tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/regeneration-5623/articlesRegeneration – The Conversation2023-11-28T04:56:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2181292023-11-28T04:56:43Z2023-11-28T04:56:43Z3 reasons why removing grazing animals from Australia’s arid lands for carbon credits is a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562050/original/file-20231128-21-mv2664.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C59%2C3952%2C2185&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you run a large polluting facility and can’t work out how to actually cut emissions, you might buy carbon credits to offset your emissions from the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme. These credits are meant to represent carbon taken back out of the atmosphere and stored in growing trees or in the soil. </p>
<p>The problem is, these credit schemes can be rubbery in the extreme. One area we must scrutinise forensically are <a href="https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/DocumentAssets/Pages/Factsheet---Human-Induced-Regeneration.aspx">human-induced regeneration</a> projects. These are the backbone of the offset scheme, accounting for 30% of credits issued to-date. Over the coming years, they could be responsible for almost <a href="https://law.anu.edu.au/sites/all/files/impact_of_low_integrity_accus_on_the_sgm_final_150223.pdf">50% of annual issuances</a>. These projects claim to regenerate native forests across vast areas – not by replanting trees in cleared areas, as you might think, but by reducing grazing pressure from livestock and feral animals. </p>
<p>This is fundamentally flawed. Almost all projects are in arid or semi-arid rangeland grazed by livestock and kangaroos and only partly cleared. But cattle and sheep mostly eat grasses and herbs, not woody material. So how can we possibly claim reducing grazing pressure leads to more trees and shrubs? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sheep on Australian rangeland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562065/original/file-20231128-15-ruyz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sheep and other grazers largely eat grass and herbs, not woody material.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>3 reasons for scrutiny</h2>
<p>Human induced regeneration projects have ballooned. They now cover about 34 million hectares of Australia’s rangelands, about 1.5 times the size of Victoria. </p>
<p>Projects have sprung up in absurd areas such as Alice Springs, Coober Pedy, and the Nullarbor Plain where few trees grow naturally, and where those that do grow are rarely eaten by livestock. These projects are currently producing over 6 million carbon credit units each year for tree growth that either can’t happen, or where growth would have happened anyway. That’s <a href="https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/Infohub/Markets/Pages/qcmr/march-quarter-2023/Australian-Carbon-Credit-Units.aspx">about A$235 million</a> in today’s prices.</p>
<p>Under the rules, the projects are supposed to regenerate these forests and then maintain them for either 25 or 100 years. </p>
<p>Here’s why they should not be earning carbon credits. </p>
<p><strong>1. Location</strong></p>
<p>These projects are largely in the uncleared rangelands covering <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/land/rangelands">most of Australia’s interior</a>. These areas have little chance of promoting woody growth and storing more carbon, not because of grazing pressure, but because rainfall is too low, the soil too <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140196310003010">infertile</a>, and the vegetation already close to its maximum. Forests will not regrow in these areas, particularly under hotter and drier climates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="arid shrubs Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561476/original/file-20231124-19-caunqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Forests are highly unlikely to grow on semi-arid terrain like this, even if grazing animals are removed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TBC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p><strong>2. Tree growth can have many causes</strong></p>
<p>Grazing is just one driver of woody plant change. Where we do see tree growth, it’s most likely to be due to other factors such as sustained rain, greater concentrations of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-022-00397-7">atmospheric carbon dioxide</a>, falls in the intensity and frequency of bushfire, or removal of top predators like the dingo. </p>
<p>For these reasons, projects may well be credited for tree growth stemming from natural fluctuations – not grazing control. </p>
<p><strong>3. Grazing on rangeland doesn’t destroy trees and shrubs</strong></p>
<p>Removing grazing to regenerate forests in these uncleared areas would actually be a great idea – if we still had <a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-marsupials-once-migrated-across-an-australian-ice-age-landscape-84762">diprotodons</a>, the largest marsupials ever to live. These 4 metre, 3.5 tonne browsers ate their way through trees and shrubs, much as elephants still do elsewhere, and played a key role in maintaining the balance between forests and grasslands. </p>
<p>If you took diprotodons off the land, you really would notice the difference – trees and shrubs would spring up without their intense grazing pressure. But the problem is, they’re extinct and have been for 25,000 years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="diprotodon skeleton" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562066/original/file-20231128-29-l83y5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If Australia still had megaherbivores like the diprotodon, this approach might make more sense.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danny Ye/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their replacements on our rangelands – mostly sheep, cattle, feral goats and kangaroos – have nothing like the same effect. </p>
<p>In fact, where overgrazing does occur in Australia, it’s likely to actually increase tree and shrub cover rather than reduce it. Known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01630.x">woody thickening</a>, this happens when grazing animals eat so many grasses and herbs that they skew the balance in favour of trees and taller shrubs. Livestock might eat some woody plants, but most plants are out of their reach. </p>
<h2>How did this happen?</h2>
<p>By law, projects under the human-induced regeneration scheme are supposed to be restricted to land that is already cleared, with few mature trees and shrubs, and where native forest can regenerate naturally. </p>
<p>Under these conditions, the simple <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/full-carbon-accounting-model-fullcam">forest carbon model</a> used by the Clean Energy Regulator to estimate how carbon is being stored works reasonably well. </p>
<p>The problem is, projects are no longer restricted to cleared land. Just 17 months after the Carbon Credits Scheme began, the regulator permitted projects to proceed in <a href="https://law.anu.edu.au/sites/all/files/summary_results_of_analysis_of_hir_cea_data_210623_revised_180723.pdf">uncleared rangelands</a>. Worse, these projects are credited using the same simple forest carbon model <a href="https://law.anu.edu.au/sites/all/files/short_-_hir_measurement_july_2022_final.pdf">designed for cleared areas</a>, which can’t account for the large numbers of pre-existing trees and shrubs in uncleared vegetation.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chubb-review-of-australias-carbon-credit-scheme-falls-short-and-problems-will-continue-to-fester-197401">Chubb review of Australia's carbon credit scheme falls short – and problems will continue to fester</a>
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</em>
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<p>In short, there is little evidence the carbon storage credited to these projects matches the real carbon on the ground.</p>
<p>For Australia’s Carbon Credits Scheme to work effectively we need better administration, more transparency, and compliance testing. If we do not use the best available science, we will get the wrong outcomes. Emissions will be higher than they would otherwise be. </p>
<p>Using nature to store carbon can work. In fact it’s the only cost-effective way to pull carbon dioxide from the air at present. But the credit system is easily gamed – not only here, but in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/carbon-credit-speculators-could-lose-billions-as-offsets-deemed-worthless-aoe">many other countries</a>. </p>
<p>We must make absolutely certain credits represent real, additional and permanent abatement. That is, based on real increases in carbon stored in vegetation, that would not have occurred without carbon credits as incentive, and in ways which will hold the extra carbon for a century or more. </p>
<p>If we don’t, Australian businesses and organisations relying on carbon credits to meet their climate goals will lose faith in the program. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worthless-forest-carbon-offsets-risk-exacerbating-climate-change-211862">'Worthless' forest carbon offsets risk exacerbating climate change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David John Eldridge receives funding from the Hermon Slade Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Macintosh receives funding from the Australian Government and state governments. He is also a Director of the Paraway Pastoral Company, which has carbon offset projects. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Alan George had previously received funding support from NCCARF, ACIAR, The World Bank and was an AVA. David develops, delivers and evaluates coursework in climate change to help build community capacity of individuals and groups by addressing knowledge and skills.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Butler receives funding from the Australian and State governments. </span></em></p>Carbon credits must be scrutinised – and none more so than credits for taking grazing animals off arid rangelands.David John Eldridge, Professor of Dryland Ecology, UNSW SydneyAndrew Macintosh, Professor and Director of Research, ANU Law School, Australian National UniversityDavid Alan George, Adjunct Assoc. Professor - Australian Rivers Institute - Earth scientist, Griffith UniversityDon Butler, Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160342023-11-21T16:54:06Z2023-11-21T16:54:06ZHigh-street regeneration has to start with community trust and care<p>When British discount retailer Wilko shut its remaining 68 stores in October 2023, people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/08/wilko-staff-mourn-final-weekend">mourned</a> what they took these closures to signal: the demise of the high street. </p>
<p>The potential or actual <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-street-strategy-recovery-will-take-more-than-street-parties-and-more-bins-164729#:%7E:text=The%20markers%20the%20government%20has,and%20activities%20%E2%80%93%20are%20not%20new.">decline</a> of England’s town and city centres has <a href="https://www.retailresearch.org/retail-crisis.html">long</a> preoccupied community groups, government officials and even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/08/how-the-uks-dying-high-streets-are-being-given-new-life-by-pop-up-shops-and-galleries">artist collectives</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, traditional high streets were seen to be struggling to compete with out-of-town shopping centres. More recently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-high-streets-how-to-prevent-our-city-centres-from-turning-into-ghost-towns-154108">online retail</a> has been blamed. One quarter of UK retail spending <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/timeseries/j4mc/drsi">now happens online</a>. </p>
<p>The government has devised several policies in response – from the “vital and viable town centres” <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/405499">initiative</a> of 1994 to the “future of our high streets” <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-portas-review-the-future-of-our-high-streets">Portas review</a> of 2011 and, more recently, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-high-streets-fund">Future High Streets Fund</a>, launched in 2018.</p>
<p>The Power to Change charity exists to distribute a £150 million endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund. In 2020, it proposed to fund <a href="https://www.powertochange.org.uk/research/community-improvement-districts-discussion-paper/">community improvement districts</a>. These high-street regeneration plans involve community representatives – voluntary organisations, local residents, high street traders and businesses, and public services. </p>
<p>Between 2022 and 2023, we tracked the progress of the first seven community improvement projects. We facilitated eventsand interviewed project leaders and key partners in their local areas. Our report <a href="https://www.powertochange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FINAL-PTC-CID-report092023.pdf">shows</a> trust-building is crucial and that too often, communities feel that regeneration projects are imposed on them, for the benefit of councils and developers. </p>
<h2>England’s first seven community improvement districts</h2>
<p>Five of the pilots we studied were in Skelmersdale, Lancashire; Hendon, Sunderland; Stretford, Greater Manchester; Wolverton, Milton Keynes, and Ipswich. They each received £20,000 from Power to Change. Two further projects in Kilburn High Road and Wood Green High Road, two busy thoroughfares in North London received an additional £20,000 each from the Greater London Authority. </p>
<p>Some projects, including those in Skelmersdale and Kilburn, were new initiatives. Others, such as Hendon and Wolverton, built on decades of previous activity. The idea was that each would be undertaken with some form of local partnership and that local people would be consulted, through events and meetings, to find out what they wanted in their local high street. </p>
<p>We found that the pilot projects worked best when they managed to encourage this kind of conversation. Members of the public, community-based organisations such as charities and faith groups, local traders and property owners talked to each other and found common ground.</p>
<p>In Kilburn, the London Borough of Camden, which was coordinating the <a href="https://onekilburn.commonplace.is">One Kilburn</a> project, employed local residents as so-called “community activators”, to bring local people together. Through these informal conversations, the project team discovered that a particular local concern was the lack of public toilets on Kilburn High Road. They organised a “toilet hackathon”, involving local residents and landowners, including Transport for London, discussing potential solutions.</p>
<p>In Milton Keynes, the project organiser, Future Wolverton (a well established community benefit society), aims to revitalise the town centre alongside a separate scheme to redevelop the site of a demolished 1970s shopping mall. When it had the opportunity to take over the premises of a former charity shop, it used the space to ask residents what they wanted for the town. It also offered opportunities to businesses which couldn’t afford commercial space. </p>
<p>One of the most popular activities it implemented was a repair cafe, where residents could get things fixed and learn how to mend clothes or electrical items. This would not have happened without local people being trusted to come up with ideas.</p>
<p>In Sunderland, meanwhile, the <a href="https://backonthemap.org">Back on the Map</a> charity – what is known as a “community anchor organisation” with a 20-year track record of local grassroots activity – worked with the council. The charity proposed to arrange for vouchers issued by the council to support people suffering hardship to be valid in local shops. This, it argued, would support local traders who were also struggling because of the cost-of-living crisis. </p>
<p>Here, the project focused on Villette Road, in Hendon: a neighbourhood high street that had a reputation for crime and was blighted with shuttered shops. One of the initiatives, that wasn’t expensive but sent a strong signal to the community, was to installation the street’s first Christmas tree for almost a century. The charity also put up signs branding the street as the “<a href="https://backonthemap.org/heart-of-hendon/">heart of Hendon</a>”. As one member of the project team* put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having the street branded and have somebody care about the street again, it made the traders come together as a collective with a shared vision rather than just having individual conversations where it was just moaning about things, it turned it around to a more positive conversation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/news/all-articles/latest-news/community-ownership-levelling-up-high-streets-research">shows</a> regeneration needs to respect and build on people’s attachments to the places they live and work in. Local people need to have the sense that decision-makers are listening to their concerns.</p>
<p>Expensive capital and real estate-led projects often fail to do this. Instead, they tend to rely on private developers, who invest in places in return for profit and do not yield the regeneration they promise. This has been demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/hackney-walk-how-david-adjayes-fashion-mecca-ended-up-a-ghost-town">reported</a> debacle of the Hackney Walk fashion hub in east London. Here, the £100m luxury redevelopment of a suite of railway arches saw local businesses evicted to make way for big-name fashion brands, which, in the absence of the promised footfall that brought them there, have all since closed down. </p>
<p>Hackney Walk is, as journalist Simon Usborne <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/11/hackney-walk-east-london-regeneration-ghost-town">puts it</a>, an example of exactly “what not to do”. It is too early to know whether the seven projects we’ve worked on will yield better long-term economic and social impacts. What is clear, however, is that in involving communities on an equal basis, they are starting from a better place. People need to have their say in decisions made about where they live.</p>
<p>*<em>All our interviewees’ names are withheld for anonymity</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheffield Hallam University was funded by Power to Change to conduct the research on which this article is based. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara González receives funding from the United Kingdom Research Innovation and the European Commission and sits in the Steering Group of Foodwise, the Leeds Food Partnership</span></em></p>Capital-driven regeneration projects rarely deliver because they focus on profit, not local people’s needs.Julian Dobson, Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam UniversitySara González, Professor in Human Critical Geography, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053732023-07-10T12:32:06Z2023-07-10T12:32:06ZZebrafish share skin-deep similarities with people, making them helpful models to study skin conditions like vitiligo and melanoma<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536160/original/file-20230706-27-zx3jhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2121%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The melanocytes in zebrafish stripes share many similarities to those in people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/zebrafish-isolated-on-black-background-royalty-free-image/1134340984">Dan Olsen/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Melanocytes are a small subset of epidermal cells that play an outsize role in protecting your skin from the damaging effects of sun exposure. They do this by synthesizing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459156/">melanins, which are pigments</a> sent to other skin cells to shield them from harmful ultraviolet light. A lack of functioning melanocytes causes a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a017046">wide range of skin conditions</a>, including skin cancer and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-vitiligo-26647">vitiligo, an autoimmune condition</a> in which the body attacks melanocytes and causes patches of depigmented skin. </p>
<p>For nearly 20 years, <a href="https://profiles.umassmed.edu/display/130115">I have been studying</a> melanocytes and the role they play in disease. Difficulties growing human melanocytes <a href="https://theconversation.com/lab-grown-meat-techniques-arent-new-cell-cultures-are-common-tools-in-science-but-bringing-them-up-to-scale-to-meet-societys-demand-for-meat-will-require-further-development-208343">in cell cultures</a> have led researchers like me to use alternative models to study them. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ceollab.com">My lab</a> and others have pioneered the use of zebrafish to study melanocytes. Using this small freshwater fish as a model organism, my team and I recently discovered a new way in which <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78942">melanocytes regenerate</a>. This process enables flexibility for these cells to recover from injuries and may be applicable to other types of tissues.</p>
<h2>What zebrafish and people have in common</h2>
<p>New students and nonscientists often ask me, “Why zebrafish?” There are several reasons why zebrafish are good models to study melanocytes.</p>
<p>Melanocytes in zebrafish are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jid.2021.10.016">similar in many ways</a> to those in people. These cells develop in embryos in the same way those in humans do, use the same genetic programs and make the same melanins. Melanocyte dysfunction in zebrafish also leads to the same diseases and cancers found in people. </p>
<p>Unlike melanocytes in mouse or human skin, zebrafish melanocytes are externally visible in their dark stripes and spotted scales. Researchers can place the whole fish directly under a microscope and see the cells without the need for a biopsy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Zebrafish against white background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536163/original/file-20230706-21-43u981.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zebrafish melanocytes can be found in their dark stripes and spotted scales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig Ceol</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Importantly, researchers can manipulate and perform experiments on zebrafish melanocytes in ways that are unethical or not feasible to do with people. Unlike studies that use isolated melanocytes in a petri dish, these experiments can take place in the context of a whole animal, where we can monitor the surrounding skin and other biological factors for their influence on how melanocytes behave and function.</p>
<h2>Diversity of melanocyte stem cells</h2>
<p>In work spearheaded by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/William-Tyler-Frantz-2121259175">Tyler Frantz</a>, a graduate student in my lab, our team has focused our attention on the process by which new melanocytes <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78942">regenerate after injury</a>.</p>
<p>Melanocyte regeneration is important for recovering from skin disorders such as vitiligo. It’s also relevant to age-related conditions like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12648">hair graying</a>, in which melanocyte stem cells either die or become dormant and no longer produce the mature melanocytes that give hair its color.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of zebrafish melanocytes -- small dark circles clustered in a band" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536164/original/file-20230706-21-yzkuvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The small dark circles clustered in a band across this photo are zebrafish melanocytes, magnified 100 times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig Ceol</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To study melanocyte regeneration, we removed these cells from zebrafish and followed their process of regrowth. Since melanocyte stem cells in zebrafish are externally visible, we tracked these cells in real time to see how they divided and matured. Additionally, we measured which genes were expressed in individual melanocyte stem cells and their descendants during regeneration. </p>
<p>We found that dying melanocytes trigger this regenerative process by sending the signal for melanocyte stem cells – cells that can give rise to new melanocytes – to activate. Surprisingly, we identified two types of stem cells that each took a different route to make new melanocytes. One type of stem cell directly converted into melanin-producing melanocytes. The other type of stem cell divided to create two types of daughter cells. One type was new melanocytes, and the other was new stem cells ready to respond to future injury.</p>
<p>Researchers have known that a single stem cell is capable of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-022-00568-6">making the multiple types of cells</a> needed to regenerate tissue. Our zebrafish studies indicate that multiple different stem cells in skin, and potentially other tissues, can together reconstruct one particular cell type after injury. The involvement of multiple stem cells likely enables regeneration to nimbly adjust to different types of injuries.</p>
<h2>From fish to people</h2>
<p>Our findings from zebrafish are likely relevant to human skin. When we examined cells taken from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abd8995">fluid within a blister</a> in human skin, we found cells that look remarkably similar to zebrafish melanocyte stem cells. We are planning to see whether these human cells are activated in skin regeneration to make new melanocytes, which would confirm their identity as melanocyte stem cells. </p>
<p>Ultimately, we envision using these findings to develop treatments that reinvigorate melanocyte stem cells, which could help reverse skin color loss in vitiligo and other diseases. Such treatments may also help counteract age-related pigment loss in hair and skin.</p>
<p>The unique features of zebrafish have allowed us to uncover a new mode of cellular regeneration. Because of cross-species similarities, we expect that these and many other findings from research using zebrafish may be applied to human biology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Ceol receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Defense and JW Holdings Pharmaceuticals.</span></em></p>Zebrafish melanocytes cause diseases similar to those in people when they don’t work properly. Studying how they regenerate after injury could lead to new treatments for hair color loss and vitiligo.Craig Ceol, Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1918262022-10-14T12:17:26Z2022-10-14T12:17:26ZHelping the liver regenerate itself could give patients with end-stage liver disease a treatment option besides waiting for a transplant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489652/original/file-20221013-15-9kim2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2099%2C1426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tylenol overdose is one of the leading causes of liver injury requiring liver transplantation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/human-purple-liver-wireframe-low-poly-style-royalty-free-illustration/1323289190">Elena Merkulova/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The liver is known for its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-020-0342-4">ability to regenerate</a>. It can completely regrow itself even after two-thirds of its mass has been surgically removed. But damage from medications, alcohol abuse or obesity can eventually cause the liver to fail. Currently, the only effective treatment for end-stage liver disease is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2017.01.003">transplantation</a>.</p>
<p>However, there is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/lt.25320">dearth of organs available</a> for transplantation. Patients may have to <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/states-with-shortest-liver-transplant-waiting-list">wait from 30 days to over five years</a> to receive a liver for transplant in the U.S. Of the <a href="https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics">over 11,600 patients</a> on the waiting list to receive a liver transplant in 2021, only a little over 9,200 received one.</p>
<p>But what if, instead of liver transplantation, there were a drug that could help the liver regenerate itself?</p>
<p>I am the founding director of the <a href="https://livercenter.pitt.edu">Pittsburgh Liver Research Center</a> and run a lab <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=R2awLBUAAAAJ&hl=en">studying liver regeneration and cancer</a>. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100754">2022 study</a>, my team and I found that activating a particular protein with a new medication can help accelerate regeneration and repair after severe liver injury or partial surgical removal in mice.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rOv7Sr3X-eo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">While the liver can regenerate itself, it can’t be endlessly donated for transplants.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Key players in liver regeneration</h2>
