Highlights ► Whether urban regeneration bears an effect on urban sustainability is an under-researched area, and little is known about these impacts at local level. This paper aims to extend these lines of inquiry. ► The UK's Housing Market Renewal Programme (2003–2011) is employed here as a ‘test bed’ to look at the impact of urban regeneration on local sustainability, but also as a territory to unearth new evidence. ► We examine a number of urban sustainability indicators in three neighbourhoods in Salford, Newcastle and Merseyside, all under Housing Market Renewal intervention; ca. 130 residents and 60 key actors were interviewed and a wide range of secondary data analysed. ► Urban regeneration has a differentiated effect on local sustainability indicators: some indicators go through a greater deal of positive change, while others witness little or no change. ► Urban regeneration has a clear positive effect on ‘housing and built environment’ indicators, a somewhat positive effect on those related to ‘economy and jobs’ and ‘community’, and an uncertain effect on ‘use of resources’, ‘services and facilities’ and ‘governance’ indicators.

Abstract Ideas and thinking about sustainability and sustainable development have permeated over the last decades into most disciplines and sectors. The area of urban studies is no exception and has generated an impressive body of literature, which aims to marry ‘sustainability’ and ‘urban development’ by grounding the many interpretations of sustainability in an urban setting. This has taken many forms and inspired a range of initiatives across the world including ‘healthy cities’, ‘urban villages’, ‘millennium communities’ and the ‘mixed communities’ movement. Moreover, urban regeneration has come under considerable scrutiny as one of the core mechanisms for delivering sustainable urban development. At the most basic level, it can be argued that all urban regeneration contributes to a certain extent to sustainable development through the recycling of derelict land and buildings, reducing demand for peripheral development and facilitating the development of more compact cities. Yet, whether urban regeneration bears an effect on urban sustainability is an underresearched area. In addition, little is known about these impacts at local level. This paper aims to extend our understanding in these areas of research. We do so, by taking a closer look at three neighbourhoods in Salford, Newcastle and Merseyside. These neighbourhoods underwent urban regeneration under the Housing Marker Renewal Programme (2003–2011), which aimed to ‘create sustainable urban areas and communities’ in the Midlands and North of England. Approximately 130 residents from the three areas were interviewed and a further 60 regeneration officials and local stakeholders consulted. The paper looks at the impact of urban regeneration on urban sustainability by examining whether interventions under the Housing Market Renewal Programme have helped urban areas and communities to become more sustainable. It also discusses impacts at local level, by probing into some of Housing Market Renewal's grounded ‘sustainability stories’ and looking at how change is perceived by local residents. Furthermore, it re-opens a window into the Housing Market Renewal Programme and documents the three neighbourhoods within the wider context of scale and intervention across the whole programme.