A rat’s eye view of regeneration

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, first published in the UK last year, is the debut novel of US author Sam Savage. It tells the story of a rat who lives in a ramshackle bookstore on Boston’s Scollay Square in the 1960s. Firmin, the runt of his litter, nibbles on the books around him in order to survive, later developing the ability to read and as a consequence a very human - and not at all rat-like - sense of the world around him. A voracious reader, he reads books including Oliver Twist, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Middlemarch, Alice in Wonderland and many more. Savage’s book chronicles Firmin’s musings as he attempts to make friends, firstly with the bookshop’s human owner Norman Shine, and then later on with the struggling and eccentric science fiction author Jerry Magoon.

Firmin’s exploits take place against the backdrop of a huge urban regeneration project. As the story moves on, so too does the city council’s plans to redevelop the neighbourhood in which Scollay Square is located. Early on, we learn that the city council and mayor plan “to replace Scollay Square with a large flat piece of concrete, and on top of that, to frighten people, they were going to put government buildings, like forts”. Pictures were published in Boston’s Globe newspaper, showing how Boston would “gleam like Miami” when the project was finished. But for Firmin, and local traders, “a sense of doom began to gather around us like a poison mist”. As the regeneration project gathers pace, eviction notices are served on traders and residents, windows are boarded up and buildings burn. Whole blocks are cleared. Local storekeepers are resigned to their fate and Firmin is sad: “At night the stars wept.”

The regeneration project described by the rodent is loosely based on a real scheme, an author's note at the end of the book reveals. Scollay Square (pictured left in the 1880s) did really exist in downtown Boston until 1962, by which time the area had become an ageing and seedy district. More than 1,000 buildings were demolished in the area as part of the redevelopment project and 20,000 residents were displaced. An entirely new district was built on top of the square, featuring government, state and federal buildings, such as Boston City Hall.

I enjoyed the book. Not so much for its apocalyptic view of regeneration, but more because it has many funny and moving moments. Worth a read.

Mandelson's mobility masterplan?

Business secretary Lord Mandelson’s new vision for higher education, which includes proposals to make universities more socially inclusive, has sparked a furious outpouring of rage on newspaper comment sites.

I counted no less than 50 posts tacked onto the end of The Guardian’s news report and around 25 on The Times’ - the vast majority of which were vehemently against the proposals and indicate that the public does not really believe universities and colleges are the appropriate place for attempts at social and economic regeneration.

For those who missed Mandelson’s announcement, the main bones of contention were: 1) that he called for businesses to be more involved in the design and content of university courses and offer work placements to prepare students for employment, and 2) that students from deprived backgrounds should be given more consideration during the university admissions process regardless of the standard of their academic work (so that they can still study at high-calibre institutions and be given a better chance later on in life).

Responses ranged from the well thought out (“If you let employers design the courses you will end up with dry vocational courses that Mr Gradgrind [from Dickens’ damming critique of utilitarianism, Hard Times] would be proud of - designed to churn out the next generation of office drones”) to the downright angry (“It's a joke that the universities are in the hands of the business secretary, and for all the stuff about social mobility and student choice, what it’s saying is that employers must be the ones to determine what people should learn about. I can remember hearing the same crap from Sir Keith Joseph 25 years ago. It was nonsense then, and it's nonsense now.”).

A few others had to be removed from the Guardian site - presumably because they were too aggressive/controversial for publication.

Meanwhile, the Bristol Evening Post reported that Bristol University has firmly stated that it would not be changing its admissions policy. “Our bias is towards academic commitment and potential, not towards people from any particular kind of background. We have no interest in social engineering. The outstanding individuals we teach can be found in every part of society, and we're very active in seeking them out and encouraging them,” a university spokesman said.

Where do you stand? Is the business secretary right to attempt to use university admissions to boost social mobility?

By SARAH TOWNSEND

The BNP horror show

Following BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC's Question Time last month we conducted a readers' poll to see whether you thought the BNP would receive a boost in popularity from all the attention: 34 per cent of you thought YES, whereas 66 per cent thought NO. I was in the NO camp. I supported the decision of the BBC to invite Griffin as I'm of the view that that the brighter the spotlight you shine on these people, the more ridiculous and half-witted they are shown to be. Nevertheless, I was disappointed and disturbed by the show.

