Birmingham city centre is too small and does not generate enough prosperity, Centre for Cities warns
A new report by Centre for Cities highlights Birmingham's underperformance
A recent Centre for Cities blog questions the West Midlands Combined Authority’s growth plan, which claims the region is polycentric—made up of several hubs rather than led by one centre.
The authority uses this to argue for a different economic strategy that doesn’t depend on agglomeration.
Centre for Cities disagrees. It says the West Midlands is actually monocentric, with Birmingham at its core. Just two medium super output areas in Birmingham hold around 150,000 jobs, or 11% of the region’s employment.
The same pattern exists in Greater Manchester, where two areas in Manchester city centre contain 10% of jobs, despite covering only 0.2% of the land.
The blog argues the real issue is underperformance. Birmingham city centre is too small for a region of its size, which holds back the wider economy by limiting the agglomeration benefits that come from clustering high-skilled jobs and businesses. As a result, the rest of the city and region cannot prosper as they should.
It concludes that policy should back monocentric growth by growing city-centre economies, rather than playing down their importance.
Compared with London, the West Midlands looks less concentrated, but Centre for Cities says this is about scale, not structure. In London, nine of the ten most job-dense areas are in the centre, together accounting for 29% of jobs.
The blog argues the real issue is underperformance. Birmingham and Manchester city centres are too small for their populations, meaning the productivity benefits of agglomeration—like high-skilled jobs and business clustering—aren’t being fully realised.
It concludes that policy should back monocentric growth by growing city-centre economies, rather than playing down their importance.
Read the full report here.