Concluding Remarks

Abstract

Globalisation has powerfully shaped the evolution of places. Historically and contemporarily, Coventry has experienced significant economic shifts and changes of fortune as its place in the regional, national and international economy has shifted. The contributions in this book demonstrate the complex and multifarious relationships which underlie Coventry’s evolution, their links to globalising forces, and the positive and negative consequences of this. The opening-up of international markets and the accompanying flows of capital and labour have supported some of its most successful periods of the city’s growth, but have also functioned in the opposite direction and are implicated in the deepest of social and economic troughs endured by the city. It is tempting, therefore, when considering the impact of these forces on the city to focus on key periods; when the city was at its most visible as an international actor, a major player in the world market for automotives at a time when such businesses were becoming so large as to be considered integral in their importance to economies.