ABSTRACT
Students of methodology in the social sciences repeatedly complain that important problems do not always conform to the boundaries of the various academic disciplines. Since crossing these boundaries opens a Pandora's box of complex difficulties, these problems remain unsolved. For example, to the architect, blight refers to an aesthetic appearance, while to the economist it means functional obsolescence. The concept is used to shed light on those specific aspects of reality with which each discipline is dealing. This chapter discusses the eradication of blight through urban renewal – which spans economics and architecture, and many other areas as well – the specificity of the usage deters effective communication. It is therefore necessary to develop broader concepts extending beyond these narrow views of the specific disciplines. Most social scientists have recognized that in studies of cities social processes cannot be divorced from a spatial orientation.
