Welfare Reform on the Web (March 2006): Community Regeneration and Development - UK

S. Cameron

Housing Studies, vol.21, 2006, p.3-16

Housing Market Renewal schemes launched at the turn of the 21st century were originally intended to deal with problems of low demand and abandonment. This article suggests that the discourse on housing market renewal has shifted to a more generalised modernisation agenda which seeks to both improve the quality of the housing stock and to encourage households with higher incomes and social status to settle in the area, displacing part of the original population. This modernisation discourse is strongly linked to a regional economic regeneration agenda. It seems unlikely that housing market renewal policies will improve the economic circumstances of existing residents as opposed to serving regional economic development objectives. They may also conflict with community-led neighbourhood renewal initiatives.

M. Smulian

Axis, Jan./Feb. 2006, p.19

A consensus has developed that the way forward for regeneration is to harness the economic dynamism of cities and drag up their hinterlands in their wake. The concept has come to the fore following the demise of plans for elected regional governments in England. These city regions could be run by elected mayors, but there would inevitably be bitter disputes between councils over boundaries.