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Re-inventing the city from industrial to post
industrial city

• Irene Hardill
• The Graduate School for Social and Policy
  Research
• The Nottingham Trent University
• E-mail Irene.Hardill_at_ntu.ac.uk

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Introduction changing images of the city

• Focus of lecture link together economic, social
  and urban geography
• Examine how the changing urban form is the result
  of economic and social forces
• How economic and social change is producing new
  socio-economic landscapes in urban areas
• Draw on pictorial, photographic, textual and
  cartographic material for one case study city,
  Nottingham
• Nottingham press image for 2004 binge
  drinking, drugs and gun crime is it unique?
  Does this apply to all the city or could there
  be another story? Will this image remain in 2005?

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Nottingham, Robin Hood Country
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Nottingham Long and Rich History, Predating
Industrialisation
Nottingham Castle
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Nottingham a brief history

• Anglo-Danish settlement Norman settlement,
• Craft industry, market town and county town
  functions
• Industrialisation manufacturing flat land
  near canal, railway, and in working class
  districts such as Radford, offices and warehouses
  in Lace Market, site of Anglo-Danish Nottingham
• St Anns, a slum10,000 houses, crushed into a
  pace of 340 acres40 houses per acre (Coates and
  Silburn, 1970, 67) a large deteriorated
  district, geographically distinct, with a certain
  sense of identityeven a sense of community
  (ibid, 66-7).

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Nineteenth Century Nottingham one of the Cradles
of the Industrial Revolution

• Diverse industrial base Nottingham (lace,
  engineering, pharmaceuticals)
• Economic landscape railway, canal, industrial
  buildings and adjacent working class housing
• Canal
• look at the barges on the canal below. Its just
  like Venice, he said seeing the sunshine on the
  water that lay between high factory walls.
  (Lawrence, 1937,104)
• Housing and factories adjacent
• Once out of doors they were more aware of the
  factory rumbling ... Disinfectant-suds, grease,
  and newly-cut steel permeated the air over the
  suburb of four roomed houses built around the
  factory (Sillitoe, 1993, 27)

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Nottingham in the industrial era
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Nottingham in the industrial era
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Housing the two Nottinghams
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Nottingham growth in industrial era
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Nottinghams growth the result of migration

• an extraordinary variety of residents, the
  Poles and Ukrainians from war time days, the
  Italians shortly after, more recently the Asians
  and West Indians the Scots and Irish, the
  Geordies and Liverpudlians, all drawn to the
  Midlands in the pursuit of work. Some stay in
  St Anns for a few days or weeksbut they all
  live with, in and among the people born and bred
  in St Anns, a key part of Nottinghams working
  class (Coates and Silburn, 1970, 95-6)
• 2001 Census 85 population White (England
  90.9) Asian or Asian British 6.5 Black or
  Black British 4.3.
• http//neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/AreaProfile
  Frames.asp?TID13AREANottinghamAID175819

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Economic Decline, but Economic Transformation

• Economic change deindustrialisation,
  technological change and restructuring of
  divisions of labour
• Nottingham 1991-2001 30 per cent (15,700)
  manufacturing jobs lost, service sector (53,100)
  30 per cent jobs created, growth of 13.8 per cent
• Public policy to regeneration in 1980s and 1990s
  corporate capital investment in cities by use of
  public subsidies and minimal planning Nottingham
  worked with private sector
• By mid 1990s public involvement back on agenda,
  as with City Challenge, Single Regeneration
  Budget, new era of partnership
• Since 1997 joined up thinking engaging the
  community to overcome social fragmentation and
  economic inequalities, such as New Deal for
  Communities

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Economic Transformation Nottingham Key Factors

• No longer Nottingham lace, bicycles etc, but
  Geography matters location, location, location
• Key service sector relocations in 1990s- Inland
  Revenue,
• New developments - Capital One, various call
  centres locational advantage of Nottingham
  cited
• Indigenous growth Experian, now Nottingham's
  largest private sector employer, (until 2004
  Boots was largest private sector employer)
• National project - National Ice Stadium
• Vibrant city centre retail remained strong but
  long standing importance of evening economy
  enhanced but for it was Saturday night, the
  best and bingiest glad-time of the week
  (Sillitoe, 1993, 9) they crossed Slab Square
  and, fresh from a pint in the Plumtree rolled to
  the Red Dragon and from there pushed into the
  Skittling Alley and the Coach Inn (ibid, 194).

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New Economic Landscape Rise of Service Sector

• Retailing, leisure, culture, media, banking,
  insurance and finance, logistics
• Range of service sector jobs - producer and
  consumer services
• Gentrification new build and refurbishment
• Marketing of new landscapes city presented as
  urban chic
• unique opportunity to buy a piece of
  Nottingham's heritage (http//www.wbcityhomes.co.
  uk). In this way gentrifiers
• exclusive residential areas for aspirational
  buyers (www.lacemarketproperties.co.uk)
• Location is important everything is on your
  doorstep (www.wbcityhomes.co.uk) and enables you
  to Relax and let life come to
  you(www.onefletchergate.com). Inner city
  dwellers are surrounded by everything you could
  possibly need cinemas, clubs, bars, theatre,
  parks, gardens and exclusive restaurants
  (http//www.one flethchergate.com).

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The New Urban Frontier
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New Economic Landscape
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Social and spatial division

• Nottingham areas of affluence adjacent to the
  Park Estate some former industrial/commercial
  areas, such as the Canal Corridor and the Lace
  Market
• But areas of deprivation remain St Anns, the
  Meadows, Hyson Green
• The other Nottingham St Anns considerable
  redevelopment 1960s and 1970s 10,000 Victorian
  slums removed and a new estate of 3,500 built
  some older housing retained, so today mixture of
  older and modern housing. St Anns has a
  population of 8,000 in 3,800 homes remains a
  pocket of deprivation
• See for example Ruth Luptons 2003 book Poverty
  Street the dynamics of neighbourhood decline and
  renewal St Anns is termed Riverlands

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Conclusion

• In this lecture explored the economic, social,
  cultural and political processes shaping and
  reshaping urban areas through the use of a case
  study
• Not all former industrial centres have
  restructured to emerge as a post-industrial city
• Public and private sector involvement
• Blurred working, living and leisure spaces,
  important nodes in 24/7 economy
• Location of Nottingham, central England, nodal
  location, good road, rail and air communications
  Nottingham-East Midlands airport
• Emerged as key regional city for the East
  Midlands (home of development agency and the
  Government Office Assembly in Melton Mowbray)

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Bibliography

• Hardill, I. (2002) Discovering Cities
  Nottingham Sheffield Geographical Association.
• Hardill. I, Graham, D.T. and Kofman, E. (2001)
  Human Geography of the UK An introduction
  London Routledge.
• Lupton, R. (2003) Poverty Street the dynamics
  of neighbourhood decline and renewal Bristol
  Policy Press