Current Students and Staff

// University News

2 Sep 2019

International workshop to explore challenges of planning and governing cities and regions

Loughborough University will host an international workshop to discuss the challenges of planning and governing large city-regions which have multiple urban centres.

Organised by Dr John Harrison and Michael Hoyler, Readers in Human Geography in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and Co-Directors of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Network, the workshop brings together the latest insights into the benefits and challenges of strengthening planning and governance at the city-regional scale.

The workshop will explore Polycentric Urban Regions (PURs), which have been championed by advocates as an innovative way to manage urban-rural relations and framed by policymakers as a way of delivering sustainable spatially balanced development.

The workshop will be held at the University between 2-3 September and will see academics from four continents contribute to the sessions.

Keynote lectures will be given by Professor Nicholas Phelps, University of Melbourne; Professor Kathy Pain, University of Reading; and Dr Christophe Sohn, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research.

Dr John Harrison said: “The development of polycentric urban regions is not a spatially and socially homogeneous process. It is important to identify people and places that are ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in city-regional processes. Our workshop will provide a platform to critically evaluate the PUR concept across a wide range of international examples.”

Michael Hoyler added: “We are delighted to be hosting this workshop at Loughborough, home to a vibrant tradition of research in urban and regional studies. Our very own polycentric urban region, the East Midlands, is an ideal location to discuss planning and governance challenges facing city-regions around the globe today.”

The workshop at Loughborough forms part of a programme of meetings brought together by the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Research Network on Polycentric Urban Regions.

More information can be found here