City Centre Regeneration Research Articles

Study on the Regeneration of City Centre Spatial Structure Pedestrianisation Based on Space Syntax: Case Study on 21 City Centres in the UK

Pedestrian priority is an important requirement for city centre regeneration. The quantitative analysis of the separation degree of pedestrians and vehicles is a key technique to measure the walkability of city centre regeneration. This paper proposes a method for measuring the walkability of the spatial structure in city centres, based on spatial topological relationships. Using space syntax as a platform, the walkability of the spatial structure of city centres is quantitatively analysed from the perspective of separation of pedestrians and vehicles, and the regeneration of pedestrianisation. Based on 21 cases of major city centres in the United Kingdom (UK), the trend of pedestrianisation regeneration from the early 20th century to the present is analysed. The analysis of the separation degree of pedestrians and vehicles and the analysis of regeneration models and the comparative analysis found that: (1) from the early 20th century to the present, the spatial structure of major city centres in the UK clearly trended toward pedestrianisation. (2) The regeneration process can be categorised into three models: the Gradual Growth Model, One Step Model and Long-Term Planning Model. (3) The three models contribute differently to the separation of pedestrians and vehicles in city centres, and their advantages and disadvantages differ. This study has implications for the theory and practice of pedestrianisation regeneration in city centres.

Unintended consequences of the earthquake-prone building legislation: An evaluation of two city centre regeneration strategies in New Zealand's provincial areas

This paper describes two city centre regeneration strategies by reviewing existing literature and carrying out case study analysis to examine the approaches to City Centre Regeneration (CCR) pursued by two provincial areas in New Zealand.Findings from the exploratory case study analysis of the two examined cities revealed different approaches to CCR: (i) Invercargill – ‘demolition for redevelopment’; and (ii) Whanganui – ‘heritage preservation for regeneration’. Whereas the earthquake-prone building legislation has created logical arguments that have put earthquake-prone historical buildings in the spotlight for demolition in areas with weaker attachment to place, the same legislation has been used as a catalyst to provide opportunities for the seismic upgrade and preservation of the earthquake-prone historical buildings in areas with a stronger attachment to place.These discoveries imply that the actions (or inactions) of councils shape the way their communities perceive the value of the historical buildings in their city centres. Also, the decreasing retention and increasing demolitions trends of heritage buildings in New Zealand's provincial city centres as a result of the earthquake-prone building legislation, have now triggered discussions that have contributed to the recent regulatory and financial incentives initiated by the central government to address the unintended consequences of the legislation on the vitality of provincial areas.

Ghosts, Memory, and the Right to the Divided City: Resisting Amnesia in Beirut City Centre

Violently divided cities are incubators of ethnic conflicts. Under the auspices of postwar reconstruction, these cities are supposedly disciplined into peace through the regeneration of the city centre, including privatization, commercial adaptation and gentrification strategies. Such dynamics render city centre space amnesiac, with no reference to the history of sectarian violence, and exclusivist by limiting public access. Rather than foster peacebuilding, city centre regeneration exposes the dangerous weakness of the neoliberal peace built on accommodating ethnic and socioeconomic divisions. This paper connects Lefebvre's right-to-the-city to non-sectarian social movements’ struggle to forge participatory democracy in Beirut's city centre. A key aspect of these movements’ activities is to reprogramme memory—cosmopolitan and inclusivist—into the city centre, a project supporting peacebuilding.

Planners as market actors: the role of local planning authorities in the UK’s urban regeneration practice

At a time of public sector retrenchment in urban regeneration it has become increasingly important to understand how planners can help create better places. Recent studies suggest that planners must behave as market actors by strategically deploying planning tools to influence market behaviour. In this context, this paper examines how local planning authorities use a variety of policy instruments to influence urban projects and turn planning strategies into action. To understand how planning tools can be used to achieve successful results in urban regeneration practice, the paper presents a cross-comparison of mixed-use city centre regeneration projects in Bristol and Liverpool.

