The Limits of Property-Led Regeneration

Abstract

In this paper, the role of property development in city revitalization is considered. Case study material is used to analyze the changing organizational nature of property development, especially the interrelationships between property developers and the traditional purveyors of urban policy: Local authorities. It is shown how the property industry is dependent on the development of organizational capacities with public authorities in a manner not anticipated by the rhetoric of central government, a rhetoric which has pushed the property-led approach as an alternative to development by, and through, the public sector. In contrast to this view, illustrative material is presented which indicates how property-led development is highly dependent on the public sector. Also illustrated is how the process of property-led regeneration has the capacity to undermine a range of local, community, interests in areas affected by redevelopment schemes, a situation which has been exacerbated by the prioritization of the shorter-term development goals of the property industry. In conclusion, it is noted that property-led approaches to regeneration, although a necessary component of urban revitalization, are neither a sufficient nor an adequate response to the multiple tasks involved in the revitalization of cities.