We’ve now a wealth of data about UK cities. Using historical data, Paul Swinney (Centre for Cities) looks at over 100 years of change in the urban areas of England and Wales, comparing cities in 1911 to their overall size and industrial make-up today. He identifies three principles that should guide policy that attempts to support city growth over the next century. Tony Champion (Newcastle University), author of the Foresight Study on population, looks at population trends in cities to 2050.

Speaker biographies:

Paul Swinney is Senior Economist at Centre for Cities, and leads on the data analysis undertaken by the centre. He has a particular interest in research on the spatial development of city economies, private sector growth, and enterprise. His current work focuses on the role that city centres play in the wider city economy, the evolution of out of town employment sites and what this means for future economic growth.

Tony Champion has four decades of research experience at Newcastle University, focusing primarily on population change and migration and their implications for regional and local population profiles and planning policies. He became Professor of Population Geography in 1996 and is now Emeritus, located within the university’s Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies. He has acted as adviser to the UN Population Division, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and the UK government. He has also served on a number of committees including the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, the Regional Studies Association and the ESRC Census Programme Advisory Committee. He was elected Academician of Social Sciences in 2010 and Vice President of the British Society for Population Studies for 2011-2013.

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