Book Review: The Evolution of Spatial Policy
| Date | 01 September 1986 |
| Author | Gwyn Williams |
| DOI | 10.1177/014473948600600207 |
| Published date | 01 September 1986 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
The
values
of
free
enterprise
are
easy
to
communicate
when
organising
the
sale
of
British
Gas
or
the
Trustee
Savings
Bank,
but
when
an
old-age
pensioner
has
to
wait
two
years
for
an
eye
operation
or
young
people
leave
school
in
Gateshead
with
little
prospect
of
permanent
employment
then
how
is
the
state
to
respond?
The
political
parties
argue
about
strategies
for
recovery
and
the
divide
has
never
been
wider
in
recent
decades.
Private
affluence
and
public
squalor
is
everywhere
a
more
obvious
and
growing
phenomenon.
Can
the
political
system
cope
or
are
there
forces
unleased
in
British
society
which
political
leaders
are
ill-equipped
to
handle?
JAMES
A CRAIG
Department
of
Administrative
Studies,
University
of
Manchester
THE
EVOLUTION
OF
SPATIAL
POLICY
P.
Lawless.
(Pion,
1986,
249pp,
£12.00)
Subtitled,
A
Case
Study
of
Inner
Urban
Policy
in
the
United
Kingdom
1968-1981,
this
book
presents
an
inter-disciplinary
critique
concerning
the
evolution
of
inner
city
policy,
and
is
tackled
from
a
variety
of
political
perspectives.
It
is
a
pot-pourri
of
ideas
and
policy
prescriptions,
ambitious
in
its
coverage
and
approach,
and
succinct
in
style,
but
having
a.
'dated'
feel
concerning
its
overall
presentation.
The
first
part,
covering
nearly
half
the
text,
is
largely
a
chronological
account
of
the
inner
urban
dimension
to
policy,
already
well
documented
by
a
host
of
academic
and
professional
commentators.
It
discusses
the
economic,
demo-
graphic
,
physical
and
financial
dimensions
of
inner
urban
decline~
the
era
of
urban
experimentation
1968-1974~
and
the
shifting
analytical
focus
that
led
to
the
development
of
an
urban
policy
framework
during
the
late
1970s.
The
101
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