ABSTRACT
In the past quarter century, the physical and social regeneration of British cities has
ascended the political agenda to a status it has not held since the long aftermath of the
Second World War. Issues of deindustrialization, unemployment, depopulation and
the decay of physical infrastructure have become the grounds on which successive
policies and programmes have been developed. The aim has been to reverse this
decline and the sprawl which results and revive the status of cities as desirable places
for homes, workplaces and entertainment. The role of urban design in this process has
shifted also, from having a negative reputation (a product of unsuccessful com-
prehensive redevelopment projects) to being seen as the discipline through which
social aspirations can be realized physically. Yet few examples of urban regeneration
display any consistent quality in urban design. Most consist of discontinuous frag-
ments of rival commercial developments cheek by jowl with the decayed remnants
of previous visions for the city. In a broader perspective, the radical changes to cities
introduced in the twentieth century are phenomena which still affect the urban
psyche throughout the world. However, it is possible to assert that these changes
are themselves only stages in a process which began with the industrialization of
the city in the late eighteenth century. It will be tantalizing to observe in the new
century what urban manifestations recent ideological transformations will have.
