Urban Decline Routledge Revivals

In the twentieth century, urban growth was one of the most powerful catalysts of geographical, social and demographic change in the Western world. When this book was first published in 1989, however, a massive process of counter-urbanization was underway, which saw the loss of population and jobs in cities and a pronounced urban to rural shift. This book analyses the causes and consequences of urban decline in Britain and the developed world during this period and beyond, and assesses the implications for urban planning and policy. David Clark’s relevant and comprehensive title will be of value to students with a particular interest in urban geography and development.

Urban problems and their resolution represent one of the major challenges for planners and decision makers in the modern world. This book, first published in 1990, makes a major contribution to the field, presenting an international and interdisciplinary approach to the challenges presented by the urban environment. The coverage is comprehensive, ranging from the economic and political dimensions of the capitalist system, to the issues of poverty and deprivation and questions about housing equity. This is an essential reference guide to social, economic and environmental problems in urban areas, which is of great value to students of planning, urban studies, geography and sociology.

This book, published in 1980, is an iconoclastic account of one of the pillars of the welfare state, British town and country planning, between 1945 and 1975. Always a fine balance between central control and market forces, it was challenged by strains within and between the environmental professions and protest by people dispossessed or alienated by re-shaped urban environments. Remaking Cities critiques the export of western-style planning to the developing world and reviews initiatives rooted in different understandings of ‘growth’ appearing in those years. Nearly forty years on, many of the same issues beset us, notably the depressingly familiar inner city problem, despite countless reports, funds and ‘programmes’. But now our infrastructure and services, once publicly owned, are privatised and fragmented, and local government progressively relegated. The very core of planning, development control, is being pared in a struggle to regain the ‘growth’ which led to our current crisis. This gives fresh importance to the need for new modes of creating liveable, sustainable environments, emphasised in this important work.

A substantial proportion of the world’s population now live in towns and cities, so it is not surprising that urban geography has emerged as a major focus for research. This edited collection, first published in 1983, is concerned with the effects on the city of a wide range of economic, social and political processes, including pollution, housing, health and finance. With a detailed introduction to the themes and developments under discussion written by Michael Pacione, this comprehensive work provides an essential overview for scholars and students of urban geography and planning.

This book, first published in 1982, addressed the need for a fresh and comprehensive guide to the rapidly expanding area of urban geography. Drawing on examples from cities in a number of countries, including the U.S.A., David Clark outlines the contribution of geographers to the understanding of the city and urban society, and analyses the growth of the urban environment alongside planning and policy. A thorough and unique study, this title will be of particular value to undergraduate students, as well as laying the foundations for a more advanced study in urban geography and planning.

First published in 1979, this book examines key planning policy areas such as land use planning, land values, housing and slum clearance, urban transport, industrial and regional economic location policies, and policies inner city policies to explain why particular policies have been adopted at particular times — assessing the role of political parties, bureaucrats and interests in setting the national policy agenda. Policy is also placed in the broader economic and social context and the question of whether, given contemporaneous constraints, a coherent national urban policy is possible is examined. Its focus on political parties’ role in urban change at the start of Thatcher-era upheavals makes this book especially valuable to students of urban sociology and the history of planning.

This title was first published in 2003. Most European cities have experienced problems in certain neighbourhoods that are termed deprived or excluded . Traditionally these were found in the oldest urban areas with lowest quality housing, but since the 1980s, such areas have emerged in housing estates built around the cities' edges. These neighbourhoods are marked by visible physical and social problems that disfigure the otherwise pleasant urban landscape, and can be seen as urban sores . This engaging and thought-provoking book provides a deeper understanding of why urban decay and deprived neighbourhoods appear in certain parts of cities, as well as how they affect residents and cities in general. Drawing on in-depth empirical research from Denmark, it compares this with other studies from Europe and the United States. The author combines theories and methodologies from the fields of geography (on segregation), economics (on processes of urban decay) and social research (on social exclusion and deprived neighbourhoods) to provide original, illuminating and invaluable insights.