On the night of her election victory in 1987, Margaret Thatcher announced that tackling the difficulties in the inner cities was to be a major goal of her third term. But while government policy is said to be highly geared to physical renewal and regeneration of the local economy, it addresses only the more immediately visible manifestations of urban decay. In this critical analysis, MacGregor and Pimlott review the impact of government policy on social conditions in contemporary British cities, challenging conventional images of increasing prosperity and arguing that recent developments and reforms to improve the situation in the inner cities have often made things worse for those who live there.

This book covers all the main aspects of government policy and practice in British inner city regeneration. Chapters deal with the development of policy, agencies for regeneration, housing, social issues. The UK edxperience is compared with that of other countries, particularly the USA, and past achievements and future prospects are considered. This book was first published in 1982.

"This book directly addresses the economic development issues central to neighbourhood renewal, drawing on the authors' original research and wide-ranging analysis of recent academic theory and policy practice. Their critical examination of the economic problems of deprived areas, and the range of employment and enterprise-related policy initiatives and governance arrangements that have attempted to address them, offers informed insights into what does and what does not work."--BOOK JACKET.