Author(s): Champion T
Abstract: It is almost 10 years since the UK government published Towards an Urban Renaissance. This paper assesses the extent to which a turnaround in the fortunes of English cities has occurred in recent years, using population estimates for 1981-2006. Population change rates are compared over time for 56 cities defined on the principle of built-up urban area and for a 10-fold classification of England based on settlement size and regional location. In aggregate, urban England is found to have achieved a steady acceleration in growth over the 25-year period, but since the early 1990s this has merely been tracking the national trend with no diminution in the growth-rate gap with the faster growing towns and rural areas. Also, a major contrast exists between London and the principal regional centres.
Keywords: UK demographics population change