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(��m�,rchcncicc !�'ri�hbaurhu��J Siudic.: (�h:u-uricriiing Dcrlinc afflicted by disproportionately high incidences of a number of behaviours associated with social distress and marginalisation (ibid.). Poorest neighbourhoods tend to be c(ustered in the innermost parts of Canadian me[ropolitan areas. Poverty rates in these neighbourhoods, both in the central city and in older inner suburban rings, are growing much faster than are those in proxima[e outer suburbs. For example, in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, the poverty rate in the central city of Toronto was 27.6 per cent, compared to Oakville's ra[e of 9.9 per cent (L.ee 2000). The distribution of poverty is very uneven across social groups, with urban Aboriginal people, recent immigrants, visible minorities and people with disabilities, lone-parent families, unattached i�dividuals, children and elderly women exhibiting rates of poverty well above the national average for urban dwellers (Lee 2000). HaMeld (1997) finds that distressed neighbourhoods are characterized by concentrations of Aboriginal peoples (particularly in Winnipeg) and recent immigrants. At the same time, the experience of each city is unique. As Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (200]) reports, the influx of a marginalised population, a large proportion of which are Aboriginal people, into Winnipeg's core is a critical part of the explanation for decline in this city, whereas in Kitchener, a weak economy and the proximity of attractive alternative communities are the main factors in decline. More focussed discussion of decline in Canadian cities and detailed analysis of specific cities will be provided is subsequent publications. 3. Common Features of Decline Traditionaliy urban decline has been explained on the notion of the "slum", areas of overcrowded, low-quality housing with poor hygiene and sanitation, located close to the city centre. Today, urban decline is more the result of an interconnected mix of environmental, social and economic circumstances, sometimes exacerbated by public policies. This mix of cirwmstances discourages investment andjob creation and encourages alienation and exclusion (Kamal-Chaoui 2001). Urban decline is characterized by the geographical concentration of social, economic and spatial problems. According to Kamal-Chaoui, the presence of urban decline areas, whether in the centre or on the periphery of a city, alters the pattern of metropolitan empioyment and investment, therefore reducing the city's capacity to pursue area-wide goals (ibid.). Declining areas share certain similar features: changes in the class, racial and demographic composition, the steady outmigration of more advantaged families and overail depopulation, young populations and high rates of single parenthood in a context � of broken families, low income levels and high dependency on income transfers, high levels of informal economic activity, low levels of socio-occupational mix, high crime rates and rates of drug and alcohol abuse, few local commercial enterprises and poor access to shopping centres, and high mortality and disease rates. These different characteristics interact to produce areas of decline. .-. 17