Growing up in Washington, I couldn’t help but notice the European influences on my home city – the broad avenues, low stately buildings and verdant parks served as constant physical reminders that this was no run-of-the-mill American city.

But the similarities between my hometown and the Continental cities copied by its French designer ended there. During the 1970s and 1980s the economic and social characteristics of Washington mirrored those of other American cities, with extreme economic decline, suburbanisation, and population loss reinforced by disturbing levels of social polarisation and economic inequality. These trends have continued in recent years, despite an impressive resurgence of urban business confidence and city-centre living.

Many British cities have undergone similar shocks – notably deindustrialisation and steep population decline – but their underlying business base and levels of social cohesion remain notably stronger than their American counterparts.

In fact, despite physical differences, the economic challenges and opportunities in Britain’s cities today more closely resemble those experienced by their French, German and Dutch counterparts.

Hence my confusion with Britain’s long-time emphasis on emulating American urban regeneration strategies. Why, I ask myself, has Whitehall concentrated so much attention on places like Chicago and Baltimore, while paying less attention to the European evidence base over the years?

In certain respects, Whitehall’s links with the US are self-explanatory. History, a common language and deep business links with the US ensure that many successful policy initiatives cross the Atlantic. Many ministers and civil servants mine North American cities for ideas and high-profile policy initiatives.

At the Centre for Cities, we will work to ensure that European lessons on economic development, regeneration and urban governance join American ideas at the forefront of national policy debates. In recent months, the Centre’s team has participated in the European City Summit in Noordwijk, Holland; consulted with EUROCITIES, UK regional offices in Brussels, and the European Commission; and developed a network of academic experts and practitioners with broad experience of urban economic development across the EU. We have built up relationships with British city leaders working at European level. As the Centre moves forward, it will continue to keep a careful eye on European developments that affect economic growth and change in Britain’s cities and urban areas.

Our City People, City Markets and City Leadership projects will look carefully at the European demographic, economic and governmental evidence base this year, and use European lessons to make recommendations for British urban policy. For example, City Leadership will examine the financial tools available to city leaders to promote investment and business growth in Continental cities, as well as North American ones.

Britain’s urban policy-makers, city leaders and businesses have rightly engaged with American ideas that provide important insights on urban economic growth. The Centre for Cities continues that trans-Atlantic knowledge transfer, most notably through our partnerships with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and through the team’s extensive US experience.

At the same time, however, the Centre for Cities is starting to engage with important economic and regeneration lessons from outside the English-speaking world – starting with successful cities and city-regions in other European Union countries. We have a lot to learn, but we’re committed to building up partnerships, and learning from the EU evidence base.

Adam Marshall is Head of Policy at Centre for Cities.