First published in 1966, Local Government in Crisis presents a comprehensive overview of the challenges and limitations of the local government in Britain. William A. Robson discusses major themes like loss of municipal functions and public utilities; transfer of powers from county districts to county councils; increased central control and dependence on central finance; attitude of local authorities to municipal reforms; the Local Government Act, 1958; and work of the Local Government Commission, to showcase the demand for far reaching substantial changes in a) the structure and finance of local government, b) the relations of local authorities with central departments and c) the power entrusted to local councils. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of public administration, political science, and public policy.

Spatial Dimensions of Public Policy deals with the spatial dimensions of public policy with particular reference to resource management, urban development, regional development, and poverty alleviation. Emphasis is on the geographer's actual and potential contributions to public policy. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to the nature of geographers' contributions to public policy and the reasons why they have not been as effective as the relationships between their interests and important issues of public policy might suggest. The next chapter describes how policy decisions are made in Canada and reviews the nature of disciplinary contributions to governmental decision-making at the highest level. Subsequent chapters focus on regional policy and broad issues of world strategy; specific contributions to public policy, particularly in the United Kingdom; spatial aspects of pollution policy; and policies outside the United Kingdom. Energy policy in Western Europe is discussed, together with a geographer's contribution to addressing environmental problems in New Zealand; the difficulties of achieving an accurate population census of Nigeria; and the reshaping of the legislative and congressional districts of the State of Washington. This monograph will be of interest to geographers and public policymakers.

Drawing on a unique archive spanning the lifetime of twenty council estate projects in the UK and using hundreds of resident voices, this book reveals the secrets of council housing’s failures and successes, and the reasons for them. Bringing to light the complex variety of the lived experiences of residents, it shows how estate pathways were predetermined by factors such as location, design and date, as well as by their local and national social, economic and political contexts. The book highlights what can be learned from some of the successes of less successful housing projects and provides lessons for building sustainable communities in the twenty-first century.