The future of public sector funding of regeneration project in England

This report describes the policy framework through which urban regeneration is promoted and highlights the difficulties encountered in co-ordinating the current public funding initiatives to secure effective urban regeneration and maximise value for money

Governance and Creativity on Urban Regeneration Processes

Governance has become a central topic among policymakers. There is an international consensus that policymaking is evolving from a traditional top-down government approach towards a system of governing that focuses on engaging the citizens within an area (Cabus, 2003). New forms of governance targeting urban competitiveness are increasingly oriented to vertical (between lower and high levels of government and cooperation forms between entities and firms along the production chain) and horizontal (between firms or different municipalities or public and private entities) cooperation (OEDC, 2005). Based on a study research methodology, this article seeks to contribute to answer to the following research questions: i) what is the role of governance in the processes of urban regeneration?; ii) what is the role of governance in the development of creative processes for urban regeneration? and iii) what is the potential of governance to support urban regeneration strategies based on creativity and creative industries?Territorial governance, Creativity, Urban regeneration.

What now for urban regeneration?

It is against recent experiences of virulent neoliberalism and commodification in UK urban environments that regeneration practitioners and core professionals must confront assumptions about the impact and purpose of recent renewal strategies. Over the last decade, urban landscapes have been reinvigorated through intense design and renewal and a massification of private investment, which have come to characterise a new urbanism. Urban regeneration – the broad banner under which much of this change has occurred – has been encouraged by many localities to the extent that it has been beyond reproach by political and critical analysts. This paper makes use of the current respite in urban renewal, which has been brought about by changes in financial markets, to revisit the policy principles and impacts of existing renewal projects as well as the strategic aspirations of several urban areas. It is hoped that this paper might stimulate debate about the future form of urban regeneration and consideration of the need for changes in policy design

Sustainable urban regeneration of historic city centres: lessons learnt

Cities are society’s centres of human interaction, creativity, knowledge, diversity, culture, commerce and economic creativity. The accretion of several layers of history tends to reveal a great deal about the city's past, present and even future. Historic city centres are usually endowed with a multitude of historic buildings, heritage sites and the like. However, it is also these historical centres that are most prone to the undesirable and consequential effects of growth and rapid technological advancement, where a range of environmental and developmental challenges find their crude expression. The rehabilitation and conservation of historic city centres serves as a fundamental catalyst for change. Furthermore, urban regeneration of historical city centres also promotes social interaction between inhabitants of the city, and the adoption of its urban spaces encourages public activity. This paper scrutinizes the city centre of two historical cities which are Barcelona, Spain and Istanbul, Turkey. Successful aspects of their ecological performance are highlighted. The two downtown areas discussed in this paper represent the downtown of two Mediterranean cities, and both are distinguished historical cities who have contextual similarities. The historical city centres of these Mediterranean cities have undergone variety of projects and strategic plans for urban regeneration, development and beautification. Moreover, various attempts have been made for the improvement of their environmental quality and ecological performance. This is through increases in urban green spaces and public parks, increased dependence on renewable energy technologies (RETs) and adopting sustainable transportation modes as opposed to undesirable and harmful vehicular transport. In essence, many urban regeneration plans have been aimed at conserving and preserving buildings and sites that are considered symbolic of the two cities heritage and legacy. Concomitantly, the paper presents a review of sustainability issues related to these two city centres and analyses the strategies that have been used through various urban regeneration projects and development plans. The paper particularly focuses on investigating the strategic plans and attempts that have been made at urban regeneration level by the Barcelona City Council and the Greater Municipality of Istanbul for the revitalization of their core areas

