This paper is concerned with the extent to which the new tranche of area-based policy initiatives from New Labour can address deprivation. We argue that such policies are likely to meet the failures of previous initiatives as they continue to simplify the complex processes underlying regeneration: they arbitrarily draw boundaries around regeneration areas; they represent a continuation of place commodification; and, they continue to represent accountability structures which rest with statutory bodies rather than the community. Without reinventing the wheel, urban policy needs to revisit conventional wisdom relating to territorial development: namely, that local regeneration is determined by factors inside and outside particular localities.
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