Choice of case study cities
In order to explore these themes, four cities were chosen to examine in depth, two in each country of France and the UK. Comparative pairs in each country provided the opportunity to compare and contrast different situations between countries, while in the case of comparison between the country pairs, keeping the national context constant. The case studies were chosen according to the role of inclusive partnerships, including traditionally ‘unheard’ voices in participation processes; and the potential impact on wider levels of governance at the city level, that is, the influence of neighbourhood level governance processes on multi-level governance structures. The resultant cities were Vaulx-en-Velin in the Greater Lyon area and St Etienne in France, and Birmingham and Sheffield in the UK.
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The two pairs of cities have a certain symmetry: Lyon and Birmingham are both their countries’ second cities, with strong industrial histories but now reinventing themselves as post-industrial service and knowledge-based urban centres. Similarly, both St Etienne and Sheffield expanded in the 19th centuries due to their coal mining industries and related activities such as steel works, but both cities have found it harder to adjust to a post-industrial era, with relatively high unemployment and a lack of economic opportunities. There are thus parallels between the two cities in each country.
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