<p>The liver performs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscitranslmed.3005975">over 500 key functions</a> in your body, <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/liver-anatomy-and-functions">including</a> producing proteins that carry fat through the body, converting excess glucose into glycogen for storage and breaking down toxins like ammonia, among others.</p>
<p>Liver cells, or hepatocytes, take on these many tasks by a divide-and-conquer strategy, also called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2021.09.007">zonation</a>. This separates the liver into three zones with different tasks, and cells are directed to perform specialized functions by turning on specific genes active in each zone. However, exactly what controls the expression of these genes has been poorly understood.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, my team and other labs have identified one group of 19 proteins called <a href="https://doi.org/10.3727/105221621x16111780348794">Wnts</a> that play an important role in controlling liver function and regeneration. While researchers know that Wnt proteins help activate the repair process in damaged liver cells, which ones actually control zonation and regeneration, as well as their exact location in the liver, have been a mystery.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-Kvlxyj43I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Liver disease progresses in four stages.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To identify these proteins and where they came from, my team and I used a new technology called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01409-2">molecular cartography</a> to identify how strongly and where 100 liver function genes are active. We found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100754">only two of 19 Wnt genes</a>, Wnt2 and Wnt9b, were functionally present in the liver. We also found that Wnt2 and Wnt9b were located in the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels in zone 3 of the liver, an area that plays a role in a number of metabolic functions.</p>
<p>To our surprise, eliminating these two Wnt genes resulted in all liver cells expressing only genes typically limited to zone 1, significantly limiting the liver’s overall function. This finding suggests that liver cells experience an ongoing push and pull in gene activation that can modify their functions, and Wnt is the master regulator of this process. </p>
<p>Eliminating the two Wnt genes from endothelial cells also completely stopped liver cell division, and thus regeneration, after partial surgical removal of the liver.</p>
<h2>Liver regeneration after Tylenol overdose</h2>
<p>We then decided to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100754">test whether a new drug</a> could help recover liver zonation and regeneration. This drug, an antibody called FL6.13, shares similar functions with Wnt proteins, including activating liver regeneration. </p>
<p>Over the course of two days, we gave this drug to mice that were genetically engineered to lack Wnt2 and Wnt9b in their liver endothelial cells. We found that the drug was able to nearly completely recover liver cell division and repair functions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of fatty liver pathology" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489654/original/file-20221013-24-sjaj2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left untreated, fatty liver disease can lead to severe damage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/fatty-liver-conceptual-illustration-royalty-free-illustration/932736606">Kathryn Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lastly, we wanted to test how well this drug worked to repair the liver after Tylenol overdose. Tylenol, or acetaminophen, is an over-the-counter medication commonly used to treat fever and pain. However, an overdose of Tylenol can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548162/">cause severe liver damage</a>. Without immediate medical attention, it can lead to liver failure and death. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441917/">Tylenol poisoning</a> is one of the most common causes of severe liver injury requiring liver transplantation in the U.S. Despite this, there is currently only one medication available to treat it, and it is only able to prevent liver damage if taken shortly after overdose.</p>
<p>We tested our new drug on mice with liver damage from toxic doses of Tylenol. We found that one dose was able to decrease liver injury biomarkers – proteins the liver releases when injured – in the blood and reduce liver tissue death. These findings indicate that liver cell repair and tissue regeneration are occurring.</p>
<h2>Reducing the need for transplantation</h2>
<p>One way to address liver transplantation shortages is to improve treatments for liver diseases. While current medications can effectively cure <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-c">hepatitis C</a>, a viral infection that causes liver inflammation, other liver diseases haven’t seen the same progress. Because very few effective treatments are available for illnesses like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic liver disease, many patients worsen and end up needing a liver transplant.</p>
<p>My team and I believe that improving the liver’s ability to repair itself could help circumvent the need for transplantation. Further study of drugs that promote liver regeneration may help curb the burden of liver disease worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Satdarshan Monga receives funding from NIDDK and NCI at National Institutes of Health. Satdarshan Monga is a consultant for Surrozen and AntlerA.</span></em></p>Liver transplant waitlists can range from 30 days to over five years. Developing treatments that spur liver regeneration could help reduce demand for scarce organs.Satdarshan (Paul) Singh Monga, Professor of Pathology and Medicine, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895192022-09-01T18:04:30Z2022-09-01T18:04:30ZAxolotls can regenerate their brains – these adorable salamanders are helping unlock the mysteries of brain evolution and regeneration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482164/original/file-20220831-8166-9xe77t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4096%2C2728&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Axolotls are a model organism researchers use to study a variety of topics in biology.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/aE4bnU">Ruben Undheim/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/axolotl">axolotl</a> (<em>Ambystoma mexicanum</em>) is an aquatic salamander renowned for its ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159%2F000504294">regenerate its spinal cord, heart and limbs</a>. These amphibians also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1749-8104-8-1">readily make new neurons</a> throughout their lives. In 1964, researchers observed that adult axolotls could <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14248567/">regenerate parts of their brains</a>, even if a large section was completely removed. But one study found that axolotl <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13998">brain regeneration</a> has a limited ability to rebuild original tissue structure.</p>
<p>So how perfectly can axolotl’s regenerate their brains after injury? </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OdA08uIAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher studying regeneration at the cellular level</a>, I and my colleagues in the <a href="https://bsse.ethz.ch/qdb">Treutlein Lab</a> at ETH Zurich and the <a href="http://tanakalab.org">Tanaka Lab</a> at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna wondered whether axolotls are able to regenerate all the different cell types in their brain, including the connections linking one brain region to another. In our <a href="https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp9262">recently published study</a>, we created an atlas of the cells that make up a part of the axolotl brain, shedding light on both the way it regenerates and brain evolution across species.</p>
<h2>Why look at cells?</h2>
<p>Different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2416">cell types</a> have different functions. They are able to specialize in certain roles because they each express different genes. Understanding what types of cells are in the brain and what they do helps clarify the overall picture of how the brain works. It also allows researchers to make comparisons across evolution and try to find biological trends across species.</p>
<p>One way to understand which cells are expressing which genes is by using a technique called <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.00317">single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)</a>. This tool allows researchers to count the number of active genes within each cell of a particular sample. This provides a “snapshot” of the activities each cell was doing when it was collected. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k9VFNLLQP8c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Single-cell RNA sequencing can provide information on the specific function of each cell in a sample.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This tool has been instrumental in understanding the types of cells that exist in the brains of animals. Scientists have used scRNA-seq in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnbt.4103">fish</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar4237">reptiles</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.021">mice</a> and even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap8809">humans</a>. But one major piece of the brain evolution puzzle has been missing: amphibians.</p>
<h2>Mapping the axolotl brain</h2>
<p>Our team decided to focus on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-39632-5.00016-5">telencephalon</a> of the axolotl. In humans, the telencephalon is the largest division of the brain and contains a region called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2719">neocortex</a>, which plays a key role in animal behavior and cognition. Throughout recent evolution, the neocortex has <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2014.00015">massively grown in size</a> compared with other brain regions. Similarly, the types of cells that make up the telencephalon overall have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101865">highly diversified</a> and grown in complexity over time, making this region an intriguing area to study.</p>
<p>We used scRNA-seq to identify the different types of cells that make up the axolotl telencephalon, including different types of <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/patient-caregiver-education/brain-basics-life-and-death-neuron">neurons</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2018.00104">progenitor cells</a>, or cells that can divide into more of themselves or turn into other cell types. We identified what genes are active when <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2020.00533">progenitor cells become neurons</a>, and found that many pass through an intermediate cell type called neuroblasts – previously unknown to exist in axolotls – before becoming mature neurons.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uooR4293p_4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Axolotls’ regenerative abilities have been a source of fascination for scientists.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We then put axolotl regeneration to the test by removing one section of their telencephalon. Using a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad7038">specialized method of scRNA-seq</a>, we were able to capture and sequence all the new cells at different stages of regeneration, from one to 12 weeks after injury. Ultimately, we found that all cell types that were removed had been completely restored.</p>
<p>We observed that brain regeneration happens in three main phases. The first phase starts with a rapid increase in the number of progenitor cells, and a small fraction of these cells activate a wound-healing process. In phase two, progenitor cells begin to differentiate into neuroblasts. Finally, in phase three, the neuroblasts differentiate into the same types of neurons that were originally lost.</p>
<p>Astonishingly, we also observed that the severed <a href="https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/brain-development/2012/making-connections">neuronal connections</a> between the removed area and other areas of the brain had been reconnected. This rewiring indicates that the regenerated area had also regained its original function.</p>
<h2>Amphibians and human brains</h2>
<p>Adding amphibians to the evolutionary puzzle allows researchers to infer how the brain and its cell types has changed over time, as well as the mechanisms behind regeneration.</p>
<p>When we compared our axolotl data with other species, we found that cells in their telencephalon show strong similarity to the mammalian <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482171/">hippocampus</a>, the region of the brain involved in memory formation, and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.04706-1">olfactory cortex</a>, the region of the brain involved in the sense of smell. We even found some similarities in one axolotl cell type to the neocortex, the area of the brain known for perception, thought and spatial reasoning in humans. These similarities indicate that these areas of the brain may be evolutionarily conserved, or stayed comparable over the course of evolution, and that the neocortex of mammals may have an ancestor cell type in the telencephalon of amphibians.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Axolotl in tank" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482165/original/file-20220831-4904-pdq0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cracking the mystery of axolotl regeneration could lead to improvements in medical treatments for severe injuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Axolotl_ambystoma_mexicanum_anfibio_ASAG.jpg">Amandasofiarana/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>While our study sheds light on the process of brain regeneration, including which genes are involved and how cells ultimately become neurons, we still don’t know what <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-signaling-14047077/">external signals</a> initiate this process. Moreover, we don’t know if the processes we identified are still accessible to animals that evolved later in time, such as mice or humans.</p>
<p>But we’re not solving the brain evolution puzzle alone. The <a href="https://www.tosches-lab.com/">Tosches Lab</a> at Columbia University explored the diversity of cell types in <a href="https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp9186">another species of salamander, <em>Pleurodeles waltl</em></a>, while the Fei lab at the Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences in China and collaborators at life sciences company <a href="https://en.genomics.cn/">BGI</a> explored how cell types are <a href="https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp9444">spatially arranged in the axolotl forebrain</a>.</p>
<p>Identifying all the cell types in the axolotl brain also helps pave the way for innovative research in regenerative medicine. The brains of mice and humans have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2011.113">largely lost their capacity</a> to repair or regenerate themselves. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4103%2F1673-5374.270294">Medical interventions</a> for severe brain injury currently focus on drug and stem cell therapies to boost or promote repair. Examining the genes and cell types that allow axolotls to accomplish nearly perfect regeneration may be the key to improve treatments for severe injuries and unlock regeneration potential in humans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Maynard works at ETH Zurich and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</span></em></p>Axolotls are amphibians known for their ability to regrow their organs, including their brains. New research clarifies their regeneration process.Ashley Maynard, PhD Candidate in Quantitative Developmental Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ZurichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881822022-08-09T17:17:23Z2022-08-09T17:17:23ZWhy turning old city bridges into new urban parks is such a great idea<p>The recent opening of the <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/castlefield-viaduct/features/a-garden-in-the-sky">Castlefield Viaduct Sky Park</a> in Manchester, UK, has brought fresh attention to the growing number of projects that reuse urban infrastructures to create linear parks. </p>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/07/paris-promenade-plantee-free-elevated-park-walkway-bastille-bois-de-vincennes">Promenade Plantée</a> opened in 1993 on top of an abandoned railway viaduct in Paris, it was reportedly the first of its kind. It provided local residents a green escape, ten metres above the tarmac of the street below, and a beautiful, three-mile meander from the Bois de Vincennes to Bastille. The opening of New York’s fabled <a href="https://www.thehighline.org/">High Line</a>, in 2009, further cemented this type of urban regeneration as something for cities to aim for.</p>
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<p>Post-pandemic, finding innovative ways to eke out accessible green spaces in the urban environment is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-can-add-accessible-green-space-in-a-post-coronavirus-world-139194">more urgent than ever</a>. Doing so provides <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-021-10474-7">health</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-green-cities-to-become-mainstream-we-need-to-learn-from-local-success-stories-and-scale-up-119933">environmental</a> benefits alongside <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-investing-in-green-infrastructure-can-jump-start-the-post-coronavirus-economy-139376">economic</a> ones, by <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12876">promoting</a> biodiversity, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721036779">mitigating</a> air pollution, and in some (though <a href="https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2019/09/the-solution-to-urban-heat-is-not-one-size-fits-all/">not all</a>) cases, reducing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6458494/">the heat island effect</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Plantlife spills over the edges of an elevated railway above a busy intersection" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477844/original/file-20220805-7920-f8qtwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The High Line in Manhattan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-july-2017-entry-1371108503">Krzysztof Stefaniak | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>How a local approach to high lines is needed</h2>
<p>Since the 2000s, city planners across the world have tried to replicate what has been called <a href="https://publicjournal.online/the-high-line-effect/">“the High Line effect”</a>. Built on top of a disused stretch of elevated freight rail line in western Manhattan, the High Line garnered considerable <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/arts/design/09highline-RO.html">press</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4e1dALkhc">media</a> coverage from the outset. It has been rightly championed as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/arts/design/15highline.html">success story</a>, attracting eight million visitors a year and <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nycs-high-line-park-marks-10-years-of-transformation/1646268/">fostering new economic activity</a>.</p>
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<p>But not everywhere else is wealthy Manhattan. By reinvigorating the industrial heritage and cultural identity of a place, this approach can <a href="https://idus.us.es/bitstream/handle/11441/116705/TS2_Libro-de-Actos_-Proceedings-Book-1-655-669.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">increase tourism</a> which can have mixed results. </p>
<p><a href="https://cityparksalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Equity_and_Parks_Funding_7.16.19.pdf">Recent research</a> has shown that without policies in place to ensure that lower-income local communities can enjoy the benefits of newly greened spaces, including health benefits, these projects can actually exacerbate inequality by raising property values and causing the displacement of long-term residents who can’t afford to stay. Urban planning experts talk about green gentrification, as has been noted in the case of the <a href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/green-gentrification-and-lessons-of-the-606/">606 linear park in Chicago</a>, among others. </p>
<p>Instead of simply trying to copy what has been done elsewhere, this type of regeneration is best done when attuned to the local heritage. As Historic England <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/wellbeing-and-the-historic-environment/wellbeing-and-historic-environment/">has emphasised</a>, the best way to steward heritage sites and the historic environment is by keeping people’s wellbeing in mind. In particular, it’s about giving local people a voice, a place to be active and a sense of belonging. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Signposts at a junction in a pedestrianised green space." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477850/original/file-20220805-26-ub4qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The 606 elevated trail in Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chicago-usa-september-20-2018-chicagos-1184490604">Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Why reusing existing structures is best</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-reusable-cups-bags-and-bottles-so-why-are-our-buildings-still-single-use-171345">Adapting</a> existing infrastructure is an integral part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-cities-new-challenges-mean-we-need-to-reimagine-the-look-of-urban-landscapes-151709">rethinking the city</a> in an era of <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150152/a-july-of-extremes">climate emergency</a>. The era of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1587078">grand visions for public parks</a> is largely over, as most cities are already full. Both spatially and economically, forming large green spaces from scratch is not possible.</p>
<p>Reworking old railway lines and bridges into parks, conversely, contributes to a wider strategy of adaptive reuse and what designers term <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/948304/urban-acupuncture-regenerating-public-space-through-hyper-local-interventions">urban acupuncture</a>. Since the 1960s, <a href="https://theconversation.com/parks-help-cities-but-only-if-people-use-them-103474">pocket parks</a> have been created out of small, hidden or overlooked bits of land between existing buildings. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pond set between planted beds in an elevated walkway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477847/original/file-20220805-22-e4y1ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Promenade Plantée in Paris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seoul-korea-21-september-2019-top-1539297443">Joao Paulo V Tinoco | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The hyper-local nature of this type of urban greening makes it easier for residents to access and benefit from these spaces. As pressure increases on how we use resources and keep carbon in the ground wherever possible, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-021-10474-7">enabling everyone</a> to have access to green space for <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-parks-and-waterways-in-cities-could-prevent-premature-deaths-study-finds-170973">health reasons</a> is critical. </p>
<p>This can be challenging in those cities where a large proportion of residents do not have access to private gardens. Capitalising on a city’s vertical space – as elevated walkways do – is a huge advantage in high-density cities where significant pressure on ground-level space exists. What’s more, the structures being turned into parks are usually found in those parts of a city that are post-industrial and in need of regeneration.</p>
<p>In terms of environmental impact, these parks have great potential. Each year the High Line, for example, <a href="https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/high-line">sequesters</a> over 1.3 tons of atmospheric carbon and its tree canopies collect over 24,340 gallons of stormwater.</p>
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<img alt="An overhead shot of an elevated park in a city centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477848/original/file-20220805-12-mu1w4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Seoullo 7017 Skygarden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seoul-korea-21-september-2019-top-1539297443">Keitma | Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Further, by reusing existing industrial structures rather than demolishing and replacing them, embodied carbon can be <a href="https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/15481-continuing-education-embodied-carbon-adaptive-reuse">kept where it is</a>. Research on the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/143/1/012061">Seoullo 7017 Skygarden</a> in Seoul, a linear park built atop a disused highway overpass which cuts across the city’s main rail station, has shown that rewilding and landscaping urban infrastructures is more cost effective and less environmentally impactful than completely replacing them. </p>
<p>There is growing evidence of how important <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/9/799/4056044">biodiversity in cities</a> is, not just during daylight hours but <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-need-to-embrace-the-darkness-of-the-night-sky-heres-why-149129">at night</a> too. Reused infrastructure projects can play an important role in providing ecological corridors across <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179121000074">cities for nocturnal creatures</a>. Supporting both human and non-human life in this way is a valuable step towards <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/cities-ecosystems-biodiversity-climate-change/">improving</a> the sustainability and resilience of places.</p>
<p>Linear parks thus <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329947799_The_Sustainable_Vertical_City_Research_Project">weave nature</a> into the flow of a city. They support wildlife. They encourage sustainable transport and physical activity (walking, biking, jogging). They are, as landscape architect Diana Balmori puts it in her 2010 book, <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300156584/a-landscape-manifesto/">A Landscape Manifesto</a>, dynamic spaces: “not peaceful retreats but ways”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Dunn receives funding from AHRC, ESPRC, Research England, UK Government Office for Science, and UK Ministry of Defence. </span></em></p>Our cities are filled with historical infrastructure long past its first usage. New ways of thinking about urban planning though can turn them into much needed green spaces.Nick Dunn, Professor of Urban Design, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881692022-08-09T17:17:22Z2022-08-09T17:17:22ZCastlefield Viaduct: Manchester’s new park in the sky could transform the city – but who will benefit?<p>In July 2022, Manchester welcomed the newest addition to its roster of urban parks. Owned by the National Trust, the <a href="https://confidentials.com/manchester/castlefield-viaduct-to-become-mini-high-line">Castlefield Viaduct</a> is a Grade II-listed, 19th-century railway bridge that has been redevelopped into a new <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/manchesters-new-park-skies-top-24630409">330m-long sky park</a>.</p>
<p>The project is part of a wider repurposing of brownfield and former industrial space in Manchester with <a href="https://mayfieldmanchester.co.uk/">several</a> other <a href="https://www.urbansplash.co.uk/regeneration/projects/new-islington">projects</a> promoting the city as a go-to place for innovative urban development in housing and <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-space-access-is-not-equal-in-the-uk-and-the-government-isnt-doing-enough-to-change-that-177598">green and open space</a>. Under construction, in particular, is <a href="https://victorianorth.co.uk/">Victoria North</a>, a new neighbourhood of 15,000 new homes across a 155-hectare site in the north of the city. This includes City River Park, a huge new <a href="https://themanc.com/news/theres-a-huge-new-113-acre-city-river-park-coming-to-north-manchester/">“recreational corridor”</a>, according to the proposals, along the River Irk. </p>
<p>For now, the National Trust is operating Castlefield Viaduct as a 12-month trial. Entry is free but ticketed and limited to 100 visitors per day on allocated one-hour slots each afternoon. Due to the extensive publicity campaign, high demand has led to the National Trust website crashing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Colourful plants in a plant bed along a walkway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477495/original/file-20220803-20-i3l558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">3,000 plant species greet visitors on the new walkway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Mell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The idea behind the trail is to generate political and financial support to create a longer park extending westwards (the current layout only covers a proportion of the total viaduct area) and make it permanent. </p>