Characteristics of City Centre Regeneration Strategies and Spatial Plans of Sheffield, UK - Focused on Sheffield City Centre Master Plans since 1990 -

Characteristics of City Centre Regeneration Strategies and Spatial Plans of Sheffield, UK - Focused on Sheffield City Centre Master Plans since 1990 -

Mapping the underground: An ethnographic cartography of the Leeds extreme metal scene

Abstract This article centralizes changes within Leeds’ popular ‘musicscape’, i.e., the relations between popular music and urban landscape. Focusing on Leeds’ extreme heavy metal musicscape, we map sites of the Leeds metal scene (past and present) in order to understand the shifting social relationships, effects of city centre regeneration, and the ways in which heavy metal music scenes have the ability to adapt and respond to continual modifications within the urban city. To address these concerns, we draw upon scholarship from popular music and place, heavy metal and human geography. Heavy metal scenes are a significant, yet often invisible and under-acknowledged, part of the urban cultural landscape. Mapping the metal musicscape, then, becomes an important way to understand broader physical, social, political, and cultural changes that occur to, and within, the postmodern city.

Stodolní ulice à Ostrava : un exemple de régénération du centre d’une ville post-socialiste en République tchèque

L’article traite du processus de regeneration d’une partie du centre urbain d’Ostrava, plus precisement de la naissance d’un quartier culturel dans les conditions d’une ville post-socialiste ayant une forte tradition industrielle. L’objectif est d’analyser la naissance d’un quartier culturel et de discuter de sa transformation progressive en quartier de consommation ou de divertissement. Le cadre theorique de depart s’appuie sur des concepts elabores pour l’analyse des villes post-industrielles des pays developpes, concepts qui sont, pour les besoins de l’etude, confrontes aux conditions des villes post-socialistes. Une attention plus particuliere est accordee a l’importance et au role des artistes lors de la regeneration de cette zone, ainsi qu’au developpement plus global de tout l’espace de la rue Stodolni jusqu’a nos jours. En conclusion, ce sont non seulement les resultats actuels du processus de regeneration qui sont discutes, mais aussi les possibilites et les conditions d’un nouvel essor de cet espace.

Urban Surveillance and the Struggle between Safe and Exciting Nightlife Districts

Cities attract vast numbers of people at night (Roberts and Eldridge 2009). In recent decades the evening economy has started to play a significant role in city centre regeneration, with alcohol related establishments as the driving force (Hollands and Chatterton 2003). Concerns about personal safety and fear of crime have become central in determining the success of these leisure-based inner-city areas (Judd 2003, Bannister et al. 2006). This attitude is also reflected in academic work, where most studies explore the late night economy in terms of alcohol consumption, disorder and anti-social behaviour (Hobbs et al. 2003, Hadfield 2006, Monaghan 2002, Plant and Plant 2006, Winlow and Hall 2006). Nightlife districts are, however, favoured by visitors for their adventure and excitement (Hubbard 2005). The question raised in this paper is how surveillance measures in different nightlife districts are legitimized, taking into account the fact that these districts need not only to be safe but also stimulating. Based on an analysis of policy documents, nighttime observations and expert interviews with stakeholders in the Safe Nightlife Programmes of Rotterdam and Utrecht, different local safety measures, their legitimizations and their outcomes in different local urban settings will be analysed.

Leeds Shopping Week: a case study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between Leeds Shopping Week and city centre regeneration. It looks at the way in which shoppers and retailers interact with other stakeholders to deliver innovative place marketing by offering a richer more engaging retail experience.Design/methodology/approachThe regional economic development context provides the background against which this case study rests. It draws on shoppers' experiences and puts forward a number of recommendations for future years.FindingsLeeds Shopping Week is a marketing communication tool that can be used to enrich shoppers' experiences and drive forward economic regeneration. It enriches the retail experience, adds a sense of occasion to civic life and acts as an economic stimulant to the local economy.Originality/valueThis paper discusses issues of theoretical and applied policy relevance that can inform and develop retail, city and economic development knowledge and practice.

