Urban translations: Regeneration through the lens of actor-networking

Abstract

Economic policies and action to support ‘entrepreneurial’ city growth and regeneration have included attempts to improve the local knowledge base, encourage enterprise and empower local businesses. However, the exact means is cause for recent criticism. An emphasis on flagship amenity projects, retail centres and gentrification has drawn concerns from commentators, who have pointed towards a relative lack of expenditure of public money that directly benefits disadvantaged communities. This paper explores Actor-Network Theory as a means to appreciate regeneration as necessarily place based and presents a study of the development of a large mountain bike trail located in a large post-industrial, urbanized green space in one of Sheffield’s most deprived areas. Indicators of success for this project point towards an effective balance across four key areas: (1) local people’s health and fitness, (2) increasing tourism and visitation to Sheffield, (3) benefits to local ecology and landscape and (4) the realization of city-wide economic benefits. An Actor-Network Theory perspective is outlined here as providing a useful lens for evaluating regeneration as an act of innovation along with the networks which support it.