Conclusion: Futures for Post-Industrial Cities

Abstract

In this concluding chapter we draw together some of the principal themes and evidence of the book and consider their implications for the future of Western cities, especially but not only in the United States and Britain. These are the key themes: the capacities of the national and local state to direct and compensate for the economic changes which are reshaping the urban landscape, the mixes of public provision and private enterprise in four emerging types of cities, and the implications of neo-conservative ideologies and policies for the future of state-city relations.