<p><a href="https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/will-this-be-the-site-of-greater">Initial reactions</a> to the Castlefield Viaduct have been positive. Local charity Castlefield Forum, which is set to have its <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/podcast-dubbed-a-real-love-24639695">own community plot</a> on the bridge, has <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-spirit-of-castlefield/id1637262135">launched a podcast</a> to tell the area’s stories. </p>
<p>Access to green and open space is urgently needed in central Manchester. However, as my <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.731975/full">research</a> on <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1527">access to nature</a> and regeneration shows, there is no guarantee that simply having green space makes people use it. Location, access routes and amenities all influence usage. Exactly who stands to benefit from a project like Castlefield Viaduct becoming a permanent feature of the city skyline is a crucial question. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Steel beams cross over a planted walkway on a bridge platform." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477485/original/file-20220803-9305-e9bmxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Castlefield Viaduct brings a new, industrial aesthetic to Manchester’s green spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Mell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A Victorian structure revisited</h2>
<p>Built in 1892, the bridge was left derelict after 1969, when Manchester Central Station, now the Manchester Central Convention Complex, was taken out of service. Repurposing an abandoned site with little access, socio-economic worth or ecological value into a public park is a sign that Manchester city council, the landowner of the viaduct, is willing to test new approaches to urban greening. </p>
<p>Initial designs for the site were <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2021/07/07/castlefield-viaduct-twelve-architects-landscape-urbanism-manchester/">drawn up</a> by London studio Twelve Architects. Founding director Matt Cartwright explained in 2021 that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s39Pz_ZeiMg">the brief</a> included creating “moments of joy”. On a recent visit, I found the site is divided into three distinct zones linking the viaduct’s past, present and future journeys. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Seats, planted beds and a light coloured pathway on a bridge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477492/original/file-20220803-18-3zaw0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Motifs of the bridge’s structure are repeated in the landscaping of the park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Mell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The opening section draws on the railway motifs of trellis architecture to guide people into the site. The second introduces the 3,000 planted species – from <a href="https://twitter.com/mcrconfidential/status/1537395343779848195">cotton grass and ferns</a> to <a href="https://ilovemanchester.com/plants-urban-sky-park-castlefield-viaduct">fennel, Broom and fleabane</a> – in a range of planters, highlighting the biodiversity of the local environment. </p>
<p>The third, meanwhile, which you can currently see, but not acccess, from the visitors centre, offers views on to where the site may go physically and conceptually. These various spaces blend with the sound of the passing trams. You are keenly aware of being in both a park and in a layer of the city’s history. The linear nature of the site underscores the notion of travel between the zones – as a visitor, you walk there and back again. </p>
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</figure>
<h2>How Mancunians need more green</h2>
<p>Castlefield is thus doted with a unique conceptual motif and a novel industrial aesthetic, as compared to other parks in Manchester. It remains to be seen, though, whether the design and the fact that it is located in an area of largely privately rented and owned flats will attract locals or serve primarily as a tourist attraction for visitors. </p>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.the606.org/">606</a> linear park opened in Chicago in 2015, local residents <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-606-bloomingdale-trail-gentrification-met-20150605-story.html">reportedly expressed fears</a> they would be priced out of their neighbourhoods. <a href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/green-gentrification-and-lessons-of-the-606/">Reports</a> in 2020 revealed that the park had indeed triggered luxury developments and long-term local residents being displaced. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00139157.2021.1871293">Research shows</a> how similar developments, including New York’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-australia-build-a-new-york-highline-19681">High Line</a>, can lead to what economists have dubbed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204619314574">eco-gentrification</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eYEseoMue1c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><a href="https://www.gmpovertyaction.org/groundwork-out-of-bounds/">Research</a> has also shown how much need there is for green space in Manchester. The city centre currently has very <a href="https://www.lancswt.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-04/MBY-ActionPlan.pdf">few public green spaces</a>, and even fewer that provide play facilities or access to nature. According to <a href="https://www.lancswt.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-04/MBY-ActionPlan.pdf">Friends of the Earth</a>, over 73% people across Manchester have poor or limited access to a personal garden or a communal green space. Covid <a href="https://www.groundwork.org.uk/lockdown-and-beyond-green-spaces-are-more-important-than-ever/">lockdowns</a> highlighted how significant this lack of access to green space is, especially for those with families. </p>
<p>The redevelopment of the Castlefield Viaduct presents an interesting conundrum for Manchester and other UK cities. High-quality and potentially exclusive locations that are inaccessible can nonetheless act as a catalyst for green-space investment linked to regeneration programmes like <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283320811_Resilient_Cities_A_Grosvenor_Research_Report">Grosvenor’s Living Cities</a>. This strategy provides increased certainty for investors but primarily serves specific communities, that is, those who can afford market-rate apartments. </p>
<figure>
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<p>We also need look beyond the financing of high-end projects towards a more locally attuned approach to green space provision. Urban planning expert <a href="https://extra.shu.ac.uk/ppp-online/blame-it-on-austerity-examining-the-impetus-behind-londons-changing-green-space-governance/">Meredith Whitten</a> has shown how this would focus on local provision for meeting people’s everyday needs to interact with nature, play outside and live in a biodiverse landscape. </p>
<p>This requires sufficient public funding to be allocated to local government to support <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-space-access-is-not-equal-in-the-uk-and-the-government-isnt-doing-enough-to-change-that-177598">capital and revenue spend on public parks</a> –- something not seen in the UK over the last 12 years.</p>
<p>By drawing on the industrial heritage of the city, Castlefield Viaduct makes strong links to its fabled Cottonopolis heritage. The park also sets out a bold statement of intent, that redundant spaces in Manchester can be meaningful, accessible and interactive. Of course, integrating industrial chic with urban regeneration is <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.731975/full">nothing new</a>. But it is new in Manchester. This could be the start of something beautiful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Mell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Turning a disused Victorian railway bridge into an elevated walkway and garden has the potential to rejuvenate a forgotten part of the city.Ian Mell, Reader in Environmental & Landscape Planning, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1738752022-05-13T16:00:31Z2022-05-13T16:00:31ZWalking is a state of mind – it can teach you so much about where you are<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462960/original/file-20220513-12-rguvrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Walking connects you to your city.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/CWy7qOyv9ME">Cerqueira | Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During lockdown in 2020, governments across the world encouraged people to take short walks in their neighbourhoods. Even before COVID hit though, amid the renewal of city centres and <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-walks-to-save-the-world-how-psychogeography-can-help-you-confront-the-climate-crisis-178239">environmental</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-to-work-lowers-risk-of-cancer-heart-disease-and-death-new-research-139075">public health</a> concerns, <a href="https://theconversation.com/encouraging-walking-and-cycling-isnt-hard-here-are-three-tried-and-tested-methods-147490">walking</a> was promoted in many places as a form of active travel, to replace car journeys. </p>
<p>This resurgence in urban walking has been a long time coming. Our first baby steps might still be celebrated. But since the explosion of car use in the 1950s, people in Europe and North America have <a href="http://rebeccasolnit.net/book/wanderlust">walked less and less</a>. </p>
<p>UK <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2019">transport statistics</a> show an annual increase of about 4.8 billion passenger motor vehicle miles (from car and taxi use) in the four decades to 1990. The last decade of the 20th century saw that growth slow. But until recently, our collective motor use just kept climbing.</p>
<p>The pandemic changed that. Passenger motor vehicle miles decreased <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tsgb07#road-traffic">by over 68 billion</a>. And surveys <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-03/a_year_of_life_under_lockdown.pdf">suggest</a> that 38% of the people who took up walking as a new pursuit aim to stick with it. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aled-Singleton/publication/348382991_Pursuing_the_Post-war_Dream/links/5ffc2b8c45851553a0365655/Pursuing-the-Post-war-Dream.pdf">My research</a> shows <a href="https://vimeo.com/373090583">walking</a> is more than an activity: it both ties you to where you are and unlocks your memories.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F1FxyuswhYI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Walking through Caerleon in the 1960s and 1970s, a film about Aled Singleton’s project by Tree Top Films.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How walking connects you to your city</h2>
<p>In the 2000s, as part of their <a href="http://www.rescuegeography.org.uk/about.htm">Rescue Geography</a> project, geographers Paul Evans and Phil Jones facilitated group walks in the Eastside district of Birmingham, Britain’s third largest city. The idea was to “rescue” local people’s understandings of an area before it is redeveloped. They accompanied older former residents on foot through streets they’d known as children, before these inner-city neighbourhoods were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s and they had relocated to suburbia – a shift which saw the car become their only option for everyday transport.</p>
<p>Similarly, in my <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aled-Singleton/publication/348382991_Pursuing_the_Post-war_Dream/links/5ffc2b8c45851553a0365655/Pursuing-the-Post-war-Dream.pdf">doctoral research</a> I used <a href="https://vimeo.com/373090583">walking</a> to understand how a neighbourhood of Caerleon in south Wales had expanded in the 1960s and 1970s. I did many one-to-one interviews with people not sat down in a room, but strolling through streets they knew well. It became a way of exploring how spaces act as thresholds to memories and to levels of the unconscious, which may not otherwise reveal themselves. </p>
<p>People showed me the streets where they had lived at points through their lives. One person took me on the route he took to school during the 1970s, as a teenager. Passing certain shops prompted stories of how he’d walk to pick up a block of cheese or rashers of bacon for his mother. He told me how his family’s shopping habits had changed over time. After getting a freezer in the late 1970s, they started driving to the out-of-town supermarket. </p>
<p>I met another family who had lived on the same street for three generations. The grandfather was in his 70s, his daughter middle-aged, and his granddaughter 11. His daughter described how the streets she’d known as a child in the 1980s were now so much busier, and more dangerous, because of the cars. She described her daughter’s world as being “narrower”, as a result.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people in jeans walk past a boarded up B&B on a Scottish street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463006/original/file-20220513-24-m5mk5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows how walking down streets you once knew well can trigger memories you might not otherwise have recalled.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/montrose-scotland-june-16-2018-gritty-1923096278">Stephen Bridger | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How walking unlocks our memories</h2>
<p>Walking changes the way we tell our life stories. Taking a street we once took often unlocks things: we might not struggle as much to remember specific dates. We find a freedom of sorts to go deeper into our memories. </p>
<p>This chimes with the <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199874002/obo-9780199874002-0117.xml">non-representational theories</a> championed by geographer Nigel Thrift. Broadly this approach highlights how physically being in a specific place can help us retrieve feelings or knowledge that are deep within the subconsious.</p>
<p>In her research with migrant communities in the UK, sociologist <a href="https://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4120/">Maggie O'Neill</a> has used walking and participatory theatre as what she calls biographical methods for exploring ideas of borders, risk and belonging. </p>
<p>In a similar way, I collaborated on two public group walks with a dancer, <a href="https://groundworkpro.com/people/marega-palser/">Marega Palser</a>. I planned lines on the ground which linked environments such as houses, shops, schools, busy roads, paths, and green spaces. And Palser turned material I’d gathered from my walking interviews into short pieces of street theatre that we would share, as a collective. </p>
<p>Palser’s interpretations were deliberately disarming and playful, and they triggered unexpected responses. In one case she used toy vehicles to recall a car crash from the late 1960s. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of walkers take part in an outdoor performance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462331/original/file-20220510-24-tsnpqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dancer Marega Palser intervenes on a group walk in Caerleon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One person recalled how a relative in the 1960s had accidentally pierced the gas pipe (a very new technology at the time) in their council house kitchen. While the anecdote had initially seemed unimportant, we learned that the incident had happened on Christmas Eve and that the council had come straight away to sort out the problem. </p>
<p>Minds were cast back to a time when technologies now common were only just emerging. Many more attendees came forward and shared stories from their lives in the mid-1950s to mid-1970s. They relayed how central heating had arrived with new-build houses on suburban housing estates and how supermarkets had offered more choice. </p>
<p>As with Evans and Jones’ Rescue Geography project, I found that it was through touching and feeling these geographical spaces that people were able to connect with their memories. Walking, one person in middle-age told me, “takes you back yourself, on a journey, to the places you’ve lived”. They spoke about the “packed connections” these places hold, of being taken back to childhood and thinking about people who have spent their entire lives living in one place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sun setting with lens flare and warm colours, over a traditional British neighbourhood." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463002/original/file-20220513-25-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Traipsing through a neighbourhood you once knew well brings back memories you aren’t aware you had.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sun-setting-over-traditional-british-neighbourhood-737841997">K303 | Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Walking is about slowing life down and thinking about the local. It enables conversations. <a href="https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a25628489/ultrarunner-rickey-gates-runs-san-francisco-streets/">It develops empathy.</a>. More than a simple physical activity, it is a way of thinking and a state of mind. From <a href="https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk/resources/">online resources</a> for composing walks and <a href="https://citystrides.com/">apps</a> for tracking them to the online walking communities of people who cover each street in their city – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/may/04/every-single-streeters-explorers-city-street-urban-landscape">the every-single-streeters</a> – there are plenty of ideas for you to get walking too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Aled Mark Singleton receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, grant reference ES/W007568/1. </span></em></p>Walking roots us in new places. It also unlocks memories of those we’ve moved away from.Aled Mark Singleton, Research Fellow in Geography, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1680232021-10-13T15:53:06Z2021-10-13T15:53:06ZBeyond GDP: here’s a better way to measure people’s prosperity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426184/original/file-20211013-21-rtnixk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5982%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/herne-bay-uk-1-april-2021-1955033587">cktravels.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Nobel prize-winner <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1971/kuznets/facts/">Simon Kuznets</a> declared in 1934 that “the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income”, he likely did not imagine that <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-gdp">gross domestic product</a> (GDP) would still be in use as shorthand for wellbeing and prosperity in the third decade of the 21st century.</p>
<p>Kuznets developed GDP as a means of measuring the impact of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression">great depression</a>. It enabled governments to track any increase or decrease in their nation’s wealth as represented by the value of goods and services produced, and became increasingly important as governments estimated the cost of waging the second world war.</p>
<p>Today, the inadequacy of GDP as a measure of prosperity is clear. <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ihyp/pn2">Data from</a> the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the decade up to 2019 shows that the UK’s annual growth in GDP averaged just below 2%. By comparison, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householdincomeinequalityfinancial/financialyearending2020">income inequality</a> increased by 2.2% over that ten-year period and the ONS’ <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/personalandeconomicwellbeingintheuk/february2020">annual average ratings</a> of life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety all deteriorated in the year ending March 2020. This trend of rising income inequality despite GDP growth reveals that not everyone is reaping the benefits of this growth, nor leading a prosperous life, demonstrating that GDP is a poor proxy for citizens’ wellbeing.</p>
<p>With “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56238260">levelling up</a>” and regional prosperity now central to the UK government’s thinking, the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/">Institute for Global Prosperity</a> (IGP) has been working with a team of citizen social-scientists and community organisations in east London to create a completely new definition of prosperity. Rather than the outmoded measures of growth, productivity and income, our research identified 15 headline indicators – a “<a href="https://seriouslydifferent.org/what/prosperity-index">Prosperity Index</a>” – that reflect the actual experience of wellbeing and security for people in these places, and the things that constitute a good quality of life. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iLom1WlqwS0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>Redefining prosperity</h2>
<p>In the neighbourhoods around the Royal Docks and the Olympic Park, we discovered that secure livelihoods, access to key public services, good quality and genuinely affordable homes, and a sense of inclusion in the economic and social life of the city are the foundations for a prosperous life. You don’t get any of this from the targets for job creation and road building, which the government believes will lead to improved quality of life. </p>
<p>To build on this research we have begun a new <a href="https://seriouslydifferent.org/igp-stories/rethinking-prosperity-uks-first-longitudinal-study-of-prosperity-based-on-community-led-research">ten-year study</a> to observe how households in 12 post-industrial east London neighbourhoods report on their own prosperity over the coming decade.</p>
<p>The study is mainly focused on neighbourhoods that have been directly impacted by <a href="https://www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/our-story">Olympic legacy regeneration</a>. This initiative aimed to close the gap in prosperity and prospects between the poorest parts of east London and the wealthiest areas of the city. However, our decade-long study will be the first time people – rather than abstract metrics – have been used to evaluate the impact of regeneration.</p>
<p>Self-reporting will enable us to accurately assess the long-term effects of social, economic and physical change on individual and community prosperity, with the first findings due to be published ahead of the 10th anniversary of the London Olympics in 2022. </p>
<p>We believe the study will challenge the established view that individual prosperity increases in line with job creation and economic growth, and is the first in the UK to track households using the IGP’s local Prosperity Index. Over ten years the study will produce local evidence about prosperity as it is felt and experienced by people, rather than centrally determined statistics about the number of houses built or jobs created.</p>
<h2>Measuring the impact of regeneration</h2>
<p>Although strategic urban regeneration programmes are designed with increasingly complex social and economic objectives in mind – such as tackling unemployment and enhancing economic inclusion – there is a lack of research evaluating the outcomes and impacts of regeneration.</p>
<p>This is partly due to the way the government measures prosperity. Because large infrastructure projects like <a href="https://www.hs2.org.uk/what-is-hs2/">HS2</a>, the <a href="https://www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/our-story">Olympic Park</a> and <a href="https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/directory_record/264494/big_city_plan">Birmingham’s Big City Plan</a> increase GDP, the UK government can claim economic progress and wealth creation.</p>
<p>Our ten-year study takes a different approach by measuring prosperity based on the priorities of local communities and involving local people to answer three questions:</p>
<p><strong>1.</strong> How are “prosperity gains” from regeneration distributed within and between neighbourhoods?</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> How is prosperity experienced by people from different backgrounds living in different neighbourhoods?</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> What are the local, short, medium and long-term issues that enable people to prosper?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An autumnal tree reflected in a pond adorned with modern sculpture in a regenerated area of London's urban east end." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426190/original/file-20211013-21-ma5tk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For many people prosperity is not just about income, but relates to a good quality of life and surrounding environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-26-november-2017-spitalfields-market-763082194">Eugene Regis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New ways to level up</h2>
<p>Early <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-fund-prospectus">evidence</a> suggests the UK government’s approach to levelling up will once again heavily depend on the same tired approaches – like targets for house building and job creation that have failed in the past to resolve regional and local inequalities and address social and economic exclusion.</p>
<p>New levelling up requires a sharing of knowledge. Allowing citizens, local government, businesses and community organisations to collaborate, make decisions, trial radical new approaches and rapidly evaluate change. Shared knowledge creates the opportunity to identify innovative policy options and new pathways to prosperity that are more targeted and more effective at improving quality of life.</p>
<p>Involving local people in the process creates a new way to understand, conceptualise and measure prosperity, inform local decision-making and equip communities with the tools, evidence and confidence they need to monitor progress and hold decision makers to account.</p>
<p>I hope for the best from the imminent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-publish-levelling-up-white-paper">levelling-up white paper</a>. But old habits die hard, and the graveyard of prosperity initiatives is already overflowing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henrietta Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Over the coming decade a new study will put citizens and communities at the centre of efforts to reimagine prosperity and define what constitutes a good quality of life.Henrietta Moore, Director & Founder of the Institute for Global Prosperity, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1654332021-09-07T13:44:33Z2021-09-07T13:44:33ZTokyo’s Olympic legacy: Will hosting the Games have benefitted local communities?<p>Over the past 20 years, the notion of the legacy of the Olympic Games has become increasingly crucial to any campaign to host them. As World Athletics president and former chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee Sebastian Coe put it in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/may/04/Olympics2012.politics">2006</a>, legacy counts as nine-tenths of what hosting the Olympics is all about. And he was clear about what that meant: “It is the local people,” he told the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldselect/ldolympic/78/78.pdf">House of Lords</a>, “who should stand to gain most from the Games.”</p>
<p>The Legacy Games, as London 2012 was dubbed, sought to project a new and positive future for the city at large, a vision that was duly satirised by the BBC’s mockumentary Twenty Twelve. Framing the Olympics in this way, as a long-term investment in a future destination, usually helps to justify the cost of hosting them. The aim is to convince local populations that the Games will bring them net benefits, compared to investing this money into other sectors like health and education.</p>
<p>By some counts, the 2020 Olympic Games <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0308518X20958724">overran by up to 244%</a> to cost Japan <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-games-total-cost-8ec49ea2ea9d7316f37ffd20770a2742">$15.4 billion</a>. Japan’s National Audit Board <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">nearly doubled that estimate</a> in 2019, placing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2021/07/21/the-massive-costs-behind-the-olympic-games-infographic/?sh=441f18f46b02">overall spending</a> at closer to $28 billion. As the curtains close on Tokyo 2020, the big question for many, and local Tokyoites in particular, will now be: was it worth it? </p>
<h2>Tourism development</h2>
<p>Shinzo Abe, who was prime minister at the time Japan won the right to host the 2020 Games, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/08/tokyo-2020-olympics-jubilation-relief">explicitly stated</a> that Tokyo 2020 represented a key way to open up Japanese culture and people to the watching and visiting world.
