A rotten place to live

Most of our inner cities are rotten places to live. Over the years those with the means have voted with their feet, leaving behind concentrations of poor indigenous populations and minority ethnic immigrants. Fear of crime, bullying and the abuse of those who do not acquiesce to an antisocial subculture, drives out those who can afford to leave, particularly those with children.

Long-term migration from our towns and cities is socially destabilising and economically damaging to the viability of urban regeneration. This culminates in the bizarre spectre of inner city abandonment, urban wasteland and underused infrastructure, all within a few short miles of rampant edge-of-town development and price inflation. So Tony Blair is quite right to get tough on crime and abusive behaviour, for it damages our economy and our society and is the single greatest obstacle to progress in sustainable urban regeneration.

There is no quick fix. In the short term our only option is containment and deterrence. Increases in police powers, getting more officers onto the frontline and generally clamping down on the unruly minority are all acceptable necessities. If we have to rebalance the rights of the individual with the rights of the majority to go about their lives free from fear, harassment and abuse, so be it, provided it does the job. It is that proviso that worries me. I have a nagging doubt that it is not going to work. That no matter how many police officers we put on the street, however many draconian laws are introduced or junior ASBOs served, things aren’t really going to get much better in the long run.

Perhaps we need to remember that there was a second part to the prime minister’s pledge, namely to “get tough on the causes of crime”. If the PM recognised in his pledge that over a period of time, something has happened that has resulted in an increased proportion of our population acting in a criminal or socially irresponsible manner, then finding and eradicating the causes must be a priority.

A two-pronged attack is perfectly logical: containment first, then tackling root causes rather than just treating symptoms. It seems self-evident that the best solution is to try to get more of our people, especially young people, to behave better because they believe it is the right thing to do. The alternative is to spend an ever-increasing proportion of the national budget deterring or punishing them. E E The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is, what are these root causes? Poverty, social exclusion, lack of opportunity, drink, drugs – it’s probably all of these and many more. As a developer I can only ask what can be done in the regeneration process to help combat these root causes of criminality. Perhaps in addition to improving physical housing conditions, we should also begin to teach our children and young adults about personal and social responsibility. Normally one would expect basics such as behaviour in public places or consideration towards others to be taught within the family, or perhaps through the church or other faith groups. However, with inter-generational deprivation, family breakdown and the decline in influence of much organised religion, these options are no longer the force they once were. So, how do we get to our kids and young adults in particular, to start changing their behaviour, and then in turn pass those improved behavioural standards on to future generations? The only institution left that has the capability to reach all our children is the educational system; this is where we should start getting really tough.

Getting tough

Funnily enough “tough” in this context doesn’t mean repressive discipline or harsh punishment but rather perseverance. Teaching our children to cope, explaining the consequences of actions, personal and public responsibility, including some pretty basic stuff on how to raise a family. This approach is no short-term fix, so we need to start now. If we want to make a real difference, we need to start with our kids while they are young, very young.

This new addition to the curriculum, perhaps we could call it “life skills”, should continue to be taught throughout primary and secondary education as part of an expanded educational support role. Already we can see elements of this approach in the form of Sure Start, healthier meals policies, homework after school clubs and the introduction of life skills courses for the “excluded”. The greatest need exists in our poorest areas and the one opportunity we have to get it right on the scale needed is when we are planning and implementing large regeneration projects. Sorting out the soft issues such as educational support at the outset is the key to sustainable communities.

The greatest need exists in our poorest areas and the one opportunity we have to get it right is on large regeneration projects

It is not going to be enough simply to re-house our disadvantaged or to change the social mix, although that will help. We need to recover decades of social neglect. The extensive commitment the government has already made in school and pre-school support shows it understands these connections. However, to label this problem as being wholly, or even in a large part, a problem of social exclusion is to misunderstand the extent or depth of the problem. For the middle classes, drunkenness and soft drug abuse is often nostalgically regarded as a young person’s rite of passage but when combined with a dysfunctional family background, such behaviour can take on an altogether more sinister and permanent aspect.

Tower block illustration

Funding the turn-round

Turning all this round won’t be quick or easy and will require a massive additional investment in our nurseries and schools which should move centre stage as the economic and social focus of our regenerated communities.

It will necessitate an accelerated process of upgrading facilities within schools, more specialised teachers, more volunteer and paid carers and more complication as a new subject is effectively added to the curriculum. Expensive it will be, but if this makes a significant contribution towards improving the quality of urban life, it will help bring people back into our cities, redirecting millions of pounds currently spent on out-of-town housing and infrastructure into inner city renewal.

Increased demand will generate higher urban land values which can be tapped to fund better quality architecture, more extensive community facilities and reduced subsidies on affordable housing. If we want to break the cycle of urban decline, take the planning pressure off the green fields and generate positive urban land values, then first we need to entice families back into inner city living. An essential element of that strategy is to ensure that the vibrancy, culture and convenience of city living are safely accessible to all.

Leaders in the construction industry have, with government backing, set up a cross-sector working group under the auspices of the Housing Forum to examine these and other related issues. If we opt to neglect them, resources spent on regenerating the fabric of our inner cities will be wasted – invest now and long-term social sustainability will be the legacy.

Have you the bottle to get that tough, Mr Blair?