Urban Change and Policy responses in Britain - article ; n°1 ; vol.4, pg 59-71

Brian Robson

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Espace, populations, sociétés - Année 1986 - Volume 4 - Numéro 1 - Pages 59-71
L'évolution des villes et la politique urbaine en Grande-Bretagne.
Les grandes villes britanniques ont connu un déclin important en termes de population, d'emplois et de revenus depuis les années cinquante. Face à cette évolution, l'article cherche à répondre à trois questions.
Ce processus de déclin urbain est-il naturel dans le cadre de l'économie de marché, ou est-ce-que les politiques urbaines y ont joué un rôle - que celui-ci soit conscient ou non ? Les secteurs publics et privés sont-ils capables de transformer cette évolution, plus particulièrement dans le domaine du marché du logement, étant donné le contexte de crise économique ? Ces différentes stratégies urbaines ont-elles renforcé les disparités sociales et spatiales dans les grandes villes ? Pour répondre à la dernière question, des données détaillées des recensements de 1971 et 1981 pour le Grand Manchester sont analysées.
The large towns and cities in Britain have suffered strong decline since the fifties, in terms of population, employment and income. In the face of this urban decay, the paper explores three questions. Are these changes the results of natural processes of the market economy or has policy-making played a role in the decline, whether consciously or not? Can the private and the public sector tackle the problems of change in the context of decline, especially in the field of housing? To what extent has recent urban policy contributed to the social and spatial disparities in the large cities?
In looking at the last question, detailed information of the 1971 and 1981 cencuses for Manchester are analysed.
13 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: ESPACE-_POPULATIONS-_SOCIETES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1986
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Brian Robson
Urban Change and Policy responses in Britain
In: Espace, populations, sociétés, 1986-1. Logement et différenciations sociales dans les villes européennes -
Housing and social differentiation in european cities. pp. 59-71.
Résumé
L'évolution des villes et la politique urbaine en Grande-Bretagne.
Les grandes villes britanniques ont connu un déclin important en termes de population, d'emplois et de revenus depuis les
années cinquante. Face à cette évolution, l'article cherche à répondre à trois questions.
Ce processus de déclin urbain est-il naturel dans le cadre de l'économie de marché, ou est-ce-que les politiques urbaines y ont
joué un rôle - que celui-ci soit conscient ou non ? Les secteurs publics et privés sont-ils capables de transformer cette évolution,
plus particulièrement dans le domaine du marché du logement, étant donné le contexte de crise économique ? Ces différentes
stratégies urbaines ont-elles renforcé les disparités sociales et spatiales dans les grandes villes ? Pour répondre à la dernière
question, des données détaillées des recensements de 1971 et 1981 pour le Grand Manchester sont analysées.
Abstract
The large towns and cities in Britain have suffered strong decline since the fifties, in terms of population, employment and
income. In the face of this urban decay, the paper explores three questions. Are these changes the results of natural processes
of the market economy or has policy-making played a role in the decline, whether consciously or not? Can the private and the
public sector tackle the problems of change in the context of decline, especially in the field of housing? To what extent has recent
urban policy contributed to the social and spatial disparities in the large cities?
In looking at the last question, detailed information of the 1971 and 1981 cencuses for Manchester are analysed.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Robson Brian. Urban Change and Policy responses in Britain. In: Espace, populations, sociétés, 1986-1. Logement et
différenciations sociales dans les villes européennes - Housing and social differentiation in european cities. pp. 59-71.
doi : 10.3406/espos.1986.1085
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/espos_0755-7809_1986_num_4_1_1085ROBSON Department of Geography Brian
University of Manchester
Urban Change and
Policy responses in Britain
that period of 30 years - one person in every
city Industrial The which city in Revolution which above I all work is in associated is 18th Manchester, and 19th with centhe three. This contraction is equally true of
every large city in Britain (Table 1).
tury England, where textile manufacture
was centred and the growth of indust In the face of this widespread urban decay,
rial Britain was concentrated; the city I want to explore three questions :
where Engels worked and on which he 1) What are the causes of these changes;
based his 1844 book on the Condition of are they the result of the "natural" pro
the working class. If anywhere symbolises cesses of a market economy or has policy-
urban industrial growth it is Manchester. making played a part in the decline?
