URBAN REGENERATION

INTERNATIONAL
PERSPECTIVE
ISSUES, APPROACHES &
DESIGN

j u n e 2 0 1 7

abushan panta, kriti pradhan, pusp raj bhatt, ram krishna maharjan & rija
joshi
 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND
• Strong economic and social forces of industrial revolution
created – inner cities- densely packed
• Motor cars and improvement of public transportation-
enabled wealthy moved to suburbs
• slowly industrial and commercial decline
• Poor and disadvantaged, ethnic minority left behind
 BACKGROUND
• The decline of inner city- similar throughout the western world
• In Britain- 1950s, followed by slum clearance
• 19th cent houses demolished- rebuilt large council estates
• America- cheaper land price and low cost of personal mobility-
grew ‘sub cities’
• Robert Reich- cities compete with each other

• Infrastructure and human skills- attract investment

• Planning controls uneven economic growth
 ESSENCE OF URBAN REGENERATION
ISSUE
• Pace of change drastic- without interventions model of cities-
obsolete
• With interventions cities can revert back to their role as
(centers of government, learning and culture, sustain
necessary population size and physical extent
• Production would be exclusively non material goods,
information technology, advanced service sectors
• People who do not fit the issue- their future?
• Therefore urban regeneration is essential
 NEED OF CITIES: REJUVENATE
• Cities had always attracted cosmopolitan upper and middle
class population- willing to pay in heart of city
• Number of European cities- slowed outward migration by
infilling housing in central areas
• Concept of cities in Victorian time has changed
• Due to change in concept of distance, journeys to work,
transportation and communication
• Today to make people attracted to inner cities it should
satisfy present day need and aspirations, or provided with
other better alternatives
 WHY URBAN
R E G E N E RAT I O N ?
• People already living in those area are important
• Cities - focal point of civilised life
• Cities –formed to transit business. Cities as market place to
trade money and commodities
• Cities dignifies themselves with elegant buildings and fine
spaces
• Excess thinly spread of suburb cannot support good public
transport, neighbourhood shopping, or local industry, or
lively community
• Dispersed city-ecologically unsound
• Goods and cultural activity of majority only
 POVERTY & UNEMPLOYMENT IN INNER
CITIES
• Causes:

i. permanent change in western economy

ii. Increasing rapid urbanisation
• Poverty not just shortage of money but
• “rights and relationships, how people are treated and how
they regard themselves ; about powerlessness, exclusion
and loss of dignity.
• Solution:

i. Cities should attract new high tech industries

ii. Foster small and local ‘micro scale interprise’
 HOUSING
• Inadequate housing in inner cities- people chose to live
suburbs.
• Unsuitability of design and layout of present day need
• Causes of housing strain in inner cities:

