Urban Regeneration

With reference to examples, evaluate the success or otherwise of urban regeneration schemes in combatting the causes and consequences of urban decline (40 Marks)

Urban decline is a process that takes place within inner cities which sees the area decline economically, socially and politically. Generally, urban decline occurs as a result of either suburbanisation or counter urbanisation, both of which can occur for a number of reasons. Suburbanisation is the widespread movement of people and businesses from inner city areas towards suburbs, ultimately increasing the size of the urban area. Counter-urbanisation is when large numbers of people move away from urban areas towards rural areas. One key cause of suburbanisation is deindustrialisation, which is a key factor contributing to economic decline. Economic decline can be classified as a widespread movement of employment away from large conurbations to smaller urban areas or rural areas. Fall in employment generally results from deindustrialisation, where jobs are lost in traditional manufacturing industries. From 1960-1981, over 1.6 million manufacturing jobs were lost in urban areas in the UK, leaving unemployment almost 50% higher in urban areas than the rest of the country. Urban decline is also closely related to population loss as a result of out-migration; many people move away from inner city areas as employment moves to suburbs and rural areas. The increase in affluence and accessibility of rural areas also encouraged people to migrate, as well as the increasingly negative image of inner city areas.

The consequences of urban decline include the flight of businesses and people, environmental decay and degradation and unemployment. There are a number of knock-on effects including increasing crime rates and vandalism. Furthermore, due to the loss of businesses and people, local authorities are unable to generate sufficient tax income to combat these issues. As a result, urban decline ultimately becomes a repetitive cycle which is very difficult to get out of. Moreover, this is why urban decline is a difficult problem which requires carefully considered regeneration schemes to combat.

One approach to urban regeneration is property-led. Urban development corporations are supported bodies which conduct a form of property-led regeneration. Coming forth in the 1980’s, urban development corporations (UDC’s) were given planning approval powers over local authorities and encouraged to spend public money. Although public money is the main source of funding for  UDC’s, private investment is eventually attracted as well. In terms of statistics UDC’s are seemingly successful; by 1993, 35,000 housing units had been built and 190,000 jobs had been created as a result of the work of urban development corporations. This helped to combat the issues of unemployment and low quality housing, as well as other problems resulting from urban decline. The London Docklands development corporation was set up in the 1980’s to combat urban decline in the area. Decline in the docklands began as a result of containerisation (a sub-effect of industrialisation) which created unemployment in the area. £8.5 billion was invested in the area, funding the build of 20,000 new homes and attracting new businesses. One strategy of the London Docklands Development corporation was the creation of an enterprise zone in the Canary Wharf area which attracted many new businesses in the area.  This part of the project was very successful in combatting urban decline, with Canary Wharf now being one of the most economically prosperous areas in the UK. However, UDC’s may be viewed as an unsuccessful approach to combatting urban decline on the grounds that they lack democratic accountability. Furthermore, because the UDC’s have greater power than local authorities local people may feel as if their views are not being listened to. For this reason, UDC’s may fail at reversing decline because although successful in combatting economic decline, they are not so successful at combatting social and environmental decline.