Urban Regeneration
Fabio Giglioni, Sapienza University of Rome
Definition
Urban regeneration is a complex process aimed at satisfying general interests, open to the participation and active collaboration of citizens, and focused on caring for managing urban spaces that have lost their original function, either due to degradation or because they have fallen into partial or complete disuse, with the goal of generating utility and social well-being. Unlike simple urban reuse, urban regeneration does not limit itself to the restructuring of buildings, but adopts an integrated approach aimed at improving the quality of life for residents, in the context of sustainable development.
Urban regeneration can be seen as a cross-cutting goal for achieving integrated sustainable development objectives in its environmental, social, and economic dimensions, also promoting integration among different cultures by creating inclusive public spaces to encourage interactions between communities.
At the international level, urban regeneration is linked to sustainable development goals and it’s useful to fight against climate change, making regeneration a fundamental tool for improving the quality of life in urban areas worldwide.
Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda takes inclusivity as a central goal, aiming for the creation of “sustainable cities and communities.” At the same time, the 2016 Amsterdam Pact for the EU Urban Agenda identified challenges for urban areas, which serve as guidelines for urban policies, contributing to their strengthening from the local to the European level. The “Intercultural Cities Programme,” launched in 2008 by the Council of Europe, is a significant example, as it encourages cities to promote public urban policies through intercultural dialogue.
Tate Modern in London is another important example of urban cultural regeneration for collective use. This transformation project is an excellent example of the regeneration of an historic industrial site, the Bankside Power station, which was a disused industrial area, into a space for collective use, accessible and focused on culture. This example illustrates how an intervention on an historical cultural area can transform an entire urban area, offering a cultural resource, which is educational and engaging for the local and international communities.
Furthermore, a model of proactive participation in urban regeneration can be identified, focusing on citizen initiatives in the management of urban common goods. This model is centered on the principle of collaboration, according to which public administrations should support citizens’ autonomous initiatives for managing spaces of common interest.
In the considerations about urban development, the concept of sustainability should be broadened, adding a fourth dimension, namely inclusiveness to the classical three dimensions, environmental, social, and economic.
Background information and contemporary debate
Urban regeneration policies have sometimes been seen as the urban incarnation of the neo-liberal turn in urban policies from the 1980s onwards. These so-called “area-based policies” are based on specific programs designed to tackle social and urban problems in an area identified on the basis of economical and socio-spatial indicators. The way in which these policies are applied and the balance between social and political issues vary from country to country and from program to program, and may evolve over time. In France, for example, the 2003 launch of the PNRU (national program for urban renewal) marked a shift in urban reservation policies towards a spatial approach. The policies initiated by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and subsequently implemented in France and the United States, aim to transform certain neighbourhoods by reintegrating them into the local real estate markets, known as “market-led regeneration”. These policies, which affect working-class neighbourhoods, clearly assert a desire to deconcentrate poverty by attracting new, higher-income social classes and spreading poverty more widely across the city. This dynamic of social change, referred to as gentrification, has been the subject of an abundance of scientific literature, which has highlighted the role played by artists and cultural players in these transformations – with varying degrees of support from public policy, depending on the context. The emergence of new cultural venues in certain so-called “underprivileged” neighbourhoods may be the starting point or one of the signs of an ongoing gentrification process, which does not therefore aim to involve existing residents whom we hope to bring in through urban regeneration projects.
References
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