And in the run-up to the Games, the Tokyo Olympic committees made bringing international visitors to Japan a central tenet of their legacy pitches.</p>
<p>These committees <a href="https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/document/vision_english02.pdf">argued</a> that the interaction between visitors and local communities – cultural producers, small businesses - are the unique selling points for Tokyo as a tourism destination. It follows that displacing existing residents and local businesses potentially undermines this central justification for hosting the event in the first place. </p>
<p>And yet, that is what took place. Across Tokyo, new urban development projects have replaced diverse and authentic Japanese backstreets. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2017.1355408?journalCode=rlst20">Research</a> has shown that ahead of Tokyo 2020, older neighbourhoods in the capital were feeling the squeeze. </p>
<p>One journalist <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/11/07/lifestyle/heart-darkness-nostalgic-tokyo-disappearing-amid-construction-boom/">noted</a> how “the Shinagawa neighborhood of Musashi-Koyama — a vibrant maze of tiny alleyways that once housed dozens of small eateries, tapas restaurants and bars — is now a virtual ghost town”. Tokyo parks saw <a href="https://olympicswatch.org/tokyo-2020/">increased policing</a> and closed shop frontages lined up one after another, victims of rising property prices and rents. </p>
<p>Local business precincts being subjected to corporate colonisation typifies a broader concern that Olympic tourism scholars highlight around the world. Our research has pointed to host cities becoming <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">clone towns</a> and urban blandscapes, with small businesses replaced by global and national chains. </p>
<p>This signals anything but the diverse and unique cultural offer promised in Olympic hosting campaigns. In the long run, this will hamper, and not encourage competitiveness, in terms of tourism. And it is already alienating local communities. </p>
<h2>Local fallout</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/tokyo-olympics-how-hosting-the-games-disrupts-local-lives-and-livelihoods-162893">significant body of evidence</a> has found that, in the run up to the Games, local communities in and around Olympic sites are directly affected. Construction of the new National Stadium in Shinjuku, ahead of Tokyo 2020, saw elderly tenants <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2017.1355408?journalCode=rlst20">evicted</a> and displaced, and homeless people driven out in alarming numbers. </p>
<p>With each new successful Olympic bid, this pattern of displacement, disruption and gentrification is consistently noted. In the five years prior to the Games, Barcelona saw an <a href="https://www.yourmoney.com/investing/hosting-the-olympics-a-win-for-the-housing-market/">increase of 130%</a> in property prices. Sydney, too, saw a <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/archives/assembly-reports-econsd-lasting-legacy-uel-research.pdf">rise in house prices of 11%</a> more than the rest of Australia ahead of the 2000 Summer Olympics. </p>
<p>Low-income residents can be replaced by upwardly mobile residents as fast as the new apartment blocks are erected to house them. Rising commercial rents, meanwhile, <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">cause small, low-profit margin businesses to fail</a>, with bijou stores and coffee shop chains replacing them.</p>
<p>These effects are felt long after the Games come to an end. Post-event gentrification has become so persistent that pundits refer to it as <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w14854">the Olympic effect</a>. However, the reality for those facing eviction and forced out of local neighbourhoods is frequently bleak, which highlights an indifference towards protecting local business communities and diverse urban high streets. <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">Research</a> has found that these communities are often embroiled in a struggle to survive and barely recognised as a key contributor to both local and national economies. Yet, this is far from the truth. </p>
<p>Cities are complex organisms. The way they evolve over time is a product of decades of social and economic policies. The Olympics, however, hasten gentrification that would otherwise have come to fruition more gradually. </p>
<p>Often, this is the result of targeted regeneration schemes, like the creation of <a href="https://japanpropertycentral.com/2019/05/redevelopment-details-for-meiji-jingu-stadium-district/">the Meiji Park</a> for Tokyo 2020, or, in Rio de Janiero, the <a href="https://www.thegpsc.org/sites/gpsc/files/2._porto_maravilha.pdf">Porto Maravilha cultural quarter</a>. Such event-induced <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468797618775219">touristification</a> of urban spaces plays a further role in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098019883734">catalysing and exacerbating</a> gentrification.</p>
<p>Future Olympic host cities, including Paris (2024), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032), must try to limit any negative local social impacts. The fallout of displacing local people and businesses may not be an immediate priority, politically or economically speaking. However, unique local culture produced by vibrant local communities is what keeps visitors coming in the long term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Mike Duignan has previously received funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but for a topic unrelated to this article. Mike is also the Director of the Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events which is the UK's official Olympic Studies Centre, which is affiliated to the IOC's academic Olympic Studies Centre. However, the nature of this relationship is academic with the view to disseminate good social science concerning how we can enhance the social and economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games for the host country, city and its citizens. This article was based on work funded by 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Research and Innovation grant agreement no. 823815</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Judith Mair receives funding from The International Olympic Committee Advanced Olympic Research program. </span></em></p>Urban regeneration and tourism development are habitually touted as central reasons for a city to host the Olympics. Research shows that local people, however, often fail to benefitMike Duignan, Head of Department, Reader in Events, and Director of the Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events, University of SurreyJudith Mair, Associate Professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459202020-12-10T13:35:04Z2020-12-10T13:35:04ZWhy do scientists care about worms?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374060/original/file-20201210-15-upgx8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=110%2C0%2C6498%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Whether in the wild or in the lab, worms have an interesting story to tell.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/ascariasis-is-a-disease-caused-by-the-parasitic-royalty-free-image/1045455096">Sinhyu/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I traveled to a marine research station on a picturesque Swedish fjord many times over the four years I worked on my Ph.D. What brought me back again and again? Buried in the mud off the west coast of Sweden lives a small orangey brown worm, which, to the untrained eye, looks entirely insignificant.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="blobby brownish worm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374013/original/file-20201209-23-cs1eid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s worm of choice, <em>Xenoturbella</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fraser Simpson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fact that I devoted so much study to this boring-looking worm was a source of great amusement to my friends. To them, and perhaps to most people, the word worm conjures up the idea of a fat pink earthworm. So why sift through tons of mud from a freezing Swedish fjord to find a handful of animals I could dig up in the garden?</p>
<p>Broadly defined, a worm is any relatively small soft-bodied animal, but there’s an amazing amount of diversity in this group. These animals live across the globe, and some of them are remarkably resilient; they can be found in habitats ranging from deep-sea hydrothermal vents to lakes that are three times saltier than the sea. “Worm” is really a catchall term for a huge variety of animals with different characteristics that span the tree of life.</p>
<p>This diversity means that scientists from many different disciplines are interested in lots of different species of worms. For instance, my worm from the fjord, called <em>Xenoturbella bocki</em>, holds a pivotal position for understanding animal evolution.</p>
<p>At first glance you might think that people and all these worms have very little in common. But really, many worm species provide opportunities for scientists to perform basic research on cells and systems that can be translated into information about our biological origins, and even relevant applications for human development and health.</p>
<h2>Regeneration</h2>
<p>If your head is chopped off, you won’t grow a new one. But if you were a planarian flatworm, you wouldn’t just grow a new head – your head would also grow a new body. Cut one of these inconspicuous worms into hundreds of tiny pieces, and you’ll end up with hundreds of new animals. Planaria are truly the masters of regeneration.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Watch Planaria regenerate before your eyes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In order to achieve this feat, both the instructions and the materials for constructing a new body must be present in each of those fragments. These building blocks are called neoblasts: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-012-0426-4">stem cells distributed throughout the worm</a> that have the potential to become any adult cell type.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Planarian regeneration research has some surprising applications. Scientists can investigate which genes keep neoblasts in a flexible state, or direct them to become specific cell types during the regenerative process. This research won’t help researchers learn how to regenerate new human heads, but it can inform their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.187377.112">understanding of wound healing</a> or suggest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.032573">new targets for cancer research</a>.</p>
<h2>Fossil record</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Adult priapulid worm." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372847/original/file-20201203-23-11eukuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An adult priapulid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adult_priapulid.jpg">Bruno C. Vellutini/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If there were a prize for the most unfortunate-looking worm, it might go to the name-says-it-all “penis worms,” formally known as the Priapulida. Their unlucky appearance actually makes priapulids very well adapted to burrowing into the soft sediment where they live.</p>
<p>This behavior leaves a valuable legacy. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2505">fossilized traces of burrowing worms</a> represent some of the most important fossils recovered from the Cambrian era. The first early representatives of most of the major animal groups date to this geological period, which began around 540 million years ago. Evidence indicates that priapulid-like worms created these trace fossils as they burrowed into the soft substrate where they lived.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="rock fossil with outline of a worm creature" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=883&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=883&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=883&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374055/original/file-20201210-20-1v6hozy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fossil evidence of an ancient priapulid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fossils-protostomia-priapulida-archaeopriapulida-ottoia-news-photo/122223615">DEA/G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These ancient ancestors mean that Priapulids have been described as “living fossils.” Studying their developmental genetics offers an insight into the ancient origins of the different cell types and organs we find in animals today.</p>
<p>For example, by understanding how modern priapulids make their guts, scientists can infer the developmental processes and genes that shaped the guts of animals living hundreds of millions of years ago. Then, researchers can better understand how different animals have refined and modified what their gut looks like and how it is patterned in response to their environment and diet.</p>
<h2>Where did eyes come from?</h2>
<p>Even to Charles Darwin, the <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/term/evolution-of-the-eye/">evolution of the eye</a> posed a conceptual problem. How could such a complex structure have arisen through natural selection? </p>
<p>A relative of the earthworm and the leech, an annelid called <em>Platynereis dumerilii</em>, turns out to be an important animal to help understand how it happened. <em>Platynereis</em> is particularly slowly evolving, and, similar to priapulids, provides a window into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2017.226">features found in our very ancient ancestors</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Platynereis larvae in the lab at 48 hours of age" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372850/original/file-20201203-15-1vhwh79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two-day-old <em>Platynereis dumerilii</em> larvae with their DNA stained blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hoechst_33342_Stain_-_Platynereis_dumerilii_larvae.jpg">7and/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Platynereis</em> larvae have one of the simplest eyes in the animal kingdom: a two-cell structure comprised of a photoreceptor, capable of detecting light, and a pigment cell. But it has an additional type of photoreceptor in its larval brain – one that is also found in the vertebrate eye. This suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/news041025-18">both of these photoreceptor types</a> were present in an ancestral animal. By investigating how <em>Platynereis</em> uses these cells, scientists can hypothesize the steps by which cell types and circuitry ultimately were integrated to create the vertebrate eye.</p>
<p>The world of worms extends far beyond the humble earthworm in your backyard: There are literally millions of different species living all across the world. The examples outlined here are just a small representation of that diversity and the unexpected reach that research on these critters can have.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Robertson received PhD funding from the ERC </span></em></p>‘Worm’ is really a catchall term for a huge variety of animals with different characteristics that span the tree of life. They hold clues about our own origins as well as hints about human health.Helen Robertson, Postdoctoral Scholar of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426972020-10-05T15:44:08Z2020-10-05T15:44:08ZInfrastructure megaprojects that are delivered late and over budget aren’t necessarily failures – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361391/original/file-20201002-13-6250tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C6%2C4236%2C2816&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney Opera House.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-opera-house-australia-circa-2012-208027015">Korawee/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If an infrastructure megaproject is completed late and over budget, it is widely judged to be unsuccessful. For instance, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/21/crossrail-delayed-again-until-2022-and-another-450m-over-budget-tfl-covid-19#:%7E:text=Crossrail%20is%20forced%20to%20reveal,the%20end%20of%20the%20year.&text=Tfl%20starts%20running%20services%20from,of%20the%20final%20Crossrail%20service.">delay to Crossrail</a>, a new train line across London and the south east of England, has been labelled “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/08/crossrail-faces-further-delays-and-will-cost-more-than-18bn-tfl#:%7E:text=Crossrail%20is%20forced%20to%20reveal,the%20end%20of%20the%20year.&text=Government%20approves%20additional%20funding%2C%20increasing,bn%20to%20%C2%A315.4bn">appalling news</a>”. Crossrail is also projected to cost nearly £4 billion more than its original budget. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786320300491">My research</a> on projects like these, however, suggests that this narrow framing is not always appropriate. </p>
<p>Instead of comparing the original cost and time estimate of these megaprojects against the final result, it may be more important to think about the the value delivered by these infrastructure across their life time and the sustainability of the project – and whether this is worth the final cost and time taken. This is more difficult, but also far <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pmj.20137">more meaningful</a>. </p>
<h2>Measuring success</h2>
<p>Framing the success of infrastructure megaprojects around whether they are completed on time and to budget is a considerable limitation that may warp our understanding of success. If a bridge is built to link two towns, people travelling between them using the new bridge will save time and fuel over a longer route. A new transport route may boost the nearby economy, creating local jobs. Cost-time framing does not capture this. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man walking past sign which says " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361390/original/file-20201002-19-x42m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London’s Crossrail project has fallen behind schedule.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woolwich-uk-4-october-2019-entrance-1611533386">Steve Heap/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In order to take these results into account, large projects are often subject to a cost-benefit analysis. This is the comparison of the costs involved in building and operating the infrastructure against its benefits. </p>
<p>For a simple project like a primary school, cost and benefit are easy to establish. On the cost side is the construction and operations. In terms of benefits, a certain number of children will be educated, and a certain number of jobs will be created. </p>
<p>However, the benefits of a large infrastructure project, like a bridge, are very hard to predict and extremely subjective. One of the towns linked by the bridge may be affluent and another deprived, so by connecting the two together and reducing commuting times, the deprived town will receive a boost. People living there may have better access to jobs, and the town itself may become regenerated. However, this might also lead to house prices rising and subsequent gentrification, displacing previous communities. </p>
<p>The original cost estimate to build Sydney Opera House was AU$7 million (£3.9 million): the final cost was <a href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/sydney-opera-house-facts.html">AU$102 million</a>. Another project over budget – and ten years late. </p>
<p>However, more than 10.9 million people visit the opera house every year. Remarkably, the 2018-19 total audience attendance for performing arts events was <a href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/content/dam/pdfs/annual-reports/2018-19_Sydney%20Opera%20House%20Annual%20Report_LR%20Spreads.pdf">1.4 million</a>, so the remaining 9.5 million people went to see the opera house itself. The opera house is a major positive boost for Australia’s economy and culture.</p>
<h2>Value and sustainability</h2>
<p>A better way of evaluating infrastructure megaprojects would be to investigate their value and sustainability. It is worth considering which people or organisations can claim a share of the value of a project. For instance, the bridge could be free to use for electric vehicles or, before building the bridge, plans could be made for parks and places where people can socialise. </p>
<p>People use infrastructure in different ways. Instead of starting from the infrastructure, projects should begin by considering people and how the project can be planned, designed and delivered for them. For instance, the concerns of local people about disruption or environmental damage should not be dealt with as an afterthought, but be considered from the inception of a project.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Building site with excavations" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361600/original/file-20201005-24-jhfncf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Construction related to the High Speed 2 railway in the UK, which is late and running over budget.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/birmingham-uk-june-2019-construction-work-1452829139">Swampy167/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second point is about sustainability. A project’s sustainability needs to be considered over its lifetime. Infrastructure takes years to build, but should last centuries. In addition, the building and running of the project will require energy – is this affordable and clean, or an expensive and dirty technology? </p>
<p>Furthermore, we know that men and women work a different number of hours, at different times of the day, in different places. A sustainability assessment should weigh up if the infrastructure is promoting gender equality, or increasing the divide. Whether <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/07/sudden-deaths-of-hundreds-of-migrant-workers-in-qatar-not-investigated">modern slavery</a> is involved in building the infrastructure must also be considered. </p>
<p>Similarly, we should look at positive impacts from a sustainability point of view, such as the creation of secure jobs, and the promotion of innovation in technology.</p>
