US urban empowerment zones

The designation of empowerment zones marked a significant shift in federal policy for urban regeneration in the US, and the six urban empowerment zones designated in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia-Camden have now begun to achieve results in terms of implementing social projects and attracting investment for economic development. While interim results seem disappointing in comparison to original expectations for the zones, a consideration of the theoretical underpinning of the empowerment zone initiative suggests that this is unsurprising and that the zones may have raised expectations for regeneration unnecessarily.