Hobson's choice? Constraints on accessing spaces of creative production in a transforming industrial conurbation

ABSTRACTSuccessful creative production is often documented to occur in urban areas that are more likely to be diverse, a source of human capital and the site of dense interactions. These accounts chart how, historically, creative industries have clustered in areas where space was once cheap in the city centre fringe and inner city areas, often leading to the development of a creative milieu, and thereby stimulating further creative production. Historical accounts of the development of creative areas demonstrate the crucial role of accessible low-cost business premises. This article reports on the findings of a case study that investigated the location decisions of firms in selected creative industry sectors in Greater Manchester. The study found that, while creative activity remains highly concentrated in the city centre, creative space there is being squeezed and some creative production is decentralizing in order to access cheaper premises. The article argues that the location choices of creative industry firms are being constrained by the extensive city centre regeneration, with the most vulnerable firms, notably the smallest and youngest, facing a Hobson's choice of being able to access low-cost premises only in the periphery. This disrupts the delicate balance needed to sustain production and begs the broader question as to how the creative economy fits into the existing urban fabric, alongside the competing demands placed on space within a transforming industrial conurbation.

Liverpool One and the transformation of a city: Place branding, marketing and the catalytic effects of regeneration and culture on repositioning Liverpool

In 2003, Liverpool was named 2008 European Capital of Culture, an event that would deliver £800 million of economic benefit to the city. The following year private investors agreed to invest £1 billion in regenerating 42 acres (17 ha) of the city centre, creating an area called Liverpool One, at the time the largest city centre regeneration scheme in Europe. The combination of these two factors was to set in motion the physical transformation of the city and an emotional change in attitudes and perceptions, suggesting that Liverpool had found its way out of a succession of failed initiatives, underinvestment and economic decline. Liverpool's brand was on the rise, and the catalytic effects of Liverpool One and European Capital of Culture were combining to create what was felt would become an enduring legacy. This case study explores the forces that influence place shaping, and the branding and marketing challenges that lie behind it, by drawing on the author's experience of Liverpool One and the branding and marketing programme that played an integral part in its delivery in 2008.

Retail regeneration in Southampton: seeking the bigger picture

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a critical evaluation of city centre regeneration via the creation of a major new shopping destination. The City of Southampton is chosen since that very process has been well documented. The research shows that this process of creating successful cities can be negative for some existing traders.Design/methodology/approachThere are two main methodologies employed. One is a quantitative analysis of changes in rateable values. This is used as a surrogate for trading impact from the new development. The other is qualitative interviews with urban officials in the city being studied.FindingsQuantitative results show that the market power of the retailer is a better explanation for rates relief than is the physical distance from the impactful new centre. Analysis of the qualitative interviews shows that the urban officials expected that there would be negative impacts for some existing traders by setting up that process of rates relief. However, the wider picture shows that the opportunities for small‐scale innovative retailers may be reducing. Further, that the style of retailing introduced does not necessarily assist the resident population with their everyday shopping.Research limitations/implicationsThough the sample of respondents for the qualitative interviews is small, it does access the key local officials. A wider issue is the poor level of quantitative data available on small shops. This limitation is also found by the 2006‐2008 Competition Commission Inquiry into the grocery sector.Practical implicationsHighly publicised success stories such as West Quay Southampton need deeper scrutiny to ensure they fit a wider ambition to deliver the environment that local residents deserve. Better data availability would assist in such analysis.Originality/valueThe paper constitutes an attempt to show how deeper scrutiny of the type the paper commends may be approached. Greater resources will be needed in order to gain fuller insights. The findings are of value to all who seek to understand the functioning of policymaking in the urban arena.