<p>Cost-time performance might be relevant in the short term, particularly for the organisations involved in the delivery of the infrastructure – but there is a much bigger picture to consider.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Giorgio Locatelli receives and received funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC), UK Department for International Trade (DIT), Project Management Institute (PMI), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Association for Project Management (APM). The key ideas presented in this article are a personal re-elaboration of several papers, books and reports mostly published in project studies literature over the last two decades. The opinions in this article represent only the point of view of the author, and only the author is responsible for any omission or mistake. This article should not be taken to represent in any way the point of view of the aforementioned organisations, any other organisation or person besides the author.</span></em></p>A better way of evaluating these projects would be to look at their value and sustainability.Giorgio Locatelli, Professor in Project Management, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1403372020-06-19T06:07:25Z2020-06-19T06:07:25ZRestoring a gem in the Murray-Darling Basin: the success story of the Winton Wetlands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342871/original/file-20200619-41226-1acypyf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C836%2C517&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lance Lloyd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Water use in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/murray-darling-basin-6112">Murray-Darling Basin</a> has long been a source of conflict. Damage to rivers and wetlands, including <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-16/dozens-of-murray-cod-dying-every-week-in-darling-river/11420942">fish kills</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-16/blue-green-algae-restricts-water-use-for-town-in-mildura-region/11804070">algal blooms</a>, has featured prominently in the news.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://wintonwetlands.org.au/">Winton Wetlands</a>, in the south-east basin, represents a bright spot. Its restoration provides a sense of hope that reaches beyond the complexities of history.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/GAbhJAn1xLohr7g36">wetlands site</a> is about 2.5 hours drive north-east of Melbourne. It’s now a thriving place for plants and wildlife that attracts plenty of visitors – but it wasn’t always like this.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342889/original/file-20200619-41209-106sehh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A laughing kookaburra keeps watch on the wetlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/78247220@N08/30029619782/">Diana Padron/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From dispossession to decommissioning</h2>
<p>The Yorta Yorta people were the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. They lost access to the land and water when European settlers took it for farming in the 1860s.</p>
<p>The farmers and the wetlands were displaced in 1970 when a 7.5 kilometre rock wall was built to form Lake Mokoan. The dam project allowed for local irrigation and created a drought reserve for the River Murray. This was broadly welcomed for the economic and recreational values it promised. </p>
<p>It worked for a while, but the resulting flooding killed around 150,000 iconic river red gums, including many Aboriginal <a href="https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/aboriginal-scarred-trees">scar trees</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342931/original/file-20200619-70415-1xjmlky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">River red gum trees died following inundation after the dam was built.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Max Finlayson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The dam was dried out for downstream supplies in the 1982 drought. Then the 1990s brought massive blue-green algal blooms.</p>
<p>The frequent blooms made it hard to use the water. The Victorian government needed to find water savings for water projects elsewhere and in 2004 decided to remove the dam.</p>
<p>It was a controversial move, opposed by many in the community, including those who lived around the lake, or used the water for recreation or irrigation. But in 2009 a gap was cut through the wall and the water drained.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342647/original/file-20200618-41213-mc4ak6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Local opposition to the decommissioning of the dam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Max Finlayson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Restoration of the wetlands</h2>
<p>After the dam was decommissioned, it was clear the site had undergone significant ecological and social change. So the government was keen to establish a world-class wetland with close links to nearby communities.</p>
<p>In 2009 an independent, community-based committee of management was formed to renew the site. </p>
<p>The scale of the renewal is significant, covering 8,750 hectares. It’s the first site outside the US to be classed as a <a href="https://www.sws.org/Resources/sws-wetlands-of-distinction.html">Wetland of Distinction</a> by the Society of Wetland Scientists, a leading global voice for wetland science and management.</p>
<p>Importantly, local Indigenous people are actively involved in the project, which recognises Indigenous cultural heritage sites throughout the wetlands.</p>
<p>This runs alongside efforts to document and share the history of the European settlers. The committee recognises that people in the wetlands have more than once moved from occupation to dispossession. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QwEbJvtHlGo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Winton Wetlands aerial views – December 2011.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ecological renewal is built around specific management actions to establish self-sustaining populations of native fish, waterbirds and other fauna, and aquatic plants. It’s also improving the water quality and reducing the populations of feral animals and weeds.</p>
<p>Native plants returned to the site include the <a href="http://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/0d08cd6930912d1e4a2567d2002579cb/water_sss_river_red_gum">river red gum</a> and <a href="http://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/sip_southern_cane_grass">cane grass</a>.</p>
<p>Native fish are breeding, as is the majestic white-bellied sea eagle. A <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/09/the-rakali-a-native-water-rat-found-feasting-on-cane-toads-in-the-kimberley/">rakali</a> (Australia’s answer to otters) and sugar gliders have been sighted.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-major-scorecard-gives-the-health-of-australias-environment-less-than-1-out-of-10-133444">A major scorecard gives the health of Australia's environment less than 1 out of 10</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>An advisory panel is guiding the science behind the project. It’s supported by research partnerships with universities and an annual science forum, designed as an information exchange between the committee and the wider community.</p>
<p>A cafe and <a href="https://wintonwetlands.org.au/visit/">visitors hub</a> are now regularly used for events. People visit the wetlands for walks, bike rides, canoeing, stargazing and birdwatching.</p>
<p>There are 60km of roads, nine bush walks, 30km of cycling trails and artworks celebrating the <a href="https://wintonwetlands.org.au/visit/landscape-art/">landscape</a> and its history.</p>
<p>The decommissioning of the dam was not well received by some in the community at first. The restoration project is working hard to <a href="https://youtu.be/iFJkyWOS5rI">repair the connection</a> of people to the site through ecological renewal, art and recreational events.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342888/original/file-20200619-41213-fkghpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New trees planted as part of the Winton Wetland revegetation during dry periods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lance Lloyd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If you restore it, they will come</h2>
<p>The success of the Winton Wetlands project in involving the community is reflected in increasing visitor numbers to the site. These have grown from 36,264 in 2016-17 to 65,287 in 2018-19.</p>
<p>In addition, the numbers of schoolchildren who visit the site for guided nature excursions has increased from 274 in 2016-17 to 2,013 in 2018-19.</p>
<p>Volunteers are also playing a role with some 4,114 hours of effort in 2018-19 operating the information desk, taking guided walks, organising planting days and other restoration activities. Volunteers support the science work in various ways including long-term monitoring of frog calls.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-count-your-fish-before-they-hatch-experts-react-to-plans-to-release-2-million-fish-into-the-murray-darling-140428">Don't count your fish before they hatch: experts react to plans to release 2 million fish into the Murray Darling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The management committee is determined to rebuild the ecological integrity of the wetlands. But there is a lot still to do, and there are differences of opinion over the priorities and the speed at which things are being done.</p>
<p>The initial funding of A$17 million from the Victorian government will soon be exhausted. Other financial avenues are being pursued. This is necessary to secure a future for this bright spot – a gem of inestimable value – in the Murray-Darling Basin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342651/original/file-20200618-41248-v9v8c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Winton Wetlands represent a bright spot for social-ecological restoration and renewal in the Murray-Darling Basin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lance Lloyd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Max Finlayson is affiliated with the Winton Wetlands Committee of Management through his role as Chair of their Environmental Strategy Advisory Panel. He is also President (2019-2020) of the Society of Wetland Scientists that has recently accepted the Winton Wetlands as the first non-USA site under its Wetlands of Distinction initiative. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lance Lloyd consults to Winton Wetlands as their Restoration Scientist (Aquatic Ecology). The Committee of Managemment receives funding from multiple organisations for work at the Winton Wetlands such as the Wettenhall Foundation, Government (DELWP) and external grant schemes.</span></em></p>The number of visitors to the restored wetlands is increasing each year, as is the wildlife.Max Finlayson, Adjunct Professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLance Lloyd, Honorary Research Fellow, Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1393052020-06-05T03:56:14Z2020-06-05T03:56:14ZLet’s fix Australia’s environment with any pandemic recovery aid – the Kiwis are doing it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339397/original/file-20200603-133924-rleruq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C431%2C5760%2C3397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leah Anne Thompson/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant economic challenges for Australia. With April figures showing <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/6050C537617B613BCA25836800102753">more than 800,000</a> people <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-it-not-for-jobkeeper-unemployment-would-be-11-7-up-from-5-2-in-one-month-heres-how-the-numbers-pan-out-138268">unemployed</a> and last month <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-act-17">1.6 million on JobSeeker</a> payments, a key focus will be job creation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-big-stimulus-spending-has-just-begun-heres-how-to-get-it-right-quickly-138414">The big stimulus spending has just begun. Here's how to get it right, quickly</a>
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</p>
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<p>Lessons should be learned from what’s happening in New Zealand, where the government is funding projects that revive the environment. Unfortunately, Australia seems to be going the other way.</p>
<h2>New Zealand gets it</h2>
<p>As part of New Zealand’s innovative <a href="https://budget.govt.nz/budget/pdfs/wellbeing-budget/b20-wellbeing-budget.pdf">Wellbeing Budget</a> the government will invest NZ$50 billion in a direct COVID-19 recovery response.</p>
<p>Of that, NZ$1.1 billion will be spent on <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2020-media-releases/investment-to-create-11000-environment-jobs-in-our-regions/">creating 11,000 “nature jobs”</a> to combat unemployment and supplement pandemic-affected sectors.</p>
<p>This unique investment will be delivered in a number of targeted environmental programs.</p>
<p>These include NZ$433 million for regional environmental projects that will provide 4,000 jobs in conserving and managing waterways. This will help restore fragile ecosystems such as wetlands, rivers and catchments. </p>
<p>There’s NZ$315 million for weed and feral animal control, including possums, pigs, deer and wallabies. This will provide employment through partnerships between the community, Māori land managers and government departments.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339408/original/file-20200603-130969-1lavkkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Zealanders hate possums as they’re an invasive pest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoftheref/9247046550/">Flickr/Geof Wilson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A further NZ$200 million will deliver jobs on public conservation land through the Department of Conservation for various management actions. These include predator control, restoration, regenerative planting and maintenance of tracks, huts and other assets.</p>
<p>Some of these investments will not only provide jobs but also conserve New Zealand’s environment. They will maintain agricultural productivity and advance existing environmental initiatives such as <a href="https://predatorfreenz.org/">Predator Free New Zealand</a>.</p>
<p>They will also provide households with income that will in turn help stimulate local economies.</p>
<p>This is a win for New Zealand’s environment and wildlife, particularly native fish species and unique birds. It’s also a win for people and the economy.</p>
<h2>Australia’s destructive COVID-19 recovery</h2>
<p>In contrast, the Australian federal and some state governments have resorted to environmentally destructive projects and policies to stimulate economic activity and support employment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-green-tape-may-be-good-politicking-but-its-bad-policy-here-are-5-examples-of-regulation-failure-137164">Cutting ‘green tape’ may be good politicking, but it’s bad policy. Here are 5 examples of regulation failure</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, the New South Wales government in March granted approval to extend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/31/fears-for-water-quality-after-nsw-allows-coalmining-extension-under-sydneys-worona-reservoir">coalmining under Sydney’s Woronora reservoir</a> and in May approved the controversial <a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-has-approved-snowy-2-0-here-are-six-reasons-why-thats-a-bad-move-139112">Snowy Hydro 2.0 project</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336635/original/file-20200521-102678-tg7uut.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Snowy 2.0 threatens to pollute pristine Snowy Mountains rivers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Schopier/Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Victoria, the government delayed key <a href="https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/about-epa/news-media-and-updates/new-environment-protection-act-postponed-to-july-2021">improvements to environmental protection laws</a> and amended legislation to <a href="https://theconversation.com/victoria-quietly-lifted-its-gas-exploration-pause-but-banned-fracking-for-good-its-bad-news-for-the-climate-133923">allow onshore gas extraction</a>. </p>
<p>Federally, wider plans exist for an apparent <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-13/coronavirus-recovery-to-push-australia-towards-gas-future/12239978">fossil-fuel-led national recovery</a> through gas expansion, fast-tracked by relaxing environmental regulations. This includes a proposed <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-21/leaked-national-covid-commission-gas-manufacturing-report/12269100">exemption from additional approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act</a>. </p>
<p>The relaxing of environmental legislation and protections (commonly referred to as cutting “<a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-green-tape-may-be-good-politicking-but-its-bad-policy-here-are-5-examples-of-regulation-failure-137164">green tape</a>”) has been pushed by <a href="https://theconversation.com/be-worried-when-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-support-current-environmental-laws-138526">business and industry lobby groups</a> and some quarters of the media. </p>
<p>Even politicians such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/23/coalition-is-aiming-to-change-australias-environment-laws-before-review-is-finished">federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley</a> see it as a way to promote economic recovery.</p>
<h2>A better way to recovery</h2>
<p><a href="https://invasives.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Prime-Minister-re-Economic-Stimulus-in-conservation-and-land-managementatt-20-Apr-2020.pdf">Nature groups, environmental scientists, economists</a> and political parties <a href="https://greens.org.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/Greens-Recovery-Plan.pdf">such as the Greens</a> are proposing an alternative approach.</p>
<p>Some state and territory departments, including in the <a href="https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/gentleman/2020/environment-to-benefit-from-acts-covid-19-stimulus">ACT</a> and the <a href="https://business.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/885358/operation-rebound-green-paper.pdf">Northern Territory</a>, recognise environmental management and protection as a source of high employment opportunity.</p>
<p>They all see investment in conservation and land management as a key feature of any economic recovery. </p>
<h2>An opportunity for Australia</h2>
<p>Economic stimulus through conservation and land management is not yet recognised as a way for Australia to respond to both the COVID-19 crisis and long-standing conservation needs.</p>
<p>Australian governments, if they invested similarly to New Zealand, could create jobs in the short term in any desired target region, based on economic and environmental need.</p>
<p>This flexibility would allow jobs to be created in regions with already fragile local economies, particularly those made worse by COVID-19. This includes regional areas that usually have high tourism, bushfire-affected communities, drought-affected regions, as well as Indigenous communities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-introduced-species-are-cute-and-loveable-culling-them-is-a-tricky-proposition-130471">When introduced species are cute and loveable, culling them is a tricky proposition</a>
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<p>Conservation and land management jobs could include dealing with <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia">feral pests</a>, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-needs-to-kill-cats-116654">cats</a>, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/publications/factsheet-european-red-fox-vulpes-vulpes">foxes</a>, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/publications/factsheet-european-wild-rabbit-oryctolagus-cuniculus">rabbits</a>, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia/feral-pigs">pigs</a>, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/publications/factsheet-feral-deer">deer</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/double-trouble-as-feral-horse-numbers-gallop-past-25-000-in-the-australian-alps-128852">horses</a>.</p>
<p>It could feature restoration activities such as tree planting, weed removal, hazard-reduction burning, and wildlife restoration and monitoring.</p>
<p>This type of employment is hands-on, labour-intensive and has low overhead costs. Investment is likely to be cost-effective, with most of it going straight to the worker. </p>
<h2>Let’s stimulate the economy and the environment</h2>
<p>Projects can be up and running quickly, so the economic stimulus is immediate.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/Design%20Principles%20for%20Fiscal%20Policy%20in%20a%20Pandemic%20%5BWEB%5D.pdf">benefits</a> of direct household stimulus are well understood. This form of spending provides localised economic benefits as money is likely to stay in the local community.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-global-health-pandemic-could-easily-erupt-in-your-backyard-138861">The next global health pandemic could easily erupt in your backyard</a>
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<p>There is an opportunity to support the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/14/a-downward-spiral-coronavirus-spins-australian-universities-into-economic-crisis">hard-hit university sector</a>. It could get funds for research to design, monitor and assess the effectiveness of any interventions.</p>
<p>Such investment would have lasting and much-needed environmental benefits through the conservation of landscapes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2020/feb/11/counting-the-cost-of-australias-summer-of-dread">recently ravaged by bushfire</a> that contain unique and <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-re-counted-australias-extinct-species-and-the-result-is-devastating-127611">declining wildlife species</a>. </p>
<p>Could the much-hyped “new normal” be one where Australia’s environment and economy are not seen as incompatible?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lachlan G. Howell is affiliated with the University of Newcastle and FAUNA Research Alliance, and is a member of Port Stephens Koala and Wildlife Preservation Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Clulow receives funding for biodiversity projects from industry, and government (state and local government) sources through the University of Newcastle. He is affiliated with FAUNABank and FAUNA Research Alliance. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rodger has received funding from the ARC and CRC Program. He is affiliated with FAUNA Research Alliance.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan R. Witt receives funding from Taronga Conservation Society Australia and has received funding from the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment and the Ecological Society of Australia. He is affiliated with the University of Newcastle, FAUNA Research Alliance and is a member of Port Stephens Koala and Wildlife Preservation Society.</span></em></p>New Zealand is pumping millions of dollars into environment projects as part of its COVID-19 recovery. Australia’s recovery plan seems more destructive than reconstructive.Lachlan G. Howell, PhD Candidate | School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of NewcastleJohn Clulow, Associate Professor, University of NewcastleJohn Rodger, Emeritus Professor, University of Newcastle & CEO FAUNA Research Alliance, University of NewcastleRyan R. Witt, Conjoint Lecturer | School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1313902020-02-19T03:34:08Z2020-02-19T03:34:08ZYes, the Australian bush is recovering from bushfires – but it may never be the same<p>As bushfires in New South Wales are finally contained, attention is turning to <a href="https://theconversation.com/these-plants-and-animals-are-now-flourishing-as-life-creeps-back-after-bushfires-130293">nature’s recovery</a>. Green shoots are sprouting and animals are returning. But we must accept that in some cases, the bush may never return to its former state.</p>
<p>We’ve all read the devastating figures of destruction this fire season. More than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043">11 million hectares of land</a> burned across the country over a period of about six months. There is some evidence more than one billion animals <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/01/08/australian-bushfires-more-than-one-billion-animals-impacted.html">perished</a>.</p>
<p>We can take some heart in the <a href="https://biology.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/fire-adaptive-traits-eucalpyts">regenerative power of the Australian bush</a>.
