Birmingham’s population is growing rapidly: a predicted 80 000 more homes will be needed by 2032. However, when drastic national austerity measures were introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, severe budget cuts led to a 50% cut in Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) workforce. The Regeneration Team was among the first to be disbanded.

From 2010 nearly all regeneration projects stopped – apart from ‘housing renewal’, which is driven by private developers and focused on capital investment, with little funding for associated social projects. Little space was left for social experimentation or risk-taking.

In 2017, an Urban Innovative Actions-funded project ‘USE-IT’ enabled a fresh approach, with an innovative partnership adding ‘human-centred’ interventions to a housing Master Plan. The new approach was continued with further innovations in the course of the URBACT URBAN REGENERATION MIX transfer network.

The focus of the Birmingham case is on improving the ways the local authority is communicating with their inhabitants. The goal is to promote inclusive growth in priority neighbourhoods. Given the 50% cuts in central government financing of local authorities in the UK, for the Birmingham Council the most important element in regeneration is what and how to finance, so that the competences of the communities become strong enough to be able to operate self sustaining actions, no longer needing permanent financial support from the public side. The city is very concerned by the results/impact of the actions, wanting to know if the few financial resources left have had a real effect in the communities. To achieve all these goals the role of mediators was further strengthened and extended with new tasks and responsibilities.

Whilst in Łódź a city administration mediator works with the community during the regeneration process, Birmingham went a step further, appointing community representatives in the target area – where some had lived for decades. Once trained, they become permanent ambassadors, communicating with the City Council, and understanding their challenges. This enabled Birmingham to rebuild trust in a community who had previously opposed all council plans.

The role of the mediator (based in an NGO), as a link to the city, through the improvised role of the area manager (employed by the city) has proved to be a key element, giving real space to the participative process, putting aside professional intermediaries, as the “speed of trust” shared by the residents should at all costs be upheld. The same mediator, in the need to guarantee sustainability has become the CEO of a community enterprise in the local area and has led the coordination of the ULG with great success.

The project introduced a Community Economic Development Planning (CEDP) approach, encouraging local economic development that generates human wellbeing. The power to drive change rests within the community of residents, local businesses, and local service providers including councils, community groups and voluntary sector organisations with a direct stake in the area’s economic health.

Integrated management is a big challenge to all public bodies. It’s been particularly inspiring for Birmingham to see changes introduced by Lodz. The cross-departmental approach of Lodz proved to be very inspiring to Birmingham in building up the localism agenda. In 2019 a delivery unit for the East Birmingham Inclusive Growth Strategy has been established and the structure of this has been modeled on the Lodz Regeneration Team. It is a multi-disciplinary team and aims to link several BCC departments with the city-region administration (West Midlands Combined Authority) – its remit is to support the regeneration of the area and foster inclusive economic development. The main purpose is to involve communities and include them in the redesign process of their neighbourhoods to make sure that the benefits of the development are felt where they are needed the most.

Setting up an URBACT Local Group (ULG) proved a very powerful mechanism” to significantly improve the city’s engagement with residents. The council forged new links with members of the community – and put the ULG in their hands. This successful community leadership around Edgbaston Reservoir has provided a powerful catalyst for the local authority’s Housing and Planning teams to alter their approaches for future regeneration projects, fully embracing the principles of inclusive growth, involve communities in the co-creation of the local master plan. This is seen as a wider work on culture and policy change and it is still on-going, based on the example of implementation within Urban regeneration Mix, which will be replicated elsewhere within the city (East Birmingham).

Within the Community Economic Development Planning (CEDP) approach, encouraging local economic development Cooperation with the local community, the original idea was to bring a local sports field back to community use. In talks with the City Council, residents ended up creating an alternative, which led to co-producing an alternative Community-Led Master Plan for the whole Reservoir – instead of campaigning against plans that did not necessarily meet their needs.

