25 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN

Tel/Fax (0131) 667 9609

e-mail: Hume.Institute@ed.ac.uk Internet: http://www.ed.ac.uk/~hume/

Professor Brian Main, Director of The David Hume Institute said: "The aim of this series is to provide a forum for discussion for some of the recent research projects undertaken by the Economic & Social Research Council. The Scottish Executive have recently published their Cities Review, to much discussion in the press, and the work covered in this ESRC Research programme has a direct bearing on this important area of public policy and is sure to provoke widespread interest. The Institute is delighted to welcome Professor Parkinson and Professor Turok and it is expected that there will be lively and informed discussion following this seminar. We are grateful to the ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council) for their sponsorship of this series"

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Professor Turok said: "Cities are crucial to Scotland’s economy and society since they accommodate the majority of the population, jobs and social challenges. Our research examined the determinants of economic prosperity within Edinburgh and Glasgow and the link between economic success and social conditions. It has become fashionable to say that social cohesion and economic prosperity go hand in hand, indeed to claim that cohesion actually promotes prosperity. We analysed how this might work and what supporting evidence there is. We found stronger connections from the economic to the social, although social cohesion remains important in its own right. Both cities also face major physical infrastructure issues."

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Professor Parkinson (BA, MA [Econ]) is Professor of Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University

He is Director of the ESRC Research Programme on CITIES. He led the evaluation of the New Commitment to Regeneration, supported by the Local Government Association, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and DETR. He acts as advisor on urban affairs to the European Commission, OECD, EUROCITIES, the DTLR, the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment and the Audit Commission. He is Chair of EUROCITIES Committee on Urban Innovation in Europe. He is a member of Lord Falconer's Ministerial Urban Sounding Board.

Professor Turok is Professor of Urban Economic Development, Urban Studies, University of Glasgow

BSc Geography, Bristol University, 1979, MSc Town Planning, University of Wales, 1981, PhD Economics, University of Reading, 1987, 'Local Economic Development in Post-War Britain: Policies, Processes and their Evaluation'

The views that will be expressed by the speakers are their own and do not commit the Trustees or Officers of the Institute in any way.

The David Hume Institute, 25 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN

Catriona Laing Tel/Fax (0131) 667 9609

e-mail: Hume.Institute@ed.ac.uk