In the inter-war years there was much debate in Britain as to whether the best path to post-World War I regeneration would be found in the promises of science and technology, in continued and increased efficiency, in specialization and professionalization or whether the future of the nation depended on a rediscovery of older (and more authentic) ways of doing things, on a defiant anti-modernism. This debate on Britain's future was often conducted in terms of Englishness and the rebirth of a lost, more spiritual, village England. However, ‘Englishness' also entered inter-war social thinking through eclectic assimilations of diverse traditions. Prominent themes in the discourses on Britain's post-war regeneration include national character, citizenship, fitness, education, utopia, community and so on. The chapters in the present volume address these themes and break new ground by examining debates well known in political and literary history through their relations to science, medicine, architecture and ideas of social and political ‘health'.

This NAO report looks at the regeneration of English regions (HCP 214, session 2009-10, ISBN 9780102963229). The NAO states that The Regional Development Agencies' physical regeneration programmes have helped to generate additional regional wealth. However, because of Agency weaknesses in identifying the projects which would maximise regional economic growth, the National Audit Office is unable to conclude the Agencies have secured as much benefit as they should have. Since 1999, the eight RDAs outside of London have spent £5 billion on physical regeneration programmes. For every pound of RDA spending on physical regeneration, an estimated £2.80 is secured from elsewhere, including £1.81 from the private sector. Independent evaluation suggests they have generated Gross Value Added of £3.30 for every £1 spent. Many of these projects will not realize their full benefits for many years and there is potential for a return over the lifetime of the projects of £8 for every £1 spent. However, the National Audit Office has reported that RDAs, because of weaknesses in project appraisal and evaluation might not have identified and backed the most effective projects for generating regional wealth. During the economic downturn, approximately 15 per cent of physical regeneration projects involving the private sector have stalled or slowed because developers are struggling to get finance or because of concerns over future yields.

Reviving the former English coalfields is one of the largest regeneration challenges over the last 30 years. Between 1981 and 2004 over 190,000 people lost their jobs in coal mining. The speed and extent of pit closures resulted in severe economic, social and environmental deprivation in many communities. In response, the Department for Communities and Local Government developed three specific initiatives to regenerate coalfield areas, involving almost 1.1 billion pounds of public money.As at July 2009, the three initiatives had spent 630 million pounds and had brought 54 former coalfield sites back into working use, and enabled private development of 2,700 houses and 1.1 million square metres of employment space.Thirteen years after the start of the initiatives, the Department still lacks a clear vision and has no overarching strategy for the regeneration of these areas, has not sufficiently coordinated the three strands of the regeneration, and has failed to coordinate wider Government activity. In consequence, training and support to help former coalfield communities find employment has rarely been linked to job opportunities created on coalfield sites.The Committee is concerned about the value for money of these initiatives. The Department does not know what improvement has made to the lives of people in the coalfield areas. It does not have a robust assessment to prove to the true number of additional jobs created nor the business occupancy rates for employment space on the redeveloped sites, or the number of people from former coalfield communities who have benefited. Although progress has been made regeneration has cost the taxpayer much more than originally expected and taken longer than planned. The Department needs to develop more sophisticated benchmarks that take into account the different levels of contamination on a site and allow separate evaluation of the incremental costs to develop housing and employment space.

Striking transformations are taking place in the urban landscape. The regeneration of urban areas in the UK and around the world has become an increasingly important issue amongst governments and populations since the global economic downturn. This textbook provides an accessible and critical synthesis of urban regeneration in the UK, analyzing key policies, approaches, issues and debates. It places the historical and contemporary regeneration agenda in context. The second edition has been extensively revised and updated to incorporate advances in literature, policy and case study examples, as well as giving greater discussion to the New Labour period of urban policy, and the urban agenda and regeneration policies of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government elected in 2010. The book is divided into five sections, with Section I establishing the conceptual and political framework for urban regeneration in the UK. Section II traces policies that have been adopted by central government to influence the social, economic and physical development of cities, including early town and country and housing initiatives, community-focused urban policies of the late 1960s, entrepreneurial property-led regeneration of the 1980s, competition for urban funds in the 1990s, urban renaissance and neighborhood renewal policies of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and new approaches since 2010 which have sought to stimulate enterprise and embrace localism in an age of austerity resulting from the global economic downturn. Section III illustrates the key thematic policies and strategies that have been pursued by cities themselves, focusing particularly on improving economic competitiveness, tackling social disadvantage and promoting sustainable urban regeneration. Section IV summarizes key issues and debates facing urban regeneration in the early 2010s, and speculates upon future directions in an era of economic and political uncertainty. Urban Regeneration in the UK combines the approaches taken by central government and cities themselves to regenerate urban areas, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of the field. Each chapter also contains case studies, study questions, suggested further reading and websites, making this an essential resource for undergraduate students interested in Urban Studies, Geography, Planning and the Built Environment.

Rural Regeneration in the UK provides an accessible yet critical overview of rural regeneration policy and governance in the UK. It charts the key patterns and processes of rural change since 1945 and the emergence and evolution of rural regeneration policy and governance in shaping rural spaces. A key objective of the book is to highlight how, and to what extent, rural regeneration policy and governance are responsive to an increasingly differentiated and uneven rural economy and society. Part One considers the context for rural regeneration, including theoretical frameworks of relevance and the ways in which rural regeneration policy and governance have been framed. In particular, it includes a consideration of how the rural has been made ‘thinkable’, and the extent to which this has moved beyond traditional concerns with agricultural development. Part Two highlights the key dimensions and spaces of rural regeneration. This includes responses to rural change from ‘within the rural’, including community-led approaches, the use of culture and the extent to which approaches may be converging or diverging within a devolved UK. Rural Regeneration in the UK provides a comprehensive and integrated analysis of responses to rural change that will appeal to a broad audience of students, scholars and practitioners both in the UK and abroad.