Competition and area selection in Scotland's new urban policy

Competition has become increasingly important as a method of allocating res ources in urban policy, particularly with the shift towards decentralised, area-based strategies. This has created uncertainty about the rules of the game and aroused suspicions of arbitrary manipulation of area selection, In this paper, we investigate how area regeneration bids are assessed. We exa mine the reshaping of the Scottish Urban Programme under Programme for Part nership and the targeting of support on fewer priority areas, How were the successful areas chosen, and how fair and consistent were the procedures? W e reveal discrepancies between the criteria put forward in the official gui delines and the outcome. Bid quality and social need seem to have been down played in relation to other considerations. The conclusion suggests how the policy might recover credibility and how government support for urban rege neration might be enhanced.