Pathways to Sustainability

The city-regional scale is increasingly being considered the most suitable level for planning and development, yet city-regions have often been established for purely economic reasons in the UK. This paper argues that city-regions are not mere socioeconomic units through which competitiveness can be achieved, but also rich, socioecological spaces. Although the progressive regionalist literature has taken significant steps in this direction, concerns remain that critical contemporary issues such as environmental sustainability, cultural viability, social exclusion or political (dis)empowerment have not been addressed in a holistic way. We attempt to advance the debate and overcome some of the shortcomings by connecting progressive regionalism with two other literature strands: collaborative governance and regenerative development. Based on the synergies found, we design a conceptual framework that can be used to study, understand and improve policy processes and practice, paving pathways towards regenerative city-regions.

What happens if you involve young people in decision-making about the areas where they live? This is the key question that guided SUSPLACE fellow Lorena Axinte during her research in the Cardiff Capital Region. Follow her footsteps and find out more in this short movie! This video is the first in a series of short … Read more

Being an MSCA Innovative Training Network, SUSPLACE offers us a chance to work for short periods of time with the project partners. Since the Welsh Government is one of the non-academic partners, I was based in the Future Generations Commissioner’s Office for three months in 2017. An unexpectedly friendly environment I felt welcomed in the Future Generations … Read more