A Study on the Urban Regeneration Policy in the U.K. and the U.S.A

Abstract

In local cities, downtowns are declining due to the motorization and the emergence of large-scale shopping centers in the suburban area. The benefit of physical agglomeration on the economic activities is also decreasing because of the progress of the information technology (IT) such as the electronic commerce and telecommuting. Local cities have been faced to the crisis of dissolution and dismantlement for several decades. In the background of the globalization, deregulation and environmental concerns, the urban regeneration becomes an important subject in the world. The Japanese government adopted a downtown regeneration policy which utilizes a power of the private sector. Each town made the plan for regeneration. In some local cities, the town management organization (TMO) was founded to revive old downtowns. The government introduced some legal and public supports to old downtowns. However we cannot see a symptom of downtown revival. In this paper, we describe the subjects of old downtown and difficulties with policy-making and management. Case studies of the urban regeneration policy in the U. K. and United States are shown. We also examine successful and unsuccessful factors of urban regeneration. © 2000, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.