However, when we read of <a href="https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-photos-show-how-australian-bush-is-starting-to-rejuvenate-20200108">“recovery” in the media</a>, we feel we must clarify what that might actually look like.</p>
<p>While Australia’s environment has evolved to adapt to fire, our research shows we can no longer assume it will recover completely.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-native-plants-can-flourish-after-bushfire-but-theres-only-so-much-hardship-they-can-take-129748">Yes, native plants can flourish after bushfire. But there’s only so much hardship they can take</a>
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<h2>A fiery future</h2>
<p>We are scientists and social science researchers who work in transdisciplinary climate change projects, liaising with park rangers, farmers, policymakers, emergency services and local government.</p>
<p><a href="http://climatefutures.org.au/">Our work</a> involves scoping future challenges in land management and developing a range of <a href="http://acecrc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Position-Analysis-Climate-Futures-2019.pdf">plausible future climate scenarios</a> for south-east Australia.</p>
<p>Our experience told us something like this catastrophic climatic event was possible, but as researchers we weren’t prepared to see such an inferno this summer.</p>
<p>Although fires are natural in Australia, they’re now occurring at an unprecedented frequency and intensity in areas that, historically, did not burn. This new regime <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.12433">does not allow the effective recovery of natural systems to their pre-fire state</a>.</p>
<h2>Alpine ash to ashes</h2>
<p>Fires in alpine ash forests (<em>Eucalyptus delegatensis</em>) are a good example of this. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315856/original/file-20200218-11011-1timdbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Along with some eucalyptus trees, Australian flowering grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) are pyrophytic plants – which means they are adapted to survive in fire-prone habitats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalietracy/40994413982/">Natalie Maguire / Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Unlike many eucalypt species which can re-sprout after fire, this species’ only means of recovery is through germination via a seed bank in the canopy, and rapid germination and growth of seedlings after fire. </p>
<p>Multiple fires in quick succession kill seedlings before they reach maturity, disrupting the tree’s reproductive cycle and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.12433">leading to local extinction of the species in the landscape</a>. </p>
<p>Alpine ash forests have endured repeated fires in recent years. In 2013, a blaze in Victoria burnt more than 31,000 hectares of the Alpine National Park.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ash-to-ashes-what-could-the-2013-fires-mean-for-the-future-of-our-forests-12346">Ash to ashes – what could the 2013 fires mean for the future of our forests?</a>
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<p>Vast areas have been burnt again in this season’s fires in the same places. Research reveals <a href="http://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/2007/hennesseykj_c.pdf">climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of fires in the Australian Alps</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/hot-topics/fire-driven-loss-obligate-seeder-forests-alps">This ecosystem will not recover</a>. It will instead transition into a new, different ecosystem, and many species which evolved to live in the original habitat, such as the alpine ash, will no longer be supported. They will be replaced by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112715000109">other vegetation types</a>, such as other eucalyptus woodland, shrubland or grassland. </p>
<h2>No more refuge</h2>
<p>To further illustrate this point, take the Tasmanian pencil pine <em>Athrotaxis cupressoides</em>. </p>
<p>This slow-growing conifer native to Tasmania can live for up to 1,000 years. They are found in Tasmania’s highlands and sub-alpine regions – historically a Tolkien-esque landscape of moss and emerald green <a href="https://parks.tas.gov.au/discovery-and-learning/plants/cushion-plants">cushion plants</a>, studded with thousands of tiny mountain lakes, called tarns. </p>
<p>But large fires across Tasmania’s pencil pine habitat in recent years, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/22/tasmanian-bushfires-worst-crisis-in-decades-for-world-heritage-forests">including those in 2016</a>, reduced hundreds of isolated pencil pine communities to blackened skeletons. The stands of trees that remain are <a href="https://www.climatewatch.org.au/species/plants/pencil-pine">struggling to survive in a drying and warming climate</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316066/original/file-20200219-11005-1ku4an6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pencil pines, widely found in Tasmania, are not fire-adapted and are killed by bushfires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Bowman</span></span>
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<p>All this is occurring in areas that historically did not experience fire, which allowed a suite of ancient, fire-sensitive species to persist.</p>
<p>As climate change worsens, the pencil pine will be restricted to even smaller areas. Higher temperatures and increased fuel loads increase the likelihood of destruction by fire. Areas where pencil pines have historically been protected will diminish in number and size. </p>
<h2>Irreplaceable loss</h2>
<p>In these cases and many others, animal species relying on these trees and their ecosystems are profoundly affected. </p>
<p>Well before the latest fires, Australia had an <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2019/04/apo-nid228501-1348986.pdf">abysmal record on vertebrate extinctions</a>. This summer’s fires have brought some animal species, including the Kangaroo Island dunnart, closer to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/04/ecologists-warn-silent-death-australia-bushfires-endangered-species-extinction">extinction</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-bushfires-could-drive-more-than-700-animal-species-to-extinction-check-the-numbers-for-yourself-129773">Australia's bushfires could drive more than 700 animal species to extinction. Check the numbers for yourself</a>
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<p>Future fire seasons will not be normal events, or even some kind of stable <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/in-this-new-normal-for-bushfires-business-as-usual-will-no-longer-cut-it/news-story/b243904cc6fccc652c93b5648e8e5185">“new normal”</a>, to which humans and nature will readily adapt. We’re seeing a trajectory of change in which our climate will shift faster than most living things can tolerate.</p>
<p>The Australian environment evolved with fire and in past conditions, could recover from fire. However climate change has altered the rules irrevocably. </p>
<p>We can no longer rest assured that nature will bounce back, and that knowledge should be a wake-up call for the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Williamson receives funding from the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabi Mocatta receives funding from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Harris currently receives funding from the Bushfire Natural Hazards CRC and has received funding through the National Bushfire Mitigation – Tasmanian Grants Program (TBMGP) and the Natural Disaster Resilience Programme (NDRP). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tomas Remenyi receives funding from the Bushfire Natural Hazards CRC and has received funding through the National Bushfire Mitigation – Tasmanian Grants Program (TBMGP) and the Natural Disaster Resilience Programme (NDRP).</span></em></p>The current state of our climate shouldn’t be dismissed as a ‘new normal’. The hard truth is many of our ecosystems will not recover from the damage.Grant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of TasmaniaGabi Mocatta, Research Fellow in Climate Change Communication, University of TasmaniaRebecca Harris, Senior lecturer, Manager, Climate Futures Program, University of TasmaniaTomas Remenyi, Climate Research Fellow, Climate Futures Programme, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1001392019-10-29T12:56:41Z2019-10-29T12:56:41ZCities don’t have to copy hipster trends to prosper – they can embrace what makes them unique<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299224/original/file-20191029-183103-1ieiqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5898%2C3920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Look familiar?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shoreditch-london-england-uk-april-2019-1410928691?src=WX6RX42QN9HEVY_9OJaGPg-1-1">Drimafilm/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong – these famous cities dominate the world economy and are home to millions of people, as well as internationally renown arts, culture and educational institutions. But they are hardly representative of the rest of the world’s cities. While <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?end=2016&start=1960&view=chart">54% of the global population</a> lives in cities, around half of those live in cities that have <a href="http://www.urbanet.info/world-urban-population/">500,000 inhabitants or fewer</a>.</p>
<p>These “ordinary” cities can be overlooked by politicians, investors, researchers and big businesses. But they are dynamic places with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0020-2754.1997.00411.x">many layers</a> of social, cultural and economic significance. After experiencing a period of post-industrial decline, many such cities are looking to change their fortunes, through urban regeneration programmes. </p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean they have to follow the same path as other urban areas. In fact, <a href="https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/emily-hopkins(b6aa36ec-aae0-4a4f-b359-fff682d572be).html">my research</a> into urban development has found that ordinary cities can avoid some of the ill-effects of regeneration, by embracing what makes them unique. </p>
<h2>The creative city</h2>
<p>At the turn of the century, city leaders became increasingly fixated on the idea of the “creative city”, championed by academics-turned-advisers including <a href="https://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/4%20Cities%20and%20the%20Creative%20Class.pdf">Richard Florida</a> and <a href="http://charleslandry.com/themes/creative-cities-index/">Charles Landry</a>. The idea was to encourage a “creative class” of talented workers to make their homes and businesses in cities, by creating urban spaces that are <a href="https://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/4%20Cities%20and%20the%20Creative%20Class.pdf">open, inclusive and diverse</a>, as well as attractive and technologically advanced. </p>
<p>“Regeneration” became a buzzword associated with these types of strategies, which seek to repurpose seemingly disused or rundown spaces to support an economy led by creative and technological industries. The apparent success of creative city policies was seen in post-industrial centres such as Detroit, US, following investments in cultural, artistic and musical <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/05/how-detroit-rising/1997/">urban renewal</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299208/original/file-20191029-183147-16qsarx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Downtown Detroit, US.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-downtown-detroit-twilight-michigan-512268163?src=M6Jxm-OSNm93SaiYH17PnA-1-16">f11photo/Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>Such policies swiftly became the go-to strategy for seemingly “ordinary” post-industrial cities around the world, even resulting in <a href="http://charleslandry.com/themes/creative-cities-index/">new rankings</a> that pit cities against each other, based on criteria including entrepreneurship, urban leadership and “liveability”. Having plenty of former industrial spaces that can be adapted for new uses, and a desire to be noticed on the national or global stage, encourages investment in urban regeneration from both public and private sources.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/liveable-cities-rankings-how-a-global-enterprise-is-influencing-urban-change-113948">Liveable cities rankings: how a global enterprise is influencing urban change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The downsides</h2>
<p>Yet regeneration programmes inspired by the creative city agenda can cause problems. Property developers and foreign investors have recognised the economic potential of real estate in “creative” cities. This has led to <a href="https://theconversation.com/investment-in-urban-land-is-on-the-rise-we-need-to-know-who-owns-our-cities-63485">rocketing land costs</a>, and many low-income residents have felt the effects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/camerons-sink-estate-strategy-comes-at-a-human-cost-53358">being displaced</a> from their homes. </p>
<p>What’s more, creative city policies can lead to similar development techniques being applied to dissimilar places. For example, accusations of <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/oli-mould/why-culture-competitions-and-artwashing-drive-urban-inequality">“artwashing”</a> are now common in cities across the world, as authorities or developers commission artists and cultural institutions to run creative projects in an area, to help it become more appealing to tourists and young people – sometimes at the expense of those who live there. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/artwashing-gentrification-is-a-problem-but-vilifying-the-artists-involved-is-not-the-answer-83739">'Artwashing' gentrification is a problem – but vilifying the artists involved is not the answer</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But “ordinary” cities can champion their individuality to avoid this fate. Take my home of Coventry, UK, for example: a post-industrial city looking to modernise. Located in the West Midlands, with a population of around <a href="http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/195/facts_about_coventry/2435/population_and_demographics/1">360,000</a>, Coventry will be the third <a href="https://coventry2021.co.uk/">UK City of Culture in 2021</a> – a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/competition-launches-to-find-uk-city-of-culture-2021">title designed</a> to “use culture as a catalyst for economic and social regeneration”. </p>
<p>During my PhD fieldwork there, I’ve investigated how Coventry has drawn on its rich history and culture to resist generic creative city policies. Though the residents I spoke to have not always felt included in regeneration efforts, there is still much to be learned from the city’s approach to urban renewal. </p>
<h2>Sent to Coventry</h2>
<p>Coventry’s <a href="https://coventry2021.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Coventry-2021-public-final-BID-document.pdf">City of Culture bid</a> sought to show how the regeneration programme would be local, personal and inclusive of the city’s diversity. And in some ways, it has been successful. As the home of bands including The Specials and The Selecter, Coventry was a launch pad for the anti-racist, two-tone music scene in the 1980s. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-40719469">2Tone taxi</a> project celebrates the ska scene, as well as Coventry’s role in manufacturing London’s iconic black cabs; while touring the city in a taxi, passengers can find out more about the people and places of Coventry, as well as adding their own suggestions for the itinerary. </p>
<p>Another inclusive project which has been part of the lead up to City of Culture 2021 is the <a href="https://coventry2021.co.uk/foleshill-mile-map-launched/">Foleshill Mile Map</a>, co-created with local communities to pinpoint the multicultural offerings in one of Coventry’s neighbourhoods. Not only does this champion local input through collaborative working, it also reflects Coventry’s identity as one of the <a href="https://www.ukpopulation.org/coventry-population/">most ethnically diverse cities</a> in the UK. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299226/original/file-20191029-183128-1up6blo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lisbon’s LX Factory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/33547758052/sizes/l/">wuestenigel/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet as more cities seek to emphasise their cultural assets, city leaders and policy makers must be aware of the negative impacts that can arise if local residents are not central to the decision-making process. For example, in Lisbon, Portugal, the arrival of the Time Out Market and LX Factory creative village have increased tourism, leading to <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-portugal-protests-housing/protesters-denounce-gentrification-in-lisbon-as-housing-prices-soar-idUKKCN1M20UM">anti-gentrification protests</a> and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/world/europe/lisbon-portugal-revival.html">laws being enforced</a> to avoid displacing long-term residents, as rents continue to rise. This highlights the need to consider local contexts and communities before implementing copy cat creative policies. </p>
<p>As witnesses of vast social and cultural change over the past century, Coventrians can offer a new outlook on an often overlooked city, and prove that being “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Send_to_Coventry">sent to Coventry</a>” need not be a punishment. Culture-led regeneration processes, such as the UK City of Culture title, can offer opportunities to attract investment and increase the civic pride among citizens. And Coventry shows how other “ordinary” cities can approach urban renewal, with local stories and communities at the heart of the process. But authorities and leaders must be careful to maintain this priority throughout the journey – or risk repeating the same mistakes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Hopkins receives funding from South East Doctoral Training Centre, funded by the Economic Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Half the world’s urban population live in cities with 500,000 inhabitants or fewer – it’s time to celebrate these ‘ordinary’ cities.Emily Hopkins, PhD Researcher, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1223042019-08-28T13:16:22Z2019-08-28T13:16:22ZSkateboarding’s DIY ethos is kick-starting a new wave of urban regeneration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289884/original/file-20190828-184240-iq5qal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2703%2C1713&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grinding for Nottingham. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Walchester. </span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In less than a year, skateboarding will make its debut in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s an international sport with <a href="https://theconversation.com/skateboarding-defies-the-neoliberal-logic-of-the-city-by-making-it-a-playground-for-all-110552">an estimated 50m participants</a> – but, more than that, skateboarding’s DIY ethos and strong ties with art, music and the built environment make it an unlikely asset for cities. </p>
<p>In the past, skateboarding was seen as an antisocial activity: <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/street-skaters-may-find-their-latest-moves-land-them-in-court-but-they-are-fighting-back-10432783.html">a swath of by-laws</a> imposed restrictions in cities across the UK – including in my own city of Nottingham, where it was banned in 2000. But today, a growing body of evidence shows that skateboarding can help attract investment, reclaim public spaces and create resilient communities. And nowhere has this transformation been clearer than in Nottingham.</p>
<p>A bumpy recovery from the 2008 recession has revealed weaknesses in the way cities such as Nottingham seek to grow and develop. In a <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0040/787792/Laying-Foundations-of-a-Good-Work-City-Report.pdf">recent study on job quality</a>, my colleagues and I found that Nottingham has the lowest household income in the UK, while residents reported significantly lower well-being – despite being a relatively large economy in terms of output per capita. </p>
<p>Further research from <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27438/">2014</a> and <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28009/">2016</a> found Nottingham performed poorly according to traditional measures of development. But it also discovered a network of assets overlooked by the official statistics, including value produced by the city’s booming music and art scenes, a richly varied built environment and an array of voluntary and third sector activity in some of its most disadvantaged wards. </p>
<p>Skateboarding is fast becoming one such asset. In less than a year, Nottingham’s skaters have taken their indoor park into community ownership, helped bring almost £500,000 of capital investment into the public realm and successfully delivered the UK’s first citywide <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-49128996">international skateboarding festival</a>. And Nottingham is not the only city that is benefiting from embracing skateboarding.</p>
<h2>Pushing boarders</h2>
<p>At <a href="https://www.pushingboarders.com/">Pushing Boarders</a> – the world’s first international academic conference on skateboarding, held this year in Malmö, Sweden – skaters and experts from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia came together in a special workshop on cities. We explored the positive changes skateboarding can bring about – from improving the lives of young people to creating better designed spaces and more inclusive decision-making. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289885/original/file-20190828-184192-3kklj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Practice pays off.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Bernacki.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After-school skate programmes in <a href="http://squarestateskate.com/">Colorado</a> and <a href="https://www.hypeddayton.com/">Dayton, Ohio</a> are proving to be therapeutic for young people with challenges such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Skateboarding’s informal, non-competitive nature normalises failure – skaters practice a trick hundreds of times, building resilience and perseverance. In Dayton, which has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/14/tech/opioid-crisis-dayton-alphabet-verily-alexandria/index.html">seen the worst effects</a> of the US opioid crisis, these programmes can disrupt the toxic peer groups that can lead to substance misuse, and <a href="https://vimeo.com/281117753">establish good role models</a> instead.</p>
<p>Similarly, skaters in <a href="https://skatesouthampton.com/">Southampton</a> have measured significant improvements in participants’ well-being at the end of an alternative education programme, which included teaching engineering and maths by building skate ramps. </p>
<p>As well as improving health and well-being, skateboarding can empower young people to improve their cities. In Tampere, Finland, skaters built a DIY skatepark in an abandoned matchstick factory, which was later legitimised by the city. This process paved the way for a fruitful partnership between local young people and the municipality. Skaters worked alongside the city council to secure spaces for further projects, and went on to deliver employment programmes for out-of-work youth and creative projects in the public realm. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qOXKAwJpBTs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The city’s tourism agency now uses skateboarding in <a href="https://youtu.be/qOXKAwJpBTs">its marketing</a>. Skater and academic Mikko Kyrönviita sees this as a wider example of “DIY placemaking” – where local young people help <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/apr/16/upward-slope-how-skateboarding-transformed-the-manchester-of-finland-tampere">shape the way the city is marketed</a> to visitors, and how urban space is designed and managed.</p>
<h2>Skateboarding and the city</h2>
<p>More and more skateboarders are arguing for the wider benefits of mixed-use public spaces. Michael Barker, a New York skater and architect, advocates soft-edged spaces “seamlessly integrated into the life of a city” (as opposed to the “hard edges” of traditional skateparks), to help address the loss of the urban commons. This can help include the local community in the design of public spaces – as urban planner <a href="http://calgaryskateboarding.com/">Jeff Hanson</a> advocates in Calgary, Canada. And in Toronto, <a href="http://www.torontoskateboarding.com/">Ariel Stagni</a> mediates between interest groups to make multi-use spaces increasingly normal, and change politicians’ perceptions of skateboarders.</p>
<p>Academics Sharon Dickinson and Chris Giamarino have critically reviewed the tactics skateboarders use to protect the spaces they practice in from being shut down or redeveloped, to understand why some campaigns have been successful while others have failed. DIY or guerrilla regeneration can be applied, alongside more conventional approaches. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0193723519842219">In Los Angeles</a>, for example, skaters succeeded by appealing to municipal priorities relating to creativity and entrepreneurialism, and presenting their use of the space as convivial and inclusive. </p>
<p>And in London, academic <a href="https://theconversation.com/skateboarding-defies-the-neoliberal-logic-of-the-city-by-making-it-a-playground-for-all-110552">Iain Borden</a> has shown how skaters add value to urban spaces by making them active and lively and, over generations, create a strong sense of shared heritage. This was demonstrated by the Long Live Southbank campaign, as they fought to <a href="https://theconversation.com/southbank-skaters-victory-shows-grassroots-culture-still-worth-fighting-for-31926">protect</a>, <a href="https://blog.slamcity.com/long-live-southbank-interview/">restore and expand</a> the undercroft space at the Southbank Centre.</p>
<p>Skateboarding gives young people a chance to change the way public spaces are designed and used: whether by working formally alongside local governments, or simply doing it themselves. As well as transforming urban spaces, skateboarding provides a means to tackle social issues relating to education, addiction and gender equality. The challenge now is for experts and academics (many of whom, like me, are skaters themselves) to share this knowledge, and show authorities and citizens how skateboarding can be an asset to any city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alongside his teaching and scholarly work, Chris Lawton is one of the co-founders of Skate Nottingham CIC, a not-for-profit community organisation working with skateboarding and local young people in Nottingham.</span></em></p>It was once seen as a public menace – now, skateboarding is a global sport that empowers young people to improve their cities.Chris Lawton, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1126182019-04-07T19:52:53Z2019-04-07T19:52:53ZEdible seaweed can be used to grow blood vessels in the body<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265291/original/file-20190322-36248-4275lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1017%2C1020&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fluorescence microscopy image of the newly formed blood vessels after injection of our seaweed-derived hydrogel in a muscle. In green are the blood vessels and in blue the cell nuclei.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aurelien Forget, Roberto Gianni-Barrera, Andrea Banfi and Prasad Shastri</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we have small wounds on our skin or muscles they can usually heal by themselves. </p>
<p>But in deeper wounds – such as those in diabetic patients or in muscle tissue after a heart attack – repair is more difficult. These sorts of issues often require more serious treatments, and may eventually need amputation or a transplant if healing is not complete. </p>
<p>While organ transplants save lives, we <a href="https://transplant.org.au/the-facts/">fall short in available organs for this procedure</a>, and alternative methods are needed.</p>
<p>Technology such as <a href="https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/bioprinting">bioprinting</a> has been proposed to build fully functional organs outside the body. But what if we could boost our own regenerative capabilities? Would it be possible to create the organs inside the body?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-pharmaceutical-revolution-could-be-3d-bioprinted-79676">The next pharmaceutical revolution could be 3D bioprinted</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.201808050">recent publication</a> we demonstrate that by a simple injection of a gel extracted from edible seaweeds, we can direct the body to create stable blood vessels in a muscle. These vessels are the key in helping tissue to live.</p>
<p>These results are an important step toward regenerative therapies based solely on biomaterials. </p>
<h2>What are regenerative therapies?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664309/">Regenerative therapy (also called regenerative medicine)</a> is an area of research that combines medicine, molecular biology, and biotechnology. It aims to engineer tissues or organs and restore normal function.</p>
