Celebrating the diverse communities, heritage, industry and talent in the area

Claire McCamley, Brendan Canavan, Fiona Cheetham and John Lever are from the University of Huddersfield’s Business School and their diverse research interests converge around place consumption and management.  They have recently been awarded funding by the Academy of Marketing to conduct a research project looking at developing a vision for the future of Kirklees. 

The second ongoing series of conversations with local stakeholders was held at the end of January in Slaithwaite, where local businesses shared their opinions on the area. This followed on from a similar event on campus in November. 

Following these initial networking and mapping events, important themes will be pulled forward for further discussion and action. Identified are threads representing the strengths of Kirklees as a place to work, live, play and visit, as is perceived by participants. These will be combined with secondary threads that have emerged from conversations, representing the actions that participants suggest need to be taken to connect these. 

Bringing these different threads together will help to develop an overall Kirklees tapestry; one that celebrates the diverse communities, heritage, industry and talent of the area. The idea behind the project is to facilitate the discussions, connections and actions of local stakeholders, to make this possible. 

It is clear from initial conversations that participants think Kirklees is a great place to live and has a lot to offer. It is diverse, creative and enjoys a rich physical and cultural heritage. 

However, there are some issues that need to be overcome in order realise the full potential of the region. Raising awareness of and making connections between the strengths of the region, and rethinking about how places are used, may help this process.  

“We will be looking forward to working on these in upcoming sessions,” said Dr Brendan Canavan. 

“We will look at defining and implementing small practical steps that local leaders can take in delivering an alternative vision. The changes and progress made will be celebrated in an upcoming exhibition to be held in Huddersfield later in the year,” he said. 

The project’s final report will be presented at the 2020 Academy of Marketing conference in July at Edge Hill University. It was recently announced that the University Huddersfield is to host the 54^th Academy of Marketing conference that will take place in 2021.