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

Contrasting Views on Urban Spaces

• 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

Economic, Social, Demographic & Environmental Variables

• 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

Urban Stakeholders & Assessment of Success

• 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