Public-led shared workspaces and the intangible factors of urban regeneration in UK coastal towns

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that policies designed to create new shared workspaces have the power to deliver skills, innovation and new employment opportunities to peripheral areas and lagging economies. We examine this idea using case studies from two British coastal locations and industrial ports of different sizes and governance structures: Portsmouth (Hampshire) and Newhaven (East Sussex). Our findings indicate the need for integrated place-based solutions that are targeted and anchored in the local needs and identities of the place. Governmental frameworks should not only address the physical aspects of regeneration but also the social and institutional ones. Positive externalities are registered when shared workspaces act as social infrastructure. For this to happen, regeneration policy needs to work on community building, regaining local trust and nurturing positive local identities and imaginaries. Finally, we note that fragmented institutional patterns hamper the scaling up of positive externalities at the wider regional scale.