Sean Canty
@seancanty
Media contact for Centre for Cities. Posts about UK urban policy, what the media are saying about it and what the Government is doing about it. 📌 London 🙋♂️ He/him
in celebration of Taylor and Travis' tying the knot, I've paid a trip to the Whitgift Centre escalator
At least the new mayor of Lewisham is optimistic that good housing that meets Londoners' needs can be built in the area. Not sure the Carbuncle Cup judges are in it for anything other than themselves though.
What I've taken from the Carbuncle Cup this year is that even a frightfully ugly development (like Lewisham Gateway) is better than no development at all. Here's the same view in 2025 (left) and 2008 (right).
What Greater Manchester is actually doing though gives other places a great example of how mayors can improve a place. Look at Centre for Cities' case study on how GM transport improvements lift local residents out of deprivation. Read more 👇 www.centreforcities.org/reader/citie...
Mayor Andy Burnham will address a Centre for Cities event today on the topic of Manchesterism. So what's distinctive about the way Manchester has grown in the last decade? It's far outperformed other big cities, growing over 3 per cent a year. But residents' living standards growth was average.
Cities and large towns in particular are where cutting-edge jobs cluster and so it's crucial they create those opportunities. Read the full Cities Outlook 2026 report to get the full analysis of what's driving differences in living standards across the UK. www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
Most commuters live and work in the same city-region, whether in the North of England, the Rhine-Ruhr Valley or the Randstad. European peers still out-compete UK cities on transport links *within* cities, which Northern Powerhouse Rail is not targeting. www.centreforcities.org/reader/build...
Travelling in Central Europe and I've brought a few books to occupy the train journeys, including 'Against Post-Liberalism' by @pjthinker.bsky.social - decided it could not wait until I got back home.
📈 That light green line is wind energy ramping up overnight. At 09.35am, Storm Benjamin is generating 40.3 per cent of the National Grid's electric power transmission. Source: grid.iamkate.com
Entertaining review of the new Thatcher centenary document. Apparently, Rishi Sunak complains that the post-Brexit world is not as in favour of free trade as he expected. It's a huge day for irony. www.ft.com/content/7ad4...
In 2024 it was quicker to get to Central London from parts of Hertfordshire than it was to commute in from the end of Old Kent Road. Interested to know how the Bakerloop will have changed this. (Graphic: The Times with Centre for Cities data).
Based on population by 'primary urban area', Manchester misses out to Birmingham as Britain's second city. Centre for Cities is hosting an online event next week to show how places compare on productivity growth - that's the key race among big cities. www.centreforcities.org/event/briefi...
Homes are unaffordable in big cities and across the South East because of housing shortages. Brits make big sacrifices to afford a home, the New Towns Taskforce says. So, what role will New Towns have in housebuilding? Centre for Cities' discusses next week: www.centreforcities.org/event/centre...
Regions of the UK vary hugely on pay and affluence but that difference is explained by the variation in cities. Average weekly workplace wages vary much more in urban areas of the UK than in rural ones. Source: Cities Outlook 2025 👇 www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
🚌🚴♀️🚋 CAR FREE POST #WorldCarFreeDay Did you know large UK cities have lower shares of commuting by public transport than their international peers? TfL-style integrated transport, better planning and implementing road pricing could change that. Read more 👇 www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
It's Tuesday 12 August - better known as Mackem Day. Sunderland is blazing a trail for city-centre regeneration for places struggling with lots of empty shops 🌆 www.itv.com/watch/news/s...
Sunday Express reheated the 'Gen Z are going to church more' story. But it's a numbers story and there's issues with SPCK and Bible Society data 👇 theconversation.com/is-there-rea... Rises in bible sales were by value, not by volume. And the 'Quiet Revival' church attendance data has holes.
Improving regional productivity is about a better quality of life everywhere in the UK and not about eroding London's. Centre for Cities' key insight is that urban areas - not rural ones - are generating the productivity lag. Chi Onwurah's argument is well made here 👇 www.ft.com/content/393e...
The Government says it is adopting a services-focused trade strategy to tariff-proof UK prosperity. There's plenty of room for growth in services and much of that could be to the benefit of big cities outside of London and the Greater South East. www.centreforcities.org/blog/how-muc...
And pivoting to manufacturing on a "resilience" basis can be self-defeating. Building up stocks is preferable to home-grown goods. See also @benchu.bsky.social's excellent new book 'Exile Economics' on the myths around "self-reliance".
The erudite British Academy looked at 100 years of regional policy - a big undertaking for one policy briefing. But only a London institution could be this London-sceptic... Most G7 countries have an economic capital. The UK's problem isn't London-centrism; it is its underperforming second cities.
City centres have lots of high-quality office space and access to large high-skilled labour pools via large local public transport networks. These qualities attract above-average numbers of cutting-edge firms to a local area. www.centreforcities.org/press/innova...
In total, 87 per cent of clustered new economy firms are in cities and large towns; over half of these are in city centres. www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
Big cities' export bases are smaller than they should be, with relatively low services exports in particular compared to London. Adapting their city centres to meet the global demand for cutting-edge services is their chance to earn higher wages. www.centreforcities.org/blog/how-muc...
The main focus should be on the biggest cities. The Mayor of London launched an ambitious growth plan for the capital. And as 'second cities', Manchester, Birmingham and other big cities can make a much bigger contribution to the national economy. www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
Alasdair MacIntyre, a titan of philosophy. And what a detail this is from Jane O'Grady (via Guardian) www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...