Abstract
Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius, has been the preferred city for hosting the judicial, political and business activities of the country for the past two centuries. However, new policies have created nine new smart cities in greenfield locations within 10 km from Port Louis, so the capital city is facing economic decline as it is losing businesses, as well as administrative functions. This loss equates to an erosion in municipal revenue along with a reduced interest in contributing to the development of the city; all of which takes a toll on its urban economic landscape, as well as on the broader Mauritian economy. This paper builds from the findings of a focus group study to propose a smart urban regeneration model for the City of Port Louis, which could enable the old city to be restored and regenerated rather than redeveloped in modernist architecture, as has happened in the new smart cities model. A smart urban regeneration model is proposed backed by the pillars of smart infrastructure, culture, metabolism and governance. The proposed model is applied to the context of Port Louis to generate an urban regeneration scheme. The potential benefits in terms of financial outcomes, investment attraction and job creation are explored through a combined application of econometric forecasting models. The results support positive figures of both investment and job creation, and the findings of this study aim at informing and providing the governing bodies of Port Louis with a tangible solution for revamping the centuries-old capital city, as well as demonstrating to the world that smart cities can mean sensitive urban regeneration.
Highlights
Nested in the North-West littoral side of the Island of Mauritius and bounded inland by a mountain range, Port Louis extends over an area of 46.7 km2
The purpose of this paper is to show that a new approach can be taken that brings heritage regeneration into a smart city framework and enables areas where development is restricted, like UNESCO World Heritage Sites, to be restored, saving the buildings, as well as enabling significant new investment in new buildings that are complementary to the heritage qualities of the old urban fabric
The basis of the econometric model is provided in Appendix A. It sets out how the Smart Urban Regeneration Framework using an Urban Regeneration Scheme applied to an APZ could result in investment and jobs that would bring the old city of Port Louis to life
Summary
Nested in the North-West littoral side of the Island of Mauritius and bounded inland by a mountain range, Port Louis extends over an area of 46.7 km. Within the last decade, there has been an emergence of Techno-parks and privately-owned smart cities across the island which opened a new competitive landscape for businesses and administrative functions [2]. There have been notable highlighted risks that the loss in business and administrative functions from both the state and privately-owned organisations will eventually lead to an erosion in municipal revenue [3]. Lesser financial input will trickle down to lesser budget availability for city development and for its maintenance. This might lead to an increase in urban decay, as has been the case with Detroit in USA [4]. At the moment more than 95% of municipal revenue is used for administrative ends such as salaries for the employees and the government lacks funds to be injected in existing cities [5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
