Urban renaissance?: New Labour, community and urban policy

Description

New Labour came to power in 1997 with a commitment to the renaissance of Britain's cities. As Prime Minister Tony Blair declared (1998): "Over the last two decades the gap between these worst estates and the rest of the country has grown - it shames us as a nation, it wastes lives and we all have to pay the costs of dependency and social division". This book documents and assesses the core of New Labour's approach to the revitalisation of cities, that is, the revival of citizenship, democratic renewal, and the participation of communities to spear head urban change. In doing so, the book explores the meaning, and relevance, of "community" as a focus for urban renaissance. It interrogates the conceptual and ideological content of New Labour's conceptions of community and, through the use of case studies, evaluates how far, and with what effects, such conceptions are shaping contemporary urban policy and practice. The book should be an important text for students and researchers in geography, urban studies, planning, sociology, and related disciplines. It will also be of interest to officers working in local and central government, voluntary organisations, community groups, and those with a stake in seeking to enhance democracy and community involvement in urban policy and practice.

Rob Imrie is Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. Mike Raco is Lecturer in Economic Development in the Department of Geography at the University of Reading.

"This book is original as it is the first to really grapple with post-1997 urban policy. Urban renaissance? delivers new contributions in terms of our grounded understandings of community within Blair's urban Britain." Martin Jones, University of Wales Aberystwyth