ABSTRACT

Regeneration practice in the UK has entered a significant phase in its development. It is now possible to think of this phase as a process of transition. This phase can be understood by reference to the fact that it is nearly 40 years since the launch of the Urban Programme, 25 years since the urban disorders of the early 1980s and nearly 10 years since the New Labour government introduced a range of initiatives (including the New Deal for Communities) and established the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU). Whilst the New Labour administration have initiated a range of policy reviews and new developments since 1997, it is possible to identify a number of recurring themes:

■ A willingness to target resources from the centre to ‘deprived’ neighbourhoods ■ A reluctance to accept pre-existing structures of governance and service delivery

as a given ■ An insistence that collaboration across the public, private and voluntary and

community sectors is a prerequisite ■ An expectation that successful regeneration initiatives have the potential to renew

civil society.