Posted by: Jon Neale
Head of Research – UK
Jones Lang LaSalle

Almost all the large UK regional cities had stands in MIPIM’s conference hall, alongside their competitors on the continent. Down on the Birmingham and Leeds stands, all the talk was of co-operation between the core cities, but it was apparent that another exhibitor sees itself first among equals.

Manchester occupied prime position at the front of the exhibition centre as well as various hoardings around the main entrance. With celebrity speakers such as Brian Cox (on the city’s burgeoning knowledge economy) it clearly sees itself as being on a par with a capital such as Stockholm, with which it shared the banner at the entrance to the hall. However, my favourite – and most original – promotional idea was rather more low-key: Bristol & Bath’s employment of a street artist to permanently redecorate their hoardings, an inspired move for the home of Banksy.

More telling, though,was the ability of cities to carry their region with them. Throughout the exhibition, it was evident that it is the city-region, not the arbitrary local authority area, that is of vital importance. Even groups of adjacent cities are happy to share a platform; next to the Jones Lang LaSalle stand, the Nordrhein-Westfalen region – effectively the Ruhr –brought together the cities of Cologne, Essen, Duisberg, Dortmund and Bochum, among others.

The best UK example of this was probably the Leeds City Region, which managed to bring proud Bradford and affluent York under its umbrella, as well as much of the rest of West Yorkshire. The same spirit of collaboration applied to Derby and Nottingham, and, as mentioned before, Bristol and Bath.

On the other hand, I notice, the ‘Business Birmingham’ stand was completely isolated from the Coventry & Warwickshire presence, even though the latter’s boundaries are around seven or eight miles from the heart of the former. I can’t verify this, but doubtlessly the Black Country authorities were sitting somewhere else.  As a West Midlander myself, I couldn’t help but despair at this;  I realise there are local identities and interests, but surely it would be possible to bring some of these initiatives closer together while still maintaining some separation – as the Germans of Nordrhein-Westfalen demonstrated so well.

Most, it seems, were aware that there may only be a few real winners over the next few years and that, away from world cities such as Paris and London, only the collaborators will succeed.