Through applying the integrated management model observed in Lodz, Birmingham City Council introduced similar solutions – setting up the Rapid Policy Unit for East Birmingham combining three local authority and creating a powerful body that would work on the regeneration of East Birmingham breaking silo working between directorates and service areas.

Birmingham was one of the six cities adapting the Lodz URBACT Good Practice within the framework of the Urban Regeneration Mix Transfer Network. Not having the financial means which were available for Lodz (predominantly Structural Funds resources), in the course of the transfer process Birmingham changed significantly the original model of mediators. The essence of the change was to empower community representatives to become mediators. The idea of the community connector role is a further development of the original Good Practice, with motivating and inspiring small groups of inhabitants to take bottom-up actions, building in them a sense of community and responsibility for the space and the neighbors with whom they share it.

The experience from the Edgbaston Reservoir is already being rolled out across wider East Birmingham with a population of over 240 000. A multidisciplinary team has been set up to deliver a newly launched 20-year East Birmingham Inclusive Growth Strategy modelled on the Łódź Regeneration Team. This enables several city departments to work together with the city-region administration and, crucially, communities will be included in the redesign of their neighbourhoods. So, the benefits of redevelopment will be felt where they are needed most.

Larger capital projects in poor neighbourhoods often do not lead to an improvement in the socio-economic situation of the local population. The USE-IT! project tested an approach that directly links the realisation of larger capital projects - here construction of a new hospital - with the improvement of the socio-economic situation of the population based on the existing local community skills, talents and ideas. 

Despite larger investments, urban regeneration programmes and neighbourhood management the socio-economic situation of those citizens, living in deprived neighbourhoods in Birmingham, could not significantly be improved. Thus, USE-IT! pioneered innovative approaches to inclusive urban development combating poverty in areas of persistent deprivation. The objective was to use physical interventions directly to combat poverty by improving the socio-economic situation of the inhabitants; this was achieved by linking larger, physical interventions with skills and potentials of the inhabitants. The main solutions implemented  are: matching people with overseas medical qualifications with job opportunities in the hospital to support employment and better health outcomes in the community, creating a community of social enterprises to support employment and boost social value, as well as  developing community research in the local communities to identify and enable better local connections, unlock local skills and insights and link them with opportunities emerging from capital investment.

Large and diverse partnership of larger public, private and civic organisations working together with local embedded neighbourhood organisations. The partnership was built to complement each other’s specialist skills, knowledge and services, so that no organisation had to reinvent its own work for the purpose of the project and synergies could be achieved.  The main target group are the local communities in the ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The governance/participation structure: Work Packages for each “solution” were set up. Each WP consisted of key partners who collaborated with local community organisations. Each WP was coordinated by WP lead who coordinated activities of their relevant delivery partners. 

Due to the large and complex partnership, the communication and information flow between the partners has been a challenge. The Partnership needed time to build trust between the larger and the locally based third sector organisations to enable equitable working relationship.  This also demanded a “cultural change” in the larger organisations and a change of the way they worked (change in institutional processes).  So far, the main results are 250 migrants with medical skills that are connected with job opportunities in the new hospital, five  new consortia of social enterprises, 1 new network of social entrepreneurs, 36 new and 39 established enterprises supported, £240,000 brought into the locality by supporting local organisations to access grants and new contracts,  as well as 85 individuals completing ‘Community Research Training’, implementing 24 community research projects and more than £ 300k secured for future work.

Urban poverty is one of the main topics of the Urban Agenda for the EU. USE-IT! created a unique model of economic development that is inclusive and results in lasting urban regeneration, by raising aspirations, building community resilience, and connecting people to local resources. It draws on and contributes to the theory of community wealth building. 
USE-IT! has demonstrated that creating the links between micro and macro assets is crucial to effective community wealth building, in effect ‘unlocking’ the potential of these assets. To transfer the USE-IT! approach, relevant partners have to learn to identify these assets and support individuals and groups to build on them to link them to the larger capital infrastructure/ investment projects. This demands an existence of a partnership of organisations responsible for the implementation of the larger capital infrastructure with locally based organisations that work with the local communities. All cities and neighbourhoods contain a range of assets. This include physical assets in the form of buildings and green spaces; financial assets in the form of businesses and investments; the financial assets of public, social and private institutions; community assets in the form of voluntary sector groups and social enterprises; and human assets. 

