Homotopy and Isotopy Properties of Topological Spaces

In 1961, S. T. Hu published a paper (1) in which he discussed the desirability of discovering those topological properties which are preserved under homotopy and isotopy equivalences. In that paper he gave general tests in terms of weakly hereditary and hereditary topological properties for homotopy and isotopy properties. In this paper, general tests for homotopy and isotopy properties in terms of weakly hereditary properties and of a class of properties which the author calls open properties are given. In the last sections, we shall show the strong role played by the notions of dimension and separating subsets in forming isotopy properties.