Urban RegenerationJackie Ansbro

Urban Regeneration

Change is the most permanent thing in the world.

Process

Urban regeneration is a process to improve economical, physical, social and environmentalcondition of an area. After Second World War many regeneration initiatives were introducedby different political parties to achieve sustainable development in the United Kingdom.Housing has been one of the main focussed concerns amongst the initiatives due to the basicneed of mankind since then

Low Demand

Regeneration deals with the low demand in deprived neighbourhoods. There are many national, regional and local issues that lead to the low demand of housing. No doubt, regeneration aims for better and positive results in an area

Aspects of Regeneration Regeneration stands for the change and is also a process. In other words urban regeneration means physical, economical, social and environmental

Everything of an area - such as community, crime, infrastructure, employment, health,

Each aspect is interrelated with another and has its own direct or indirect impact on other aspects.

So, regeneration does not include any single or individual aspect or person.

It includes all the aspects and everyone who lives in that particular area, which should be taken care of for the sustainable development.

For example unemployment can create many issues related to health and safety (crime).

Concept

The concept of ‘Urban Regeneration’ was established after the Second World War. During the Second World War there was virtually no house-building,

After the Second World War After the Second World War major demolition work took place to remove

slums from the city.

After this the Government moved towards improvement of housing rather than

demolishing it. New issues were started emerging in the end of 1960s such as problems of

economic restructuring, growing urban deprivation, social exclusion, physical obsolescence and environmental degradation.

British cities were among the earliest in Europe to experience this wave of economic restructuring and social change, partly as a result of poor industrial competitiveness, outworn infrastructure and social tensions in the inner cities

Themes The initial definition of urban regeneration is based mainly on following

themes:

The relationship between the physical conditions evident in urban areas and the nature of the social and political response.

The need to attend to matters of housing and health in urban areas.

The desirability of linking social improvement with economic progress.

The containment of urban growth;

The changing role and nature of urban policy.

Definition These themes define urban regeneration as:

Comprehensive and integrated vision and action which leads to the resolution of urban problems and which seeks to bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social and environmental condition of an area that has been subject to change.

Successful Projects http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8r1by12L0

Newcastle Gateshead case study

Interrelated Tenures The housing market in the United Kingdom is composed of three distinct

yet interrelated tenures:

Owner occupation, Private rented accommodation and Social rented housing

Low Demand

Private property values particularly low and/or falling in relative or absolute terms.

High turnover of population Significant incidence of long-term private sector voids or abandoned

properties visibly high incidence of properties for sale or let.

Phenomenon

There is no single explanation for the low demand phenomenon. Different combinations of

factors are involved in different areas generally, these may be grouped into three categories.

Factors

Broader regional and sub-regional effects of demographic trends, particularly migration, which are often seen as linked to economic restructuring and employment changes.

changes in preferences and behaviour, generally associated with a declining popularity of certain types of housing and with rising turnover and instability in the resident population.

micro-social processes at the neighbourhood level which lead to particular areas being stigmatized by reputations for poverty, crime and other problems, leading into

processes of cumulative deterioration of conditions which may ultimately culminate In abandonment

Liverpool In the mid 1990s, the area of Speke and Garston, once known as “the engine room of Merseyside”, had been badly hit by the decline of manufacturing industry and port-related business

linked to the nearby Garston docks.

Of those out of work in Speke and Garston, 48.7per cent were long term unemployed.

As well as unemployment, residents faced many other problems – poor repair and maintenance of their homes, a lack of local facilities and inadequate public transport links.

Social statistics in the mid 1990s reflected the years of decline.

Less than one in the six families owned a car with half the household officially living in poverty.

Poor level of educational achievement had created a cycle of deprivation.

A 1996 survey found that 43 per cent of local people regarded themselves as having no skills. A survey discovered that 88 per cent of local people were rejected at interview because of poor attitude or lack of motivation

Speke Partnership

It was against this background that, in 1996,Speke Garston Development Company was formed. (SGDC, 2003).

Speke Garston Partnership was set up in 1995 as a result of a successful 17.5 million pounds bid for funds from the Governments’ Single Regeneration Budget (SRB)

Housing was created in 1999 when the City council transferred the management of 4500 local homes to the new agency.)

Since 1996 to 2003 over 5, 600 job created, over 330m GBP invested from private and public sector, over 230,000 m2 of new floor space built or improved, 240 ha. of land improved, over 250, 000 new trees, shrubs or plants over 22 Km of roads built or improved.

Success can Create Problems

Indirect impact of regeneration is that success can create its own problems.

Much of the Regeneration and redevelopment can raise property values and rents, with the result that increase in costs can affect the viability of existing industry and employment.

This is clearly a critical issue, the effects of which require careful monitoring