Welfare Reform on the Web (January 2005): Community Regeneration and Development - UK

FIRM FOUNDATIONS: THE GOVERNMENT'S FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING.

Home Office

2004

The active engagement of citizens and communities with public bodies to improve their quality of life is crucial to the success of government policies. Report identifies four priorities for action to build up community capacity to engage. These are:

• development of a comprehensive and coherent menu of learning opportunities for community engagement;
• targeting of efforts to build up strong, sustainable community anchor organisations which can support community development;
• the promotion of local action planning as a tool for involving citizens and groups;
• stronger collaboration and co-ordination at local, regional and national levels.

NEW HORIZONS IN BRITISH URBAN POLICY: PERSPECTIVES ON NEW LABOUR'S URBAN RENAISSANCE

C. Johnstone and M. Whitehead

Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004

This book provides the first integrated, cross-disciplinary analysis of the urban renaissance project pursued by the Labour government since 1997. Drawing upon the collective insights of urban policy researchers with wide-ranging expertise, the book provides a critical assessment of New Labour attempts to reinvent British cities as affluent, safe, vibrant and attractive places to live and work. The book reveals important contradictions within the urban renaissance vision.

THE ROAD TO RENEWAL: THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOUSING MARKET RENEWAL PATHFINDER PROGRAMME IN ENGLAND

I. Cole and B. Nevin

York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004

Study assesses the main issues which have arisen during the first phase of the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder programme in parts of the Midlands and North of England. The HMR programme promotes a holistic approach to regeneration, which includes:

• economic development;
• environmental improvement;
• housing market restructuring.

This integrated approach should ensure that older urban areas can compete at a regional, national and international level.