ABSTRACT
Since the Second World War much of the population of the inner cities of the United Kingdom has been disadvantaged by a plethora of economic, social and physical factors which have adversely affected its standard of living and life-chances. For at least half a century it has had to endure poor housing or, worse still, homelessness, while employment has been increasingly relocated to greenfield sites. Abandoned inner city land and buildings have become derelict and former industrial sites are often contaminated. Although professional, managerial and skilled manual workers and their families have migrated to outer suburban and rural areas, semi-skilled and unskilled groups have remained trapped in the inner city, where rates of unemployment have been consistently higher than elsewhere. Incomes in the inner city are normally below the national average; educational attainment up to secondary school level has been poor; there are high rates of crime; incidences of morbidity and mortality are higher than in more affluent areas; the physical environment is unsatisfactory; and there is a substantial need for infrastructural improvement.
