Which Areas Have the Worst Urban Problems?

Abstract

With the availability of new information from the 1981 Census the Department of the Environment has revised the designations of local authorities under the 1978 Inner Urban Areas Act. Discriminant analysis is used to show that unemployment, ethnic minorities and overcrowded housing are the factors that apparently have been given the greatest weight in this classification. Several areas which have not been designated are shown by the discriminant analysis to have substantially worse urban problems than some designated areas and such discrepancies are confirmed by an examination of the effects of altering the weights attached to different indicators. Such areas are principally to be found in Greater London and in some small and medium-sized towns outside the larger cities.