Modes of Regulation and the Urban Poor

Abstract

Within the framework of regulation theory, this paper attempts to link transformations in the social, economic and political spheres of older industrial nations, to the processes of exclusion occurring in western European cities. The focus is on housing as a central element of the post-war mode of development and homelessness as the most extreme form of social exclusion. This paper will concentrate on developments in Britain and Germany and will emphasise the divergent patterns of regulation which have emerged in both countries. It will attempt to identify the nature of a transition in the capitalist mode of regulation, and to highlight the development of housing and new forms of social stratification within an increasingly fragmented society.