Large social housing estates: From stigma to demolition?

Abstract

It is curious that the most frequently reviewed and well thought-out large housing estates are now the areas with the worst image. Image is an important factor of a neighbourhood’s popularity, affecting its position in the local or regional neighbourhood hierarchy. Many studies and reports about problematic areas indicate that a negative image, or stigma, is one of the aspects of urban decay. However, far less is known about the specific role of image and stigma in the development of housing estates. This article is the editorial to a special issue, aimed to analyse the relation between large-scale housing estates and negative territorial images. It shows how images are experienced and whose images are concerned. It differentiates between internal and external images and presents examples of how policy-makers deal with stigmatised housing areas. A negative image is both a result of and a cause for further decay. In a spiral of decay, stigma plays a distinct role, exacerbating the problems that already exist. The residualisation or marginalisation of social housing leads to deprived neighbourhoods where socioeconomically disadvantaged tenants are being concentrated. These areas increasingly take on a problematic reputation. The residents are socially stigmatised merely for living in a stigmatised area. Some papers in this issue go into the topic of social exclusion. Nowadays renewal is a complex and integral process embracing all kinds of measures and strategies. However, hardly any attention is being paid to possibilities to influence the image – i.e., to image renewal – or to the way in which an improved image influences the success of an urban renewal process.