Resilient ecological solutions for urban regeneration

There is a need for biological conservation at the global scale, and urban conservation has the potential to support the delivery of this wider goal. Despite historic trends, efforts are underway to protect and enhance the quality, quantity and accessibility of green infrastructure within cities, including biodiversity features within new developments. However, there are questions over their long-term persistence and function. This paper applies an urban futures resilience analysis to a case study site to illustrate how such concerns may be explored and addressed in practice. The analysis identifies vulnerable sustainability solutions and clarifies the aspects that may be improved. The results suggest that the resilience of these solutions is questionable, even though resilience has clearly been considered. In particular, future compliance with, and enforcement of, planning conditions is questionable. The resilience of these ecological solutions may be improved by including some redundancy, designing for low maintenance, incorporating microclimate buffers and locating features in areas unlikely to be subject to future disturbance. The establishment of endowment funds or other dedicated funding mechanisms should also be explored. The paper also recommends that a futures-based resilience analysis be included within the development planning process

Urban regeneration policy impacts on the future of city-a comparative study in European and the Turkish context

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning, Izmir, 2007Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 228-239)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxv, 251 leavesThe aim of this thesis is to not only understand urban regeneration issues, but also to examine European and Turkish urban regeneration examples with making comparative study between them to present necessity and importance of urban regeneration for the future of cities. Cities, which have been result of the social, economical, physical and cultural interaction, have developed urban policies for urban areas where have experienced rapid change and transformations not only to keep step with this transformation and solve urban problems revealed after these changes but also to provide new urban requirements of people. Urban regeneration issue has been key element for renewing, re-evaluating of places where have been lost their economic activity, social and physical functions. In this framework, firstly aim of this study has been identified and definition of urban regeneration has been made as an introduction. Motives and results of transformation of cities have been determined. Evaluation of general framework of urban regeneration has been described with basic definitions of urban regeneration tools. Objectives of urban regeneration issue have been presented in terms of social, economical, physical and cultural. Urban regeneration process, strategy and policy in five different European countries have been described. Urban regeneration examples in these countries have been examined evaluated, specified according to characteristic features. Evolution of urban regeneration in Turkey has been stated with motives behind and then some urban regeneration examples have been examined. As a consequence, comparative study between Europe and Turkey has been made in respect of motives, objectives and results. Importance and necessity of urban regeneration projects for future of the city has been presented

Commercial Facilities and Urban Regeneration

The paper deals with a model for assessing disparities in the development of commercial facilities. The term “commercial facilities” helps one perceive distribution not only as an economic activity in itself but also as an urban infrastructure and as a component of an urban area that forms a town, area which should be designed in accordance with the new concepts promoted by the European Union: integrated town planning, and urban regeneration. The paper consists of three parts: the first part briefly presents the importance of town development from the perspective of the theory of urban area modelling; the second part deals with the functional integration of commercial facilities into urban regeneration projects; the third part suggests a model for assessing regional disparities in the development of commercial facilities, which – using the “point method” – can be applied so that it meets the requirement of quantifying the equipment levels reached and make space comparisons. This model is based on ten indicators relevant to the studied field, as taken from Statistical Yearbook of Romania. For Romania, it is all the more necessary to define programmes for the territorial development of commercial facilities as, at present, major disparities have been caused by the disequilibrium resulted from the uncontrolled expansion of the great multinational distribution chains, which equally hindered the small independent trade and the network of shops specific to the main/historical centres of towns. The outcome of our research confirms the need that local communities should think and act consistently with the new policy of sustainable development of towns, promoted within the European Union, aimed at observing the basic principles of the territory planning policy: restructuring and strengthening the structurally deficient areas.integrated town planning, urban regeneration, commercial town planning, regional disparities, point method, sustainable development

Hospitality, Culture and Regeneration: Urban decay, entrepreneurship and the "ruin" bars of Budapest

This paper considers the relationships between hospitality, culture and urban regeneration through an examination of rom (ruin) venues, which operate in dilapidated buildings in Budapest, Hungary. The paper reviews previous work on culture and urban regeneration in order to locate the role of hospitality within emerging debates. It subsequently interrogates the evolution of the rom phenomenon and demonstrates how, in this context, hospitality thrives because of social and physical decay in urban locations, how operators and entrepreneurs exploit conflicts among various actors involved in regeneration, and how hospitality may be mobilised purposefully in the regeneration process. The paper demonstrates how networked entrepreneurship maintains these operations and how various forms of cultural production are entangled and mobilised in the venues’ hospitality propositions