Forschungsabteilung 3
RESTATE
Restructuring Large-scale Housing Estates in European Cities:
Good Practices and New Visions for Sustainable Neighbourhoods and Cities
The
project was funded under Key Action 4: "City of Tomorrow and Cultural
Heritage" in the "Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development"
programme within the Fifth Framework Programme of the EU
5. EU-Rahmenprogramm
Projektleitung: Thomas Knorr-Siedow
Projektbearbeitung: Christiane Droste, Thomas Knorr-Siedow
Laufzeit: 11/2002 – 10/2005
Entwicklung eines Knowledge Management-Konzepts zur Umsetzung von Politiken, Programmen und Praktiken für die großen Neubausiedlungen der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Wissensmanagement wurde dabei als integraler Bestandteil in die strategische Stadtpolitik (s.a. URBACT-Aktivitäten der EU-Kommission) eingebaut. Laufzeit und Thematik des RESTATE Projektes haben in den Jahren 2004 und 2005 eine engere Verknüpfung insbesondere mit dem Governance-Strang des Leitprojektes erreicht.
Duration: 11/2002 - 10/2005
Problems to be solved
European Cities are the dynamos of the European economy, providing
vital assets for Europe in maintaining a strong position in the global economy.
When these cities contain large areas that are not faring well or, even worse,
hinder social and economic development, it is important to find out how best
to find ways of change. Often, large-scale post-war housing estates are found
to be problematic areas all over Europe. Social decline goes hand in hand with
physical and economic decline in these areas. The focus of this project is on
the circumstances in these large post-war estates, on policies to counteract
negative trends and on activities which stimulate positive developments.
Questions to be answered?
The last decades have shown that a balance will have to be found between
public ‘state’ responsibility for change and the utilisation of
local assets for improving the European large estates. ‘Grounded’
cross departmental strategies and governance, based on flexible and problem
oriented institutional arrangements seem to be a major factor. As vital for
the improvement is the acceptance of ‘the reality of how things are’
in contrast to traditional planning as the starting-point for change. But, however
impressive some of the successes ‘turning the tide for the large estates’
are, many questions are still unanswered. Where is the social basis for a balance
between ‘public’ and ‘residential’ activities and how
is civil-society spelt under the conditions of social and economic polarisation?
In how far could ‘milieu’ be a concept for the ‘grounding’
of policies? Which are the assets of space and local society? Who has the relevant
knowledge and which are the governance-means of administering change?
Scientific objectives and approach
The project has the following objectives
(1) to identify and to clarify the social, economic and cultural changes which
have hampered the development in large post-war estates and particularly to
identify general and specific factors influencing emerging problems and patterns
of decline in these areas;
(2) to develop a checklist of items that have proved to be important in successful
and less successful policy responses with respect to these estates;
(3) to draw conclusions about the potential for cross-national transfer of knowledge
and experience and for co-operation in strategic planning for these areas and
in area and estate management;
(4) to produce a comprehensive handbook in which forward looking scenarios and
new visions for large post-war estates in Europe will be coupled with examples
of evidence based best practice to achieve sustainable future development of
these areas;
(5) to build an easy to use database for practitioners and researchers containing
details of the nature, successes and failures of present policies aimed at improving
the position of large post-war estates and their inhabitants;
(6) to consider whether and how European level policy could contribute to more
effective responses to problems associated with these estates. Methods used
in the research are literature research, statistical overviews, interviews,
a survey and a targeted discussion with urban representatives.
The role of the IRS
Over the next three years, the institute deals with two case study
areas in Berlin. Eastern ‘Hellersdorf-Marzahn’ serves as an example
for the very large estates undergoing dramatic ‘post socialist’
changes. The western ‘Maerkische Viertel’ was West-Berlin’s
largest high-rise estate and also went through different stages of acceptance.
The IRS interprets, which the decisive factors for change were in a different
context of ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ transformation.
How does context influence the probabilities of success for different strategies
for improvement in social, economical fields as well as in improving the
built environment? A topic ‘above’ the case studies will be the
focus on ‘local knowledge’ as a factor for social and economic
inclusion. Thus the EU- funded project is in a direct relation with the current
institutional research in the department ‘Knowledge Milieus and Settlement
Structures’.
Expected impacts
The primary objective of RESTATE is to produce comprehensive, evidence based
and actor oriented knowledge which sets out alternative, forward looking scenarios
and new visions for problematic large-scale housing estates in eastern and western
Europe. Results can be used by policy makers to find out in which context which
measures have been and can expected to be successful with respect to improving
large-scale housing estates in cities.
Contact: Thomas Knorr-Siedow, knorr-st_at_irs-net.de
Publication
Knorr-Siedow, Thomas; Tosics, Iván: Knowledge management and policy
application in urban management and housing, Working Paper, Erkner, Leibniz-
Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, 2005
KnowledgeMgmt.pdf
See also the RESTATE website: www.restate.geog.uu.nl
Project Coordinator
- Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands (Utrecht) (NL)
The international consortium of Partners
- IRS, Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, Erkner, Germany (IRS) (DE)
- UMR 5600 “Environment-Ville-Société”, Institute des Sciences de l’Homme, Lyon, France (ISH) (F)
- Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary (MRI) (HU)
- Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Universita’ degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy (UNI-BIC) (I)
- AME Amsterdam study centre for the Metropolitan Environment, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (UvAmsterdam) (NL)
- Department of Urban and Population Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (IGSO) (PL)
- The Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia (UPIRS) (SL)
- Centre de Recerca en Economia del Benestar – Centre for Research in Welfare Economics (CREB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (BCN) (E)
- Institute for Housing & Urban Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (UUppsala) (SE)
- Department of Spatial Planning, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden (BIT) (SE)
- Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom (CURS) (UK)
