4A.A Successful Regions
Successful regions (San Francisco Bay area) have high rates of employment, inward migration, (internal and international) and low levels of deprivation, but also high property prices and skills shortages in both urban and rural areas.
Things that show a place is successful:
Economically successful rural and urban regions attract people and investment, though they are not free of problems (overheated property prices, congestion of roads and public transport, skills shortages).
Residents' perception of a successful places varies
Santa Clara County
Indicators of the regions success are:
Santa Clara County has a very ethnically diverse population, as it has attracted migrants from across the USA and internationally. In 2014, 198,000 immigrants gained residency or permission to work long term in California, more than any other US state and about 20% of the total for the USA>
Successful Urban Places
Rural Places
General
Things that show a place is successful:
- High rates of employment
- Inward migration (internal and international)
- Low levels of deprivation
Economically successful rural and urban regions attract people and investment, though they are not free of problems (overheated property prices, congestion of roads and public transport, skills shortages).
Residents' perception of a successful places varies
- as younger people in high-earning jobs will enjoy the fast pace and opportunities (e.g. London or Manchester). (But the unskilled on low wages/unemployed will disagree)
- retirees may want somewhere with a slower pace, a good climate, sheltered accomodation and access to healthcare, e.g. Torquay in Devon or Christchurch in Dorset. (But younger adults may wish to escape)
- most will view environmental quality in rural areas as better than in urban
Santa Clara County
- This is in the San Francisco Bay area of California, USA
- It is the original 'Silicon Valley' and host the headquarters of Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe and eBay in the cities of Cupertino, Palo Alto and San Jose.
Indicators of the regions success are:
- The population in 1990 was 1.5 million, growing to 1.9 million by 2015
- Though roughly the same size as Kent (the county in the UK), it has an annual GDP of $180 billion (similar to the Czech Republic)
- An average detached house in Santa Clara costs over US $1 million
- The average household income in 2014 was $89,000
Santa Clara County has a very ethnically diverse population, as it has attracted migrants from across the USA and internationally. In 2014, 198,000 immigrants gained residency or permission to work long term in California, more than any other US state and about 20% of the total for the USA>
- In 2017: 32% white, 26% Hispanic, 37% Asian, 3% black, 1% Native American, 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Successful Urban Places
- Either due to market forces and/or government-led regeneration
- E.g. London and the South East, as it benefits from being the capital and successive government policies to protect its competitive status, e.g. the Thames Gateway, the 2012 Olympic Games and Heathrow expansion plans.
- Large cities such as Birmingham and Bristol have developed strong service and financial centre economies.
- If a place is popular it means it's viewed as largely attractive.
- However, people with lower incomes in the successful places will be disadvantaged due to higher cost of living and property prices.
- In addition, skills shortages occur (IT, technology, creative, finance, engineering, plumbing, building and caring)
- due to previous low education take-up, restrictions on 'skilled' immigrants and inflated living costs (in London)
Rural Places
- The 2011 census showed that rural places generally were experiencing a reversal of a 250-year trend of urban areas dominating jobs, wages and productivity.
- Some small villages and towns such as Worchester have been growing faster than many larger urban areas, both in terms of population and economic output. Top of the Halifax survey list was Rutland in the East Midlands.
- Generally, rural areas have lower rates of unemployment and insolvencies, with the exception of some ex-mining settlements.
- There has been much growth in smaller and micro-businesses (under ten employees) and home working is more important than in rural areas. Higher value food products are booming, as are leisure and tourism.
- Accessible and attractive rural communities have seen in-migration of younger families, commuters and retirees. This counter-urbanisation reverses the long-term trend of net out-migration from the countryside to rural areas. Transport and technology innovations, especially mobile networks and government investment in high-speed broadband has allowed more highly skilled professionals to live in attractive rural locations.
General
- The ONS Well-Being Index and IMD deprivation index quantifies success while independent surveys give more subjective opinions.
- The annual Halifax Rural Quality of Life Survey and Sunday Times Index reveal that:
- Southern areas have higher ratings for weekly earnings, the weather, health and life expectancy.
- Northern areas rate well of education in terms of grades and smaller class sizes, lower house prices in relation to earnings and lower traffics flows and population densities.
- The annual Halifax Rural Quality of Life Survey and Sunday Times Index reveal that: