A spatial and statistical approach to evaluate London Opportunity areas policy and relevant factors’ significance

ABSTRACT

A mature developed urban area like London has various policy tools to trigger economic development and leverage poverty. The scale of economic inequality in London has called for more effective policy tools to leverage poverty and close the gaps of economic inequality. Opportunity Areas is one of the tools in urban regeneration to alleviate poverty and develop communities. After over a decade of the policy rollout we have little knowledge how effective this type of policy tool is. The project investigates how effective opportunity areas for economic growth and societal development in London. The key economic indicators including unemployment rate and house price were assessed at MSOA/ward levels in London to understand their spatial variation through GIS mapping. Subsequently, socio-economic factors of commercial land use, culture infrastructure and public transport accessibility were discussed and selected to explore whether they have impacts on the difference of economic performance within opportunity areas. The spatial impacts of these factors among wards/MSOA were evaluated by Geographically Weighted Regression. The research discussed these factors’ variations in Lee Valley, Park Royal and Croydon. Finally, this paper argued that local geographical context has limitations for small area growth corresponding to general policy and strategic management plan.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban Regeneration
• Spatial Analysis
• Econometrics
• London
• Opportunity Areas

Author Contributors

The author’s associated institution has changed in September 2023, when this paper was written, the associated institution was UCL. Currently, the author’s institution is the University of Cambridge, Department of Architecture. Email: [email protected].

However, since the author was associated with UCL when the paper was written, UCL was put here as the associated institution. If there are any further problems, please contact the author.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Mrs. Weigang Yan, a researcher at the Land Economy Department at the University of Cambridge. She continuously provided feedback and suggestions throughout this research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

All the datasets used in this research paper can be obtained through some open access portals:

Data Store, L., 2022. Opportunity Areas – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: <https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/opportunity_areas> [Accessed 17 July 2022].

London Data Store., 2019. Average House Prices by Borough, Ward, MSOA & LSOA – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: <https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/average-house-prices> [Accessed 17 July 2022].

London Data Store, 2019. Cultural Infrastructure Map – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: <https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/cultural-infrastructure-map> [Accessed 17 July 2022].

London Data Store., 2011. Ward Profiles and Atlas – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: <https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/ward-profiles-and-atlas> [Accessed 17 July 2022].

London Data Store., 2015. Public Transport Accessibility Levels – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: <https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/public-transport-accessibility-levels> [Accessed 16 July 2022].

London Data Store., 2019. Indices of Deprivation – London Datastore. [online] Data.london.gov.uk. Available at: < https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/indices-of-deprivation> [Accessed 1 September 2023].

Nomis – Official Census and Labour Market Statistics. 2019. [online] Available at: <https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/> [Accessed 17 July 2022].

Dataset of POIs’ DOI is referenced as below:

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/4KHGMO