Whereas in the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s more emphasis was placed on `urban social exclusion' and developing targeted policies to address this problem (see Atkinson, 2000a), which represented a partial acknowledgement that the `tickle down effect' had not worked; more recently the pendulum has swung back towards the economic dimension through the emphasis on `urban competitiveness' (see Begg (ed), 2002; Buck et al (eds), 2005). Nevertheless, despite the varying priority attached to particular problems a surprisingly similar assemblage of apparently interminable problems has been with us in our cities – these are those `wicked problems'.
In this paper we seek to describe and analyse the approach to the `problems of the city' as pursued by New Labour with particular reference to three policy areas of unemployment, crime and safety and urban policy. It is, however, important to point out that these three policy areas have largely operated independently of one another within their functional departmental `silos'. While there is some more recent evidence that a degree of `joining-up' has occurred, particularly at local level, it is not possible to detect a single overarching strategy towards the city in government policy or even at a more general level in terms of how the city is `thought' other than in very general terms such as the city being a `motor of economic development'. What perhaps distinguishes New Labour's approach from previous ones is the emphasis on developing a holistic, strategic and integrated approach – what is referred to as `joined-up thinking, policy and action'. In addition the general approach adopted places more emphasis, at least rhetorically, on building local partnerships and the involvement of local people in identifying and addressing these problems. .
The Context for Britain's `Wicked Urban Problems'.
Britain's urban areas, like those across Europe, have to varying degrees, since the 1950s, undergone major structural changes.
