the decay and deterioration of an urban area due to neglect or age
The district is an enclave of high unemployment, urban decay and crime.
Examples of 'urban decay' in a sentence
urban decay
A pleasant, low-key sort of place, free of extreme poverty or urban decay.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
The first is of urban decay and crime-addled estates.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He transposes it to a modern landscape of urban decay and moral rot.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The result added to 'urban decay', she said.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In stark contrast to the urban decay, day- to- day life is refreshing.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He is half-poet, half-polemicist, a caustic yet strangely lyrical chronicler of urban decay and redevelopment.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
For commentators, it is an easy scapegoat, synonymous with social breakdown, urban decay and imminent environmental collapse.
The Times Literary Supplement (2008)
The gangster-driven story we have seen before, but the post-colonial urban decay - both in buildings and inpeople's souls - gives this movie a fresh twist.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It is playing a part in the city's bigger drive to throw off years of urban decay and become a thriving economic hub.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
A crime-scarred estate stands in its place, a nightmare of urban decay, neglect and perennial poverty.