IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v59y2022i4p675-697.html

Anchoring the social economy at the metropolitan scale: Findings from the Liverpool City Region

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Thompson

    (University of Liverpool, UK)

  • Alan Southern

    (University of Liverpool, UK)

  • Helen Heap

    (University of Liverpool, UK)

Abstract

This article revisits debates on the contribution of the social economy to urban economic development, specifically focusing on the scale of the city region. It presents a novel tripartite definition – empirical, essentialist, holistic – as a useful frame for future research into urban social economies. Findings from an in-depth case study of the scale, scope and value of the Liverpool City Region’s social economy are presented through this framing. This research suggests that the social economy has the potential to build a workable alternative to neoliberal economic development if given sufficient tailored institutional support and if seen as a holistic integrated city-regional system, with anchor institutions and community anchor organisations playing key roles.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Thompson & Alan Southern & Helen Heap, 2022. "Anchoring the social economy at the metropolitan scale: Findings from the Liverpool City Region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(4), pages 675-697, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:4:p:675-697
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020972654
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098020972654
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098020972654?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Goddard & Mike Coombes & Louise Kempton & Paul Vallance, 2014. "Universities as anchor institutions in cities in a turbulent funding environment: vulnerable institutions and vulnerable places in England," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 7(2), pages 307-325.
    2. Matthew Thompson & Vicky Nowak & Alan Southern & Jackie Davies & Peter Furmedge, 2020. "Re-grounding the city with Polanyi: From urban entrepreneurialism to entrepreneurial municipalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1171-1194, September.
    3. Adalbert Evers & Jean-Louis Laville, 2004. "Defining the third sector in Europe," Chapters, in: Adalbert Evers & Jean-Louis Laville (ed.), The Third Sector in Europe, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Lorena F. Axinte & Abid Mehmood & Terry Marsden & Dirk Roep, 2019. "Regenerative city-regions: a new conceptual framework," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 117-129, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Billy Southern, 2023. "The impact of a rail network on socioeconomic inclusion: A ward-level analysis of Liverpool," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(3), pages 199-225, May.
    2. Morag E Redwood & Anne MJ Smith & Artur Steiner & Geoff Whittam, 2022. "Community wealth building or local authority rhetoric?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(7), pages 602-621, November.
    3. Laura Roth & Bertie Russell & Matthew Thompson, 2023. "Politicising proximity: Radical municipalism as a strategy in crisis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(11), pages 2009-2035, August.
    4. Mercè Roca & Marta Segura & Jordi Puig & Susana Martín Belmonte, 2024. "The local multiplier of income support paid in a complementary currency: Comparative evaluation in the city of Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(1), pages 95-111, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marianne Sensier & Elvira Uyarra, 2020. "Investigating the Governance Mechanisms that Sustain Regional Economic Resilience and Inclusive Growth," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2005, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    2. Noel Castree & David J. Keeling & Jerald Podair & Michael Pryke & Duncan W. Scott & Paul Lambe & Robert McMaster & Michael Slivka, 2005. "Book Reviews," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(8), pages 1471-1484, July.
    3. Samantha Cenere & Loris Servillo, 2023. "Introduction to the Special Issue: Cities and Universities. Discourses, Spatialities, and Material Infrastructures of University‐Driven Urban Change," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 114(5), pages 375-380, December.
    4. Katrin Martens & Sebastian Rogga & Jana Zscheischler & Bernd Pölling & Andreas Obersteg & Annette Piorr, 2022. "Classifying New Hybrid Cooperation Models for Short Food-Supply Chains—Providing a Concept for Assessing Sustainability Transformation in the Urban-Rural Nexus," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    5. Lamberto Zollo & Maria Carmen Laudano & Andrea Boccardi & Cristiano Ciappei, 2019. "From governance to organizational effectiveness: the role of organizational identity and volunteers’ commitment," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(1), pages 111-137, March.
    6. Yves Vaillancourt, 2009. "Social Economy In The Co‐Construction Of Public Policy," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(2), pages 275-313, June.
    7. Matthew Thompson & Vicky Nowak & Alan Southern & Jackie Davies & Peter Furmedge, 2020. "Re-grounding the city with Polanyi: From urban entrepreneurialism to entrepreneurial municipalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1171-1194, September.
    8. Tony Gore & Ryan Powell & Peter Wells, 2006. "The contribution of rural community businesses to integrated rural development: “Local services for local people”," Post-Print hal-01201127, HAL.
    9. Albornoz, María Belén & Espelt, Ricard & Grohmann, Rafael & Kasparian, Denise, 2026. "Introduction to the special issue on digital solidarity economies," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20.
    10. Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2019. "The interconnections of academic research and universities’ “third mission”: Evidence from the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    11. Giacomo Manetti & Simone Toccafondi, 2013. "Il coinvolgimento degli stakeholder nella governance e nel reporting delle fondazioni bancarie," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(3), pages 51-76.
    12. Luisa Alamá-Sabater & Joan Crespo & Miguel Ángel Márquez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2025. "Regional development, quality of government, and the performance of universities," Working Papers 2025/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    13. Sylvie Paré & Ralph Christian Maloumby-Baka, 2015. "The Role of Public-Third Sector Relationships in Solving Social Issues: the Case of One-Stop-Shop Service for the Promotion of Female Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Montreal," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 3(3), pages 123-141.
    14. Davey, Ryan, 2020. "Financialised welfare and its vulnerabilities: advice, consumer credit, and church-based charity in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102287, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Alex Nicholls, 2010. "The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre–Paradigmatic Field," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(4), pages 611-633, July.
    16. Woolford Jayne & Haegeman Karel & Hazelkorn Ellen & Cavicchi Alessio & Kroll Henning, 2025. "Tertiary Education in place-based transformative innovation," JRC Working Papers on Transforming Territories 2025-02, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Thomas Sauer & Stephanie Barnebeck & Yannick Kalff & Judith Schicklinski, 2015. "ROCSET – The Role of Cities in the Socio-Ecological Transition of Europe. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 93," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58134.
    18. Jaime Moreno-Serna & Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro & Wendy M. Purcell & Olga Kordas & Julio Lumbreras & Carlos Mataix & Leda Stott & Miguel Soberón & John D. Spengler, 2024. "Promoting Urban Net Zero Transitions Through Multi-Level Governance: The Intermediary Role of Systemic Collaborative Platforms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-24, October.
    19. Laura Reynolds & Dylan Henderson & Chen Xu & Laura Norris, 2021. "Digitalisation and the foundational economy: A digital opportunity or a digital divide for less-developed regions?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(6), pages 451-467, September.
    20. Adam Warren & Michael Hoyler & Morag Bell, 2016. "From ‘shadowy cabal’ to new profession: Networks of cooperation and competition in UK Higher Education fundraising," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 837-854, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:4:p:675-697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.