Glasgow (UK) committed to becoming a Co-operative City in 2012. To reach people most in need and do more with limited funds, the city trailblazes new co-design models for local people, communities and public services. It aims to help people do more in their communities while ensuring high quality, value-for-money, integrated services - citizens get what they need at the right time and place. Glasgow City Council is growing co-operative businesses and social enterprises, and devolving power to its citizens. It launched a Co-operative Development Unit to boost sustainable cooperatives and social enterprises in the city, running a Business Development Fund to support new and existing cooperatives. 56 Co-operative Glasgow Business Development Grants have sparked an increase in turnover of about 7.7 million euros in the city’s social enterprise and co-operative sector. A council-wide network of “Co-operative Champions” was also created to embed co-operative principals in service delivery opportunities.

Co-operative Glasgow fundamentally changes the culture within the local authority and offers cities a model with which to adapt their attitude towards co-designed services without radical changes in structures, something that can be bureaucratic and time-consuming. Co-operative Glasgow established the Co-operative Development Unit (CDU) to deliver the action plan of the programme. It identified two primary pieces of work: • To develop a culture of partnership and to help the co-operative sector in the city thrive and grow through easier access to networking and funding, • Establish a Co-operative Business Development Fund: transformational business development grants to co-operatives, mutual and social enterprises. These two key areas of work offer a solution to improve economic growth in cities by: • Increasing productivity, income, innovation and survival, through collaboration, achieving economies of scale, increasing attitudes towards innovation and entrepreneurial activities, • Rooting businesses and employment within communities, by providing employment or services, meaning that they tend to stay rooted within that community and generate wealth and other employment benefits. In terms of social benefits, they offer solutions to social disadvantage by: • Enabling communities to be direct beneficiaries through the access of goods and services, • Support a more balanced distribution of wealth, • Foster greater community-based innovation and knowledge transfer.

Co-operative Glasgow has been built on the principles that integrated approaches foster the most effective results and economic growth must be combined with a reduction in poverty and community benefits. By adopting co-operative models, public services are integrated, of better quality and are designed around people’s lives, rather than being delivered in silos. It creates an ecosystem of integration by developing co-operatives that span key economic development drivers, e.g. some of the co-operatives created or supported include: • A Youth Co-operative within a community-based housing association, • New technology for credit unions, • A student-led co-operative within Strathclyde University to develop industry based IT solutions, • The creation of FareShare Glasgow, a local food distribution scheme that utilises manufacturer and supermarket waste food and redistributes around organisations that support people with low income, • Glasgow People’s Energy – an energy switch co-operative to provide holistic energy advice, information and support for business and individuals experiencing fuel poverty. Co-operative Glasgow promotes economic growth through a programme of activity that supports job creation, co-designed and co-created services, business development, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. Internally, the service redesign model of Co-operative Champions covers all service departments to ensure that integrated approaches are embedded in service development.

Participation, equality and community benefit are at the heart of all Co-operative Glasgow’s initiatives. GCC is part of a process called “One Glasgow”, looking at the holistic needs of the city in partnership with a number of public sector organisations and NGOs to involve citizens in decision-making. To further embed this into council processes, co-operative principles have been specifically adopted in the development of a number of community-based initiatives. Citizens can now see how decisions are made by watching live streaming of council meetings, influence how community budgets are spent through participatory budgeting and through community benefits in public procurement, over 500 long-term unemployed people have secured employment. The CDU is an enabler for community-based project development. It develops partnerships based on mutual trust and respect, resulting in a number of community programmes across the city, e.g. it has assisted Glasgow’s 34 credit unions through dialogue, practical and financial assistance to become the most advanced credit union sector in the UK with over 25% of Glasgow’s citizens benefiting from CU membership. The CDU has facilitated the Future Savers programme to foster a greater savings culture in Glasgow’s young people. All pupils in Glasgow in their first year of high school are provided with a credit union account with a £10 deposit. This Co-operative Glasgow model is a partnership between 14 Credit Unions and 42 high schools.

