Re-thinking the urban development corporation 'experiment': The case of Central Manchester, Leeds and Bristol

This paper reports on a comparative study of the experiences of Bristol, Central Manchester and Leeds Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) by contrasting the three UDCs in terms of the success with which they revived local land and property markets and the degree to which their interventions yielded social benefits for local residents. The paper highlights the differing ways in which each UDC read its remit, the strategies formulated to meet locally-specific aims and objectives, and the contrasting outcomes engendered as a result. In doing so, it explores why ostensibly similar bodies-with similar structures and resources-generated quite different outcomes. It also considers the differing styles of operation of each UDC: their attitudes towards cross-agency collaboration; their views on linking UDC outputs to local communities; and the balance struck between economic and social objectives. In doing so, it highlights the impact of each UDC upon the 'process' of regeneration in the three cities, assessing the extent to which all three managed to alter attitudes, working methods and relationships amongst the broader network of regeneration institutions, in line with the initial government expectation that UDCs would strive to alter established institutional practices and outlooks. The paper concludes with an attempt to identify the lessons which might be drawn from the UDC experience, and their implications for current regeneration policies such as the Regional Development Agencies and the New Deal for Communities. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.