Major Themes: Physical and Environmental Aspects

The physical appearance and environmental quality of cities and neighbourhoods are highly potent symbols of their prosperity and of the quality of life and confidence of their enterprises and citizens. Run-down housing estates, tracts of vacant land and derelict factories, and decaying city centres are the all too visible faces of poverty and economic decline. More often than not they are the symptoms of decline or of a town’s inability to adapt quickly enough to rapid social and economic change. However, inefficient and inappropriate infrastructure or worn-out and obsolescent buildings can be a cause of decline in their own right. They fail to serve the needs of enterprises in new and growing sectors and impose costs in use and repair which are higher than average and beyond the means of those in poverty or firms on the margins of profitability. They blight the investments, property values and confidence of those living or working nearby.