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Lee Pugalis, Northumbria University, UK
Urban policy is a complex terrain. Consequently, the term itself is disputed Atkinson and Moon (1994, xi), for example, note that ‘[f]or some commentators it is inadequate, for others it constitutes unwarranted interference by government. Local government has not always wanted the same from urban policy as central government. We can even question whether or not there is actually such a thing as urban policy; whether it is ‘urban’; and whether it is a ‘policy’’ (Atkinson and Moon, 1994, xi). For some, urban policy is spatially focussed on particular territorial parcels, such as metropolitan areas, whereas for others, urban policy relates to ‘urban’ forms of society. Whereas the former refers to particular spatial formations, such as metropolitan areas, the latter refers to particular sociospatial relationships and processes. If we recognise that ‘policy’ is a social construct, there still remains the question of what is specifically ‘urban’ about urban policy.
Many societies around the world and increasingly in the Global South are urban societies, which poses a serious challenge to the utility of devising policy for discrete urban areas or territorial parcels, such as ‘inner cities’, ‘housing estates’ and ‘industrial enclaves’. Antiquated approaches to urban policy sought to identify territorial parcels as they allow for empirical enclosure. Yet, there persists (in theory as well as practice) a predilection to parcelise urban space (e.g. urban-rural) rather than engage in a more penetrating engagement with the process of urbanisation.
Often governments, policymakers and academics refer to a variety of spatial policies including ‘regional development policy’, ‘urban regeneration policy’, ‘city policy’ and ‘growth policy’. Each of these overlap in terms of scope, scales and remits. In the UK, for example, ‘growth policy’ (used interchangeably with the prefix ‘local’, although not necessarily spatial), has been favoured by national government over the past five years. In many respects it has been used to dislodge ‘urban regeneration policy’, especially the more socially-conscious area-based programmes favoured by a succession of previous government administrations.
Despite its contentiousness I opt here to continue to apply the term ‘urban policy’ due to its historical significance in Britain, as well as other parts of the world (e.g. Kantor, 2013). But in doing so, I conceive urban policy through an expansive lens of inhabiting an urban society (cf. Lefebvre, 2003 [1970]). Thus, the parcelisation of urban space is of secondary concern, albeit important – a potentially pragmatic compromise in practice. I contend that a more nuanced appreciation of sociospatial transformations, facilitated by a fuller comprehension of the dynamic currents of urbanisation processes, could help engender a form of urban-targeting less constrained by territorial parcelisation and, perhaps, less prone to capture by city elites. I