The Impact of Brownfield Regeneration on Neighbourhood Dynamics: the Case of Salford Quays in England
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TPR, 89 (5) 2018 https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2018.33 Andreas Schulze Bäing and Cecilia Wong The impact of brownfield regeneration on neighbourhood dynamics: the case of Salford Quays in England Reusing brownfield land has been a key element of planning and regeneration policy in England for many years. While many sites are small and of local importance, there are a few major sites where reuse is expected to bring jobs and economic opportunities to a wider area. There has been a lack of longitudinal study that tracks the impact of such large-scale regeneration projects on neighbouring areas. This is partly due to data limitations and the short-term nature of most government-funded evalu- ation studies. One such site is Salford Quays, a canal harbour area in Greater Manchester, which fell derelict in the early 1980s. Since then a range of regeneration activities has taken place in the area, including the more recent strategic decision to locate part of the BBC’s broadcasting operations on the site as part of MediaCityUK. This paper aims to analyse the extent to which this investment has had a beneficial effect, with a focus on its workplace dynamics and social sustainability, on the regenerated area and its neighbouring areas, which are amongst the most deprived areas in England. The analysis uses a range of socio-economic indicators as well as innovative commuting-flow typologies to establish the spatial dynamics. Keywords: Salford Quays, brownfield regeneration, commuting flows, deprivation, neighbourhood change Introduction The image of Margaret Thatcher’s famous ‘walk in the wilderness’ on the devastated landscape of the banks of the river Tees in 1987 (Harrison, 2010) epitomised the chronic dereliction problem of many northern industrial cities in Britain. However, it was not until the late 1990s that the policy of regenerating vacant and derelict land became part of a more comprehensive brownfield development strategy. The emphasis on brownfield development is not just about regenerating individual sites and their immediate neighbourhoods, but also about the wider policy context of adopting a more sustainable spatial-development approach (Spaans et al., 2011). The notion of bringing people back to towns and cities by removing environmental degra- dation (HM Government, 2005) and exploiting untapped ‘urban capacity’ (Barker, 2003; English Partnerships, 2003) is seen as a politically appealing solution. Previous studies, mostly relying on qualitative data and case studies, tended to focus on examining barriers and drivers of brownfield regeneration (e.g. Adams and Andreas Schulze Bäing is Lecturer in Urban Planning and Cecilia Wong is Professor of Spatial Planning, both at the Department of Planning and Environmental Management and the Manchester Urban Institute, the University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK; email: [email protected]; Cecilia. [email protected] 514 Andreas Schulze Bäing and Cecilia Wong Watkins, 2009; Dixon et al., 2006; Wernstedt et al., 2006). By examining residen- tial development, Schulze Bäing and Wong (2012) performed longitudinal statistical analysis of the relationship between brownfield development and changes in house price and economic deprivation indicators across deprived areas of different types in England. Despite these efforts, knowledge of housing and employment impacts are restricted to site level and little is known about the wider changing spatial impacts over time (Schulze Bäing, 2010). This is partly due to the short-term nature of most government-funded evaluation studies and partly due to the difficulty in obtaining small-area data to establish an evidence base (Wong, 2006). More importantly, spatial- policy intervention is not bounded by time or space and is therefore more difficult to assess (Rae and Wong, 2012). Salford Quays, formerly known as Salford Docks, were part of Manchester Docks, which fell derelict in the early 1980s. Since then a range of regeneration activities has taken place in the area, with the more recent strategic relocation of part of the BBC’s broadcasting operations on the site of MediaCityUK. It was one of the earliest and largest urban regeneration projects in Britain following the closure of the dockyards in 1982. Given the lack of longitudinal analysis in the literature of the wider spatial impact of large-scale regeneration projects, this paper aims to analyse the extent to which such flagship brownfield regeneration projects have long-term beneficial effects on the regenerated area and its neighbouring areas, which are amongst the most deprived in England. To achieve this, the paper analyses small-area data on deprivation and workplace population structure from the UK census and applies an innovative typology of commuting data based on the 2011 census. After this introduction, the next section provides a discussion of the relationship between ‘flagship’ urban regeneration projects and neighbourhood change. The devel- opment context and policy history of Salford Quays’ regeneration initiative is then examined. The penultimate section explores the spatial effects brought about by the redevelopment of Salford Quays, with a focus on its workplace dynamics and social sustainability, by analysing socio-economic indicators and an innovative commuting flow typology to establish spatial dynamics. The final section provides some discussion and the conclusion. ‘Flagship’ urban regeneration projects and neighbourhood dynamics The pace of urban change in Britain has intensified since the 1980s as the sheer scale of socio-economic problems encountered in many urban areas was exposed during the deep recession of the early 1980s. The compact urban growth charac- teristics established during the Industrial Revolution were challenged by the use of modern transport, which has made decentralisation from large cities possible (Hall The impact of brownfield regeneration on neighbourhood dynamics 515 and Breheny, 1996). With the encouragement of the government’s massive slum clearance programme in inner-city locations in the 1960s and 1970s (Yelling, 2000), there were mass flows of migration to new towns, expanded towns and overspill sites (Diamond, 1991). It is the socio-economic inertia and industrial structure (Begg, 2002) left from this historic change that continuously impacts upon the performance of many northern industrial cities (Robson et al., 2000; Swinney and Sivaev, 2013). The combination of population decline, changes in manufacturing production methods among the surviving inner-city industries and the major shift of city employment from manufacturing to services has created a complicated skills mismatch between local residents and the new employment opportunities (Robson et al., 2000). With the demise of traditional industries, industrial inertia meant that textile mills and warehouses were left lying derelict for decades. The physical fabric was obsolete and unable to accommodate modern office usage without requiring a great deal of capital to carry out appropriate conversion. The problems of economic decline, physical decay and social disintegration have combined to create multiple forms of deprivation and social exclusion which means certain residents are prevented from entering fully into mainstream normal life (Boddy, 2002). A whole suite of area-based programmes was introduced by central government in the 1980s and 1990s – including urban programmes, urban development corporations, city grants, derelict land grants, enterprise zones etc. – to address urban challenges (see Hambleton and Thomas, 1995). Urban regeneration and renewal have been very much focused on problems encountered in city and town centres, in the transitional area between the commercial hub of the city and the suburban neighbourhood, and in particular residential neigh- bourhoods facing multiple forms of deprivation. The built environment is an important factor influencing investment confidence and projecting place image. Large-scale physical regeneration projects have been discussed critically, particularly when associated with the long-term legacy of temporary mega- events such as world expos (Deng et al., 2016) or Olympic Games (Gold and Gold, 2008). Bennett and Krebs (1991) however, comment that large-scale physical regeneration is often the only way to break the spiral of decline, because businesses tend to hold back from investment in declining areas to avoid exploitation by free-riders. More impor- tantly, physical blight caused by dereliction bears a direct impact on the quality of living of local residents (Wong et al., 1991). It is thus not a surprise to find that the objective of regenerating deprived areas was deeply entrenched in the UK government’s brown- field strategy (Dixon and Adams, 2008) and successive government policies have linked deprivation indicators with physical regeneration (Wong, 2006). In order to attract investment and diversify the economic base to compensate for job losses in manufacturing, cultural regeneration has been used to reconstruct and refine the image of the city through place branding (Kunzman, 2004; Paddison, 1993). The regeneration of signature historic buildings and the physical fabric of a 516 Andreas Schulze Bäing and Cecilia Wong site not only serves the designated functions of development (such as an art gallery or museum), but also aims at creating a landmark statement for place repositioning (Landry, 2002). The development of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is a well-cited example,