Birmingham: whose urban renaissance? Regeneration as a response to economic restructuring

This paper draws together two traditionally distinct discourses that have dominated debates over urban policy responses to economic restructuring, deindustrialisation, major plant closures and the rise of the service and knowledge-based economy over the past 20 years. It investigates the case of Birmingham, where the policy drive of city centre regeneration, flagship development and the re-making of central urban space for new economic activities has been accompanied by much acclaim and ‘boosterist’ hype. At the same time, the socio-spatial impact of economic restructuring and the resulting policy response has been extremely uneven. The economic difficulties and wider disadvantage experienced by much of the city's population and many of its neighbourhoods, especially those inner city areas with large ethnic minority populations, have endured and even deepened since the early 1990s despite the efforts of numerous area-based regeneration programmes funded by central government. The paper reflects upon this dual narrative by asking the question whose urban renaissance? From this study it clear that the dominance of the ‘boosterist’ discourse is significantly tempered by the uneven and enduring socio-economic divides within the city and the partial nature of the city's overall recovery, particularly in terms of providing employment for its residents. In this sense, significant policy challenges remain despite the clear achievements of the past 20 years. The paper concludes by considering new spatial policy approaches that could bind together the dual imperatives of creating new economic opportunities, and addressing aspects of acute need among the local population.

Bullring: A case study of retail-led urban renewal and its contribution to city centre regeneration

Just ten years ago, Birmingham was seen as the ugly sister of British cities: run-down, congested and unappealing to visitors. Thanks to a series of pioneering urban regeneration projects, the city is being rapidly transformed, with canal-side offices and restaurants at Brindleyplace rubbing shoulders with buzzing bars on Broad Street and the exciting Symphony Hall. However, one problem remained: the city's limited retail offer was not on a par with the international standard of its business and cultural facilities. One of Birmingham City Council's key objectives was to redress this balance, and more importantly, to stem the flow of shoppers and the associated economic benefits from travelling out of the city. Here, developer Jon Emery discusses Bullring — Birmingham's new retail and leisure destination and its largest city centre regeneration project to date. The lessons learned from Bullring are already shaping the next generation of city centre urban regeneration projects. One vital ingredient stands out: the way in which the city as a whole embraced and supported the creation of Bullring. The experience has shown that future regeneration projects need to articulate an appetite for change if success is to be achieved and sustained.

City Centre Regeneration through Residential Development: Contributing to Sustainability

Following a discussion of recent policies for the city centre in Britain, the paper explores the contribution of residential development to aspects of sustainability, drawing on a range of survey evidence in Bristol and Swansea. The residents are frequent shoppers, helping to sustain the local daytime economy. Sustainability goals are also supported because large proportions of residents walk to city centre attractions, and many also to their places of work, showing reduced reliance on the private car. Support for the expanding nighttime economy reflects the age, gender and social class composition of the resident population, with different attractions receiving different levels of support from different social groups, but with younger adults as the mainstay. Sustainability in the city centre context appears best served by a majority of young adult residents, ameliorated by a sizeable proportion of older adults, and an absence of households with children. Grandiose government sustainability aims of creating the truly balanced community which includes many children, should be modified in this local context.

Gentrification in central moscow ‐ a market process or a deliberate policy? money, power and people in housing regeneration in ostozhenka

ABSTRACT. The recent process of housing redevelopment in central Moscow is examined in the light of the theory of gentrification. The study is based on the case of Ostozhenka as an emblematic example of a large–scale transformation of a central residential neighbourhood into the most expensive quarter of central Moscow. Using data collected through interviews, archive enquiries and field surveys, the paper addresses the preconditions, dynamics and mechanisms of this socio–political process. It is argued that gentrification in Ostozhenka shares many features observed in the other large cities of the world but, as predicted by theory, is locally embedded. It has been a product of a complex interplay of the market pressure aiming to meet demands from Moscow's successful post–Soviet economy and Moscow government's entrepreneurial and pro–development strategy for the city centre regeneration. The government privileges market forces: it empowers them vis‐à‐vis the original population and allows them to circumvent conservation institutions, while the achieved profit is shared between the private and public sides. Whereas the physical improvement of the city centre signifies departing from the Soviet legacies of under–investments in the housing built environment, the growing socio–spatial polarization undermines the social achievements of the Soviet system and denotes the triumph of the neoliberal urban regime in Moscow.

