Professor Michael Parkinson CBE

Image: Michael Parkinson Michael has recently prepared the Visioning Study for the Birmingham City Centre Masterplan. He is Director of the European Institute for Urban Affairs, an urban research and consultancy group within Liverpool John Moores University. He was the lead author of The State of English Cities Report 2006 for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

He publishes extensively, lectures nationally and internationally and is a regular contributor to the media about urban regeneration. He acts as adviser on urban affairs to the European Commission, the OECD, EUROCITIES, the Core Cities and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. For DG Regio of the European Commission he was the Scientific Director of the Urban Audit, advised on the development of An Action Plan for Sustainable Urban Development and led its research on cities for Europe 2000 and Europe 2000+. He is member of EUROCITIES urban research steering group.

For the Department for Communities and Local Government, amongst other things he led the evaluation of Action for Cities, City Challenge, Urban Regeneration Companies. Michael helped deliver the Urban Summit 2002 for the DCLG.

He recently completed an international project on competitive European cities funded by the British government and the Core Cities.

He served as a member of the Minister's Urban Sounding Board and of the Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Team 4. He acts as Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs. He has served on many Advisory and Steering Committees for ODPM and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

He was Director of the Economic and Social Research Council's CITIES: Cohesion and Competitiveness Programme, a major, five-year research programme involving 25 Universities. He was Director the ESRC/ODPM Network on Urban and Neighbourhood Research. He was awarded a CBE in the 2007 New Years Honours List.

Strengthening competitiveness

In his 2004 work, Parkinson identified nine areas which he believed required focus from stakeholders in the city if Belfast is to become a truly competitive city:
  1. strategic decision-making capacity
  2. the urban economy
  3. innovation
  4. a failing city centre
  5. issues with planning
  6. working with the region
  7. transport
  8. neighbourhoods
  9. quality of life.

Contact us

Policy and Business Development Unit
Development Department
Belfast City Council
Cecil Ward Buidling
4-10 Linenhall Street
Belfast
BT2 8BP

Tel: 028 9091 8764
Email: sotc@belfastcity.gov.uk