Unemployment, breakdown of family relations, desire of

young to establish their own home, concentration of ethnic
minorities
 HOMELESSNESS
• Most large cities have their share of people sleeping on the street,
and the homelessness and threaten city’s economic viability
• Traditional public perception of the homeless was alcoholic, elderly
man or a mentally disturbed, middle-aged woman
• during the 1980s, both young people and families emerged as
homeless
• Three million people were homeless in USA among which half a
million are children
• No accurate statistics on homeless people in the countries of
mainland Europe and in particular of young homeless people, but
the estimate is that there are between a million and a million and a
half
 HOMELESSNESS
• In 1992, 141,860 no. of household were homeless in BRITAIN due
to severe cutbacks in public funding for social housing
• French have adopted the most advanced programme of action for
young, homeless people with the development of 'Foyer' housing
in most of their inner cities with pleasant buildings containing
restaurants, recreation rooms, workshops and classrooms
• Germany emphasized on self-help concept
 E D U C AT I O N
• Most inner-city children are at a disadvantage from the moment
they are born
• Contemporary youth culture is intensely hostile to the education
system and there is little incentive to change so the school system
turns out teenagers without the qualifications or the willpower to
compete for jobs
• The result is the prospect of unemployment for life
• The solution in Britain has been to build new City Technology
Colleges in inner city areas offering free education with a strong
element of science and technology >>> Few companies have
made a significant financial contribution to run
• The schools/industry compact follows the American model whereby
partnerships are established between schools and local businesses
 H E A LT H
• People who live in deprived areas are less healthy and less well
provided
• In Britain, the unemployed and their families have considerably
worse physical and mental health than those in work
• Multi-ethnic character of many inner-city areas added a further
dimension to the issue
• Attention needs to be given to the social, economic, housing,
environmental and emotional factors which contribute to ill health
 L AW AND ORDER
• Urban crime in the inner city increasing as urban deprivation
increases
• Thinning out of a city does not insure safety from crime and fear of
crime
• City streets that are well-populated and have good street lighting
present fewer risks
• Unemployment was a major factor that increased crime, in urban
areas
• Vandalism may often be a protest against the inhumanity of the
environment and an attempt to soften some of its harshness
 T RA N SPORT
• Nowhere is the impact of urban highways on inner-city areas more
prominent than it is in the large cities of the USA
• In many American cities, highway development has proved to be
one of the most contentious issues in neighborhood politics and a
powerful force in mobilizing communities which might otherwise be
politically inert
• The engineered lines of the roads rarely relate to the urban grain of
the city
• The design of the road has been thought of sensitively in
townscape terms for it either fits into the grid pattern of city
streets as a planted boulevard or it is built into a cutting
• Most major cities in Western Europe and the USA have convenient
rapid transit, underground, tramway or bus systems
 T RA N SPORT
• The lack of planning in London has meant that the average vehicle
speed in the centre of the city has fallen to as low as 10 m.p.h.,
which is little faster than the horse and cart
• The London Underground is painfully overcrowded although the
number of bus passengers has declined
• The poorer people especially women who live in the inner city are
the most disadvantaged as they are more likely to work part-time,
and their average earnings are lower than those of men
• Black and ethnic minority women >> frequently in the lowest-paid
jobs
• In 1989, London's public transport fares were subsidized to the

tune of 22%, compared with Rotterdam's 83%, Frankfurt's 55% and

Rome’s76 %
 D I S PA R S A L O F R E TA I I N G
• In USA, large departmental shops moved to the suburbs despite
the new surge of downtown retail development except in New York
• This trend >>> common in Britain and elsewhere in Europe
• The large, air-conditioned mall is proving highly popular
• To keep hold of the trade, city authorities are having to change the
image of the central areas by improving the pedestrian their own
malls and covered shopping streets, and exploiting their leisure
and tourist attractions
• Lack of public transport for the inner city poor
• The large supermarkets are killing off local traders who can only
survive by charging more for their goods
• Therefore, poorest in society may have to pay more for their basic
requirements
 RE-USE OF OLD

BUILDINGS
Recycling of mills and warehouses in USA
 Converting buildings into places where people can buy unusual and specialist
products
 Workspace for small firms, community worshops, innovative centres, enterprise
centres

 Recreational and leisure

uses- art galleries and sports
centres
 Best practices-London,
Docklands, Amsterdam,
Hamburg, USA
RE-USE OF OLD
BUILDINGS
 Britain funding- City Challenge,
English Heritage, Buildings
Preservation Trusts, Pittsburg
History and Landmarks Foundation.
 Each trust is a private limited
company which is self financing by
way of a ‘ revolving fund’
 Architectural Heritage Fund offers loans to new trusts to enable them to become
established
 Best practices-London, Docklands, Amsterdam, Hamburg, USA
 RE-USE OF OLD

B U I L D I N G S
Converting redundant
spaces above shops for
housing
 Using empty office space for
residential accommodation.
 Main factor affecting
conversion potential is the
penetration of natural light
into the interiors
 Major problem- convincing
owners to accept lower
return for their investment
 L E I S U R E A N D C U LT U R E
 Potential for sport and leisure
industry to be a catalyst for inner-
city jobs and economic regeneration
 Young people can learn to accept a
level of authority and achieve
personal success.
 Barcelona, Pittsburgh, Sheffield
 Underused or are too expensive for
many people to use
 Enable communities to develop and run their own provision
 Provide mixture of sport and community activities- football, badminton, bowls,
indoor pursuits for elderly and play schemes for young
 L E I S U R E A N D C U LT U R E

 Department of the Environment’s Sport and Recreation Provision in Inner

City in advising of good practice in Britain recommends greater use of
facilities in schools out of hours.
 Open spaces, parks and children’s play areas
 Spending money on the arts and promoting it as a part of city’s economic
regeneration has been seen as a means of attracting inward investment
 For cities of Britain which seek ‘ European’ or ‘international’ status, the
provision of theatres, concert halls, art galleries and museums is important
to their programme development.
L AND VALUES & OWNERSHIP

