From The Potteries to digital dynamo: Shocks, crises, and the structural transformation of Stoke-on-Trent in the early 21st century

This paper focusses on the long-term structural transformation of Stoke-on-Trent, and the surrounding districts of North Staffordshire, in the West Midlands of England. This area is known as The Potteries – a globally important centre of ceramic production since the late 17th century. Employment in this sector has strongly declined since the mid-20th century. Suffering the chronic stress of deindustrialisation, local population also declined, but has started to recover strongly since the millennium, accompanying a radical shift in economic specialisation and industrial diversification. These positive trends were briefly disrupted by the acute shocks of the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic but have since resumed with even greater vigour. Current economic indicators show that the local economy is growing strongly, out-performing the neighbouring city-regions and the country, as a whole. Benefits of this boom – in particular, productivity and income gains - are not evenly distributed, however. Questions about this “Stoke Paradox” remain, centred on how the burgeoning high-growth sectors will maintain their momentum into the future, and how the city could make its recovery more inclusive and broadly shared. We discuss the role in this of local actors and community activism, but also of national politics and policies.