ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what Europe can learn about the causes of decay and renewal from American research on urban decay. Segregation, poverty and the general economic development of cities that led to a concentration of poor people and social problems in certain neighbourhoods are more important causes of urban decay in the USA than in Europe. In Western European countries, most governments have found it necessary to establish special subsidy programmes and public regulation of urban renewal and housing rehabilitation. Throughout Western Europe, government intervention has generally been significant, especially in the rented housing market, and has taken the form of rent control, for instance. The United States has a much less regulated market. Therefore, it is possible to observe processes of decay and renewal that are less affected by rent control or other kinds of public interventions used in European countries.