Yet, today, Manchester is undergoing a 2) How has policy-making reacted to this
profound economic and social decay in re decline and can a "mixed" economy of
sponse to fundamental changes in the local, private and public enterprise tackle pro
regional, national and international econo blems of change in the context of decline?
mies. The decline of the city in the 20th 3) To what extent has recent urban policy
century has been almost as dramatic as was contributed to the social and spatial pola
its earlier growth. Most of this decline - as risation of households within the city?
with other of the large cities in Britain - has
taken place in the postwar period. In 1951 In looking at these questions I shall draw
the population of the administrative city both on national data on economic, social
was over three-quarters of a million: in and housing information, and, for the third
1981 it was less than one-half million. One question, on detailed information on hou
third of its population has disappeared in sing within Manchester. 60
Table 1
Population Change 1971-81 : the 15 largest decreases and the 15 largest increases in english
local Authorities (excluding London)
1A: Largest Decreases IB: Largest Increases
Increase Decrease
Salford (Greater Manchester) 103 25 Washington (Tyne & Wear)
102 Gateshead (Tyne & Wear) 21 Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire)
Manchester (Greater 78 17 Runcorn (Cheshire)
72 Liverpool (Merseyside) 16 St Ives (Cambridgeshire)
63 Bootle 16 Redditch (Hereford/Worcestershire)
60 15 Tamworth (Staffordshire) Kirkby
46 14 Leighton Linslade (Bedfordshire) Huyton-with-Roby (Merseyside)
46 Tynemouth (Tyne & Wear) 13 Witham (Essex)
Newcastle & 44 13 Seaton Valley (Northumberland)
South Shields (Tyne & Wear) 43 13 Bracknell (Berkshire)
43 Blackburn (Lancashire) 13 Guisborough (Cleveland)
43 Prescott (Merseyside) 13 Thetford (Norfolk)
42 Pudsey (West Yorkshire) 13 Skelmersdale (Lancashire)
42 12 Droitwich (Hereford/Worcestershire) Newton-le- Stretford (Greater Willows Manchester) (Merseyside) 39 12 St Neots (Cambridge)
Note. The authorities with the largest decreases are almost wholly within the large metropolitan areas : those
with the largest increases are a mixture of New or Expanded Towns or are small towns in predominantly
rural areas.
COUNTER-URBANISATION
The large towns and cities of Britain have growth (Fielding, 1982).
This widespread decay and dereliction in suffered decline regardless of whether they
all of the large cities in Britain is concenare more or less specialised in their activi
trated most dramatically in the inner areas ties. Conversely it is in the small towns and
rural areas where the new investments and of the cities where the collapse of local eco
nomies has produced very high levels of where the growth of population have been
concentrated in the period since World unemployment, large areas of vacant,
abandoned and derelict land and concentWar Two and especially in the last decade.
It is this reversal from the experience of the rations of social problems associated with
poverty - problems which are exacer19th-century processes of urban growth
which urban geographers have called bated by poor housing and by ethnic conf
licts. The process of suburbanisation has "counter-urbanisation". People, and
long continued to draw households and investment in economic activity both now
investment away from the central areas of seem to be seeking locations outside the
large cities, but to this has now been added large cities and instead are moving to or
the qualitatively different process of décondeveloping in the small towns and rural
centration as population and new invesareas which had previously been areas of
decline. This process has so far only affec tment have sought out small towns which lie
outside the direct ambit of the larger cities ted America and Britain. Some countries
(Roberts and Randolph, 1983). This in northern Europe, in the areas which
change is reflected in the very different experienced industrialisation, have only
shape of the relationship between urban recently begun to show the first signs of
similar patterns of this reversal of urban growth and urban size.
THE ROLE OF POLICY IN SUCH CHANGE
The collapse of cities is largely the result national economy has been reflected in the
of processes within the broader economy, changed role of large cities. Contraction of
Restructuring of economic activity in the traditional manufacturing industry, the
international economy and withiii the development of new forms of high- 61
early 1950s and in the middle 1960s) to technology industry, and the relative
"decant" population and economic actigrowth of the service sector have involved
widespread de-industrialisation and the vity to areas 30-40 miles outside London
and the largest provincial centres. Such withdrawal of investment from older
longer-established areas. Since this New Towns proved attractive to industrial
ists and to population and drew both on investment is found predominantly within
urban dwellers and more particularly on cities, it is they which have suffered the
the new and the new light worst effects with the closure of factories.
So contraction has been centred in the manufacturing investment associated with
cities. But the new investment has also lar demographic and economic growth in
those two decades. The policy of develogely avoided urban locations for a variety
ping Green Belts around the major cities of reasons. Land costs now represent a hig
her proportion of production costs so that, so as to contain their growth had the simi
lar effect of increasing development in with urban land being both expensive and
suitable sites being scarce without the heavy areas well outside towns themselves since
it meant that decentralisation pressures costs of refurbishing land, urban sites have
become less compelling locations. Further, were forced to areas be