Biking to my tube station the next morning I took a moment to imagine what life must look like through the eyes of Nick Griffin. Given that my local tube is Bethnal Green and my bike ride is through the heart of one of the most culturally diverse areas in the world, let alone in the UK, the scene, I imagined, would be one that would make Mr Griffin recoil.

For here before me lay the consequences of untrammelled immigration: Asian mothers in colourful garb walking young girls to school with heads veiled; a meeting hall for Muslim youth between Turkish kebab houses and a Chinese takeaway; a young black boy on a BMX tailing along behind a teenage white girl (heaven help us if they were to hold hands!); and yes, a classroom of schools kids on an outing and only three white faces – the horror!

Making my way to work that morning I was truck by the absurdity and sadness of Mr Griffin’s worldview. I live on the border of two of Britain’s poorest and most diverse boroughs: Hackney and Tower Hamlets. These are boroughs that are always in the top five worst lists for all the important indicators of health, wealth and happiness. Yet they are places that have an extraordinary richness and vibrancy that has arisen because of - not despite of - their cultural diversity.

The Britain I live in and have made my home – for I am one of this country’s many immigrants – is so distant from the Britain that Mr Griffin sees that they bare no comparison: It is Africa to Mr Griffin’s Antarctica. My Britain is one where people from many different places and yes, races, live together, perhaps not in idealised peace and harmony, but in a muddled together pragmatic acceptance, or in other words, in tolerance. Tolerance is at the heart of liberalism and as such is intrinsically British. Fascism is not. Liberalism opens the door to difference and tries to understand it. Needless to say, fascism does not.

It is for these reasons that I was disappointed and disturbed by Mr Griffin’s appearance on Question Time. Not because I objected to Mr Griffin being invited but because nobody on the panel, least of all the lamentable Jack Straw, made the argument for immigration as a source of richness, both cultural and economic. I was disappointed because no one stood up and said modern Britain is wealthy, rich and wonderful and is so because it has opened its arms to its old empire and embraced diversity. Instead, all the arguments were founded on the negative - that immigration is a harm that must be controlled rather than a good that should be managed. And until our politicians have the courage to start making the argument that diversity is a good in and of itself as it makes our lives richer, I believe the BNP will continue to prosper. That would be the true horror show.

Regional spatial strategies - where do you stand?

The clunkily titled Local Democracy, Economic Development & Construction Bill currently wending its way through Parliament legislates for the creation of single regional plans for economic growth.

These so-called single Regional Spatial Strategies bring together previously separate plans for economic development and transport with housing and are to be drawn up and overseen by the regional development agencies, in "partnership" with Local Authority Leaders Boards (though in cases of disagreement, the regional development agencies have the final say).

Supporters of the new strategies say they are crucial to planning economic growth across real economic areas. Economic development, of which housing growth is an integral part, cannot be planned effectively at a local level, they say.

But opponents, including the Conservative Party, argue that because the RDAs are unelected quangos, the strategies are undemocratic impositions on local government. The Conservatives have promised to abolish RSSs if they are elected. Under the Tories, planning powers would return to town halls, while some or all of the RDAs are likely to be disbanded. Read an interview with Tory party chairman Eric Pickles (above) on the subject here.

Regeneration & Renewal wants to know what you think.

Do you support the Tories' plans to scrap regional spatial strategies? Vote in the poll at the top of this blog.

By ALLISTER HAYMAN

Boris's circus act

London mayor Boris Johnson stopped the traffic for five minutes on Oxford Circus yesterday, to officially open a Tokyo-inspired diagonal crossing that will allow pedestrians to traverse in all directions one of Europe’s busiest intersections. The redesigned crossing, part of a scheme in the West End approved by Westminster City Council, is modelled on Hachiko crossing in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, where an awful lot of pedestrians weave their way to the other side of the road every day. A handful of Londoners acknowledged the inspiration, dressing up as their favourite Japanese manga character.

The makeover, which included removing guardrails and other clutter, has increased the amount of pavement space by nearly 70 per cent, Transport for London says. We went to Oxford Circus to see how commuters felt about the new crossing.

