ABSTRACT
The authors’ Introduction shows how poor housing and racial issues were the partial spurs to the instigation of urban policy (Atkinson and Moon 1994) and in this Part those themes figure prominently in the changed circumstances of the early twenty-first century. This Part focuses on analyses of the importance of housing and housing-led regeneration in the context of increasing social diversity and cosmopolitan communities within cities across the world (Keith 2005). It highlights linkages between physical, economic and social issues that are affected by the frequent presence of poor housing in many cities. It also shows how this is related to the movement within and between countries on a global scale, since this can create problems for housing supply and condition, which resonate with the issues in Parts 1 and 3. Historically, poorly constructed, speculative and informal housing, as in the case of poor infrastructure, have been catalysts for interventions in many cities, particularly in the Global South in the last few decades. However, public policy initiatives relating to housing can result in effects such as gentrification (Bridge et al. 2011). Moreover, as Bridge et al. show (and as reflected by van Eijk in this Part) public initiatives specifically aimed at social mixing may paradoxically also result in gentrification. It is also clear that the context for public intervention in the policy fields of housing and cosmopolitan communities is increasingly framed by international migration, as illustrated by Pine in this Part.