Barriers to sustainable infrastructure in urban regeneration

The £6 billion regeneration of the area immediately to the east of Birmingham's city centre is currently one of the largest redevelopment schemes being undertaken in the UK. The ten-year redevelopment of this 130 ha site is based upon a vision of Eastside as a sustainable exemplar of city centre regeneration. Turning this vision into reality requires both a sustainable policy to be embraced willingly, rather than reluctantly, and best practice to be adopted. This paper describes sustainable options that are essential to a good quality of life (i.e. supply of water and energy) and yet that will help Eastside on the road towards exemplary status. Some of these options are relatively well understood and practically proven (e.g. greywater recycling, rainfall harvesting, borehole abstraction and combined heat and power systems), and indeed have been adopted elsewhere in the UK, while others are closer to ‘blue skies’ concepts (e.g. fuel cells and multi-utility tunnels) and will require step changes in both attitudes and technology prior to their introduction. When assessing the feasibility of implementing these sustainable technologies within a commercial redevelopment scheme there are necessarily many barriers to be overcome. This paper highlights these barriers, some of which are specific to Eastside while others are generic to any redevelopment scheme, and aims to show how many subtle and complex arguments are involved in overcoming them. In so doing, it recommends enablers that should be considered for adoption.

Barriers to sustainable infrastructure in urban regeneration

The £6 billion regeneration of the area immediately to the east of Birmingham's city centre is currently one of the largest redevelopment schemes being undertaken in the UK. The ten-year redevelopment of this 130 ha site is based upon a vision of Eastside as a sustainable exemplar of city centre regeneration. Turning this vision into reality requires both a sustainable policy to be embraced willingly, rather than reluctantly, and best practice to be adopted. This paper describes sustainable options that are essential to a good quality of life (i.e. supply of water and energy) and yet that will help Eastside on the road towards exemplary status. Some of these options are relatively well understood and practically proven (e.g. greywater recycling, rainfall harvesting, borehole abstraction and combined heat and power systems), and indeed have been adopted elsewhere in the UK, while others are closer to ‘blue skies’ concepts (e.g. fuel cells and multi-utility tunnels) and will require step changes in both attitudes and technology prior to their introduction. When assessing the feasibility of implementing these sustainable technologies within a commercial redevelopment scheme there are necessarily many barriers to be overcome. This paper highlights these barriers, some of which are specific to Eastside while others are generic to any redevelopment scheme, and aims to show how many subtle and complex arguments are involved in overcoming them. In so doing, it recommends enablers that should be considered for adoption.

Engineering, Urbanism and the Struggle for Street Design

The making and upkeep of streets is a central task of urban design. In a critical review of the relation between urban design and highway engineering, the paper distinguishes two paradigms: on one side, the hierarchical model, pervasive and institutionally entrenched through design standards and traffic management; on the other, an alternative non-hierarchical paradigm which has developed piecemeal and experimentally on the back of policies for social exclusion, city centre regeneration, liveable neighbourhoods and neo-traditional urbanism. The paper discusses the tension between the two frameworks and highlights the health, safety and environmental arguments for reinventing the mixed-use urban street.

City Centre Regeneration in the Context of the 2001 European Capital of Culture in Porto, Portugal

In 2001, the city of Porto hosted the European Capital of Culture event. ‘Porto 2001’ was a year-long programme of arts, cultural events and urban regeneration activities. The purpose of this article is to discuss the city centre regeneration operation conducted in conjunction with the European Capital of Culture initiative in Porto. My objective is to extract a set of lessons learned that can be useful to other cities pursuing the same designation and strategy. The key finding is that despite rich and well-participated cultural events, too much emphasis was put on attracting public investment to regenerate the public space, replacing infrastructures, and modernizing cultural facilities. This was done at the expense of institutional capacity building and boosting civic creativity.