A masterplan for urban resurgence: The case of Mönchengladbach, Germany (2008–2019)

Anna Herzog,Rüdiger Hamm

doi:10.1111/rsp3.12332

Abstract

AbstractThis paper investigates how an urban masterplan can be used to catalyse civic and entrepreneurial engagement to trigger a broad resurgence process within a medium‐sized city. Therefore, it dwells on the masterplan project MG 3.0 in Mönchengladbach, which is often described as the initial impulse of a dynamic resurgence process—a confident statement the authors want to question. The exploratory case study applies the “urban health” concept by Glaeser and Gottlieb and highlights the significance of place‐based leadership as well as entrepreneurial engagement in terms of Corporate Urban Responsibility in developing an overarching vision of the urban future.

Highlights

“Cities (...) have complex economic development processes that are shaped by an almost infinite range of forces” (Storper, 2011, p. 333)
Understanding the power of these actor-related innovative approaches for urban development is of special interest for cities in stagnation or even decline, where the successful implementation of new growth paths2 is closely related with the hope of an resurgence (Hassink, Isaksen, & Trippl, 2019)
This paper is dedicated to the question how a masterplan can be applied as an innovative tool to catalyse civic and entrepreneurial engagement to create a common urban vision for an old-industrial medium-sized city and thereby drive a broad resurgence process

Summary

Introduction

“Cities (...) have complex economic development processes that are shaped by an almost infinite range of forces” (Storper, 2011, p. 333). Understanding the power of these actor-related innovative approaches for urban development is of special interest for cities in stagnation or even decline, where the successful implementation of new growth paths2 is closely related with the hope of an (economic) resurgence (Hassink, Isaksen, & Trippl, 2019).

Results

Conclusion