Sustainable Urban Redevelopment Research Articles

Towards Sustainable Urban Riverfront Redevelopment: Adaptability as a Design Strategy for the Hangang Riverfront in Seoul

The design of urban spaces, including waterfronts, must consider the flexibility to respond to urban and environmental changes and the continuity that respects the existing urban factors that have determined the essential characteristics of the place. The Hangang River in Seoul, South Korea, has been susceptible to significant changes over the years and has accumulated considerable historical traces and an irrevocable relationship with its urban contexts. On the other hand, as the country experienced rapid development, most urban plans have been executed based on shortsighted perspectives without considering sustainability. This study suggests adaptability as the main driver to achieve sustainability of the urban riverfront by viewing the site condition dichotomously. The components of the site were distinguished as fixed and variable factors. Considering fixed factors, six design intervention types were applied to the site through extensive macroanalysis and correlation studies, and each intervention was proposed to respond to the variable factors of the site. This study proposed four strategies to upgrade the riverfront as an adaptable space. First, five types of waterfronts were introduced with more distinct functions and identities to accommodate various activities. Second, commercial development was introduced to build a stable financial base that could respond to economic fluctuations. Third, the ecological waterfront space was expanded to react to climate change in the long term and achieve the goals of improving the microclimate, biodiversity, and educational function in the short term. Lastly, connective infrastructure was introduced to address the rapidly increasing demand for open space. The significance of this study was twofold. First, the site condition was interpreted more comprehensively by applying a framework for analysis by distinguishing the fixed and variable factors. Second, the strategy presented in this study can be applied to establish a waterfront redevelopment plan in other cities that have a context similar to the Hangang River of Seoul.

전원도시 이론에 기반한 지속가능한 도시재개발사업 구조에 관한 연구

Sustainability is an important topic from the perspective of cities as a common international task related to the survival of humanity. Especially, this topic is critical from an urban redevelopment perspective. The garden city model, suggest by Howard, provides the theoretical foundation needed for sustainable city construction. This paper proposes a sustainable urban redevelopment structure to analyzing the garden city model and cases evaluated as successful redevelopment projects: Battery Park City and Hudson Yards. Our proposal is as follows: First, urban redevelopment projects should adopt the land or superficies lease method. This method creates a positive feedback system that converts profits from the land into public resources and reinvests them to the city. Second, a public corporation should establish for each urban project. This corporation manages urban development projects as well as maintains the city after the project is complete. This method can alleviate the inefficiency and agency problems from a bloated organization that has excessive authority. Third, the government should reflect the above proposal to smart city construction, a new urban paradigm. The usability of the garden city model proves through the United States case. Therefore, adopt our proposal can strengthen city construction competitiveness.

What Drives Urban Village Redevelopment in China? A Survey of Literature Based on Web of Science Core Collection Database

The recent economic advances made by China have now obliged the country to address the need for sustainable urban redevelopment. Unlike other recently developed areas in China, urban villages are in dire need of improvement. Consequently, the redevelopment of urban villages has garnered considerable public and academic interest. However, a comprehensive understanding is lacking on the drivers of urban village redevelopment in China. This study aims to fill this gap through a comprehensive survey of existing literature on redevelopment of urban villages. A total of 167 papers have been retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. A bibliometric analysis and a critical content analysis are conducted on the bases of these papers. We found at least three main processes which have driven urban village redevelopment in China. First, the growth of urban population and their income level has created a strong emerging demand to improve urban living conditions, which has triggered the restructuring of urban villages with sub-standard built environment into high-quality urban spaces. Second, from the production side, the market-oriented land reforms and the developers’ pursuit of land-related investment returns from land rent gap is also a strong driving force for demolition and redevelopment of urban villages. Lastly, the states and local governments have played a critical role in promoting urban village redevelopment and integrating informal urban spaces into formal urban areas. This research concludes with an evaluation of current studies on urban village redevelopment and provides suggestions for further research in the future.

