Place, policy, and politics do localities matter?

"Examines local political initiatives seeking to influence economic and social development in seven sharply contrasting localities, ranging from the outer council estates of Merseyside to the boom towns of Cheltenham and Swindon."@en
""These studies add a great deal to our knowledge of the process of local economic regeneration from a political economy perspective and of the interrelationships between the political and economic interests operating in these localities. Localities do matter." - Times Higher Education Supplement The past ten years have seen local government in the UK facing two major challenges: to survive in the face of Thatcher government hostility and to adapt to enormously powerful forces of economic restructuring which have also been encouraged by government policies. The key aspects of these changing fortunes of British towns explored in this important new book is the ability of individual localities to exercise any control over their own growth and decline. Place, Policy and Politics examines local political initiatives seeking to influence economic and social development in seven sharply contrasting localities, ranging from the outer council estates of Merseyside to the boom towns of Cheltenham and Swindon."