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Loughborough University research into town centre consumer perceptions and behaviour has changed the awareness, attitudes and approaches of industry bodies, policymakers and retailers with regard to driving evidence-based strategies for town centre recovery. Nationally, it has informed industry bodies such as the British Retail Consortium and the Association of Town and City Management of the value of consumer perceptions for developing and evaluating town centre strategy. Locally, it formed a key component of the evidence-based advice that helped Loughborough Town Centre win a place in the government-commissioned Portas Pilot project to rejuvenate Britain's High Streets. High Street giants such as Boots have also acknowledged its importance.
Research undertaken by retail academics at Stirling Management School has stimulated, informed and shaped public and political debate, and policy development and practice on the planning requirements for retail developments, retail regeneration and town centre futures. This work has enhanced Scottish public policy towards retail development, underpinned the development of Business Improvement Districts in Scotland, the £60m Town Centre Regeneration Fund and been integral to the National Review of Town Centres.
Research carried out by Manchester Metropolitan University into the management of town and city centres has directly led to key changes in policy and practice - in particular, the acceptance and adoption of new partnership approaches to town and city change now supported by the Departments of Business Innovation and Skills, and Communities and Local Government. The research has also impacted on professional practice internationally, through the development of a comprehensive set of principles, standards and approaches disseminated through the Institute of Place Management and aimed at empowering communities to better manage town centres for the benefit of the local community.
Research into `Food and Sustainable Communities' has become increasingly applied and impact- oriented during the current REF census period, reflecting a diversification in funding sources and a growing recognition of the significance, quality and international reach of the research undertaken.
This research has delivered national and international impact in the following key areas:
Traditionally seaside towns have been one of the least understood of Britain's `problem areas'. Research by Beatty and Fothergill in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) has broken new ground by developing and applying methodologies to assemble systematic evidence on the population and economy of seaside towns, dispelling myths about their decline, providing more subtle view of trends around the coast, documenting economic growth as well as unemployment, and highlighting the diversity of local experience. Impact has been achieved through the dissemination of findings and the provision of advice and guidance to government, policy makers and politicians. The major beneficiaries of this research have been policy makers and politicians in central and local government.
Bangor research has significantly affected vegetable sourcing and distribution policies and practice of major fresh producers and UK supermarkets. Using a novel carbon footprinting model that incorporates all components of the production chain, the research demonstrated that footprints of vegetables vary with season, origin, production processes, transport and storage. The application of this model by industry partners has resulted in measures by food producers, suppliers and supermarkets to reduce carbon footprints, providing direct economic and environmental benefits through both waste reduction and technology implementation. Furthermore, the findings have impacted on sustainability policy development by the World Bank, international NGOs and Welsh Government, and influenced consumer awareness and debate on the environmental impact of food.
The Centre for Food Policy (CFP) at City University London uses applied research to develop `public interest' approaches to understanding the relations between food systems and consumers. A key focus is the tension between `food citizenship' and consumerism. Our research has long asked how food policy-makers can address and improve citizenship interests when faced with both `old' social divisions (inequalities, poverty, poor market access) and `new' pressures (energy-water-biodiversity footprints, environmental knowledge deficits, de- and re-skilling). Our impact has been in promoting policies to reshape the conditions for good, low impact consumption through: (a) generating high-level debate about sustainable diets (what to eat) at population and individual levels; (b) identifying and mapping the cultural and spatial realities that shape consumer choices; and (c) foregrounding the challenge of health literacy. CFP proposals have gained traction in food policy locally, regionally and internationally (including Europe, the USA and Australia), helped by our long and close relations with civil society organisations (including the United Nations) and with growing impact on government and companies, including the major supermarkets.
The Centre for Food Policy (CFP) at City University London has analysed the food system's dynamics and impacts and how policy shapes and addresses its challenges. CFP influence has taken two forms:
(1) Injecting the case for integrated policy analysis into policy debates. For example:
(2) Advising high-level policy-makers. For example:
Refrigeration alone accounts for 30-60% of the total energy consumption of retail food stores and 15-20% of carbon footprint of retail food chains in the UK. Since 2001, Prof Tassou and his research team at Brunel have been conducting research on combined heat and power (CHP), tri- generation (simultaneous production of electrical power, heat and refrigeration) and CO2 refrigeration systems for food retail applications. With their 25 industrial partners, these technologies were quickly exploited by large retail food stores such as Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's and Tesco. Since 2010, Marks and Spencer has reduced its carbon emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning by 60% from the 2006/7 baseline, saving over £4 million. 160 Sainsbury's stores have the new CO2 refrigeration system as of 2013 and they plan to have it installed in all 250 stores by 2014, saving over 70,000 tonnes of carbon footprint, equivalent to a financial saving of £3.6 million. They also provided training for the CO2 refrigeration system to 200 refrigeration service engineers in 2012. Tesco claims that using the CHP and the CO2 refrigeration system in its first `environmental store' has reduced 70% of its overall carbon footprint since its opening in 2009, of which a third comes from the CHP plant and a fifth from the new refrigeration system.
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.