ABSTRACT
Urban renaissance has been a ‘defining feature of contemporary urban policy’ (Porter and Shaw 2009: 1) globally for perhaps two decades, but the explicit development of the English variant of this policy was not formulated until 1999 in the Urban Task Force’s (UTF) report to the UK deputy prime minister. As Chapter 1 explained, the report drew its design inspiration from renaissance exemplars in Europe, particularly Barcelona and various Dutch cities but also, as other chapters in this volume have argued, from 1990s regeneration efforts in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. While most of the report’s recommendations were rapidly implemented, some took several years to be legislated (e.g. new-style development plans (LDFs) introduced in 2004) and others have still not been enacted (particularly reforms to local government finances and VAT reforms). So in many respects the full panoply of UTF renaissance frameworks and policies have yet to be put into place, and individual cities have been selective in what policies and processes they have chosen to adopt.
