ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of the contents of the subsequent chapters within a broad overview of the subject. The emphasis of the book is on the analysis of the processes at work which create the problems in our urban areas. There is indisputably a wide range of forces which have helped fashion the urban problems of today and we can only claim to consider the more important. The processes examined can be seen to be sometimes independent, sometimes overlapping but always reinforcing. Urban deprivation, too, is not scattered at random; many of the concentrations of social problems associated with the concept are to be found in the inner parts of large towns and cities. Since the early 1960s all Britain's major cities have experienced massive industrial decline, particularly in their inner parts. In addition the late 1960s saw a vast slum clearance programme which although mainly aimed at improving housing conditions also led indirectly to the displacement of industry.