 Planning can assist in determining

ways in which land can be used
 Compulsory acquisition may need
to be undertaken that takes
account of its preferred use in
planning terms
 Landowner bound to invest part
of the profits in providing
infrastructure works as a partner
in urban regeneration process.
GREEN ISSUES

 Not only about provision of

open space and planting
 ‘Ecological’ and ‘sustainable
city
 Quality of natural
environment, energy,
transport, waste & pollution

 Producing development patterns that minimize the need for travel, increase
potential for public transport, permit higher densities at centres,
discouraging ‘out-of town’ developments
 A P P R OAC H E S - P R. RAY PA H L

 PROBLEM IN TERM OF EFFICIENCY OF SERVICE DELIVERY BY

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND FREE ENTERPRISE >> INCREASING
EFFICIENCY OF BUREAUCRACY AND FREE ENTERPRISE BY THE USE
OF MANAGERIAL EXPERTISE.

 CENTRALISED >> DECENTRALISED

 MARXIST >> POLITICAL MOBILIZATION TO WORKING CLASS

 APPROACH OF PRAGMATIST AND REALIST

 A P P R OAC H E S - P R. RAY PA H L

 SOLUTION LIES IN ENCOURAGING THE GRASS ROOT ACTIVITY >>

CENTRAL FAILED TO COPE THE NEED OF THE POOR AND DERIVED
>> CONTROL OF OWN LIFE STYLE “ DISCOVER THEIR OWN
HUMANITY” >> POLICIES SHOULD ASPIRE PEOPLE

 VIEW OF THOSE WHO REJECT BUREAUCRATIC GOV CONTROL >>

ENCOURAGEMENT OF SMALL SCALE FREE ENTERPRISE

 “ONE-OFF FIXERS” >> PUT IN CONSULTANT WHO DECIDES

PRIORITIES, TIMING AND BUDGET
INGREDIENT FOR
R EG ENERAT ION
 CATALYST >> TRIGGER OF THE URBAN REGENERATION
 VISION FOR REGENERATION >> WHERE EFFORT IS GOING >>
ASSESSMENT FOR ECONOMIC POTENTIAL
 STRATEGY BUT WITH NO MORE THAN TWO OR THREE MAIN
PLANKS>> DIRECTION NEEDS TO BE CLEARLY POINTED.
 PROPER LEGAL AND FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK>> INSTITUTION
SHOULD BE PROVIDED WITH OWN RESPONSIBILITY
 SENSITIVITY APPROACH WHICH REQUIRES TIME AND EFFORT. THIS
CALLS FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE WIDER ISSUES
 IMPORTANT TO INVOLVE LOCAL COMUUNITY
 POLICY TO ENHANCE THE STATUS OF THE INNER CITY AREA
 URBAN design
• The effective approach to Urban Regeneration is:
Professionals Should Posses SENSE OF VISION in
DESIGN and MANAGEMENT of Project.

• Book by Tony Aldous in 1988: “Inner City

Regeneration and Good Design” 11 Principles of
Urban Regeneration Suggested

• 1. Sound Mechanism for MAINTAINANCE in

Building, Landscape and Public Space to Preserve
both Amenity and Investment
 URBAN design
• 2. MECHANISM to allow public bodies selling land
to take a smaller initial payment and equity in
developments future performance

• 3. Developer/Architects COMPETITION should be

encouraged where these are viable

• 4. DIVERSITY in Architectural Approach under

strong URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK

• 5. Landscape as Key Ingredient in Design

Framework
 URBAN design
• 6. DEFENSIBLE SPACE to check Crime and
Vandalism

• 7. Mechanism to maintain well designed Buildings

and Environment are a good investment

• 8. BASIC DESIGN GUIDANCE for small Builders-

Developers as small factories and workshops do
not use Architects !

• 9. Conservation as Integral part of Planning

Process as to maintain SPIRIT of BUILDING or
 URBAN design
• 10. Public Involvement in Urban Regeneration
Projects by protecting the POOR PEOPLE from
being VICTIMIZED

• 11. Highest upfront price requirement leads to

developers over-bidding and then cutting on
quality;
Upfront-Payment-Plus-Equity as Reasonable basis
to get public exchequer a proper return.

• EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DEVELOPING IDEAS QUICKLY

ARE DESIGN WORKSHOPS !
THANK
YO U