The thin green line: Atlanta, from “S, M, L, XL” to the BeltLine

This paper intends to examine the relationship between a sustainable urban redevelopment project with the typical urban form in North America. The contemporary urbanscape in North America demonstrates the prevalence of urban sprawls, characterized by low-density residential areas, big-box stores, strip malls, office parks and networks of highways. Recent trends in the United States indicate concerted efforts to achieve new spatial structures for urban areas that would be more sustainable. This study will explore the limits and potentials of such a project by studying the Atlanta BeltLine, a linear park that is currently under development in Atlanta. How do we situate sustainable projects in architecture and urbanism within the trajectory of modern architecture?

Evaluating the economic benefits of moving from a single building to a community approach for sustainable urban redevelopment: Lisbon neighborhood case study

Previous studies demonstrated how urban sustainability assessment systems can support the decision-making process to enhance the sustainability performance of an existing urban area. Nevertheless, although these systems were conceived to evaluate environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, the economic dimension is still underrepresented, particularly in terms of alternative project solutions’ economic feasibility. Therefore, this paper used a neighborhood redevelopment project in Lisbon (Portugal) to propose the economic evaluation of alternative sustainable solutions from single buildings to fully integrated community strategies. For this purpose, it estimated and compared the net present value, the internal rate of return, and the payback time of three alternative renovation strategies: creation of green space areas for urban agriculture; installation of photovoltaic systems; and installation of water harvesting systems. The results showed that community strategies can maximize the economic benefits over time by taking advantage of scale economies and synergies between buildings. In addition, the paper highlighted the possible economic benefits of combining alternative renovation strategies. Finally, it discussed policy and regulatory considerations, providing recommendations for future versions of urban sustainability assessment systems.

A sustainable urban regeneration project to protect biodiversity

The sustainable urban redevelopment project to protect biodiversity was developed to regenerate the external spaces of an ancient rural farmhouse, Villa Framarino, in the regional Natural Park of Lama Balice, a shallow erosive furrow (lama) rich in biodiversity, between two suburbs of the city of Bari (Apulia, Italy) and close to the city airport. This work includes a complex system of activities aimed not only at a spatial revaluation, necessary to relaunch the urban image, but it is accompanied by interventions of a cultural, social, economic, environmental and landscape nature, aimed at increasing the quality of life, in compliance with the principles of sustainability and social participation. One of the means to revitalize a territory subject to redevelopment is the planning of events and activities of socio-cultural value that involve the population to revive the sense of belonging to the territory and the community and at the same time to protect the biodiversity of the urban park of the protected natural area.

Potential for sustainable urban regeneration policies and practices in Daegu, Republic of Korea

After a period of fast urban growth, which started in the 1960s, urban development in Korea slowed down since 2008 when housing units supply exceeded the number of households for the first time. Depending on the location and specific basic conditions, some areas undergo intensive redevelopments. In contrast, other neighborhoods experience economical and physical deterioration. To facilitate sustainable urban redevelopment, related policies need to address aspects of the New Urban Agenda. This research investigates the different urban development and redevelopment policies in the city of Daegu. Urban projects conducted after 2008 have been mapped and documented in terms of related policies and their degree of implementation, project size, building and population densities, and urban morphology. Potentials for the transformation and densification of existing urban areas are discussed. The research findings are compared with current redevelopment policies and result in recommendations for the evolution of policies towards increased integration of sustainable urban redevelopment aspects.

Blending Bottom-Up and Top-Down Urban Village Redevelopment Modes: Comparing Multidimensional Welfare Changes of Resettled Households in Wuhan, China

Urban village redevelopment has multidimensional impacts on resettled households. These impacts can reflect the sustainability of urban village redevelopment. This study empirically compares the gains and losses of the welfare in economic conditions, living conditions, natural environment, psychological conditions, and social security in bottom-up and top-down urban village redevelopment cases in Wuhan, China. The results show that a bottom-up redevelopment mode with participative residents caused negative effects in economic welfare but positive effects on living conditions, natural environment, and psychological condition, thus promoting higher comprehensive welfare and satisfaction. Top-down redevelopment led by the government provides villagers with shared dividends through collective economic reform and thus, contributes to gains in economic conditions and social security. However, top-down redevelopment with less participation of residents leads to welfare losses in living conditions, natural environment, and psychological conditions, which results in lower welfare and satisfaction levels overall. Therefore, a middle-out redevelopment mode with a combination of government efforts and public participation are proposed as a solution for sustainable urban redevelopment.