Co-operative Glasgow has utilised the CDU to support Glasgow's co-operative sector and directly benefit communities. It is a unique support resource, complementary to other business support functions. It has supported initiatives strategically important for communities. Putting co-operative values at the heart of service development and delivery has resulted in a wide range of initiatives across the city, some of which are outlined in 4.3 and are also promoted via the newsletters submitted as part of the support package. Co-operative Glasgow has both a lasting impact and long-term approach. To date, 56 Co-operative Glasgow Business Development Grants have resulted in an increase in turnover of approx. 7 700 000 euros in the cities social enterprise and co-operative sector. 75 full-time equivalent jobs or volunteer posts have, or expect to be, created, and a further 250 employment or volunteering positions have been safeguarded as a result of the Fund. This equates to a return of 3.07 euros of every 1 euro of public money spent. Organisations highly value the support received from the CDU. The benefits realised are significant for co-operatives, the communities they serve and the sector in Glasgow. The Fund has helped to increase the scale and profile of supported organisations, as well as increase member rewards, and improve working practices. A number of co-operatives reported that the funding has improved local partnerships and achieved greater levels of community participation.

As mentioned, the effects of the economic crisis are still being felt across EU cities. As an URBACT city, Glasgow is fully aware that new ways of working to deliver quality services to the citizens of cities is of great interest and can provide useful methodologies and good practice to guide cities: • It addresses issues of challenging council cultures and provides methodologies for transformational change within local authorities – moving to a more community-based model of service delivery that creates tangible economic benefits. • Glasgow can impart expertise in navigating difficult legal challenges to creating more democratic partnerships with external organisations. • Glasgow understands the financial responsibilities of cities that can often lead to local authorities being “risk averse” when implementing new programmes or priorities. Co-operative Glasgow has the experience to mitigate this. • The development of a network of “Co-operative Champions” across the council is an easily transferable model that cities can adopt. Glasgow’s experience can demonstrate to cities that meaningful buy-in from stakeholders is essential and that co-operative forms of service provision should not be imposed as a preconceived solution or purely driven by the need for cost savings – it is about valuable co-production and new ways of transforming services – knowledge that can be transferred and adapted to suit the needs of cities and their citizens.

Urban waterways planning and management represent a common challenge for multi-level governance in EU cities, particularly when land ownership patterns are complex, and stakeholders’ rights and responsibilities fragmented. Sheffield (UK), which has over 240 km of waterways, uses collaborative planning and partnership to integrate strategic priorities at the city-regional level with bottom-up local participation and citizen-led action. In 2003, Sheffield formed a Waterways Strategy Group, a partnership including the City Council and relevant environmental and amenity groups. This group developed the Sheffield Waterways Strategy and Five-year Action Plan. The strategy integrates a range of joined-up measures (governance, infrastructure, design, activity, strategy, and policy) to coordinate capacity-building with communities. It includes lasting cross-sector actions at multiple levels, enabling the partners to scale up their impacts.

The Strategy tackles the problem of highly fragmented management and planning processes, representing an important microcosm of multi-level governance challenges in cities. When many different landowners and stakeholders have responsibilities and rights, it can become difficult to meaningfully engage citizens in effective action. The Strategy represents a good practice by bringing together two important solutions, (a) on the substantive issue of waterways planning and management, and (b) in terms of process, providing a transferable model for collaboration. First, the Strategy addresses eight goals (relevant to other contexts) for people, economic opportunity, climate change, promotion, heritage, access, stewardship and wildlife. Second, it illustrates how to develop, formalise and sustain such a partnership strategy: (i) Adopt a structured approach: explore, recast, review; (ii) Avoid professional presumption or expert/deficit models; (iii) Take the time to find out what the parties really want; (iv) Expect some confusion arising from different backgrounds: internal and external conflicts; (v) Provide time to think to avoid rushing to decisions; (vi) Build confidence through formalised decision-making using evaluation criteria and tools; and (vii) Be careful to give people credit for their input. Cities can adopt and adapt these simple lessons, to bring people together to deliver integration geographically, across sectors and horizontally between hierarchies.

