Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-235) and indexes.
pt. I. Urban -- Why and how do urban areas vary? 1. 'Human nature' and the urban environment. 2. Three urban environments compared -- pt. II. Process -- How the urban environment is fashioned. 3. The system generating new built environment. 4. Profit-seeking development -- as investment. 5. Profit-seeking development -- for sale. 6. Non-profit-seeking development -- statutory. 7. Non-profit-seeking development -- voluntary -- pt. III. Power -- New ideologies and their effects. 8. The dominant 'neo-liberal' ideologies of the 1980s/1990s. 9. The impact of 'neo-liberal' policies on the built environment -- pt. IV. Lessons -- The widening of perspectives. 10. How it works elsewhere. 11. Ways ahead?
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Comparison with processes elsewhere in Europe helps to confirm the view that recent deregulatory strategies have produced many adverse effects and underlines the need to move back to land development procedures that show a better balance between the private, public and voluntary sectors and a greater sensitivity to users of the environment. The book will be invaluable to those interested in the development of the built environment and especially to those concerned with the extent to which democratic accountability is being eroded.
Urban Process and Power not only explains the processes fashioning the built environment but also shows how they reflect the dominant social and political values and the economic circumstances in which they are taking place. Policies towards the built environment during the 'neo-liberal' period since the mid-1970s have increased inequalities, wasted resources and have frequently been self-defeating even in terms of neo-liberalism's own values and strategies. The author argues that these effects are serious and that they raise questions of accountability since they are taking place in the context of an accelerating de-democratisation of the urban development process.