| Urban Decay |
Article Index for Urban |
Website Links For Urban |
Information About ™Urban Decay |
|
Urban decay is the popular term for both the physical and social degeneration of a cities and large towns. It is characterized by depopulation, property abandonment, social problems, crime, and desolate and unfriendly urban landscapes. Urban decay is associated with Western cities, especially those in Europe and North America , and during the 1970s and 1980s when major changes in their economies created conditions that favored urban decay. The European and north American experiences of Urban Decay have been very different. Although not uniquely a western experience the effects run counter to the experience of most cities in the less developed world where Slum s are usually located on the outskirts of cities. CAUSES The main cause for urban decay is the lack of a motivations to replace the manufactoring sectors declining role in centralization. During the Industrial Revolution, the main motivation for people to move from the countryside into town was to find employment in the manufactoring sector. Since manufactoring is a centralized activity, it created conditions that favored large numbers of people to concentrate in urban areas. Also, the limited labor mobility due to the lack of private cars meant that employees had to live very close to their work. Thus, cities grew primarily out of these requirements. During the change from a manufactoring to service based economony, the need for centralization, and thus cities, was greatly reduced. Jobs no longer had to be centralized, and private motor transportation was growing in its availability. Even for manufactoring workers, the process of Suburbanisation was attractive because it allowed workers still work at their factories, while communiting between their place of work and their larger suburban homes. In the United States, the federal government supported this movement unintentially by acting in two ways. First, a major highway network intended for the rapid movement of troops also made commutes much easier. Second, many veterans from WWII were given housing vouchers on new homes, fueling demand for suburban housing. In North America this shift has manifested itself in strip malls, suburban retail and employment centres and very low density housing estates. Large areas of many northern cities in the United States have experienced rapid population decreases and a degradation of urban areas. The Western European experience differs in that the effect was often unknowingly assisted by public sector policies designed to clear 18th and 19th century slum areas and movements of people out into state subsidised lower density suburban housing. On continental Europe and Oceania the historical core of major cities usually remains relatively affluent, it is generally the inner city districts and the edge of town surburbs made up of single class state subsidised housing (such as the French ' Cités ' and British ' Council Estates ' which suffer the worst decay and blight. EFFECTS The most visible effect of urban decay is the degradation of urban areas, the abandonment of buildings and not re-constructing buildings after damage by fire etc. Graffiti , litter and Squatting of properties is common. These very visible effects are the symptoms of greatly reduced property values, and massive population losses. Urban decay and its effects are immortalised in 1980's popular culture especially in Films . EXAMPLES OF DECAY The Car manufacturing sector was the base for Detroit 's prosperity and employed the majority of its residents. When this industry declined the city experienced population loss with associated urban decay, particularly after the 1967 Riots . In 1950 the city's population was according to US census around 1.85 million; by 2003 this had declined to 911,000 a loss of nearly 940,000 people or 52%. Britain experienced severe urban decay in the 1970s and 1980s. Major cities like Glasgow in Scotland, the towns of the South Wales valleys and the major English cities like Manchester , Liverpool , Newcastle and the East of London all experienced population decreases with very large areas of 19th century housing experiencing market price collapse. Large French cities are often surrounded by decayed areas. While the city center tends to be occupied mostly by middle as well as upper class residents, the city is often surrounded by very large mid to high-rise housing projects. The concentration of poverty and crime radiating from the developments often cause the enitre suburb to fall into a state of urban decay as more affluent citizens seek housing in the city or further out in semi-rural areas. In early November 2005 the decaying northern suburbs of Paris were the scene of severe riots sparked in part by the substandard living conditions in the public housing projects. REMEDY The main responses to urban decay have been through positive public intervention and policy, through a plethora of initiatives, funding streams and agencies, using the principles of New Urbanism (or through Urban Renaissance as its UK / European equivalent). The importance of Gentrification should not be underestimated and remains the primary means of a 'natural' remedy. In the United States where land is not such a pressured resource, many urban areas have yet to remedy these issues. Development of southern and western cities such as Los Angeles have not helped the older industrial cities to regenerate. In Western Europe where land is much less in supply and urban areas are generally recognised as the drivers of the new information and service economies Urban Regeneration has become a quasi industry in itself, with hundreds of agencies and charities set up to tackle the problem. European cities have the benefit of historical organic development patterns already concurrent to the New Urbanist model, and although derelict, most cities have attractive historical quarters and buildings ripe for redevelopment. In the suburban estates and cités the solution is often more drastic with 1960/70 state housing projects being totally demolished and rebuilt in a more traditional European urban style, with a mix of housing, types, sizes, prices and tenures. One of the best examples of this is in Hulme , Manchester , which was cleared of 19th century housing in the 1950's to make way for a large estate of high rise flats. During the 1990's it was cleared again to make way for new development built along new urbanist lines. The area is held up as an excellent example of Urban Renaissance. URBAN RENAISSANCE Most British and American cities are promoting what has been termed ' Urban Renaissance '. Injections of European Union and United Kingdom funds have in many cases kick started regeneration through improvements in the urban environment and state assistance in Land Reclamation . Often, 17th and 18th century Canals and Docks are redeveloped to create expensive modern inner city flats, and old railway yards and derelict industrial sites have been regenerated by 'Urban Renewal Companies' and 'Regional Development Agencies' to provide mixed use developments with public art and high quality streetscapes. Derelict but attractive historical buildings are often converted into residential or commercial premises (so-called " Loft Apartment s" in the USA) with generous grants or tax breaks. Efforts to revitalize urban areas often involve ideas of Downtown as an art and cultural hub or Arts District , somewhat akin to Richard Florida s concept of making the urban core friendly to the Creative Class . City leaders may promote events such as First Friday art walks and the construction of Convention Center s and Theater s in order to attract visitors who live in suburbs. Most cities in Britain have been successful in encouraging people back into the city centres, although Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow have found this harder. Most practitioners would agree that Britain's city centres have turned a corner, although the inner cities around the Central Business District s and lower density suburban areas continue to suffer from blight and urban decay. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|