Re-qualificação de orlas ferroviárias - O caso de Berlim

Desde seu início, a ferrovia tem provocado urbanização ao seu redor e, hoje em dia, seus equipamentos e terrenos abandonados nos centros metropolitanos provocam re-urbanização da cidade consolidada. Este artigo discute o projeto urbano baseado na re-qualificação de orlas ferroviárias. Procuram-se as condições características desse tipo de projeto e seus resultados, especialmente na cidade de Berlim após a queda do muro em 1989. A intervenção é colocada no contexto global de desindustrialização e descentralização da produção e infra-estrutura; no contexto nacional da reunificação da Alemanha ocidental e oriental; e no contexto regional da transformação da nova capital alemã após a queda do muro. A transformação de orlas ferroviárias berlinenses só pode ser explicada nestes três contextos, como concretização das ambições da cidade: tornar-se cidade global, em termos econômicos, em menos de uma década; retomar sua posição de pólo cultural europeu; e resolver a crise de identidade pós-Guerra Fria por meio do preenchimento dos numerosos vazios urbanos, herança da divisão da cidade. São discutidas algumas críticas em relação a essas ambições e à implementação das intervenções, considerando a morfologia típica da reconstrução, aspectos socioeconômicos e atitudes em relação à preservação de patrimônio histórico e ambiental. O discurso é ilustrado por três exemplos atuais de intervenções em orlas ferroviárias de Berlim

Subculturas e revitalização urbana: experiências recentes em Amsterdã, Berlim e São Paulo

Este trabalho discute a possibilidade de tratar as subculturas como instrumento de revitalização urbana. Uma análise da literatura nos dá a percepção do debate sobre as novas relações entre o governo e pequenos grupos subculturais na sociedade de hoje e introduz a terminologia de pioneiros urbanos, incubadoras e catalisadores. Estudos empíricos em Amsterdã, Berlim e São Paulo mostram as vantagens e desvantagens de suas implementações como instrumentos de revitalização urbana na prática.This text discusses the possibilities of using subcultures as a tool to revitalize urban areas. An analysis of the literature on the subject sheds light on the debate about the new relations between government and small subcultural groups found in today's society and introduces terminology of urban pioneers, incubators and catalysts. Empirical studies carried out in Amsterdam, Berlin and São Paulo show the advantages and disadvantages of the practical applications of these tools in urban revitalization

Atlas of edges: regional analysis and representation

In the second year of the courses urbanism and landschape architecture students are offered a research exetcise at the regional scale. The subject focuses on acquiting knowledge and skills regarding this specific planning scale, drawing and analysis techniques and the the specific regional planning issues in the Netherlands today in the discussion on the region, vagueness is always around the corner. The course requires student to create a hbit of visualizing what is hidden and choosing a specific angle no beating around the bush, just do it! In eight morning studios, students and specialists analyse the characteristics of one of the city edges of Amsterdam: the Diemerscheg. The results are combined into an atlas and discussed. The atlas explores the identity of the diemerscheg and brings potential design challenges to the surface

Behind the Big Box: understanding the planning-development dialectic of large distribution centres in Europe

In Europe, very large distribution centres (XXL DCs) are increasingly appearing on planning agendas due to their growing spatial footprint and environmental impacts. Although the emergence of XXL DCs has gained traction in academic research, empirical knowledge about the process that leads to their oft-debated location choice, geometry and landscape integration is still scarce. This paper aims to improve our understanding of this process, analysing the decisions of key stakeholders in the planning-development dialectic behind four exemplary XXL DC transactions, in the Netherlands. Our analyses shed light on the motivations of public and private actors as well as the (lack of) planning rules that shape these transactions. We find that specific incentives in the Dutch decentralized planning and legal-financial system contribute to logistics sprawl. Existing planning instruments that could steer logistics developments, such as environmental and employment quality regulations, are largely left unused. Our study suggests that multilevel planning competencies and international market standards are important variables in explaining XXL DC outcomes. Unlike often assumed in the literature, internationalization has – next to stimulating the growth of XXL DCs – contributed to more sustainable location choices and landscape integration.Spatial Planning and StrategyUrban Development Managemen

The limited regional employment benefits of XXL-logistics centres in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, a shift occurred over the last two decades from positively framed spatial-economic policies promoting the development of extra-large distribution centres (DCs) and their claimed positive employment benefits towards a critical stance questioning the benefits of such policies, fuelled by the connected debate regarding the extensive land use and environmental impacts of DCs. In this paper, we unravel the assumed regional employment benefits of DCs into (i) direct employment benefits within the DCs, (ii) indirect employment benefits in the supply chain, and (iii) employment benefits from structural changes in regional production systems around DCs. We analyse these benefits using detailed business microdata and logistics-building data over a 20-year timeframe in the East-Southeast freight corridor (from Rotterdam to Germany). In the corridor, logistics footprint has doubled, and average DC size has tripled in this timeframe. We demonstrate that, although part of the hypothesised benefits can be spatially identified, employment benefits of new DCs decrease over time, due in part to automation and use of migrant labour. The expected co-agglomeration of manufacturing near DCs does not occur structurally, and although DC-favouring regions have successfully established competitive logistics business ecosystems, they can be vulnerable to a spatial-economic lock-in, relying primarily on the logistics sector. The spatial-economic policy narratives framing DCs as employment catalysts are thus of limited validity

Surveying density, urban characteristics, and development capacity of station areas in the Delta Metropolis

The combination of growing mobility needs and dwindling transportation budgets in the Dutch Delta Metropolis has raised the need for smarter use of existing public transport infrastructure. A significant portion of this smarter use may come from strengthening the ties between infrastructure improvements and transit-oriented development. To further this goal, the Delta Metropolis Association has developed SprintCity (SprintStad in Dutch), a serious game and planning support tool that engages stakeholders in transit-oriented development to explore interaction between transport and land use, as described in Bertolini’s node–place model. However, its underlying database has proven insufficient to draw conclusions regarding urban character and development capacity around stations. This paper focuses on morphological research that aims to improve this database by exploring the density and urban morphology of station areas in the Delta Metropolis beyond readily available statistics, and discusses the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of this survey. The surveying of station areas in 2010 was conducted by a team of six researchers, based on the Spacemate\ua9 methodology developed by Berghauser Pont and Haupt. The methodology allows detailed quantitative measurement of the density and spatial characteristics of clearly demarcated urban districts, defining their so-called ‘spatial fingerprint’. The resulting database of 850 districts in 55 station areas has served descriptive goals, strengthening the realism in the SprintCity game, and serves as the database for further establishing the development potential of station areas