Putting the social into urban regeneration policy

Urban regeneration is a policy area which has been dominated by property development and economic forces, and is therefore relatively ignored as an element of social policy. Social regeneration, meaning the improved and appropriate delivery of welfare services in poor neighbourhoods and the empowerment of local communities in regeneration processes, has never been a prominent feature. Social regeneration came briefly onto the policy agenda in the late 1960s and early 1970s but largely withered away in the welfare crisis and the Thatcherite decade. In recent years a revived movement for social regeneration has emerged, which is having some impact on policy. This article reviews the emergence of this movement and the changing policy contexts, arguing that practical and conceptual tools may now have been developed to support successful social regeneration.