[tomkarlo]

France has some fairly serious issues with urban spaces in decline, even around the outskirts of Paris. That's where most of the major rioting was recently (2005) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_situation_in_the_French_...

It doesn't seem like there's any great pattern out there for managing a declining urban area. Everyone knows how development should work - increasing density and infrastructure - but I don't think there's a good plan for what to do when an area inevitably goes into decline (and they all do sooner or later, if only temporarily.) Like NYC in the 70s, when folks were burning down buildings because it was better than maintaining them.