Contribution to the Metropolitan Study: 13 -- This paper contains an analysis of change in the City of Leeds over the past 35 years. The planning background and some of the problems in interpreting urban dynamics are outlined. 

Recent change in Leeds has been influenced by the legacy of the rapid growth of the city in the nineteenth century, for example in terms of the quality of housing and the dependence on the clothing industry. Since 1951 Leeds has been subject to considerable net out-migration. In the first part of the period the birth rate was such that the population increased, but more recently, out-migration has exceeded natural change, so that the population has declined. There have been decreases in the mean household size and the activity rates. There has been a slowing down in the residential mobility rate, and shifts from the privately rented sector. The housebuilding rate has been sufficient to cause a reduction in the number of households sharing. New dwellings have tended to be built on new land rather than land used previously. Thus there has been a physical expansion of the city, which has encouraged the decentralization process. This has been related to the rise in car ownership, which has led to substantial shifts from bus to car. Employment has also decentralized, but there has been an even more significant shift from manufacturing to service sectors, as many of the industries upon which Leeds was dependent have declined. These have been replaced by regional service functions to some extent.