The Sheffield Waterways Strategy approach is compatible with and complementary to the URBACT principles. The commitment to sustainable development, articulated through sustainable urban living, is visible in the Strategy Goals: 1) Place people at the heart of the waterways regeneration, 2) Help our city rediscover its wealth of waterways as an economic opportunity, 3) Adapt to climate change and manage flood risks more sustainably, 4) Promote Sheffield and its waterways, 5) Use our rivers to help celebrate the heritage, culture and rich history, 6) Secure access to a city-wide network of riverside parkways, 7) Ensure effective stewardship and encourage everyone to care for our rivers, 8) Give high priority to protecting wildlife and enhancing habitats. The Strategy articulates values of socio-ecological urbanism, developed via an Integrated and participative outlook. The approach taken includes horizontal, vertical and territorial integration (section 2). The Strategy Group’s achievements were only possible because so much emphasis was placed on understanding one another’s views of what success would look like, and iteratively agreeing to outcomes alongside high-level goals, through a process of facilitation rather than direction. Hence, these themes should not be seen as something that can be taken from off the shelf and transplanted without careful thought and consideration to local context and needs. The process (section 2) may, however, prove highly applicable in other cities.

A cross-sector partnership was evolved, which developed its holistic approach to coordinate efforts to tackle the complex challenges. An open and inclusive approach was used to extend and strengthen social networks, to move away from central control and towards a more resilient social capital model. Public workshops were held in community and arts venues (1), engaging people from all backgrounds in celebratory events and happenings. Advanced 3D visualisation software was used to ignite excitement and create a sense of possibility about future scenarios and achievable options (2). A range of complementary techniques was used to create opportunities for people to express their views and passions, and to mobilise these shared strengths into effective action (3,4,5,6,7). Simple social media platforms were used and connected together to create a dynamic movement and to associate interests, to support on-the-ground action touching people’s lives locally (6). This enabled the people and businesses of the city to support and get involved in furthering the process themselves (6,7). By first seeking to understand the values of different stakeholders and then going on to establish their shared principles (8), it was possible to co-create clear, agreed partnership solutions (practical projects through to policy measures). Submissions for awards were made, and links established with national policy, to raise awareness, maintain momentum and celebrate success (9,10,11,12).

The biggest difference that the Strategy has made is to place people at the heart of the waterways regeneration in Sheffield. It has both championed this cause and involved citizens directly. The Strategy underpins successful proposals and bids for millions of pounds worth of funding from charities, lotteries, businesses, the EU and central government. The Strategy Group was instrumental in setting up the River Stewardship Company, a social enterprise which conserves, protects and improves the environment of waterways. It has provided river “place-keeping” services for over 100 businesses over six years, creating eight new jobs, 22 work placements for unemployed people and two apprenticeships. In one year, RSC worked with 364 volunteers to deliver 594 days of work worth £56 000. The Strategy has led to significant progress towards regenerating the 150 miles of waterways and played a key role in establishing the Business Improvement District to secure investment of £10 million. Many fish-passes have been built leading to the return of salmon. Another major achievement has been to become an international leader in innovation in “daylighting” or deculverting, for which Group members have been responsible for award-winning demonstrations, highly cited publications, and high-profile websites. The Strategy has facilitated rapid response to new opportunities. The legacy has been to bring together the many statutory organisations and voluntary, nonprofit groups with core interests in the city’s waterways.

