Our cities have the potential to be places that create shared prosperity, opportunity and wellbeing; places able to deploy their significant resources and leadership to create cohesive and connected communities. At their best, cities can and should be able to drive economic success while tackling some of society’s most challenging problems.
However, our cities are instead often places of huge disparity, where social, economic and health outcomes are determined by factors such as where you live, your background, and your ability to access opportunities. This disparity remains visible across UK cities, from those living in inner- city areas impacted by low air quality, to those who cannot afford to travel to employment hubs and are therefore unable to access high quality, well paid jobs.
Our annual Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities report shows little evidence of the regional disparity gap narrowing overall. However, it is encouraging to see the gap between the highest and lowest ranked UK cities narrowing, with the ten lowest ranked cities showing a larger average rate of improvement over the last year than the ten highest ranked cities.
But progress is too slow, and the consequence of the disparities across the UK is that often wealth and poverty sit side by side in our cities, creating challenges for local leaders as they strive to address the competing interests and needs at each end of the socio-economic spectrum.
With our Good Growth for Cities Index, we are able to present a clear picture of what matters to the public now— and look at how central government, the private sector, local government and wider local public services can work together to deliver inclusive growth, in spite of the headwinds we face.
The Index covers broad measures of economic wellbeing, including jobs, income, health, skills, work-life balance, housing, transport and the environment.
This year, public priorities have shifted towards the measures more closely aligned to financial wellbeing; with jobs, income and income distribution understandably scoring highly.
In contrast, the public now places less importance on the environment and on health.
Our cities have the potential to be places that create shared prosperity, opportunity and wellbeing; places able to deploy their significant resources and leadership to create cohesive and connected communities. At their best, cities can and should be able to drive economic success while tackling some of society’s most challenging problems.
However, our cities are instead often places of huge disparity, where social, economic and health outcomes are determined by factors such as where you live, your background, and your ability to access opportunities. This disparity remains visible across UK cities, from those living in inner- city areas impacted by low air quality, to those who cannot afford to travel to employment hubs and are therefore unable to access high quality, well paid jobs.
Our annual Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities report shows little evidence of the regional disparity gap narrowing overall. However, it is encouraging to see the gap between the highest and lowest ranked UK cities narrowing, with the ten lowest ranked cities showing a larger average rate of improvement over the last year than the ten highest ranked cities.
But progress is too slow, and the consequence of the disparities across the UK is that often wealth and poverty sit side by side in our cities, creating challenges for local leaders as they strive to address the competing interests and needs at each end of the socio-economic spectrum.
With our Good Growth for Cities Index, we are able to present a clear picture of what matters to the public now— and look at how central government, the private sector, local government and wider local public services can work together to deliver inclusive growth, in spite of the headwinds we face.
The Index covers broad measures of economic wellbeing, including jobs, income, health, skills, work-life balance, housing, transport and the environment.
This year, public priorities have shifted towards the measures more closely aligned to financial wellbeing; with jobs, income and income distribution understandably scoring highly.
In contrast, the public now places less importance on the environment and on health.
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