The paper assesses the criteria for the success of British urban policy initiatives and concludes that they are too short term. In the search for a long-term measure of success, the paper examines the process of development of new property markets. The concept of sustainable markets is proposed as the ultimate goal of urban policy. To explore the creation of sustainable markets, the paper charts the development of a city-centre housing market in Glasgow created by the Merchant City policy initiative instigated at the beginning of the 1980s. The establishment of new local markets is shown to be a long-term process requiring a period of sustained resale/reletting market activity. The conclusion drawn is that the government has underestimated both the funds required for and the time-dimension to sustainable urban regeneration.
