ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book identifies the place where, because of the concentration of populations in cities, the effects of social policies are most strikingly felt. It focuses on the 1980s and 1990s, a period of unbroken Conservative Party rule, inevitably focusing Conservative policies. In order to understand the limitations of recent social policies in general and urban policies in particular it is necessary to place them in a broad political context. The book highlights that there is no simple quick-fix for the complex problems concentrated in Britain’s cities. Policies for cities are primarily economic ones. The downgrading of social policies may partly explain the lack of coherence in many of the policies for cities. Malcolm Harrison argues that social policies have failed to take account of the changing ethnic composition and shifting household composition in Britain’s cities.
