The term twilight area refers to those obsolescent areas which although, in decline have not deteriorated into slums but certainly within a short period unless it is checked. In many ways, twilight areas pose greater problems than slum areas because they have a measure of use and value and it is difficult to justify grants and subsidies from public authorities while slum areas exist. It is also difficult to justify the compulsory purchase of individual interests in twilight areas which often contain a large number of owner-occupiers and other owners who have managed and maintained their own estates satisfactorily, but whose properties are “victims” of changes in the environment. The remedy for the greater part of most twilight area is not, complete clearance and redevelopment but the more intricate work of refurbishing and improvement, such as; the modernisation of individual buildings; the modification of vehicular flows to prevent congestion or the destruction of amenities by heavy traffic in residential streets; the provision of off-street car parking and garage space; and the weeding out of non-conforming uses, etc. The purpose of intervention in twilight areas is to prevent them from lapsing into slums with the resultant, economic and social losses. The cure for blight depends, to some extent, on its cause.
The main causes of blight are:
- Development Failures – Cheaply built and poorly planned housing create slums conditions from the beginning urgent need for accommodation and unfortunate speculation are also responsible for developments which fall into blight almost immediately.
- Declining Areas – these are areas which due to physical obsolescence are unable to attract the class of occupiers for which they were built, hence they fall into the hands of those who cannot adequately maintain them.
- Commercial and industrial obsolescence – in some cases, the chief cause of blight is the factor which undermines the economic base of the area. The classic example is that of a mining town whose mineral workings become exhausted leaving the community without its means of subsistence. Commercial centres may also suffer if their prosperity is threatened by completion or some other adverse circumstances.
- Blight through infiltration of alien uses – This cause of blight arises through mismanagement but Town and Country Planning use control measures should provide a second line of defense.
References
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