ABSTRACT
This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book sets a comparative picture by placing the British urban problem in the context of other European countries, drawing on the major research programme in the EEC and suggesting not only the depth of the social and economic problems in British cities but also that such problems are not absent from the cities of mainland Europe despite its later industrial start. It suggests the mixed success of some of the many initiatives which have been developed to tackle the economic problems of the city. The book looks at the supposed success story of Bristol, which is popularly seen as having made a successful accommodation to the social and economic changes of the past decade, and of the M4 Corridor of which Bristol is the western extreme.
