Talking about Regeneration – some reflections on 50 years of policy in England

This chapter reflects on nearly half a century of urban regeneration policy in England. It begins by discussing the genesis of regeneration policy in the ‘urban crisis’ of the 1970s and 1980s then considers some key programmes that have sought to promote neighbourhood renewal and economic recovery in deindustrialising and often depopulating urban centres. The evolution of regeneration policy is traced across the decades: from the property led physical approaches of the 1980s; to the more locally led models of the 1990s; the integrated agendas of ‘urban renaissance’ and neighbourhood renewal in the 2000s; through to the often-contradictory context of the ‘austerity’, localism, devolution, then ‘Brexit’ defined 2010s. Some preliminary analysis is then offered of the latest attempt to address the challenges facing different places through the so-called ‘levelling-up’ agenda of the 2020s. The account suggests that overall, the fortunes of urban places have changed significantly and often quite positively in the decades since the “urban crisis” of the 1970s/80s and that regeneration policy has played a role in this. It also reveals how regeneration policy is embedded in the society it serves and how historical conjunctures continue to shape its priorities and the forms it takes. For example, tight local government finances, notably since the 2010s, mean that regeneration in England remains more market driven than in its European neighbours.