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Ian Smith (University of the West of England, Bristol)

Ian Smith (University of the West of England, Bristol) RTPI: Planning for the Future of Small and Medium Sized Towns, Colwyn Bay, September 2014. The state of small towns in Europe 2001-11. Introduction.

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Ian Smith (University of the West of England, Bristol)

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  1. Ian Smith (University of the West of England, Bristol) RTPI: Planning for the Future of Small and Medium Sized Towns, Colwyn Bay, September 2014 The state of small towns in Europe 2001-11

  2. Introduction European small towns are important (as a group) but problematic to quantify at level of individual settlement Small towns across Europe constitute a diverse group of places but on average they appear to be different from large cities (although this can vary country by country) What factors are associated with stronger growth 2001-11?

  3. What is a town? Llandrindod Wells Morphological “town” Functional “town” Administrative “town”

  4. Key facts for towns?

  5. Classify towns: migration vs natural change

  6. Classify towns: employment profiles

  7. On average, small towns (in database) are different from large cities on a range of measures: • Social (older working population, more pensioners, fewer lifetime migrants • Economic (greater proportion employment in manufacturing, more self-employment (in the UK), more likely to be net importer of labour, less diverse) • Housing issues (more second homes) Are small towns (SMSTs) different?

  8. How well is a town doing? • Economically (as place of production)? • In terms of wealth (and consumption)? • Well-being? Externally defined? • Policy based definition - Smart, green and inclusive? Often a diversity of views within towns Can any of these be measured? How to understand town ‘performance’?

  9. NUTS2 region – morphological town Base year (1999-2002) to end year (2007-11) Territorial (aggregate) growth model

  10. Population growth: what makes a difference?

  11. Model vs Observation (for Wales)

  12. Demographic change associated with: • Being near a large city (market access), population change in wider region, employment rate/labour market conditions and housing occupancy Job growth associated with: • Employment change in wider region, skilled resident working age population, small business economy, not having an over-representation of industry Some issues not influenced by policy – climate and coast Need to profile towns individually What underpins ‘better’ performance?

  13. So what? Town have experienced a range of outcomes over the period (within study area) – • Net migration is the most important demographic change • Employment may follow high human capital – it does not follow ‘spare labour’/it is not attracted by existing industry • In practice the trajectories of small towns are framed by their national/regional context – some of which (climate/location) towns can do little about What are the policy implications?

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