A report on the CityObservatory web site (cityobservatory.org) provides data on the number of poor people living in "high poverty" urban neighbourhoods between 1970 and 2010 in America.The study shows that the number of poor people in these neighbourhhoods has more than doubled in this period from two million to four million, while the number of such high-poverty neighbourhoods in cities has nearly tripled from 1,100 to 3,100. The study concludes that this growing concentration of poverty is the biggest problem confronting American cities.

A number of causes were identified in the report for these trends. . These include the growth in concentrated income inequality and racial segregation. A range of negative social effets have been identified as flowing from these trends. These include higher crime rates, worse mental and physical health and lower employment and economuc prospects.

While this is an American study, the trends in other countries involved in the Inclusion Network of PASCAL is a key factor in determing the ways in which learning city strategies can contribute to reducing poverty and opening opportunities throughout life. Approaches to place making is one of the aspects that need to be considered. It is hoped that the situation in other countries participating in the Inclusion Network will be reported on the Networks web site as a step towards identifying the most appropriate strategies.