There is a huge literature on the relationship between place, economics and social effects: how geography shapes options and outcomes, how cities magnify innovation, how physical factors ranging from ports to infrastructures shape development, and  how place can amplify both opportunities and disadvantages.  

The authors focus on a narrower issue: what has been learned from more than half a century of efforts to regenerate areas that have fallen behind, particularly as a result of de-industrialisation, and, more specifically, what has been learned about the effectiveness of programmes aiming at middle-level population scales (50-250k) rather than whole regions?  

The authors have chosen this focus because 2023 brings the 30th anniversary of the first UK Single Regeneration Budget programmes, which were an attempt at a longer-term, more holistic approach to improving places. Most of the evaluations of SRBs and similar programmes are fairly positive. Yet many more recent programmes do not always draw on their lessons, typically being less holistic, shorter term, and less focused on capacity.  

The authors' interest is in what lessons should be learned and what more we need to know to guide future place-based regeneration deals – and how best to organise both vertical collaboration (between different tiers of government), and horizontal collaboration (between governments, departments, business, and civil society).