The Role of Welfare States in Making Global Cities Liveable: Reflections on London’s Experiences

John Hudson

w: www.york.ac.uk/spsw/hudson.htmle: john.hudson@york.ac.uk

Overview

• A social policy perspective

• Welfare states & wellbeing

• Global Cities, welfare & wellbeing

• Reflections on London

Background

• Comparative social policy analysis– Tremendous output, innovation

• National welfare states/regimes focus–Global dimension of social policy?–Post-national welfare regimes?

• Flaws arise from national focus

Background

• Core data sets provide state-istics

• Methodological fix for sub-national variation:– National aggregates or averages– Exclude ‘non-typical’ regions/areas– Base data on a ‘typical’ region/area

• Okay if sub-national variation matters less than cross-national variation…. does it?

Global Cities

• Castells – Network Society

– Annihilation of time and space

– Space of flows replaces space of place

• Place matters less so matters more?

– Key hubs/nodes exist within the network

– Space of flows is most intense in global cities

Global Cities

‘[they] articulate the global economy, link up the informational networks, and concentrate the world’s power […] concentrating the directional, productive, and managerial upper functions all over the planet: the control of the media; the real politics of power; and the symbolic capacity to create and diffuse messages’

Castells, The Network Society (2010)

Global Cities & Welfare

#1: How do leading world network cities influence national political debates about globalisation and welfare?

• Inevitably follows theory

– a process not a place

– creation of knowing agents

– influence composition of key national policy networks

Global Cities & Welfare

# 2: How does the context for social policies in leading world network cities differ from the national picture of the territories they reside in?

• Economically different

• Demographically different

• More like each other than their national average?

Global Cities & Welfare

# 3 - How do welfare outcomes in leading world network cities differ from the national picture of the territories they reside in?

• Sites of heightened social inequality and tension?

• Sharp end of globalisation

Global Cities & Welfare

# 4: How do welfare inputs in leading world network cities differ from the national picture of the territories they reside in?

• Magnets for economic resources…

• …magnets for public expenditure?

– Differing needs

– Heightened power

The Case of London

• Best example of a global city?

• Significant social challenges• Local-national-global interactions

• Reflect on London’s experience

Components

Jobs Unemployment rate

Income Gross Household Income per head

Health % working age potn unable to work due to disability or illness

Work-Life Balance

% working >45 hrs a week

Sectoral balance

Manufacturing share of GVA

Housing House prices to earnings ratio & owner occupation rate

Transport Average commuting time

Providing for Future Generations

% households with long term savings

Income Distribution

% population in top and bottom income deciles

Environment CO2 emissions per £ GDP

London: Low Liveability?

http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/goodgrowth/

London’s Special Context

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London’s Special Context

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London’s Special Context

Source: ONS

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/ http://www.ons.gov.uk

London: Social Spending Magnet?

Source: ONS

http://www.ons.gov.uk

London: Key Social Outcomes

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Income Inequality

London: Key Social OutcomesPoverty

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London: Key Social OutcomesPoverty

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London: Key Social OutcomesPoverty

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London: Key Social Outcomes

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Poverty

London: Key Social Outcomes

Mix adjusted house prices (£),

selected regions,June 2013

Wales 162,000 Northern Ireland 130,000 North East 145,000 North West 161,000 West Midlands 184,000 East 256,000 London 425,000 South East 299,000 United Kingdom 242,000

http://www.ons.gov.uk

Housing

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

London: Key Social OutcomesHousing

http://www.rightmove.co.uk

London: Key Social Outcomes

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Income Protection

London: Key Social Outcomes

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Income Protection

London: Key Social Outcomes

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/

Education

Conclusions

• Complex interplay of global, local, national

• Governance issues are complex

• Successes exist

• But great challenges, especially housing

• Welfare services key, but welfare state?