Social Housing as an Experimental Approach to the Sustainable Regeneration of Historic City Centers: An Ongoing Study of Sassari City, Italy

The urban development in the 21st century builds upon sustainable urban redevelopment. In this paper, we use urban regeneration as a strategic intervention that reverses social and physical decline through an integrated approach. We argued that social housing is an important strategic intervention of urban regeneration. Unlike many European countries, social housing in Italy has remained an experimental field that urgently needs new models, and urban planning tools and techniques. We presented guidelines for an experimental social housing model. We focus on abandoned buildings and spaces, social issues, and services, with the goal of contributing to urban welfare in the old town center of Sassari City. This approach goes well beyond efforts to put uninhabited or degraded land and buildings to new uses. A model is an integrated tool that is capable of triggering and guiding the processes of social innovation, inclusion, cultural promotion, and economic development. It grounds on the collaborative use of spaces that stimulate a new culture of living together: collaborative living. This paper is based on the results of an ongoing research project, which involves the local University and the Municipality. More research is needed to enclose the model.

Wood Constructions for Sustainable Building Renovation

This paper discusses the potentials of different wood constructions for the renovation and extension of existing buildings for sustainable urban renewal. The renovation and extension of existing buildings with wood constructions can contribute significantly to sustainable urban redevelopment. The renovation of building envelopes, such as façades and roofs, with highly insulated wooden components, can reduce the transmission heat losses and related heating energy demand of existing buildings significantly. The extension of existing buildings contributes to the redensification of urban areas and can create synergies with the improvement of existing buildings’ performances. The manifold advantages of specific wooden constructions can be related to different aspects, such as construction type and material properties, building execution, design, logistic and sustainability. The results of this research discuss the architectural design and planning relevant properties of specific timber construction types, such as wood frame, cross-laminated timber (CLT), massive timber, and hybrid timber-concrete, considering the properties of different soft (such as spruce) and hard (such as beech) construction timber species. Timber constructions are compared with conventional massive constructions out of concrete and steel. The results confirm the significant advantages of timber constructions regarding all aspects.

City gate as key towards sustainable urban redevelopment: A case study of ancient Gungnae City within the modern city of Ji'an

Culture is a key tool for promoting sustainable urban redevelopment, by preserving the urban identity, attracting activities and visitors, and fostering the quality of life. While cultural heritage sites are characterized by a large concentration of visitors, causing increased traffic flows, it is necessary to provide optimal access to cultural monuments in terms of sustainable mobility. This study focused on the city gates that have access to the cultural World Heritage Site of Gungnae City within the city of Ji'an. Space syntax approach was used in the study to explore spatial accessibility by remodeling of city gate. It is of concern that the identity characteristics of a sustainable urban form and cultural feature of the city can be recognized through the spatial configurations of urban spaces. Spatial accessibility is regarded as an integral part of the sustainable use and contemporary expression of the cultural heritage. It is noted that accessible cultural monuments can perform their function for sustainable urban redevelopment. We argued that the city gates play a crucial role in the mutual interactions among urban spaces, street networks, and human traffic, and provide people with places on gate to stay. It is of concern that the city gate remodeling in the study enables overlapping use of ancient and modernized urban zones and offers an example of multi-layered street networks and mixed-use urban ensembles in terms of urban sustainability. We concluded that urban cultural heritage should be integrated into sustainable urban redevelopment strategies to enhance the liveability of historic cities while respecting their identities.

Understanding the role of contrasting urban contexts in healthy aging: an international cohort study using wearable sensor devices (the CURHA study protocol).

