Transport investment and urban regeneration in a provincial city: Sheffield, 1992-96

The author examines the relationship between transport investment and urban regeneration in an English provincial city. On the whole transport objecti ves and policy initiatives have not been addressed, in urban policy effecte d by successive governments since 1977. In part as a consequence, there has been a marked dearth of empirically based intraurban research in which tha t nexus between transport infrastructure and social and economic renewal ha s been explored. In the early 1990s, Sheffield proved to be an especially i nteresting laboratory within which to examine this issue because of the con struction of a new light rail-transit system, the South Yorkshire Supertram (SYS), and a substantial programme of new and improved roads. During the p eriod 1992 to 1996, the research team undertook 'before-and-after' surveys of the effects of the SYS and enhanced road provision on five elements of u rban regeneration: image, property values, land use, business (re)location, and labour mobility. New investment had only a relatively limited impact o n regeneration and, where effects could be identified, enhanced road invest ment proved significantly more beneficial than did the SYS. However, the po licy environment within which the SYS was implemented was never likely to m aximise regeneration, primarily because of the lack of integration across r egeneration agencies and transport providers.