ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of government in improving metropolitan life; it is worth noting that other public interventions may have negative consequences, such as the location of toxic waste dumps in poor communities. While considering the social issues confronting metropolitan communities, the need for comprehensive policies to address the issues would seem obvious enough. Sustaining the quality of life in metropolitan regions is an especially difficult task without the aid of government policy and regulation because the free market is incapable of doing so on its own. Over the years, all capitalist societies have had to face the social costs of uneven development that create social inequalities within metropolitan regions and between population groups. Deindustrialization had taken over the country, and cities needed to retool themselves to compete with other communities within their metropolitan region for new employment.
