Include me out? The new politics of place and poverty

Abstract

The regeneration of London raises key questions about the goals of urban policy and about both the definition of, and the solutions to, social exclusion. The concepts of an ‘urban underclass’ as an analytic tool for understanding poverty and unemployment, and of ‘social cohesion’ as a solution to it, are shown to be inaccurate and unhelpful. Successful policy will need to attack continuing poverty and inequality, strengthen employability and the transition to work, and prioritize families and children. Politicians should eschew the search for a ‘big idea’ in favour of piecemeal, incremental reform. © 2000 Policy Studies Institute.