“To be able to move away from the panic of cyclists and traffic around you feels quite liberating,” said Leeroy Milton, who works in retail and negotiated the 25 metre crossing quite smoothly. “I was able to swing my arms quite a bit. I’ve always found the amount of time it takes to navigate this area very frustrating. I think it will give priority back to pedestrians.”

Whether or not Oxford Circus’ 32,000 pedestrians per hour can pass through it as unflappably as their counterparts in Shibuya remain to be seen. Tokyoites don’t tend to swing their elbows with quite the same force that Londoners do. (However, preliminary eye-witness accounts reported no incidents.)

But it did make us think, what will be the next Tokyo trend to be adopted by London’s mayor? White-gloved wardens to push commuters onto rush-hour trains? Boris cycling to City Hall in a cosplay-style maid outfit?

It seems appropriate to give the last word to a Japanese. “It felt pretty familiar,” said Teppei Inamoto, a London-based freelance graphic designer, when asked about his Oxford Circus saunter. “I think Londoners will be fine walking diagonally - once they get used to it.”

Regeneration tweeters: Five of the best

Whether you love it, hate it, or just think it's completely pointless, there's no doubting the popularity of social messaging website Twitter, which allows users to post frequent updates on their activities. Regeneration & Renewal launched its own Twitter page - www.twitter.com/regenerationUK - back in March, and it has now clocked up more than 500 followers and over 850 tweets.

The PM's wife Sarah Brown, comedian Stephen Fry and US president Barack Obama are perhaps the most well-known tweeters. But regeneration practitioners and related organisations have also got in on the act. If you've not yet embraced Twitter, here are five renewal-related tweeters to get you started:

tobyblume
Whose page is it? Toby Blume, chief executive of voluntary sector umbrella body Urban Forum.
Sample tweet: "back from a partly enforced twitter sabbatical. though i have realised that it is possible to live happily without twitter (but not email)"

THEPLANNERMAN
Whose page is it? Blackpool-based town planning consultant and chartered surveyor Ian Butter.
Sample tweet: "Nice quiet day today prepping planning applications on the Portal and befuddling myself with PowerPoint. F1 @ 5.00 though so time for break."

grantshapps
Whose page is it? Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps.
Sample tweet: "Will be on front bench for PMQs today. Rest of time working on a variety of housing and constituency issues."

Mike_Plunkett
Whose page is it? Mike Perry of the Plunkett Foundation.
Sample tweet:"Will the village shop on The Archers be saved. Maybe based in the pub? Maybe build a new premises? Will the community take ownership?"

emptyhomes
Whose page is it? David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency.
Sample tweet: "Government concludes that monopoly house builders are the problem. What took them so long?"

Are we missing any out?

By JAMIE CARPENTER

'Set the phasers to equality'

Just how closely does the fictitious Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship in BBC2's savage political comedy “The Thick of It” resemble the very real Department for Communities and Local Government?

The first episode in the third series of the show may well have had the policy wonks at the DCLG squirming in their swivel chairs.

It was Cabinet reshuffle day and spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) was on the hunt for a new secretary of state for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship - any “mammal with a head” would do. Enter the thrusting Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front, who made me laugh out loud years ago here).

“My primary focus is social mobility - that's my big thing,” said Murray to her two hapless advisers, Ollie and Glenn, in an early attempt at consensus building. “I suppose I am telling you that partly to get your take on it and so you can start spreading the news: Fire up the turbo chargers, set the phasers to equality - it's Murray time.”

Alas, social mobility isn’t exactly high on the list of priorities at Number 10.

“Social mobility – making people richer – costs money,” says Glenn. “And we don’t have that.”

Nicola doesn’t advance her cause when she announces she is planning to send her youngest to an independent school. Rips Malcolm: “You are saying that your local state schools that this government so drastically improved are knife addled rape sheds.”

Could any dissenting voter have put it to her better?

Nicola then refused to share a lift with her tormentor, not because he’d be hurling insults at her all the while but because she is – get this - claustrophobic.

“It’s about not being able to get out,” she said.

Any civil servant stuck in some kind of bureaucratic stasis will know what that feels like.

We’ll be watching next week with interest, not least to see how the life of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship holds its own – or not – against the tyrant Malcom.

But will the good folks at the DCLG be doing the same - or is "The Thick of It" just a little too close to the bone?