Time for a change in urban policy

摘要

As ministers shift the focus of their economic strategy to address deprived areas of the UK and not only the core cities, now is perhaps the time to re-evaluate the success, or more importantly the failure, of urban policy over the past decades. In short the answer to tackling deprivation is not necessarily just shiny new regeneration but addressing the human challenge; in other words a focus on people, not just place. A new study this week from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation confirms yet again that lack of skills and social mobility is a key reason for poverty. Its argument for a granular approach to helping the unskilled is also a powerful argument for the devolution of the skills agenda and urban policy to local government, in particular through combined authorities.