The regeneration of a naval city: Portsmouth

Abstract

This paper analyses the urban regeneration in Portsmouth, a naval city on the south coast of UK, focusing on the roles of private and public sectors in the development of a complex mixed-use site. Gunwharf Quays was a brownfield, disused naval storage area, on the sea edge, previously inaccessible, which has been transformed with the creation of housing, shopping office, leisure equipments and public space. This scheme has had enormous impact regionally, transforming the identity of Portsmouth, and encouraging development in adjacent areas. Urban regeneration is specifically about responding to the context of the site city and region, importantly to identify key local cultural and socio-economic issues that can contribute towards a sustainable scheme that has further regenerative aspects and encourages the region to become economically sustainable. However, apart from investigating it in its own context; this paper will also consider this project in a broader scenario relating it to other major national and international urban ideas, after the end of the 1980s, focused on regenerating dockyard and other key brownfield areas. The journey of this project will be described from initial site analysis and key influential ideas to its final construction and use. Finally, the paper will discuss and identify important factors for considering creating economically sustainable redevelopment and urban regeneration.