The Good Practice lessons should be of interest to other EU cities in terms of both the substantive issues and the process aspects. Most cities face challenges to integrate cultural, economic, environmental and social priorities, within a place-based approach. However, this does not imply that the lessons learned are only applicable to those places. Different thematic areas (sections 3 & 10) will be of interest to different cities. For instance, the IPCC 4th report noted the need to develop mitigation-relevant adaptation strategies, highlighting the slow progress and urgent need for cities to share experiences. This Strategy is highly relevant to that challenge. In particular, cities facing the threat of flooding are likely to find use in understanding Sheffield’s approach (in 2007 a major flooding episode occurred, this was an event with a return period of >1-in-100 years. Sadly, two people lost their lives, and flooding caused damage costing over €500 million in two days). We have found productive ground working with other cities focusing on industrial heritage routes, such as Stuttgart, and green infrastructure (e.g. Copenhagen, Ruhr Region). The findings and experiences are also likely to be of importance to those working on urban water quality (Water Framework Directive heavily modified water bodies and diffuse pollution). Furthermore, the lessons on social inclusion and capacity-building are cross-cutting in nature and applicable to other planning contexts.

Arts and culture sector collaboration on climate action and engagement in a city which recognises the value of culture and is itself demonstrating climate change leadership, linked to two of the key local challenges that run through the city’s climate change strategy:
• mobilising business action on climate change through a sector-specific approach
• engaging and mobilising citizens to act on climate change

This model of sector collaboration is rooted in the city and enables members to meet face-to-face on a regular basis, share common challenges and opportunities and link directly to what is happening on a city level. The group is chaired by members on a revolving basis, and able to fund small projects and reporting through an annual membership contribution of £7,000. Action on energy has led to a 16% reduction in emissions over three years, avoiding 2,800 tonnes CO2 and £0.9 million, largely through zero to low-cost measures. The group also works on a range of topics from green energy procurement to sustainable materials Members are using creativity to engage employees, audiences and communities, with many bringing climate change themes in programming and learning activities. The group is taking an active role in shaping and delivering city climate change strategy.

MAST’s external-facing activities involve Manchester citizens in both the development and the implementation of local climate change policy. For example, MAST’s “Our City, Our Planet” event worked with young people to help define the sustainable city they want. Climate Control at Manchester Museum focused on climate change and how people can take action. Over 90,000 visitors attended and were encouraged to contribute towards Manchester’s Climate Change Strategy 2017-50. Integrated and participative approach Manchester has an overarching strategy for 2016-25, Our Manchester, which was developed based on the views of local citizens and organisations. The strategy’s delivery is overseen and driven by the Our Manchester Forum, a partnership of senior politicians, public sector, the private sector and NGO leaders. Manchester’s arts and culture sector is represented on the Forum through the chair of the Manchester Cultural Partnership. MAST enables the Partnership to focus on Our Manchester’s climate change objectives, as part of the city’s wider social, economic.

Manchester’s cultural community has been working together through MAST (Manchester Arts Sustainability Aeam) since 2011, to understand, share, solve and scale climate change action. MAST brings together diverse arts and cultural organisations, about 30 in total, from community-based arts centres and iconic cultural venues to an internationally renowned festival and national broadcasters, in a participatory and non-prescriptive way. Different activities have also been carried out to engage with citizens: • Practical action and creative responses - productions, exhibitions, events, etc. – which engage audiences and communities on environmental and climate change themes, now go hand in hand, for example, • HOME Manchester and the Whitworth Gallery’s wide- ranging environmental programmes across buildings, procurement, transport, public engagement and programming • Manchester International Festival‘s organic urban farming partnership with the Biospheric Foundation, engaging thousands of community volunteers • Contact Young Company’s ‘Climate of Fear’, a show exploring the emotion of anger through themes of climate justice, social inequality, memory and the body ITV’s inclusion of climate change in Coronation Street’s storyline, the UK’s most popular soap opera • Arts and culture-based activities proved particularly effective and popular in 2016’s Climate Lab, an experimental programme, run by the Manchester Climate Change Agency, to test different ways of engaging citizens in developing its 2017-2050 climate change strategy. One of ClimateLab highlights was Climate Control at Manchester Museum, a six-month long series of exhibitions and events, attended by over 90,000 people, exploring what kind of future people hope for and how to make it a reality.

