Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part one: The tale of seven cities -- Part two: Learning from 50 years of boom and bust: seven European case studies -- Part three: Towards a recovery framework -- Part four: urban industrial decline and post-industrial recovery initiatives?: what can European cities learn from the US?

"How did Europe react? How did the US? How different were their responses? This book looks closely at the recovery trajectories of seven European cities from very different regions of the European Union. Their dramatic decline, intense recovery efforts and progress on the ground reinforce the significance of public underpinning in times of crisis. Innovative enterprises, new-style city leadership, special neighbourhood programmes and skills development are all explored. The US experience, whereby cities were largely left to their own devices, produced a slower, more uncertain recovery trajectory. This book will provide much that is original and promising to all those wanting to understand the ground-level realities of urban change and progress.