Urban decay
SOCIOLOGICAL PROCESS AFFECTING CITIES
Urban Decay; Inner city decline; Urban blight; Blight (urban); Urban Blight; Urban decline; Causes of urban decay
Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death and urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. It may feature deindustrialization, depopulation or deurbanization, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings or infrastructure, high local unemployment, increased poverty, fragmented families, low overall living standards or quality of life, political disenfranchisement, crime, elevated levels of pollution, and a desolate cityscape known as greyfield land or urban prairie.