Reviving Britain’s cities

“SAVE the cities” has been a battle-cry in Britain for at least a generation. The urban riots of the 1980s provoked a flurry of planning and spending. Then in 1997 New Labour came to power determined to redouble efforts to combat the social, economic and environmental problems of the inner cities. Lord Rogers, a distinguished architect, was appointed to chair an Urban Task Force. Yet the signs are that when the government publishes its own blueprint for Britain's cities later this year, it will ignore two of the key recommendations of the Rogers report (see article).