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Newcastle: URBACT Case study of cities response to the crisis

Edited on

28 October 2019
Read time: 1 minute

Cities are clearly on the front line when it comes to the impact of the crisis and they will play a major role in both exploring and implementing many of the solutions which directly effect people's lives. Based on the results of the URBACT survey on the impact of the economic crisis and the responses of URBACT cities, 10 URBACT cities have been preselected for in depth case studies of cities response to the crisis. First city in the spotlight : Newcastle.

A little over one hundred years ago, Newcastle was considered to be one of the innovation powerhouses of the industrial age. Since then it has suffered successive waves economic restructuring which decimated its manufacturing base and scarred entire generations and neighborhoods with unemployment. However, in the 1990’s Newcastle, along with some other traditional UK industrial cities, experienced what has been called an "urban renaissance" and has reinvented itself as a "service city", which is increasingly looking towards science and the knowledge economy.

In this context, its ten point response to the current crisis combines a series of emergency measures to defend its firms and people from the worst ravages of the recession while at the same time positioning itself for building both the activities and jobs that it predicts will have emerged by 2030. Of particular interest is the way Newcastle has linked economic, employment and "place-making" measures to shift the city towards an economy based on science, a low carbon economy, health, and creativity. 

The case studies aim is  to reflect both the diversity of impacts and to focus on innovative policy responses developed at local level in European cities. The outputs will not so much be a set of academic studies as the identification of practical recommendations that practitioners and policy makers within cities can adapt to their own circumstances.

Read the PDF icon Download Urbact Case Study Newcastle (285.47 KB)PDF icon Download Urbact Case Study Newcastle (285.47 KB) and discover how has Newcastle responded to the economic downturn, its ten Point Recovery Plan as well as what aspects of Newcastle's response could be useful for other cities.


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