ABSTRACT
No precise or universally agreed definition exists to cover exactly what is meant by the terms urban regeneration or indeed urban area. The following definitions are designed to provide a starting point to the study of this subject:
Urban areas…extensively built up concentrations of population and employment which have usually developed over a considerable period of time. (Atkinson & Moon 1994:1)
Urban regeneration policy…a conglomeration of largely area-based policies designed to tackle social (housing and health) economic (industrial base) and environmental (quality of urban form) deprivation with a strong emphasis upon improving the physical environment by achieving redevelopment of derelict land and provision of new infrastructures. (Stubbs)
Historical background
The introduction of the Urban Programme in 1968 represented the first real move by a post-war government to tackle inner-city deprivation. The Urban Programme and its associated Community Development Projects were designed to target limited resources, estimated at around £5 million between 1968 and 1978, on particular groups. Funding was directed towards a combination of environmental improvements and community projects. Yet the whole strategy tended to ignore the causes of urban poverty (poor housing, healthcare provision, lack of employment and educational facilities). From such early initiatives we may identify the roots of many subsequent policies, notably their focus on particular areas (area-based policy) in preference to dealing with particular groups in society (socially based policy). The Inner Urban Areas Act 1978 broadened the scope of urban policy. It established seven Partnership Areas, fifteen Programme Areas and nineteen Designated Areas.
