Urban Stakeholders & Assessment of Success (Edexcel A Level Geography)

• Urban living spaces are dynamic and constantly changing (demographically and culturally) 
• Different demographic and ethnic groups view urban living spaces differently

Contrasting Views on the Urban Living Space

• Local and national strategies aim to resolve issues and manage change within urban living spaces
• National strategies include:
  • The Northern Powerhouse initiative
    • The UK government transfers funds towards northern cities to reduce the North-South economic imbalance 
    • The government is investing in transport infrastructure, new business development, retail space and tourist attractions
    • The funds are boosting manufacturing, science, technology and the services sectors
  • Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) 
    • Responsible for large-scale regeneration projects within the UK
    • UDCs have the authority to implement plans for urban areas, focusing on infrastructure development, housing and job creation
    • UDCs include the London Docklands Development Corporation and the Birmingham Heartlands Development Corporation
  • Levelling Up Fund
    • The UK 20 towns and cities across England receive funding from the UK government for regeneration projects
    • Derelict sites in towns and city centres will be transformed, creating new homes, jobs and new communities
    • Wolverhampton and Sheffield are the first two areas to receive this investment
  • The Prevent Programme
    • The programme aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
    • The most common types of terrorism in the UK are Extreme Right-Wing terrorism and Islamist terrorism
    • It works to ensure that:
      • People who are susceptible to radicalisation are offered appropriate interventions
      • Communities are protected against radicalising influences
    • Radicalisation can happen when a person develops extreme views or beliefs that support terrorist groups or activities
    • The government has been accused of only focusing on Islam, which risks alienating the people it is trying to engage with
• Local strategies include:
  • Local community groups
    • Help change how people interact with each other
    • Know the issues a community faces and can help put solutions in place
    • Can set up local consultations to ensure that everybody’s voice is heard
    • Can lobby local authorities for change
    • Can help improve lives in the community
  • For example, the Muslim Council of Britain encourages mosques and Muslim groups to engage with the wider community 
    • The Visit My Mosque programme allows the wider community to experience what a mosque is like

Case study - Aik Saath, Slough

• Slough is one of the most ethnically diverse places in the UK
  • 81.5% of its population noted down a religion in the 2021 census
  • 6 religions were identified, including Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism
• Slough shows that ethnic tensions can be reduced through cultural integration and assimilation
• Aik Saath (a charity) focuses on integrating people from all communities, faiths and backgrounds to encourage conflict resolution and community cohesion 
  • It aims to stop gang violence and hate crime amongst young Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs
  • This is achieved through training, campaigns and projects in educational settings
    • Working with teachers on themes like extremism and anti-racism
    • Training youth workers on conflict resolution

• The success of managing change in diverse urban communities can be judged using four variables:
  • Economic e.g. increasing average incomes and the levels of unemployment
  • Social e.g. reducing levels of deprivation and crime rates
  • Demographic changes e.g. improving life expectancy and reduced health deprivation
  • Environmental e.g. reducing pollution levels and the amount of derelict land
• The economic variable:
  • Economics is often the driving force behind changing urban areas
  • National benefits sometimes are seen as more important than local views e.g. the government austerity programme reducing the amount of public funding
• The social variable:
  • Any change should cater to the needs of locals as well as newcomers to the area
  • Locals should not be excluded or forced out of their area
• The environmental variable: 
  • Some residents may have to live in an area that has a poor environment, as they do not have the money to move
  • An enhanced environment will attract people to live, work or visit the place
• The variable for demographic changes:
  • An increase in the proportion of younger, working-age people indicates that the area has more economic prospects or greater opportunities for tertiary education e.g. universities
  • A decrease in the overall numbers of any age group, in an area, is not a positive indicator 
    • The changing urban community may have caused these groups to leave the area

• Managing change in diverse urban communities involves a wide range of stakeholders with different realities and objectives e.g.
  • Residents
  • Local government
  • National government
    • Migrants
    • Local businesses
• All stakeholders can be divided into two groups:
  • Groups that directly affect the management or handling of the issue
  • Groups that are affected by the management of the issue
  • These groups may exercise a positive role e.g. groups keen to develop derelict land into commercial properties
  • Groups may have a negative role e.g. the protestors who will lose out if the scheme goes ahead, like locals who may want new housing
• Each stakeholder may view the issue and how best to manage it quite differently 
  • For example, the local government may want to commercially develop some derelict land for economic purposes, while residents might want affordable housing 
• Each stakeholder will have their own:
  • Particular view of what represents success and failure
  • Set of criteria for assessing whether an issue is managed successfully or not
• A stakeholder’s lived experience of a place can affect their judgement on whether strategies have successfully managed the changes to the place, as well as the image of it
• For example, the regeneration of a council estate will involve various stakeholders, who will have different criteria to judge the success of the scheme
  • Stakeholders could include:
    • National government
    • Existing residents
    • Local government
    • Migrants
    • Property developers
  • The success criteria used by the stakeholders to judge the scheme might include:
    • The number of affordable homes completed (local government)
    • Improvements to the built environment e.g. the amount of open space (existing resident)
    • The profits made when selling new houses (property developer)
    • Trends in deprivation e.g. IMD (local government)
    • The amount of affordable homes to rent (migrants)
    • Success may be measured according to the national policy e.g. number of houses built (national government)
  • Current residents may feel that their lived experience of a place is at risk from the regeneration as there is no guarantee that they will be allowed to stay 
    • For example, the regeneration of Aylesbury Estate in South London will see 370 flats demolished, but the rebuild will have fewer social rent homes and a 3-fold increase in the number of private homes