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--. G�mprchcn.n c Nci�hhniarh��aci ti�uilic.: Chara�tcr��n_ D,�iinc ^ Since the mid-1980s waiting lists for council housing have fallen dramatically in both cities and continue to fall. Low housing demand has generated falling school rolls, loss of confdence in the areas, severe symptoms of physical abandonment, a vacuum in social control, anti-social behaviour and intense fear of crime. Property values were falling and intense demand problems could be seen in all property types, all tenures and all parts of the neighbourhoods. The turnover of population was extremely high in council housing. The authors indicate that if turnover moves above a certain level, it can become unmanageable. The turnover rate in council housing was between 20 and 50 per cent (ibid.). This brief review of what is mainly British literature illustrates that neighbourhood decline is as much a part of urban evolution in Britain as it is in the United States. The characteristics of neighbourhood infrastructure and resident population also illustrate considerable similarities to the American situation. There are differences in Britain. Although the inner cities of Britain's urban centres are certainly not immune to decline, the inner-city focus is not as strong as it is in the United States. More often, decline is centred around large housing estates in suburban (peripheral) locations developed for a low-income, marginalized population often displaced by inner- city redevelopment. The literature also seems to suggest that decline does not have the same strong social and ethnic connection it has in the United States. 2.4. The Australian Experience Like in other countries, older Australian suburbs are diverse and experience challenges comparable to those of inner cities. The report Shifting Suburbs: Population Structure and Change in Greater Western Sydney documents the changes that have taken place in Western Sydney in the last two decades (The Urban Frontiers Program 2003). A detailed analysis of suburbs indicates that the oldest, pre-World War II, suburbs show signs of decline, which is characterized by high proportions of the most disadvantaged in the region, as measured by household income and occupational characteristics, a high proportion of flats and semi-detached housing, and a strong private rental market. Similarly to Britain, the decline of large peripheral estates represents one of the major problems for Australian cities. In New South Wales (NSW) approximately one third of the public housing stock is concentrated in large estates, which date mostly from the 1960's and 70's (Randolph and Judd 1999). Their physical form varies from inner- city medium to high-rise housing to low-density outer suburban estates. While initially envisioned as planned communities, incorporating recreational, retail and school facilities, over time these areas became increasingly disadvantaged and stigmatised as areas of low amenity, deteriorating housing stock with significant social problems including high unemployment, social service dependency, and crime. By the early 1990's, the problems of the unpopular large estates had become crucial. Substantial concentrations of public housing are now associated with socially excluded populations characterized by chronic unemployment, welfare dependence, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and other forms of social dysfunction (ibid.). 14