Think you know your town? Think again

By synthesizing open-source data across 1,827 places (every town and city in England with a population of 3,000 or more), the UEP provides a comprehensive, baseline profile of our nation's local economies.

Unlike administrative boundaries, which often mask the reality of how people live and work, the UEP model is built on "lived and local" geographies. It allows for:

• Evidence-Based Policy: Providing local authorities with immediate access to robust data on their town's socio-demographic profile, asset provision (health, retail, education), and connectivity.
• Peer-to-Peer Benchmarking: Through its unique clustering system, the model allows a town to identify "peer" places across the country, enabling them to learn what works, share best practices, and benchmark their performance against similar areas.
• Effective Resource Deployment: By providing a clear baseline of need and capacity, the model ensures that central and local government capital is deployed where it will have the highest economic impact, preventing the "dust-gathering" reports of the past.

An initial Understanding English Places (UEP) Model has been developed for towns in England, based on the framework and methodology of the Understanding Scottish Places (USP) Model (https://www.usp.scot/) and taking learnings from an Understanding Irish Places (UIP) Model implemented by Didobi in 2025. The UEP is driven by English data and configured to reflect the place assets and relationships across England.

The spatial framework for the UEP Model covers 1,794 places with a population over 3,000, based on a best-fit assignment carried out by Didobi of Output Areas (OAs) to the 2022 Built-Up Area (BUA) boundaries defined for the 2021 Census (ONS), which ensures consistency and comparability between places.

For completeness the UEP Model also includes the 33 London Boroughs, which each represent a BUA, making a total of 1,827 places within the UEP.