Sheffield was once the steel-making capital of the world. During the First Industrial Revolution, almost half of the steel used in Europe was produced in Sheffield; and during both World Wars, the city became a bombing target because of the central role it played in arming the British military. This rich steel-making tradition began to decline under Margaret Thatcher. In the 1980s, market forces caused several of Sheffield’s steel works to close and the British steel industry was ultimately privatised. Sheffield – once known as the Steel City – has never fully recovered; and

South Yorkshire is now the poorest region in England. South Yorkshire is not an isolated case. In middle-income countries across the world, time and resources are being invested into capital cities and regions around them, at the expense of rural and coastal regions loc ...