PAPER 8

Attacking urban blight: replanning or new towns?

THE choice that is implied in the title of this session exists only as an option in timing, because the predicted growth of world population, to more than 6000 million by the end of this century, will leave governments very little choice in their land use policies, concerning the need to redevelop old urban areas. However, at the present time there is the possibility of choice, and reasons for making it, one way or the other, are varied. The balance of advantage may well differ between one community and another.

To start by defining urban blight, one may say that this is the condition in which buildings and other installations have fallen much below the level of efficiency and maintenance that was normal when they were at the optimum condition of use by the community. Blight, in this sense, includes slum housing, industrial or commercial premises which hamper efficient production and trade, obsolescent railway goods yards, old canal basins, etc.; active city centres or expanding areas of towns (even though sometimes of doubtful aesthetic standards) are not classified as 'blight'.