State of the English Cities
Encyclopedia
The State of the English Cities is an on-going study of the social and economic performance of the major cities of England
, sponsored by the Communities and Local Government department of the United Kingdom Government.
The programme was commissioned by the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2000 as a result of the Urban White Paper Our Towns and Cities: The Future - Delivering an Urban Renaissance, which drew attention to the importance of major cities in driving economic growth.
One of the main challenges of the study was to make sure that the statistics used were comparable across cities and not skewed by local authority boundaries, which often do not reflect the physical or economic realities of the settlements they define. Instead of focussing on political areas statistics were therefore published for Primary Urban Area
s and Travel to Work Area
s, as respectively physical and economic models of cities' extent, and Areas of Town Centre Activity, reflecting cities Central Business District
s.
An interim progress report was published in January 2005, with the main State of the English Cities report being published in March 2006, and the State of the Cities Database of comparative statistics going live in November 2006.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, sponsored by the Communities and Local Government department of the United Kingdom Government.
The programme was commissioned by the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2000 as a result of the Urban White Paper Our Towns and Cities: The Future - Delivering an Urban Renaissance, which drew attention to the importance of major cities in driving economic growth.
One of the main challenges of the study was to make sure that the statistics used were comparable across cities and not skewed by local authority boundaries, which often do not reflect the physical or economic realities of the settlements they define. Instead of focussing on political areas statistics were therefore published for Primary Urban Area
Primary Urban Area
A Primary Urban Area is an area defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom as a statistical tool for analysing the major cities of England, originating as part of their State of the English Cities report and database.-Purpose and definition:The concept of...
s and Travel to Work Area
Travel to Work Area
A Travel to Work Area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by UK Government agencies and local authorities, especially by the Department for Work and Pensions and Job Centres, to indicate an area where the population would generally commute to a larger town, city or conurbation for the purposes of...
s, as respectively physical and economic models of cities' extent, and Areas of Town Centre Activity, reflecting cities Central Business District
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
s.
An interim progress report was published in January 2005, with the main State of the English Cities report being published in March 2006, and the State of the Cities Database of comparative statistics going live in November 2006.