ABSTRACT
This final chapter reviews the UK’s experience of urban policy and prospects for the future. Although the outlook on many fronts is not good, there are some hopeful signs. Future prospects depend on having a clear vision of the aims and objectives of urban policy. These are conventionally regarded to be about meeting ‘needs’, but the concept of ‘need’ raises many issues about how decisions are made. The chapter discusses how an urban policy which is democratic, strategic and enables the management of services close to the consumer might be achieved. It makes a case for strengthening urban policy by planning state intervention at a regional level. But in contrast to the regional arms of government as they presently exist, the chapter proposes a democratic model based on regional government. It concludes by returning to the theme of sustainability as a reminder that this must be the fundamental guiding principle of urban policy in the future.