<p>As an example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-pharmaceutical-revolution-could-be-3d-bioprinted-79676">3D bioprinting</a> has had some success, <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/human-corneas-could-be-the-first-mainstream-application-of-bioprinting">such as the creation of implantable corneas</a> for the eye. </p>
<p>But this approach requires specialised manufacturing facilities. The cells must be isolated, grown in a bioreactor – a special vessel providing the right environment for tissue growth – and used to create artificial organs under controlled and sterile conditions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265151/original/file-20190321-93051-z24b5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Process of biofabrication of patient specific organs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steffen Harr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A new approach emerged a couple of years ago. This uses the body to produce a particular type of tissue or cells, and is called the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/102/32/11450">in vivo (in the body) bioreactor</a>. This was initially developed <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/molly_stevens_a_new_way_to_grow_bone">to make bones</a>.</p>
<p>To create tissue in the human body, we need to trigger and exploit our own regenerative capabilities. Unfortunately we are not as good as <a href="https://www.livescience.com/34513-how-salamanders-regenerate-lost-limbs.html">salamanders</a>: we can’t regrow a new limb.</p>
<p>But with some help, we could regenerate individual tissues. To achieve this, the help can come in the form of materials that: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>reproduce the tissue properties needed, such as the stiffness of the tissues, and</p></li>
<li><p>carry chemical and biological signals that can direct the tissue growth. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>A tissue is defined as a group of cells working together for a specific function. As an example, muscle tissues are made of cells organised into fibres, forming the so-called muscle fibres.</p>
<h2>Materials that can talk with cells</h2>
<p>Our body’s tissues are made up of many different cell types, and also materials that exist outside the cells. These materials are known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/cell-biology/Intermediate-filaments#ref313804">extracellular matrix</a> (ECM).</p>
<p>The ECM is made up of several different elements. It holds water, and also stores vital information to help cells move, grow and organise into functional tissues.</p>
<p>We don’t need to go into the details of what the ECM is made of here. But what we can say is that scientists can copy many of its functions using a gel-like material called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123213000969">hydrogel</a>. This can be modified to pass specific biological information to cells. </p>
<h2>Edible seaweed to create blood vessels</h2>
<p>We have been developing a new class of injectable hydrogel. </p>
<p>The material making the hydrogel is called agarose, which is also used to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/pohskitchen/stories/s2848469.htm">make jelly cakes</a> in the kitchen, and in biology laboratories to <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/definition/gel-electrophoresis-286">separate DNA</a>. </p>
<p>Agarose is a polysaccharide – a long chain of sugar – that is extracted from <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC170292/">red seaweed</a> found in many oceans <a href="http://www.seaweed.ie/uses_general/agars.php">around the world</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267345/original/file-20190403-177167-1drmdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agarose powder used in the laboratory for the separation of DNA and agar used to make jelly cakes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aurelien Forget</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.shastrilab.com">our lab</a>, we can modify agarose by attaching a small molecule (a peptide) that will talk to the cells. Using this approach, we have created a unique formulation of the hydrogel that provides the ideal environment <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/110/32/12887">for certain cells to organise into blood vessels</a>. </p>
<p>Now in our <a href="https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.201808050">latest work</a> with <a href="https://biomedizin.unibas.ch/en/research/research-groups/banfi-lab/">collaborators at the University Hospital of Basel</a>, we show that this same hydrogel injected into muscle can “talk” to the body and initiate the formation of new blood vessels.</p>
<p>Previously, only <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/8/3418">cartilage</a> or <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/102/32/11450">bone</a> could be regenerated within the body.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266781/original/file-20190401-177187-whhadc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Formation of new blood vessels induced by an injectable therapeutic material.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steffen Harr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future therapies</h2>
<p>This approach paves the way for the creation of a new class of therapies in which injectable materials could become as useful as pharmaceutical drugs.</p>
<p>We envision that in certain cases a patient with a defect organ might one day be able to get an injection of a material that will carry with it information to talk to cells and direct their organisation into new functional tissues.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-painless-woman-helps-us-see-how-anxiety-and-fear-fit-in-the-big-picture-of-pain-114751">The 'painless woman' helps us see how anxiety and fear fit in the big picture of pain</a>
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<p>This approach would let our body do most of the complicated tasks, in contrast to cell therapies or bioprinting of organs outside the body - where cells must be harvested, grown and re-implanted. Materials therapies would be highly valuable for patients in remote location where complex infrastructures are not available. </p>
<p>More speculatively, organ bioprinting is considered as one of the critical technologies for the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/3D_printing_skin_bone_and_body_parts_under_study_for_future_astronauts">expansion of the humans to other planets</a>.</p>
<p>By using regeneration-triggering materials to overcome injuries or disease we could <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1609012">leave the critical repair task for our body</a>. Perhaps one day a person living in space would be able to inject themselves with one of these materials.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aurelien Forget does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Small wounds can usually heal by themselves, but larger wounds can be a problem. With a little help from a seaweed we can help the body regenerate new blood vessels.Aurelien Forget, Lecturer in Macromolecular Chemistry, University of FreiburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1105542019-03-08T13:58:32Z2019-03-08T13:58:32ZIs Theresa May’s £1.6 billion fund for English towns enough to rebalance Britain’s skewed economy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262909/original/file-20190308-155539-pwpr00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=496%2C313%2C4369%2C2925&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">London lucks out. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/united-kingdom-irland-on-map-1075589996">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>English towns with struggling economies will receive <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stronger-towns-fund">£1.6 billion of funding</a> over six years. The UK government announced the creation of the “stronger towns fund” – the lion’s share of which will be distributed to towns in Northern England and the Midlands. Critics have focused on the fund’s assumed purpose as a “bribe” to gain Labour MPs’ votes for Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to leave the EU, and on the inadequate size of the pot. </p>
<p>Leaving the first criticism aside, the second certainly has some merit: £1.6 billion sounds a large sum for a single project (at least, for one <a href="http://www.crossrail.co.uk/about-us/funding">outside London</a>). But it’s a tiny amount to complete a “transformative” programme of work in many places over a number of years – especially when those places have already lost <a href="https://neweconomics.org/2019/03/deprived-towns-fund-is-insignificant-compared-with-staggering-cuts">much more</a> than that during the past decade of austerity, and stand to lose further billions in EU support if and when the UK exits the union.</p>
<p>The difficulties the fund will face have been foreshadowed by the poor performance of EU regeneration funds in Wales. There, £1.6 billion (plus extra funding from UK sources) has been focused on a much smaller area with a much smaller population, from 2014 to 2020. This EU funding builds on similar sized programmes running from 1999 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2013.</p>
<p>Yet these investments in infrastructure, productivity, skills, tourism and research and development have <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossvalueaddedgva/bulletins/regionalgrossvalueaddedbalanceduk/1998to2017/relateddata">done little</a> to improve the relative prosperity of the targeted area, compared to Wales as a whole – let alone the rest of the UK. </p>
<p>Perhaps without such funding, areas such as the Welsh Valleys in particular might have slipped even further behind. But this recent experience does call in to question whether the stronger towns fund can really bring prosperity to relatively deprived towns in England. </p>
<h2>An unbalanced system</h2>
<p>While the government has not yet provided much detail about the fund, it appears to rehash old approaches to regeneration, which have already proven inadequate to “rescue” the poorest places over the last decade. For instance, the fund is to be administered by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the business-led groups that deliver economic development across England, which attracted <a href="https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?as_ylo=2018&q=LEPs+england&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5">significant criticism</a> over their lack of efficiency, accountability and inclusiveness. Clearly, it’s worth questioning the efficiency of allocating regeneration resources to local growth coalitions such as LEPs. </p>
<p>Commentators <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/06/brutal-cuts-fight-back-preston-dragons-den">have also pointed out</a> that the UK’s deeply structurally unbalanced economic system – which overwhelmingly favours investment in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/05/the-finance-curse-how-the-outsized-power-of-the-city-of-london-makes-britain-poorer">London and the south east</a> – will cause <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/click/2014/05/its-time-to-wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee-poor-places-stay-poor-because-of-rich-places/">human, natural and other capital</a> to “leak” from poor places, irrespective of the regeneration money thrown at them. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262915/original/file-20190308-155510-qxkvzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The lure of the big city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/canary-wharf-large-business-shopping-development-87531808">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Logically, this benefits wealthy elites, such as property developers and the bureaucrats who administer such funds. New start-ups will leave for richer markets or be bought out; renewable power will be exploited by national or international corporations with <a href="https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2015.1101516">limited local benefits</a>; and year on year most UK regions will <a href="https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2016.1263388">lose their best graduates</a> to the south east.</p>
<h2>From consumers to communities</h2>
<p>Alternatives are emerging at the local level. Much is being made of the <a href="https://foundationaleconomy.com/cresc/">“foundational economy” approach</a>, which aims to refocus attention on improving the everyday activities – including social care, retail, trades and manufacturing – that provide local public and private services and incomes. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/preston-changed-its-fortunes-with-corbynomics-now-other-cities-are-doing-the-same-106293">Preston model</a> – whereby a number of public and third sector “anchor” institutions succeeded in procuring from local firms, to boost the economy – is held up as an example of what’s possible. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/preston-changed-its-fortunes-with-corbynomics-now-other-cities-are-doing-the-same-106293">Preston changed its fortunes with 'Corbynomics' – now other cities are doing the same</a>
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<p>More radical, but wholly <a href="https://steadystatemanchester.net/">evidence-based critiques</a> of regeneration strategies suggest that new approaches should pivot away from economic prosperity and toward well-being as their ultimate goal, especially if prosperity enables excessive consumption, which is a key factor in <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/ipcc-report-climate-change-impacts-forests-emissions/">climate and ecological collapse</a>. </p>
<p>Rather, a new model should be found (or perhaps an old one rediscovered) where individual well-being is not dependent on status symbols such as large houses, multiple cars and other consumer goods - but on better connections with family and vibrant local communities, <a href="https://neweconomics.org/2018/11/five-reasons-why-nef-supports-the-4-day-week-campaign">and on having more time to enjoy them</a>.</p>
<p>Any local attempts to change the system would of course be far more effective if married to a deliberate restructure of the UK’s economic system from the centre. As things stands, the large buckets of funds at the discretion of the UK government continue to be spent in ways that lock in regional inequality in production and productivity, wealth and labour migration within the UK. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6382/1319.summary">public spending on research</a> continues to focus on the “golden triangle” of Oxford, Cambridge and London universities, and defence spending is similarly oriented toward the <a href="https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2015.1118450#.XH-oUbinzb0">south east</a> of England. </p>
<p>It’s equally as worrisome that infrastructure spending in the UK still favours London at the expense of the regions and nations – to a <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/news-and-media/press-releases/ippr-north-letter-to-the-transport-secretary-8-aug-2016.pdf?noredirect=1">surprising degree</a>. Suspicions remain – strengthened by the outcomes of <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/northern-rail-electrification-u-turn-criticised-after-crossrail-2-approval-10970318">big spending decisions</a> – that the current UK government, like those that preceded it, believes that the UK economy stands or falls on the performance of London.</p>
<p>After all, if the £56bn high speed rail project was really to help the Midlands and North, wouldn’t they have started building at the Leeds end?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calvin Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The current system favours London and the south east of England – and previous regeneration campaigns have failed to make much of a difference.Calvin Jones, Professor of Economics, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051932018-10-25T15:21:12Z2018-10-25T15:21:12ZHow councils can protect community hubs – starting with Bristol’s Hamilton House<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242280/original/file-20181025-71011-w18qbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=149%2C47%2C1975%2C1121&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/samsaunders/36832827660/sizes/l">Sam Saunders/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the coming weeks, Bristol City Council will play an instrumental role in determining the fate of Hamilton House – a vibrant community hub in Stokes Croft, the area where street artist Banksy <a href="https://www.bbc.com/timelines/zytpn39">began his career</a>. The decisions the council makes will be a test case for urban policy across the country, as to how far local authorities are willing to intervene to safeguard community assets against profit-seeking companies. </p>
<p>For almost a decade, Hamilton House has been home to local artists, community groups, social enterprises and charities, among them the popular <a href="https://thebristolbikeproject.org/">Bristol Bike Project</a>, which restores unwanted bicycles for disadvantaged residents, and the <a href="http://www.dmacuk.org/">Dance Music Arts Collective</a> (DMAC), which runs community dance classes. The low rents and supportive environment of the hub <a href="https://prsc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CCRB-June2013.pdf">have done a lot</a> to help get new projects and businesses off the ground, and support the local community through charitable work. </p>
<p>Key to its success has been a sophisticated financial model. The charitable management company, <a href="https://www.hamiltonhouse.org/about/">Coexist</a>, rents out <a href="https://www.hamiltonhouse.org/hotdesking-coworking">some space at market rent</a> to profitable businesses and uses the profits generated from that in order to be able to charge lower rents for artists and charities. </p>
<h2>A victim of success</h2>
<p>Hamilton House has been an important driver of social and cultural regeneration in Stokes Croft – and throughout Bristol more broadly. Coexist <a href="https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/deadline-looms-bids-hamilton-house-57782">estimates that</a> Hamilton House brings in an annual revenue of around £21m and is responsible for around 1,260 jobs in the local area. But it has now become a <a href="https://theconversation.com/stokes-croft-the-saga-of-one-british-neighbourhood-reveals-the-perverse-injustices-of-gentrification-82010">victim of its own success</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stokes-croft-the-saga-of-one-british-neighbourhood-reveals-the-perverse-injustices-of-gentrification-82010">Stokes Croft: the saga of one British neighbourhood reveals the perverse injustices of gentrification</a>
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<p>With the regeneration of a neighbourhood property values increase – and Connolly and Callaghan (C&C), the company which bought the building in 2006 and has leased it to Coexist since 2008, is seemingly tempted to cash in. C&C has rejected two bids by Coexist to purchase Hamilton House, the second of which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/27/bristol-development-will-destroy-cultural-and-community-hub">amounted to £6.5m</a> – an estimated 300% return on the company’s initial investment. </p>
<p>Further compromises involving a mix of private flats and space for Coexist <a href="https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/end-era-stokes-croft-hamilton-1964706">have failed</a> and, since the lease with Coexist expired and C&C <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/2018/10/hamilton-house-temporary-replacement-for-coexist-confirmed/">signed a contract with a new commercial management company</a>, Forward Space. Coexist is effectively locked out of further planning negotiations with the council.</p>
<h2>Growing opposition</h2>
<p>If Hamilton House is given over to private development the implications could be severe – not least for Bristol City Council. While Coexist’s old model leveraged commercial rate rents in the building to finance social initiatives, future revenue will benefit the property owners exclusively. Projects once subsidised by Coexist will need to find new sources of income, leaving the community and council to pick up the bill. More likely, they will close for a lack of funding. </p>
<p>In September 2018, more than 1,000 people <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/2018/09/hundreds-march-save-hamilton-house-stokes-croft-coexist/">marched in support of Hamilton House</a>. In this context, it is hardly surprising that the local community and Bristol City Council seem to have become increasingly hostile toward the actions of C&C. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242314/original/file-20181025-71026-13coy34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protest march in support of Hamilton House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hamiltonhouse.org/our-future/">Claudio Ahlers/Hamilton House.</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>So far, the council has opposed a number of planning steps pursued by C&C. It has <a href="https://thebristolcable.org/2018/05/council-blocks-second-planning-application-to-redevelop-hamilton-house-stokes-croft/">twice rejected</a> an application for “permitted development”, which would allow for parts of the building to be transformed into flats without a full planning application, and without a requirement to provide affordable housing. </p>
<h2>For the common good</h2>
<p>In the meantime, with an appeal pending, C&C has begun preparing a full planning application to turn even larger sections of Hamilton House into flats. This more formal planning process gives the council greater powers to slow or stop the developer’s plans. </p>
<p>For one thing, when a building has been used for community purposes for more than ten years the council can lawfully certify it with the official status of “community centre”. This status prevents the use of planning short cuts such as the Permitted Development Application, which in turn limits development prospects, as well as the value of a building on the real estate market.</p>
<p>The council has two further levers to pull. One is the threat of compulsory purchase in which the council itself buys the property – a power which Bristol City Council has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-18171001">previously used</a> to push developers towards compromise. It also has indirect power over developers such as C&C, which has benefited from <a href="http://winklermedia.co.uk/press-statement-from-connolly-callaghan/">a number of council contracts</a> in the past.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/21/councils-pledge-to-exploit-end-to-borrowing-cap-to-build-homes">councils are granted new borrowing powers</a> to kick-start much-needed house building across the nation, they must also strive to protect the places and projects that foster strong communities. Hubs such as Hamilton House prioritise social, cultural and ecological achievements over economic profits. And while they may be unable to compete with market rents after regeneration happens, they are indispensable for the common good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What happens in Bristol could set an important precedent for councils to step up and defend their local community’s interests.Fabian Frenzel, Associate Professor in Organisation Studies, University of LeicesterArmin Beverungen, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of SiegenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/990442018-07-01T09:22:48Z2018-07-01T09:22:48ZEngland’s north-south divide is history – but the nation’s rifts are deepening<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225519/original/file-20180629-117422-1ixiqdw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=370%2C0%2C7405%2C4187&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tyne-bridge-blue-hour-1095632717?src=ZTu9vxwFhdpHtqY5cw2pUQ-1-17">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The north of England is as much of a myth as a material reality. Its particular economic, political, social and geographic qualities give it a unique character, distinct from the south of England. Since 1980s de-industrialisation, the north <a href="https://www4.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/cresr30th-jobs-welfare-austerity.pdf">has been characterised</a> as a region in decline. But this summer’s <a href="https://getnorth2018.com/">Great Exhibition of the North</a> is redressing this perception, by promoting the region’s vibrant culture and putting the fruits of its current artistic renaissance on show. </p>
<p>Yet among the flurry of exhibitions, performances, concerts and installations for locals and visitors to see, hear and play with, it’s becoming clear that the old north-south divide is fading – and new fissures are emerging in its place. </p>
<p>The rivalry between north and south has deep historical roots, which continue to shape the attitudes of people in both regions today. From <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_North_south_Divide.html?id=LvbBAAAAIAAJ">the military successes</a> of southern kings in the Middle ages, to the economic triumph of the south from the early 20th century onwards, historians have portrayed the south as dominating the north. By the end of the 19th century, the “southern metaphor” for an idealised English identity – typified by imagery of a bucolic rural idyll and in marked contrast to the industrial associations of the north – had won out, and the north fell outside common perceptions of “authentic” England. </p>
<p>Today, southern views of northern character often view northern qualities as truculent, insensitive, unsophisticated, intrusive and parochial. By contrast, northerners typically <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/06/the-north-by-paul-morley-review/">see themselves</a> as independent-minded, straight-talking, practical, friendly and meritocratic. Southerners, meanwhile, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fGI3Bgy54OcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=dave+russell+the+north+in+the+national+imagination&ots=zh4cnysaCz&sig=BPKgfcIx3Sjv75EGkfkAmCXitug#v=onepage&q=dave%20russell%20the%20north%20in%20the%20national%20imagination&f=false">are viewed</a> as privileged, wasteful, unfriendly and nepotistic. </p>
<p>Yet the very developments in the north’s creative and cultural industries, which are highlighted by the Great Exhibition of the North, also point to changes in England’s economic landscape. As a result, these deep-rooted and divisive stereotypes could soon become very dated indeed. </p>
<h2>The southern North</h2>
<p>Across most regions of the UK, the creative sector (which includes the design, software and digital, advertising, film, broadcasting, architecture, publishing, music and performing arts industries) <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/the-geography-of-creativity-in-the-uk/">have supplanted</a> the service sector (banking and finance) to become the fastest growing business sector. </p>
<p>This is evident in the emergence of “creative clusters” – agglomerations of businesses, workers and other important institutions, such as universities and business networks, relating to the creative industries. Some 47 creative clusters <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/the-geography-of-creativity-in-the-uk/">have been identified</a> across the UK, and it’s perhaps unsurprising – given London’s long-established prominence in the cultural industries – that around a third of these are located in London and south-east England. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225511/original/file-20180629-117367-hcgyg5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">England’s creative clusters, mapped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nesta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet just over one-fifth of the nation’s creative clusters are located in the North – traditionally thought to lack the cultural prestige of the capital. <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/the-geography-of-creativity-in-the-uk/">A report</a> by innovation foundation NESTA reveals strong connections between clusters which are geographically close to each other: for example, clusters in Bristol, Bath and Cardiff in the south-west, as well as those in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool in the north. </p>
<p>Cities such as Sheffield to the east of Manchester, and south of Leeds, also feed into these northern clusters, together with towns including Warrington, Wigan, Chester, Crewe and Harrogate. This grouping strengthens the evidence for a distinctive “southern north” territory, independent from the “wider north” to be found to the south, east and north of this region (the Irish Sea in the west acts as a natural boundary). </p>
<h2>The new divides</h2>
<p>Manchester is one of Europe’s <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/real-estate/articles/manchester-crane-survey.html">fastest growing cities</a>, while Liverpool and Leeds <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/510bd2bc-dbbf-11e5-98fd-06d75973fe09">are also experiencing</a> substantial property development and regeneration. This rapid economic growth is coupled with a geographic remove from other creative clusters in the north, which are centred on Middlesbrough and Newcastle – 42 and 68 miles north of Harrogate respectively. </p>
<p>There are strong media production and arts facilities across the southern North region: the growth of the Yorkshire area film and TV industries <a href="https://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/yorkshire-uks-fastest-growing-region-film-tv/">has outstripped</a> that of every other part of the UK. <a href="http://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk">Screen Yorkshire</a> is unambiguously the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed of the eight remaining <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/british-certification-tax-relief/national-regional-film-agencies">English regional screen agencies</a>. </p>
