Since the 1950s there have been dramatic changes in towns and cities. People have moved out of central urban areas, retailing has moved out of towns and jobs have also declined in city centres, particularly with the growth of business and science parks. With the continuing decline of the manufacturing sector and the re-shaping of employment in the service sector, a new force will increasingly dominate urban development, the meritocratic elite. The meritocratic elite are those able to develop and use information technology to generate productivity and wealth. Where they wish to live will increasingly influence future urban development. This work suggests that as public and private corporations continue to downsize, outsource and re-engineer themselves, an increasing amount of expenditure and employment growth will lie with the leisure sector. Herein lies one of the solutions to the decline of towns and cities. The author also suggests that town planners and economists have continually displayed a lack of understanding of these developments and have not anticipated the forces which cause urban change. As the global econonmy, combined with changes in transport and information technolo

The last fifty years have seen dramatic changes in towns and cities. People have moved out of central urban areas, retailing has moved out of towns and jobs have also declined in city centres, particularly with the growth of business and science parks. With the continuing decline of the manufacturing sector and the re-shaping of employment in the service sector, a new force will increasingly dominate urban development, the meritocratic elite. The meritocratic elite are those able to develop and use information technology to generate productivity and wealth. Where they wish to live will increasingly influence future urban development.Towns and Cities - Competing for survival suggests that as public and private corporations continue to downsize, outsource and re-engineer themselves, an increasing amount of expenditure and employment growth will lie with the leisure sector. Herein lies one of the solutions to the decline of towns and cities.Town planners and economists have continually displayed a lack of understanding of these developments and have not anticipated the forces which cause urban change. As the global econonmy, combined with changes in transport and information technology increasingly dominates our lives, local and national governments need a new agenda for the 21st century. If they fail to rise to this challenge many of our town and city centres will continue to decline and may not survive.

The essays presented in The Ian Willock Collection on Law and Justice in the Twenty-First Century by those who knew Ian Willock as well as those who have been inspired by his concerns represent the wide compass of Ian’s interests. These range from a concern with the development of legal regulation to the relationship between social change and the justice system, as well as his particularly interest in the limitations on the accessibility of the justice system. This tribute provides a microcosm of the changes and shifts which occurred in legal education and the legal profession in the years between 1964 and the current century. The profound impact of Ian Willock’s life work is evident through the wide-ranging essays in this collection.