Economic and demographic changes in the central city have created two conflicting urban groups: (1) the poor, who seek inexpensive housing and greater welfare expenditures; and (2) the elite, who seek neighborhood improvement, fewer housing units, and more environment-enhancing investments. Reconstruction of urban America requires a reconciliation…

This report contains the text of five briefings on research in Rand's Urban Policy Analysis program. "Brief History of Rand's Urban Policy Analysis Program," by Barbara R. Williams, discusses the changing Federal role in urban policy, problems encountered in Rand's attempt during the early 1970s to examine the central policy problems of…

This paper focuses on partial models for solving urban problems to contrast our achievements as social scientists with our aspirations as prescribers of public policy. The objectives of this paper are (1) to review some of the reasons that an ideal set of solutions for urban problems has not been produced by social scientists and (2) to describe…

Aside from the growth of world population itself, urbanization is the dominant demographic trend of the late twentieth century. The number of people living in cities increased from six hundred million in 1950 to over two billion in 1986. If this growth continues unabated, more than half of humanity will reside in urban areas shortly after the turn…