Our work

Place-making offers a connective narrative for the policy and research contribution of the Heseltine Institute, recognising the need to foster local capacity and resourcefulness in place, and speaks to the importance and value of our expertise.

Our approach is characterised by a commitment to co-production with research, policy and community stakeholders allowing us to convene different forms of expertise in order to generate creative synergies to drive outcomes that could otherwise not be reached.

Our research and policy engagement is focused on three interconnected themes:

Future of cities and city regions

How can we understand and generate sustainable, democratic and inclusive responses to defining urban challenges and opportunities?

Our response to this question is reflected in our current work on: urban governance and transformation, institutional design, commoning, smart cities, and social and democratic innovation.

Regional inequalities

How can we understand and generate evidence-based responses to rebalancing the UK’s regional inequalities in productivity, incomes, employment, health and well-being, and net zero?

Our response to this question is reflected in our current work on: economic development and inclusive growth, skills and employability, precarity and the future of work, and devolution and local and sub-national government.

Public service reform

How can we design and deliver public services in a way that enhances public value?

Our response to this question is reflected in our current work on: evaluating locally-led solutions to improve social and economic outcomes of place, and facilitating real-time learning on how public service reform is practically achieved to inform local and national policy.

The Heseltine Institute also supports the work of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences research theme Sustainable and Resilient Cities.