ABSTRACT
The aims of this opening chapter are to outline the structure of the textbook and to introduce the key contemporary debates and urban changes framing urban regeneration in the UK. This provides the academic and policy context for the subsequent two substantive sections of the textbook. The chapter also identifies the nature of urban regeneration and explores why it is an important field of study. Key challenges that are currently being faced in the UK’s urban areas are explored, including an overview of dimensions of the urban problem linked to urban economic decline and urban social polarisation. The chapter then introduces the seemingly recent rejuvenation of post-modern cities associated with urban regeneration policies and approaches, which is developed later in the textbook.
