GRAHAM TOWERS KEY ELEMENTS OF EUROPEAN REGENERATION SCHEMES Most of the cities of Western Europe have carried out regeneration schemes. In the 1950s and 60s these were aimed at making good war damage or renovating areas of old urban housing. Renovation was accompanied by the development of new peripheral estates to relieve overcrowding. Mostly the improvement of the old urban areas was achieved without the large-scale redevelopment which was carried out in Britain s inner cities. Much regeneration was achieved by private initiatives but some areas were improved by planned and concerted action. A relatively recent example of planned housing regeneration is the mixed approach taken in the Kreutzberg scheme in Berlin where, during the late 1980s, comprehensive action was taken to regenerate one of the city s poorest areas though a mixture of redevelopment, rehabilitation and the provision of social facilities. In the past 20 years economic changes have led to industrial areas becoming redundant and derelict. The large-scale development of disused industrial areas at West Silvertown in London Docklands and at Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm are examples of approaches to the regeneration of these brownfield sites. So, too, is the scheme at Bercy in Paris where a large area of disused wine warehouses, covering 51 hectares, has been redeveloped as a large public park surrounded by housing and employment centres By the 1980s many of the large peripheral estates around many European cities had significant problems of social distress which necessitated large scale improvement schemes All these large regeneration schemes have key factors in common. They were all initiated by intervention from central or local government which established the framework They all involved the setting up of umbrella organisations to plan and co-ordinate the development They all required the establishment of transport and services infrastructure and the development of social and recreational facilities alongside housing The construction projects were divided up and implemented by a mixture of agencies and developers These was a mix of management systems for the completed development This co-ordinated multi-agency approach is in contrast the more monolithic methods of the past. Most social housing was developed directly by the agencies of central or local 97
government; most private housing complexes by developers acting alone. The contemporary approach produces a more balanced mixture which is more likely to succeed. Such an approach might be adopted more widely in Eastern Europe. Since the introduction of the new political and economic regime there has been excessive faith he in the power of the private market to regenerate housing. The old areas of historic cites such as Tallinn and Riga have been improved by private initiatives. But privatisation alone cannot ensure the improvement of large areas of run down housing. There has been recognition in Budapest of the limitations of the private sector. The success of the Ferencváros scheme shows that planned intervention and a co-ordinated approach can regenerate a large inner city residential area and, at the same time, preserve its essential character. The biggest problems though remain the large panel estates. They have a multitude of constructional problems and poor social provision. They cannot be improved without public intervention to plan and coordinate investment and action. SOCIAL POLARISATION The large scale multi-storey estates which were built on the edges of cities in western Europe had a monolithic social profile. They were all social rented dwellings. Almost all of them were designed for families with children. There were high child densities from the start. The form of the housing meant large unsupervised access networks and communal areas. Such networks provided abundant opportunities for antisocial behaviour and the estates quickly became vandalised and degraded. Those who could moved. The estates became hard to let. Increasingly they became occupied by recent immigrants who were mostly in poorly paid employment. The estates become ghettos of the poorest and most disadvantaged and the focus of serious social problems and criminal activity. (17) Public concern led to large-scale improvement programmes. These concentrated on physical improvements and better management. They have brought some benefits but overall have a mixed record of success and failure. More recent approaches have concentrated on creating a better mix of household structure, housing types and tenure. By contrast the large concrete estates of Eastern Europe were designed to house all household types and occupational groups. When they were built they were regarded as the most desirable form of housing a distinct improvement on the cramped poor quality flats of the old cities. Time has taken its toll. The estates suffered through deteriorating construction standards and poor maintenance. The new market economies have created increasing social stratification. Those who can choose their housing are moving out of the estates. Those who are left will be those with least choice. Unless there is action to improve them, the mixed communities which used to characterise the concrete estates will be no more. The estates will go the same way as their western counterparts. The success of a multi-agency approach to create mixed communities fully served by social facilities and transport links may provide a suitable model for their regeneration 98
CASE STUDIES The key features of the multi-agency approach to mixed development can be illustrated by three case studies drawn from London, Stockholm and Budapest WEST SILVERTOWN, LONDON KEY FACTS PHASE 1 Location Royal Victoria Dock, East London Completion date 2002 Promoter London Docklands Development Corporation Master Planners and Architects to Wimpey Gardner Stewart (previously part of Tibbalds Monro) and Peabody Developers Wimpey Homes Peabody Trust East Thames Housing Group Number of dwellings 1,112 Dwelling mix houses and flats Other provision Six shops 99
Public house 500 sq. m. workspace/commercial 200 sq. m. live/work units community centre including health care primary school public green space Previous use of site Density Forms of tenure transport/storage/industrial 78 dwellings per hectare 782 dwellings built for sale 330 dwellings social rented Key targets/ issues regeneration of a brownfied site to create a mixed and economically viable community Green features Crescent building a demonstration project for low tech, environmentally efficient design Transport issues local bus services Docklands light railway station nearby high level of residents parking Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm KEY FACTS Location Hammarby Sjo, Stockholm Completion date phase 1 Norra Hammarbyhamnen 1999 Phase 2 Sickla Udde 2003 Full completion 2009-2014 Developer Project Hammarby Sjöatad a quasi-autonomous organisation formed by Stockholm City Real Estate, Streets and Traffic administrations 100
Architect blocks allocated to different architects/developers Number of dwellings Phase 1 1,250 Phase 2 1,200 Full development 8,000 Dwelling mix all dwellings are flats Typical mix 16% Studios 28% 1-bed 50% 2-bed 6% 3/4-bed Other provision Phase 1 has new school Phase 2 has public park Previous use of site Density Forms of tenure Key targets/ issues docks and industrial comparable to European urban norm mixed to regenerate redundant industrial area to be as near environmentally neutral as possible Green features own sewage treatment with heat and waste recycled Water collection and recycling District heating by sustainable fuels Domestic waste recycling High tech energy monitoring Transport issues bus. metro, train and boat links to city centre Car pooling arrangements Network of walking/cycle routes 101
Ferencváros, Budapest KEYFACTS Location Middle-Ferencváros, Budapest Completion date About 50% complete 2003 Full completion 2010-2015 Developer Developer SEM IX Joint Stock Company partnership between Local authority (51%) and banks (49%) Architect Number of dwellings blocks allocated to different architects/developers Whole area has approx. 4,000 flats Approx 1,200 partially or fully renovated More than 1,200 new build Dwelling mix all dwellings are flats Standards and sizes not known Other provision nursery with swimming pool Two hotels Two office blocks concert hall Previous use of site Density residential and industrial reduced through improvement process but remains comparable to European urban norm Forms of tenure renovated flats are subsidised New build flats are owner occupied 102
Key targets/ issues improving housing and creating more green space Creating a better social mix Improving the environment Increasing employment Green features environmental awareness post-dated the development of this project Transport issues bus. metro, and tram links to city centre Parking mainly on-street but a multi-storey car park was constructed as part of the project REFERENCE Graham Towers An introduction to urban housing design At Home in the City (Oxford, Architectural Press, 2005) 103