MAST is getting support in different forms: • MLA Renaissance North West. a museum programme: provided external funding for the MAST group in its first two years • Julie’s Bicycle, a charity supporting climate action in the creative community: facilitated the group in the first two years; supported MAST in defining joint commitments and an emissions reduction target; did annual tracking and progress reporting; supports MAST development; disseminates the MAST model and achievements in the UK and abroad • Arts Council England: environmental reporting, policy and action plan requirements for funded organisations since 2012 – including the majority of MAST members – and an accompanying environmental support programme, delivered in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle, further reinforces MAST commitments and provides MAST members with a range of exchange and learning opportunities • Carbon Literacy Project (CLP): carbon literacy training undertaken by a number of members; a few members, such as HOME and Manchester Museum, now deliver organisation-wide training; in 2016, MAST partnered with CLP, Manchester Metropolitan University and HOME to adapt the training for the arts and culture sector MAST grew from the Manchester Cultural Partnership’s desire to explore how arts and cultural organisations could contribute to the city’s first climate change strategy 2010-2020 In 2013 MAST set a target of an annual 7% emissions reduction in line with the city’s target of a 41% reduction by 2020 – over three years it achieved an annual 5% reduction MAST supported development of the city’s 2017-2050 climate change strategy MAST’s chair is now a member of the Manchester Climate Change Board, a stakeholder group which oversees and champions delivery of the 2017-2050 climate change strategy MAST is now working with the climate change agency and board to establish how the arts and culture in the city can make its fair contribution to the Paris Agreement, and align with Greater Manchester’s 2038 carbon neutrality ambition – announcement expected in 2019.

Over 2.5 years, Manchester has led the C-Change network, transferring its practice to 5 other cities: Wroclaw (Poland), Mantua (Italy), Gelsenkirchen (Germany), Sibenik (Croatia), Águeda (Portugal). You can, in particular, check Mantua’s Good practice here. The approach was based on Manchester’s experience adaptable to each city’s reality and focused on: Sector collaboration on climate change, Sector support on climate change understanding, action and engagement, Sector involvement in city climate change policy and strategy and/or other related city policies and strategies and Citizen engagement, awareness-raising and public participation. The final outputs are all available here: https://www.g-mast.org/c-change. The practice of Manchester is also currently being transferred in a cascaded way from Mantua to other Italian cities.

In 2013, Preston City Council (UK) and six other anchor institutions embarked on a project to identify how their wealth could be understood and harnessed more effectively for the benefit of the local economy. An element of wealth that anchors institutions can influence their procurement spend. Central to the work in Preston has been the analysis of these institutions’ procurement (1 billion euros), to understand where that spend goes geographically and on which types of business type, and what happens to it once it reaches suppliers. The anchor institutions then used the evidence gathered to inform how they undertake procurement. Some institutions have revisited the spend analysis: evidence suggests their spend has increased in the local economy and with small to medium-sized enterprises. The work demonstrates the importance of using evidence to shape policy change and the role of procurement in addressing challenges.

The good practice offered by the Preston City Council and the six other anchor institutions is a methodology and means of changing behaviour around procurement so that it generates more local economic, social, and environmental benefits. The methodology consists of three parts. First, it enables cities and institutions to understand where their procurement spend goes. So, the methodology measures the extent to which the annual 1 billion euros of procurement spend of the anchor institutions is with: businesses based in Preston and Lancashire, SMEs and social enterprises, and with businesses in particular industrial sectors. Second, it enables cities and institutions to understand the extent to which their procurement spend occurs elsewhere in the UK and across Europe and in which sector and to explore the scope for that money to be spent with different types of business, for example.. Third, it enables cities and institutions to identify the extent to which their suppliers are creating jobs or apprenticeships and find out about their practices around social sector engagement or environmental management. Effectively this activity develops an evidence base through which cities can understand the existing contribution their anchor institutions make to a local economy and assists in developing policies and practices through procurement which can enhance those contributions and further harness the potential or wealth of anchor institutions.

