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A concern for enduring positive outcomes has lain at the heart of staging the Olympics since the birth of the modern Games in 1896. Professor John Gold`s research has shown how Games- makers in cities that have hosted the Games — the so-called `Olympic cities' — have repeatedly framed and reframed their pursuit of those outcomes in light of the perceived values and needs of their particular times. Drawing on that research, he has contributed to public and policy debate about the lasting impact of London 2012, first, by identifying the challenges posed by demands for achieving a discernible legacy from staging the Games and, secondly, by helping to build a critical understanding of the formal and informal procedures by which knowledge is transferred from host cities to their successors.
Key insights from LSE Cities' interdisciplinary research on the `compact and well-connected' city have been incorporated by central government in national planning policy and by the Mayor of London in the London Plan. This has led to urban land being developed more intensively, ensuring more sustainable and efficient use of space in English towns and cities. Research on green city policies has been adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme (2011) and is determining policy formulation in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Portland. Urban Age conferences and research have created an international network of urban policy-makers and scholars, and LSE Cities staff have had impact on the design of the Olympic Park in London and development plans for cities outside the UK.
Simone's research has contributed to the building of a comprehensive knowledge base on changing residential patterns, investment history, local economies, and social power relations in fourteen districts of North and Central Jakarta. The richness of the knowledge he has generated and its influence on urban redevelopment and restructuring in Jakarta are a consequence of both his close collaboration with a number of institutional partners in Indonesia and their direct engagements with community residents, social action groups, architects, researchers and government decision makers. Through a variety of deliberative forums the results of his process oriented research and collaboration have been influential in a number of ways including the preparation of new housing legislation, the writing of a policy platform of a coalition of civic organizations and the consultative processes on a Spatial Plan for Jakarta. But perhaps most significantly the impact of his research is its contribution to identifying and giving voice to a range of possible future scenarios that are usually left out of policy deliberations and the collective imaginary of the city.
Communities have now become key measures of social need and welfare. Over the past 10 years Professor Mark Deakin's research has provided the means to turn around those communities previously deemed "unsustainable". This has been achieved by not only providing the means to tackle the inequalities of social exclusion and combat the culture of area-based deprivation, but by assembling the instruments (policy briefings, guidelines and decision support systems) that are needed for the value-adding and cost-saving measures of the urban regeneration programmes being promoted to succeed in meeting the welfare agenda which surrounds sustainable community development.
Two decades of research in the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University has significantly shaped public awareness and political understanding of the links between technology, infrastructure and security within highly urbanised societies. Research into the role of cities as key sites of security and war and the spread of `the surveillance society' are two interlocking foci that have generated impacts with global reach. Of particular significance are: a) research and scholarship to develop key concepts and a language that captures and communicates how urban landscapes are being infiltrated by military technologies. We specifically highlight the publication of Cities Under Siege as the culmination of this work and its impact on national and international public debate, and; b) specific studies into surveillance technologies in Britain that impact directly on public debate and the formation of specific national policy.
The European Institute for Urban Affairs' (EIUA) evidence, analyses and advocacy have shaped urban policies and decisively influenced policy makers in its city region, the UK and Europe. In recent years its major reports for government, the European Commission, Core Cities and the ESRC which demonstrate the crucial contribution of cities to the UK's national economic performance and welfare have had important policy impacts which are summarised in section 4. The Institute's work has driven the debate about the role and prospects of English cities and had a transformational effect on the way in which they are regarded and treated by government. In doing so the Institute has placed cities at the heart of economic policy making in the UK.
The significance of illumination for the development of innovative place-making strategies designed to enhance convivial life in the city, enable better communal heritage preservation and augment urban economic capacity has been acutely underestimated. The research showcased here is interested in discovering new concepts and methodologies for the understanding, utilisation and evaluation of illumination as both a facilitator and intrinsic expression of communal life in both the city and beyond. The research has initiated a vibrant knowledge exchange between academics, professionals and municipal authorities leading to the establishment of an increasingly international network focused on the politics, aesthetics, communal benefits and economic potential of effective urban place-making through strategic illumination. The research has also impacted on the tourism strategies of coastal towns and resorts, and on heritage cultivation through the provision of expert advice. Among both specialist stakeholders and the wider public the research has raised awareness of illumination as a place-making strategy, as well as a matter of class and taste. The research has also rehabilitated aspects of popular culture by reappraising the role of the vernacular in municipal event planning and general policy-making discourse.
Research related to the economic and social impact of major events and festivals conducted by the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) has provided a catalyst for the logical evaluation of hosting events. SIRC staff have provided national level research leadership culminating in the launch of an event evaluation framework (www.eventIMPACTS.com) in 2010, which is widely viewed as representing the `gold standard' by which the impacts of events and festivals are evaluated. The website has helped public and private organisations to assess and forecast the value of events, thus justifying public investment in events as well as benefiting their planning of events.
Research on urban planning has influenced planning decisions and assisted the Scottish Government and Local Authorities to maximise economic, physical and social factors in city visioning, planning and design. The private sector has received advisory and design training in master-planning though advanced spatial modelling principles and user engagement techniques; local authority planners have also been trained. The research has contributed to a paradigm shift in city planning towards place-making and community design, not just in Scotland but internationally. This agenda is now established as mainstream in city planning, and Scotland is regarded as a reference to best practice as witnessed by the wide adoption of planning documents such as Designing Places, Designing Streets, and in recent large scale developments such as Tornagrain (around 4,000 new homes), Knockroon (around 750 new homes) and Chapelton (around 8,000 new homes), which have used Strathclyde's master-planning techniques.
Intercultural exchange in multi-ethnic cities is increasingly understood as a source of cultural, social and economic dynamism. This argument is rehearsed by Bianchini in much of his published research and other interventions. His comparative research on Liverpool and other European port cities also highlighted cosmopolitan intercultural exchange central to the cultural characteristics of such cities. His work on port cities was the key source for a chapter of Liverpool's successful bid for the title of 2008 European Capital of Culture which made a major contribution to the city's economic development and regeneration. Subsequent work has been adopted by other cities in similar bidding frameworks, including most recently Matera, Italy, in its bid to become European City of Culture in 2019 for which it reached the Italian shortlist in November 2013.