Urban Regeneration

With reference to examples, evaluate the success or otherwise of urban regeneration schemes in combating the causes and consequences of urban decline (40 marks)

Urban decline is the deterioration of the inner city often caused by lack of investment and maintenance.  These areas are typified by economic decline, personal poverty, social problems and environmental decay.

In the UK, deindustrialisation of urban areas has led to unemployment, providing residents with lower incomes. The lack of disposable income causes a lack of expenditure in local shops and facilities with simultaneous reductions on housing investment (e.g. repairs). There is disinvestment as local businesses start to close or move to new locations, causing further unemployment. The local government starts to collect less money in tax whilst also having to pay more unemployment benefit. This causes the economic and physical environment to suffer, and so the more affluent begin to out-migrate, causing depopulation and a resultant change in the socio-economic status of the area. This out-migration also leaves behind abandoned businesses and houses which become derelict and vandalised with increased prevalence of graffiti, drug use and crime. Remaining residents take less care of their houses and the local government has less money to spend on roads, schools and hospitals. Education levels decrease and so does the residents’ health, leading to more sickness and days missed from work. It is due to this spiral of decline that urban areas must be regenerated.

There are three main processes of re-urbanisation: property-led regeneration such as that which occurred at the London Docklands, partnership schemes such as Hulme City Challenge and the Park Hill flats regeneration, and also gentrification, for example Notting Hill.

Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) were set up in the 1980s and 1990s to take responsibility for the physical, economic and social regeneration of selected inner city areas with large amounts of derelict and vacant land. They are an example of property-led regeneration. They were given planning approval powers over and above those of the local authority, and were encouraged to spend public money on the purchase of land, the building of infrastructure and on marketing to attract private investment. The intention was that private investment would be four to five times greater than the public money initially invested.

The boards of UDCs, mostly made up of people from the local business community, had the power to acquire, reclaim and service land prior to private sector involvement and to provide financial incentives to attract private investors.

There were some criticisms of UDCs as people argued that the UDCs were too dependent on property speculation and they lost huge sums of money through the compulsory purchase of land that later fell in value. Furthermore, because they had greater powers than local authorities, democratic accountability was removed. Locals complained that they had no involvement in the developments taking place. Indeed, there were some examples, particularly in the London Docklands, where local people felt physically and socially excluded by prestigious new housing and high-technology office developments.

The London Docklands is an area of urban regeneration. It suffered from industrial decline in the 1960s due to the shipping of goods around the world changing to larger vessels and a container-based system. Ships were now too big for the London Docks and competition from new and expanded ports such as Dover meant the London Docks went on to suffer huge dereliction and by 1981 they had closed completely. Associated industries of food processing, engineering, ship-building and ship repairing also suffered (gas works also closed in 1985 after we switched to North Sea gas). This caused high levels of unemployment (between 1978 and 1983 12,000 jobs were lost) and social deprivation within the area. In particular, there were vacant houses with owner occupation at just 4% in 1980. The majority of houses were council owned. Within the Isle of Dogs, transport and communication with the rest of London and beyond were poor. The A13 East India Dock Road was the only road in and out and was highly congested. There was only one bus route and no tube/rail connections.

The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) is a UDC set up in 1981 responsible for the regeneration of 8.5 square miles of East London, including the Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Southwark. The main aims were to bring land and buildings into effective use, encourage the development of existing and new industry and commerce, to create an attractive environment, ensure that housing and social facilities were available to encourage people to live and work in the area.

The social regeneration of the area included the building of 22,000 new homes with mostly private ownership and approximately 19% for rent, causing owner occupation to increase and addressing a major consequence of decline in the area. The conversion and gentrification of old vacant warehouses to new homes, recovering desirable locations and also decreasing the risk of vandalism. This brownfield development beautifies the urban landscape and helps preserve greenfield sites.

A new shopping centre was included in the transformation of old dockland buildings into shopping outlets at Tobacco Dock, bringing retail into the area. Contributions towards the creation of 5 new health centres and the redevelopment of 6 more further improved the facilities available within the area. This, combined with the funding towards building 11 new primary schools, 2 secondary schools, 3 post-16 collages and 9 vocational training centres has helped to make the London Docklands a desirable place to live, drastically improving the quality of life for those that live there.

The attraction of financial and high-tech firms such as HSBC to Canary Wharf (once a cargo warehouse which was redeveloped in 1988) has led to a reduction in unemployment - one of the largest issues that the Docklands faced - with levels falling from 14% to 7%, with a doubling in employment and number of businesses. The extension of the Jubilee line has allowed many businesses to locate to the area, now being home to companies such as Citigroup, NatWest and the Daily Telegraph. Those living outside of the area also have an easier commute due to a transport revolution. The Docklands Light Railway was opened in 1987 and now carried over 35,000 passengers a week, tackling the congestion problems on the A13 and thus reducing noise and air pollution. Additionally, the building of the City Airport at the former Royal Docks (carrying 500,000+ passengers a year) allows easy travel to business capitals in Europe, which may be useful for business