Our urban future

This book is grounded in the reality of life of Britain's major cities, particularly Birmingham, the city that inspired this book. The pessimistic view holds that cities are too polluted, too scarred by decades of demolition and ugly concrete building and too fundamentally untamed to work. Our cities are a costly burden, and although urbanism has enjoyed a revival in recent years it has not inspired the millions who have left Britain's cities over the past century to give them another chance, particularly not working families with children. In cities across the world, environmental degradation, dirt and congestion, stark inequalities and low quality of life drive out households who have the choice and resources. As a result many cities have become trapped in a vicious cycle of heavier traffic, worsening environmental decay and deeper social polarisation. Yet we are a highly urbanised society and cities across the world are growing at breakneck speed. In the developing world more people are coming in than leaving. In the developed world the opposite has been true for decades. But cities have spread out rather than diminished and there are many signs of recovery at the core of cities that were basket cases of decline 30 years ago.

We believe that cities have a vibrant and sustainable future if we alter the way we think about them, plan, rebuild and govern them. If we empower communities at the neighbourhood level and concentrate on people-based solutions, dual carriageways to facilitate outward growth will no longer seem such attractive solutions to the problems within them.