Conditions of local governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis are often discussed as reflections of ‘austerity urbanism’. What forms of mutations have taken place in austerity urbanism after the initial years of spending cuts at the local level? This article investigates this question by focusing on the uneven geographies of post-austerity debt-drive in Britain. It is shown that austerity urbanism in Britain was somewhat peculiarly combined with debt-driven ‘entrepreneurialism’ several years after the introduction of extensive budgetary cuts. The local debt-drive was instigated by austerity-urbanism as a way of resolving the challenge of financing local services and development. The relatively low level of initial debt stock among local governments, very attractive borrowing terms and various regulatory changes facilitated the expansion of borrowing. Using debt stock data for over 300 local governments, it is demonstrated how debt build-up evolved to create financial difficulties for around 40 per cent of local governments. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its severe impacts on local revenues, exposed the debt-driven local development projects, leading to rescue operations and efforts to curb borrowing through new rules and regulations. For deeper international insights into the dynamics of debt-financing and urban development in times of crises, further research is needed to complement existing research in Britain and the USA, where relatively greater evidence exists.

中文翻译：

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英国的紧缩城市主义、地方政府债务驱动和新冠疫情后的困境

全球金融危机后的地方治理状况经常被视为“紧缩城市主义”的反映。在地方层面最初几年削减开支之后，紧缩的城市主义发生了哪些形式的突变？本文通过关注英国紧缩后债务驱动的不平衡地域来调查这个问题。研究表明，在实行大规模预算削减几年后，英国的紧缩城市主义在某种程度上与债务驱动的“创业主义”结合在一起。紧缩城市主义煽动了地方债务驱动，以此作为解决地方服务和发展融资挑战的一种方式。地方政府初始债务存量水平相对较低、借贷条件极具吸引力以及各种监管变化促进了借贷扩张。利用 300 多个地方政府的债务存量数据，可以证明债务积累如何演变为约 40% 的地方政府造成财务困难。Covid-19大流行对地方收入造成严重影响，暴露了债务驱动的地方发展项目，导致救援行动和通过新规则和法规遏制借贷的努力。为了更深入地了解危机时期债务融资和城市发展的动态，需要进一步的研究来补充英国和美国的现有研究，这两个国家的证据相对较多。