The good practice fits with URBACT principles because it is about harnessing the wealth of anchor institutions through procurement spend which can help to create wealth in the local economy, thereby reducing poverty and social exclusion through increased employment opportunities, the creation of new businesses and supply chains, skills development, and dealing with environmental issues, for example, by reducing carbon footprint, waste etc. It is also based on an integrated and participatory approach whereby the anchor institutions (public and social sector) work together to ensure that their procurement spend is used to bring additional economic, social, and environmental benefits to their local economies. The recent inclusion of stakeholders from business networks ensures that the voice of the private sector, and also supply chains, are involved in the process. Whilst the good practice initially focused specifically on the Preston local authority area, it has now been broadened to encompass the wider functional urban area (of Preston and South Ribble) and also the wider Lancashire region, ensuring that the horizontal, vertical, and territorial integration aspects have been taken into account.

The work around anchor institutions and spending analysis in Preston commenced in 2013 and continues in 2017. Over the last four years a range of stakeholders has been involved and the whole project is framed by a cooperative desire across the institutions to use their wealth to create greater benefits for the local economy. Stakeholders have been involved throughout the work.

1. The chief executives and political leaders (where appropriate) were visited to secure their buy-in to the principles of harnessing the wealth of institutions.
2. Procurement officers in each of the institutions were engaged to share data around their procurement spend and their suppliers to enable the analysis to take place.
3. The chief executives, politicians and procurement officers were brought together to share the findings of the supply chain analysis and to develop a collective statement of intent as to how they were going to change practices around procurement in light of the analysis.
4. The procurement officers have continued to meet through a procurement practitioners group and now an URBACT local group (as part of the Procurement Network) to discuss how they are changing practice around procurement.
5. The supply chain of some of the anchors has been engaged to identify the wider impact they are bringing through the delivery of goods and services. Engagement has been sustained over the course of the last four years with the stakeholders described above.

The overall achievements of Preston have been:

1. It has positioned Preston as a progressive place for local economic development and addressing poverty.
2. It has led to a much more effective relationship within and between institutions in Preston.
3. It has enabled a range of baseline data to be collected about the existing impact of anchor institutions and the wider business base in Preston.
4. It has secured the buy-in of senior stakeholders and enabled the development of a collective statement of intent.
5. Through the analysis of where spend goes and in what sector, it has enabled a much greater understanding of Preston’s business base and those which could potentially deliver goods and services.
6. It has changed behaviour around procurement in each of the institutions and enabled enhanced impact. For example, the proportion of spending of Preston City Council with Preston-based businesses through procurement has increased from 14% to 28%.
7. It has recognised that this is a long-term approach to addressing key challenges.
8. It recognises the importance of scale when implementing wealth-building initiatives.
9. It has had an impact on addressing wider issues including low pay and deprivation. The core impact has been in the behaviour of anchor institutions and the realisation that spending analysis and procurement can be utilised as a lever or way in which challenges facing cities can be addressed.
10. The approach has enabled more effective engagement with SMEs and subsequently a greater proportion of SMEs being successful.
11. There is a more collective approach to not only delivering local economic benefits through procurement but also to Social Value.

Over 2.5 years, Preston has led the Making Spend Matter network, transferring its practice to 6 other cities: Pamplona (Spain), Kavala (Greece), Bistriţa (Romania), Koszalin (Poland), Vila Nova de Famalicão (Portugal), Schaerbeek (Belgium). You can, in particular, check Koszalin’s Good practice here. The approach was based on Preston’s four areas of work adaptable to each city’s reality: Advanced Spend Analysis, Business Database Development, SME Capacity Building, and Social and Environmental Criteria. The final outputs are all available on the URBACT website.