza in Blaenau – report for Cwmni Bro (2022)
After 100 years of deindustrialization, the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in a North Wales slate valley could be condescendingly described as a “left behind “place. Using survey evidence and the Italian concept of “restanza”, this report emphasises that the people of the town and valley are attached to their own place and its social networks so that staying behind or returning after graduate education is a positive choice. The economic policy question is then reframed in foundational terms: what provision of essentials will empower restanza and enable people to stay? Survey evidence shows that affordable housing is just as important as jobs.
SMEs in the Welsh Food System – report for Business and Regions. Welsh Government (2021)
This report establishes that alternative systems for more purchasing of local food will not solve the problems of the Welsh food system which is heavily dependent on imports and exports to England and the EU when Welsh farm producers are narrowly specialised in meat and livestock. Volume demand for SME processors can only come through supermarket chains and food service distributors which compete aggressively on price. Capable suppliers have narrow financial margins which make SME expansion difficult. Hence the recommendations to refocus Welsh Government policy around more infrastructural support through food parks and innovation centres and to offer public contracts which encourage locally owned food service distributors to stock more Welsh lines.
Small Towns Big Issues – report for Homes and Places Welsh Government (2021)
How can we realise the current planning ideal of compact centred towns with active travel when mass automobility and permissive planning have created all kinds of live/ work/spend disconnects between towns and their hinterland? Our analysis draws resourcefully on official statistics and on big data from mobile phone usage and property transactions to analyse the scale and scope of this problem in three small towns. It highlights the business model problems which limit redevelopment in town centres which nevertheless retain an important sociability advantage over edge of town retail The implication is that policies on edge of town use and development are just as important as the business model conditions which would allow urban alliances to deliver a stream of social renewal projects.
Serious about Green – report for Wood Knowledge Wales (2021
Given nature and climate emergency it is essential to deliver foundational goods and services within planetary limits. So, we have to start thinking about reliance systems defined by resource input and output as well as by the intermediate good or service that they produce. Hence the brief here was to look at how Wales could increase the area of productive forest and build a wood economy where timber products substituted for steel and cement. The result was an end-to-end analysis of the chain from planting to timber frame construction which aimed to persuade Welsh Government and stakeholders of the need for coordinated intervention at several different points along the chain.