<p>This influence has tangible effects: most of what is seen of the north is captured in film, TV and pop music, which focus mainly on the former industrial heartlands of south Lancashire and west to south-west Yorkshire – probably because that’s where modern film and television industries are based. So it’s not just economically, but also culturally, that the southern North is rising to prominence on the national stage. </p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7cdnx">experts suggest</a> that the <a href="https://www.hs2.org.uk/">HS2 rail programme</a> – which will reduce travel time between Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and London – is likely to draw the southern North even further away from the influence of the wider north, and towards southern cities such as London. </p>
<p>So, as Newcastle and Gateshead continues with the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/513637/AnnexB-Competitiondocument__4_.docx">hard-won honour</a> of hosting the Great Exhibition of the North, it’s worth reflecting on the definition of that label. Clearly, there are significant variations in economic and cultural output within the north of England. Before our very eyes, a new north-south divide is emerging, within what was previously understood as “the north” itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Atkinson has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board for an MA study (1995) and a PhD study (1998). The latter was on the topic of the modern mythology of Liverpool, and both studies were at the University of Lancaster. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Great Exhibition of the North is putting paid to tired stereotypes of the region – but now, the North itself is becoming divided.Alan Hughes, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Central LancashirePeter Atkinson, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, BA Film, Media and Popular Culture, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986472018-06-21T12:24:15Z2018-06-21T12:24:15ZLiverpool judge’s decision recognises that ‘home’ still exists for the homeless<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224228/original/file-20180621-137717-2f8ym8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/liverpool-skyline-sunrise-over-river-1089001655?src=YPEnA5db3gX83t_uj_X2Sg-1-96">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stephen Gibney, a Liverpool man, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-44535158">has been sentenced</a> to eight weeks imprisonment for urinating on homeless man Richard Stanley, while he slept rough in Liverpool City Centre. District Judge Wendy Lloyd handed down the sentence not just for degrading Stanley as a person, but also for attacking his home. Justice Lloyd condemned the offence, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/19/drunk-man-jailed-after-urinating-on-homeless-mans-face-for-a-joke-7644960/">calling it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A deliberate act of degradation of a homeless person … it was his home, his little pitch where he was trying to establish himself as a human being … apparently, to you and your companion this was just a joke.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By recognising that a homeless person can have something akin to a home, the judge acknowledges that home is an abstract, nebulous and subjective idea – that the meaning of home can differ between people and contexts. People who are homeless in the legal sense often <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0044118X10374018">feel as if they have a home</a>, whether that be a city, a particular neighbourhood, a family or a friendship group. Some even understand their home in connection to the land, or as a content state of mind. </p>
<p>By making these comments, Justice Lloyd affords Stanley the dignity of having a recognisable defensible space, marked out by his possessions, which to all intents and purposes is his home – and should be respected as such.</p>
<h2>A changing city</h2>
<p>Since the early 1980s, Liverpool has been undergoing economic, physical, social, political, reputational and cultural <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/01443331111141246">regeneration</a>. These processes have picked up pace <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jun/04/communities.politicsandthearts1">since 2003</a>, when Liverpool was announced as the 2008 European Capital of Culture. This accolade proved to be the catalyst for a range of initiatives to “clean up” the city, ready for its big year. </p>
<p>Like many other cities across the globe – New York, during its 1990s drive to shake off its title of “<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-used-to-be-a-terrifying-place-photos-2013-7?r=US&IR=T">murder capital of the world</a>”; Sydney, in the run up to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14775080902965033">2000 Olympics</a>; and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0269094042000286837">Glasgow</a> in its preparations for its own European Capital of Culture year in 1990 – Liverpool’s authorities turned their attention to the city centre. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mathew Street, Liverpool: drinkers with houses, welcome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/liverpool-united-kingdom-october-11-2014-298828970?src=KyTy9-PUqMKMGQ8cRfJiGQ-2-58">littlenySTOCK/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Liverpool, rough sleepers, street drinkers and any other groups identified as “uncivilised” impediments to regeneration were singled out and subjected to a range of punitive measures, including the <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/01443331111141246">criminalisation of street drinking and begging</a>, designed to clear them from view. It was all part of the bid to present the city as prosperous and cultured, and to free it of its previous reputation for poverty, crime and post-industrial decline. </p>
<h2>Scorned, not supported</h2>
<p>Views of rough sleepers as anathema to prosperity and progress stem from the false belief that they must, by definition, perform all bodily functions – from urination and defecation to sleep and sex – in <a href="http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/blog/client_groups/homelessness/basic_human_rights_are_not_given_to_the_homeless.html">public spaces</a> rather than a private home. Because of this, rough sleepers are seen as uncivilised – and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-wedding-latest-windsor-homeless-police-meghan-markle-prince-harry-a8355196.html">consequently unwelcome</a> – by authorities determined to attract business and tourism. </p>
<p>This has led, in some quarters, to the vilification of “visible” homeless people – particularly where their homelessness is seen as a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-36445024">lifestyle choice</a>” – on the basis that they wilfully stand in the way of social, economic and cultural progress. They are a social element to be scorned, rather than supported: a view which may have led Gibney – a man with a home in the conventional sense – to perform the kind of bodily function on Stanley, which is more often unfairly attributed to rough sleepers.</p>
<p>Once it is recognised that the idea of “home” applies beyond a formal abode of bricks and mortar, many more violations come to light: from <a href="https://theconversation.com/vila-autodromo-the-favela-fighting-back-against-rios-olympic-development-52393">the clearance of informal settlements</a>, to the enforced displacement of whole populations. </p>
<p>For example, consider the forced removal of the population of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YOy0vQLytn8C&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=diego+garcia+domicide&source=bl&ots=C5mfOkdmqg&sig=FRlXva6Zq31hMbHhYO5wbZ-wNVM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj667bByuTbAhUIBcAKHWiWCRkQ6AEIfzAQ#v=onepage&q=diego%20garcia%20domicide&f=false">Diego Garcia</a>, an atoll in the Indian Ocean, to nearby Mauritius because the US military needed a refuelling base. The phenomenon is so widespread that it has even been given a name – domicide. The “-cide” suffix connotes murder: the deliberate, calculated and wilful killing of a home. </p>
<p>By thinking of the destruction of “home” as an act of killing, we recognise the its true value – home means so much more than simply a place or a building. And, although the meaning of home varies from person to person, those who lose their home – for whatever reason – almost universally experience shock, grief and bereavement. Justice Lloyd’s comments on handing down Gibney’s sentence reflect two vital but overlooked truths: that home has meaning beyond bricks and mortar and that being homeless does not necessarily mean having no home at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Kinsella does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Judge acknowledges attack on rough sleeper’s home, after he and his belongings were urinated on by a drunk passer-by.Clare Kinsella, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/914292018-02-07T15:48:37Z2018-02-07T15:48:37ZAmazon headquarters: here’s what it will take to be the winning city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205308/original/file-20180207-74482-1hv32xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amazon's original headquarters in Seattle. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/editorial-buildings-landmarks-daytime-view-amazon-723982027">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities across the US are locked in fierce competition to host Amazon’s second headquarters – known as HQ2. This is a big race: <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/01/hq2-hunger-games-meet-your-tributes/551000/">a shortlist of 20 cities</a> seems to think this particular corporate investment can go a long way to solving some of their ongoing economic problems.</p>
<p>The process of inward investment – whereby large firms establish operations in a new location, either at home or abroad – has been seen for a long time as a way of creating positive economic change. They can create many new jobs in areas which are crying out for them, but they also bring new entrepreneurial activity, improved management skills, international know-how and a wider boost to other local businesses. </p>
<p>But these decisions can cause big problems. As is typical, Amazon has effectively set off a competition between a number of major US cities for its investment, which means they will all now be trying to outbid each other in terms of the “offer” they can make. This will include their existing assets such as land, infrastructure, transport connectivity and, most importantly, people – ideally with the right blend of skills and aptitudes that Amazon needs. </p>
<p>The big downside of this form of competition is that cities will start offering inducements of a fiscal nature – usually in the form of tax breaks – in order to capture the big prize.</p>
<h2>A big prize</h2>
<p>Amazon is now <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-extraordinary-size-of-amazon-in-one-chart-2017-1?r=US&IR=T">one of the biggest businesses</a> in the world, having very successfully tapped into our growing desire for the convenience of online shopping and deliveries to our doorstep. The business is evolving and expanding, and the company now needs a second major HQ operation, in addition to their existing global control centre in Seattle. </p>
<p>With the promise of up to <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/amazon-headquarters-automation-robots-cities-2017-12">50,000 new jobs</a> and US$5 billion in construction investment, it is no surprise that over 230 US cities threw their hats into the ring for this major prize. Bids were invited, and then a shortlist of 20 possible host cities drawn up. This list includes major metropolises such as Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles, as well as smaller cities such as Indianapolis, Miami, Austin and Columbus, Ohio.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BeiI-VVlfcT","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Major inward investments do indeed have the capacity for <a href="https://www.oecd.org/investment/investmentfordevelopment/1959815.pdf">major economic uplift</a>. But it’s not just the volume of jobs that might be created locally which is important – it’s how this new investment becomes truly embedded into the local and wider regional economy. There are many examples of big business investing in an area, only to up sticks a decade later and move on to the next best location – often overseas - to take advantage of lower operating costs.</p>
<h2>The long game</h2>
<p>Each bidding city needs to be very clear about what it is prepared to offer Amazon. If this includes tax incentives, then there also needs to be an obvious, long-term payoff, in terms of local economic impact. The winning city must have a firm strategy in place for receiving Amazon, and this needs to cover a few significant factors. For instance, the city needs to have a clear idea of how many new jobs will really be created, how good they are and over what time period they will appear. </p>
<p>Amazon, like many big e-commerce businesses, will be quick to take advantage of the efficiency savings driven by automation and artificial intelligence. This may eventually reduce the total number of jobs available in its new facility. </p>
<p>Ideally, the city that wins will be able to create a business environment that encourages Amazon to locate more and better quality jobs away from Seattle and not just have lower-order, back office functions in its new operation.</p>
<p>Similarly, inward investment can have a major impact economically by strengthening local supply chains – those local businesses that can provide specialised goods and services to the new arrival. These supply chains need to operate effectively and be supported with managerial, infrastructural and skills enhancement, so that they become a critical part of Amazon’s business model. That way, the firm will not want to move away later on, because it cannot take its unique local supply chain operation with it. Better to stay put and keep investing in the host location.</p>
<p>The race to win the new Amazon HQ should not be a quick sprint to the finish. It’s more like a marathon that needs careful, long-term planning if the full benefits are to be achieved for the winning city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Coleman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are 20 US cities bidding to host Amazon’s HQ2 – but the winner will have its work cut out to make the most of the prize.Jim Coleman, Professor of Professional Practice, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/882652017-12-04T08:51:49Z2017-12-04T08:51:49ZSelling homes for £1 gives local authorities the power to revive deprived communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197306/original/file-20171201-10124-13lpkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/row-boarded-terraced-houses-760438531?src=Eh2AfKU_ETLFxuHbs-Gehg-2-1">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the city of Stoke-on-Trent, England, the council is offering 25 homes for sale for just £1 each. The houses are mainly two-bedroom Victorian terraces, in a deprived area of the city where there are a large number of empty properties, and which has a reputation locally for <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2013-10-18/1-house-neighbourhood-previously-had-drug-problem/">high levels of disorder</a> and <a href="http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/idmap.html">antisocial behaviour</a>. Clearly, the city council hopes the “Reviving Communities Scheme” will do just that. </p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that Christmas has come early for private landlords or property developers in Stoke. These properties must be renovated and lived in, rather than demolished or rented out, and there are <a href="https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20006/housing_and_neighbourhoods/274/reviving_communities_housing_scheme">strict criteria</a> which applicants need to meet. </p>
<p>Would-be £1 home owners must have a local connection and earn no more than £27,000 each year if they’re a single person (up to £60,000 if they’ve got a family with children). This scheme includes a loan of up to £60,000 – repayable over 15 years – which funds renovations carried out by the council before new owners move in. This way, new owners can avoid the stressful process of organising the renovations themselves.</p>
<h2>The big issues</h2>
<p>Faced with ongoing austerity measures, Stoke-on-Trent City Council <a href="https://www.stoke.gov.uk/news/article/158/public_to_be_consulted_on_budget_refresh_proposals">has had to</a> make £172m in savings since 2010 and will need to find a further £34m by 2020. So one might wonder why the council doesn’t simply renovate the properties to rent them out and generate much-needed income in the process. The answer is that – rather than being a money-maker – this scheme sets out to address some of the deepest social issues facing Britain today. </p>
<p>It is estimated that there are more than <a href="http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN03012">589,000 empty homes</a> in England and Wales – more than 200,000 of which have been empty for six months or more. Against the backdrop of severe housing shortages across the UK – and an anticipated <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536702/Household_Projections_-_2014_-_2039.pdf#page=2">need to build over 210,000 homes per year</a> – the £1 scheme can put disused homes back into use, providing short-term relief from some of the pressure on the housing market and freeing up extra rental spaces in the city. </p>
<p>The scheme has been introduced at a time when many young people are struggling to buy a home. <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/10188">Incomes are stagnating</a> and, on average, house prices are <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingaffordabilityinenglandandwales/1997to2016">7.6 times the average UK salary</a>, up from 3.6 times earnings in 1997. <a href="https://www.cml.org.uk/documents/home-ownership-or-bust/20161017-home-ownership-or-bust.pdf">The Council of Mortgage Lenders</a> recently revealed that less than 50% of people under 35 believe they are likely to buy a home within 10 years. </p>
<p>While there have been calls for young people to <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/estate-agent-says-londons-millennials-should-stop-buying-sandwiches-holidays-and-nights-out-in-order-a3690481.html?amp">spend less and save for a deposit</a>, the reality is often that young people – who are far more likely to <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7706/CBP-7706.pdf">live in private or social rented housing</a> – routinely pay more in rent than they would for a mortgage.</p>
<p>The uncertainties of living in rented housing – exacerbated by short-term lets – have recently spread to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/nov/04/pay-to-stay-uncertainty-leaves-tenants-too-little-time-says-council">council tenants and other social renters</a>. The £1 homes scheme offers residents, and especially younger people, an affordable way to buy their own homes and escape these uncertainties. </p>
<h2>Small but successful</h2>
<p>Schemes like this have been tried before – in Stoke back in 2014, and in cities as far afield as Liverpool in the UK, Roubaix in France and Abruzzo in Italy. The previous scheme in Stoke proved remarkably popular, attracting <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-22507248">hundreds of applications</a> for just 35 homes. </p>
<p>There is evidence that they work, too – Stoke’s <a href="https://www.stoke.gov.uk/news/article/154/weve_launched_the_second_phase_of_the_award-winning_empty_homes_project">first £1 homes scheme</a> led to reductions in disorder and anti-social behaviour, as well as improvements in local health outcomes and housing conditions in the local area. Meanwhile, <a href="http://theportlandinnproject.tumblr.com/">The Portland Inn Project</a> has encouraged local organisations to work together to turn the former Portland Inn into a community centre. In working to breathe new life into the former pub, they have helped local residents develop a stake in the community.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BR5TfN0A2lu","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Schemes such as this can work in tandem with other initiatives to deliver real benefits for local people. For example, Stoke has been shortlisted for the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/five-towns-and-cities-shortlisted-for-uk-city-of-culture-2021">UK City of Culture 2021</a> contest. The ambition to revive declining communities and support local cultural and heritage industries formed a key part of the bid. </p>
<p>In this sense, the £1 scheme can be seen as part of the broader plan to encourage and sustain the city’s long-term cultural revival. It has given the council a means to encourage and maintain stable inner-city communities, while delivering benefits for residents by creating a sense of safety, belonging and ownership. It can also encourage younger residents to make a long-term commitment to the local area, helping places to become communities that survive and thrive long into the future.</p>
<p>On their own, small projects such as £1 houses won’t give all residents a chance to own their own home – nor can they alleviate the insecurities of renting or make up for the nation’s housing shortages. Only the national government has the power to solve problems of this scale. But they do give local authorities the means to encourage a sense of ownership in their local communities. And for Stoke – and many other post-industrial centres across the UK and Europe – that commitment from residents is what helps cities thrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88265/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Kearon is affiliated with the Labour and Co-operative parties in Staffordshire and has been involved in helping a local authority in Staffordshire (not Stoke on Trent) to develop policies and procedures on community cohesion and support for homeless and other vulnerable people. As a District and Parish councillor he has been involved in supporting residents to develop a neighbourhood plan for the community in which he lives (which is not in Stoke on Trent).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Mahoney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Only the national government can solve the housing crisis – but local authorities can make a big difference in their communities.Ian Mahoney, Lecturer in Criminology, Liverpool Hope UniversityTony Kearon, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Co-Director of the Keele Policing Academic Collaboration (KPAC), Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/868622017-11-03T17:11:11Z2017-11-03T17:11:11ZHastings Pier has proved that local people can take control of the regeneration agenda – and win<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193208/original/file-20171103-1041-15mc8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C461%2C4497%2C2848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrfizzy/33234032821/sizes/l">MrFizzy/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was blown away when I learned that Hastings Pier – once an abandoned and derelict Victorian relic – had won this year’s Stirling Prize. A community-led development has been officially declared the UK’s best new building. This victory demonstrates that excellent architecture and meaningful regeneration can be achieved through projects that are led by local citizens, and rooted in their communities. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193205/original/file-20171103-1008-vjnfke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London Road Fire Station: inspiring.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajturner/880017578/sizes/l">Andrew Turner/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I came to know about Hastings Pier through my involvement in the campaign to save <a href="http://www.londonroadfire.org/">London Road Fire Station</a> in Manchester. These two very different structures have a few important things in common. </p>
<p>Both buildings are held in deep affection by their local communities; both recognised as having important heritage value by official bodies such as <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/caring-for-heritage/take-ownership/case-studies/hastings-pier">Historic England</a> – and both were left to decay.</p>
<p>Sadly, it is not unusual for significant buildings to be left to ruin for decades, when owners can’t or won’t act to sell or save them. Situations like these can be described as “difficult” or even “delinquent” ownership. </p>
<p>In such cases, the ownership of the site becomes a long-term stumbling block preventing regeneration – often with a knock-on effect to the wider area. Even where there is the investment and the political will to bring a building back into use, a project can be stalled permanently by a landowner who refuses to cooperate. </p>
<p>Local consultant Jericho Road Solutions, which was involved with the campaign to save Hastings Pier, established the <a href="http://www.cado-project.co.uk/">Community Assets in Difficult Ownership</a> (CADO) programme to work with ten such projects, including Hastings Pier and the London Road Fire Station. Between them, these ten buildings have been empty for <a href="http://www.cado-project.co.uk/about-cado/">a total of 224 years</a>, representing a loss to the economy of more than £1bn. </p>
<p>Local community groups associated with each project received grants, advice and mutual support to help them progress. </p>
<h2>People power</h2>
<p>Hastings Pier was eventually freed from its private owner, Ravenclaw, through the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). CPOs are legal powers available to local authorities, which can force land owners to sell land or buildings under certain circumstances. </p>
<p>A balance has to be struck between a person’s right to own property and the wider public interest. One example of when a CPO might be used would be to acquire land for major infrastructure projects, such as HS2. For this reason, CPOs can be viewed as a threat by local communities looking to protect their homes and land. But CPOs can also be used to buy a site needed to support urban regeneration, or to save a historic listed building which is in urgent need of repair. This latter mechanism was the one used to save Hastings Pier.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193206/original/file-20171103-1014-i6gltp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In desperate need of some TLC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtweed/9738661346/sizes/l">jtweed/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Hastings, the pressure for the CPO actually came from the local community. Councils are often risk averse and prefer to avoid confrontational action such as CPOs – which can result in significant legal costs if things don’t go according to plan. </p>
<p>By 2011, the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust (HPWRT) had been established, and was raising funds with the long term ambition of taking over the pier to run it as a community asset. But the project remained in limbo due to its “difficult owners”.</p>
<p>With expert advice on both sides and a series of productive meetings, the HPWRT and the local council came to an agreement. The necessary building repairs were identified and Ravenclaw were given an opportunity to carry them out. When this didn’t happen, the council was in a position to acquire the pier using a CPO. </p>
<p>The pier was then immediately transferred to the HPWRT, in what is known as a “back-to-back” agreement. The success of this strategy is a credit to the willingness of both parties to work hard at developing a constructive relationship and to try a new approach. </p>
<h2>Inspiring change</h2>
<p>The CADO programme <a href="http://www.cado-project.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/CADO-policy-ask-Jun-15.docx">has recommended</a> new laws to support the regeneration of buildings that are languishing under a “difficult owner”. </p>
<p>But until those changes can be made, I hope that local authorities and government can take confidence from the success in Hastings and view community groups as partners, working carefully to use enforcement powers that are already available to them. These strategies can secure the highest standards in architecture and – unlike much private investment in development and regeneration – the buildings belong to the community. </p>
<p>There are also lessons here for community activists. Those working to influence their local area often find themselves reacting to proposals by developers. Precious time and resources are consumed with this essential scrutiny work to fight inappropriate developments. But the story of Hastings Pier should inspire citizens everywhere, reminding them to sometimes take a proactive approach to pursuing the kind of built environment they yearn for.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Curtin is chair of the Friends of London Road Fire Station. She has received funding from the Community Assets in Difficult Ownership Programme for a project with the Friends of London Road Fire Station. She is affiliated with The Labour Party. </span></em></p>A community-led development has been officially declared the UK’s best new building.Emma Curtin, Architect and lecturer, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.