'Design-led' Urban Regeneration: a Critical Perspective

This paper develops a critical perspective on 'design-led' urban regeneration, which is a fuzzy term used to describe a diverse raft of economic development strategies. A definition of design is outlined and then utilised in an assessment of a number of local and regional design-led urban regeneration schemes. A more detailed critique of one such project, the North Staffordshire Design Initiative, is then undertaken. We argue that there is a lack of best practice models and empirical research to guide policy makers.     

The behaviour of a dual economy under different ‘closing rules’

A subsistence sector which produces output without reproducible capital and is also the only source of labour in the economy opens up the possibility that profit maximisation does not rule everywhere. If, in this context, there is one good and savings determine investment, then equilibrium is unique whether the labour market works classically or neoclassically. If, however, investment determines savings in neo-Keynesian fashion, equilibrium may no longer be unique. These results suggest that the importance of different behavioral specifications cannot be determined independently of how markets get cleared.     

REFORMING PROPERTY RIGHTS IN LAND AND TENANCY

This article examines the nature and distribution of propertyrights in land and how they are changing under economic anddemographic pressures. It also analyzes the practical chancesof success of several alternative forms of policy interventionto redistribute property rights and regulate tenancy. This analysisbegins with the political economy of land reform in the twentiethcentury. It draws a distinction between reforms precipitatedby social upheaval (defeat in war, social revolution, or nationalliberation) and those that occur in "normal" times, when thesocial and political order is more secure. It is argued thatthe former have been much more important and, drawing on examples,that the latter face formidable obstacles. In this connection,it is proposed that a tax reform which does away with the highlyselective subsidies and exemptions that benefit the rich andinflate the price of land should be undertaken first. Then,when land prices have fallen, compulsory purchase of land forredistribution, at close to fair market value to ensure itspolitical acceptability, would not entail an intolerable fiscalburden. Where tenancy is concerned, it is argued that this institutionis commonly a socially useful market response, which providesopportunities for the fuller employment of family resourcesand, over the long run, for individual mobility. Thus interventionsdesigned to inhibit tenancy directly or to transfer ownership-likerights to existing tenants may result in heavy costs, especiallyfor future cohorts of would-be tenants.      

UTILITARIAN AND RIGHTS-BASED ALTERNATIVES FOR PROTECTING SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

Current legislation in Great Britain has set up a class of protected land under the designation Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). However, what values are to be protected, and how, are questions largely left unanswered. Areas which are designated as worthy of protection can still be threatened by gradual erosion due to rural development. The designation of a site as being of conservation value requires an agency which enforces protection from development. We highlight the conflicts which have arisen between landowners and conservationists over SSSI management and analyse the role of a conservation agency under alternative environmental philosophies. We show how the values underlying the motive for conservation will affect the environmental management process chosen. This provides contrasting views as to the future for countryside management, and focuses concern on the current trend towards the free market in which trade-offs based upon the anthropocentric usefulness of nature are fundamental.