The Glasgow Effect by Ellie Harrison

Summary of Key Ideas
ideas are introduced and developed throughout the book and
then brought together in Part 3, which sketches out a manifesto
for ‘the sustainable city of the future’. Below is a summary of these
keys ideas as a useful resource for activists and policy-makers.
Challenge neoliberal policies
The three key neoliberal policies introduced in ’80s and ’90s are
identified as: privatisation, deregulation and trade liberalisation
(see pages 24–31). It is these processes that have accelerated
globalisation and led to the triple crises of increasing social
inequalities, catastrophic environmental destruction and frequent
financial instability and uncertainty – contributing to falling levels
of well-being. It is therefore these neoliberal policies we must
challenge:
• Privatisation must become democratically accountable
public ownership of all our essential goods, services
and infrastructure, managed at local/regional or
(occasionally) national level.
• Deregulation must become reregulation of all aspects
of the economy that are causing unnecessary social and
environmental harms.
• And in order to reduce carbon emissions and create
local jobs, trade liberalisation must become localism and
protectionism. But instead of just saying ‘No’, we need
positive alternatives and incentives to encourage everyone
to ‘buy local’ and ‘travel local’ (see pages 284–5).
Move away from growth by ‘deconsumerising’ our economy
The obsession with gdp growth is also contributing to catastrophic
environmental destruction (see pages 187–8 and 198–9) and
creating ‘perverse incentives’ (ie to destroy world-class public