Cochrane

							Making up the new ‘South
    East’ as a region
   Allan Cochrane, The Open
           University
          Defining the ‘nation’
•   South East as the norm
•   Capital city – seat of government
•   Home Counties
•   Englishness (maybe even Britishness)
•   The rest is peripheral – defined as
    ‘provinces’…. ‘distressed areas’…. ‘the
    regions’
              Challenges
• Redefining Britishness – the end of Empire
  and the end of the post war boom
• Devolution to Scotland and Wales
• The emergence of the English regions
• City regions
• New institutional frameworks…and new
  institutions
         What is the region?
• Activity space stretches across a huge
  area of England – over half the population
  included
• Defined in relational terms – London city
  region
• Institutional framework – stunted and
  disconnected (three ‘regions’ – London,
  South East of England and East of
  England)
         Making up a region
• ‘Growth region’
• South East as national champion –
  England’s ‘world region’
• Hubs and diamonds
• Playing the game – looking for divisions
  within the region (e.g. coastal arc)
• Sustainable communities plan
• Beyond the institutional boundaries
      De-linking or re-linking?
• Still dependent on linkages with rest of UK
• Maybe making different claims –
  spreading out over the rest of England
  (Hall)
• Or the answer to the regional problem
  (Policy Exchange)
• Redefining the ‘national’
             Post growth
• BUT based on ‘growth’: what happens
  when growth stops and the ‘growth region’
  stops growing?
• Institutional legacies
• Just a blip – towards business as usual?
• Need for re-thinking
• National agenda – recognise linkages