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Developing a community-led approach to inclusive growth in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

    Cohort 2025 PhD Project

    About The Project

    This PhD project will examine the challenges and develop solutions for a bottom-up, community-led approach to inclusive economic growth in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.  Conventional local and regional development strategies have not considered who benefits from economic growth, who is able to access new jobs and the impact of growth on social and geographical inequalities. Inclusive growth is being explored by policymakers as an alternative model which focuses on ensuring that a growing economy also benefits marginalised local communities, and the need to create ‘good jobs’ and ‘good work’.  

    Nottingham City Council and, the newly established East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and Mayor have committed to a vision of inclusive growth. This commitment has the potential to break the cycle of inequality that has afflicted local communities by creating better jobs and more equitable opportunities. The city and region have struggled with the long-term impacts of deindustrialisation, which has contributed to high levels of low skill/ low pay jobs, low levels of household income, high levels of personal debt, and high levels of deprivation amongst local communities.  

    While the commitment to inclusive growth is welcome, research from other localities shows that a failure to avoid “business as usual” and understand the reality for people “on the ground” is a significant risk for inclusive growth approaches. Working with marginalised communities in Nottingham, EMCCA and other economic development stakeholders, this project will explore participatory and co-production approaches to policy change to develop solutions for a community-led, inclusive growth strategy.   

    Project Aims 

    The overall aims of the project are:     

    1. Provide a critical analysis of ‘inclusive growth’ as a local and regional development approach in the UK.  
    1. Critically examine the idea of ‘good work’ and its role in inclusive growth strategies.  
    1. Identify the challenges and barriers to the realisation of inclusive growth in general, and in Nottingham in particular.  
    1. Understand and define ‘inclusive growth’ and ‘good work’ from the perspective of marginalised communities and groups in Nottingham.  
    1. Identify mechanisms and pathways to enable marginalised communities and groups to shape and co-produce local and regional inclusive growth development pathways.  
    1. Identify policy frameworks that can ensure the consideration of marginalised community’s interest in policy change, and support the changes need to make inclusive growth successful. 

    Project Supervisors