BackgroundGiven the challenges of aging populations, calls have been issued for more sustainable urban re-development and implementation of local solutions to address global environmental and healthy aging issues. However, few studies have considered older adults’ daily mobility to better understand how local built and social environments may contribute to healthy aging. Meanwhile, wearable sensors and interactive map-based applications offer novel means for gathering information on people’s mobility, levels of physical activity, or social network structure. Combining such data with classical questionnaires on well-being, physical activity, perceived environments and qualitative assessment of experience of places opens new opportunities to assess the complex interplay between individuals and environments. In line with current gaps and novel analytical capabilities, this research proposes an international research agenda to collect and analyse detailed data on daily mobility, social networks and health outcomes among older adults using interactive web-based questionnaires and wearable sensors.Methods/DesignOur study resorts to a battery of innovative data collection methods including use of a novel multisensor device for collection of location and physical activity, interactive map-based questionnaires on regular destinations and social networks, and qualitative assessment of experience of places. This rich data will allow advanced quantitative and qualitative analyses in the aim to disentangle the complex people-environment interactions linking urban local contexts to healthy aging, with a focus on active living, social networks and participation, and well-being.DiscussionThis project will generate evidence about what characteristics of urban environments relate to active mobility, social participation, and well-being, three important dimensions of healthy aging. It also sets the basis for an international research agenda on built environment and healthy aging based on a shared and comprehensive data collection protocol.

Integration of the subsurface and the surface sectors for a more holistic approach for sustainable redevelopment of urban brownfields

This paper presents a holistic approach to sustainable urban brownfield redevelopment where specific focus is put on the integration of a multitude of subsurface qualities in the early phases of the urban redevelopment process, i.e. in the initiative and plan phases. Achieving sustainability in brownfield redevelopment projects may be constrained by a failure of engagement between two key expert constituencies: urban planners/designers and subsurface engineers, leading to missed opportunities and unintended outcomes in the plan realisation phase. A more integrated approach delivers greater benefits. Three case studies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden were used to test different sustainability assessment instruments in terms of the possibility for knowledge exchange between the subsurface and the surface sectors and in terms of cooperative learning among experts and stakeholders. Based on the lessons learned from the case studies, a generic decision process framework is suggested that supports holistic decision making. The suggested framework focuses on stakeholder involvement, communication, knowledge exchange and learning and provides an inventory of instruments that can support these processes.

Redevelopment of industrial sites in the Chinese ‘villages in the city’: an empirical study of Shenzhen

China is facing the challenge of sustainable urban redevelopment due to its massive economic transformation process. As a unique product of the rapid urbanization of past decades, urban village has become a major obstacle for sustainable redevelopment because of its sub-standard infrastructure and disordered built environment. Redevelopment of ‘villages in the city’ (ViCs) is distinct from normal urban redevelopment because it involves the change of collective land ownership without de jure property rights to state land ownership with de jure property rights. What site characteristics, what ownership type, what geographical characteristics, make village sites more likely to be redeveloped? This study addresses this question with particular reference to industrial sites in Shenzhen. An analytical framework is developed based on the concept of rent gap to analyze the possible effects of these factors. An empirical investigation is conducted based on a set of data that covers all 44 village-owned industrial sites in the Nanshan District in Shenzhen. The findings suggest that village sites with better accessibility to good transportation facilities and the city centre are significantly more likely to be redeveloped and thus will be integrated into formal urban areas earlier than those located in less accessible areas. It is also demonstrated that fragmented land ownership and lack of legal land rights are not significant barriers for the sustainable redevelopment of such sites.

Integrating resilience with urban sustainability in neglected neighborhoods: Challenges and opportunities of transitioning to decentralized water management in Mexico City

The impacts of climate change and decreasing local resources are increasingly threatening the resilience and sustainable management of urban areas and infrastructures worldwide. To cope with such threads and vulnerabilities, urban sustainability and resilience oriented plans have been developed. Accordingly, policy makers need to learn how to properly integrate urban sustainability with urban resilience principles and practices in the re-shaping of urban agendas. In order to highlight the future potential of integrating transformative resilience principles into the general sustainability approach, this paper provides a critical review of a recent and successful urban regeneration and development plan, the “Mexico City Green Plan”. This paper also discusses a feasibility study for urban redevelopment and transition towards resilience in Mexico City, in order to illustrate the necessity and potential of urban resilience for the improvement of the life prospects of disadvantaged inhabitant groups. The Valle del Chalco neighborhood in Mexico City is presented as an example, whereby resilient and sustainable urban transformation was achieved through an integrated and sustainable decentralized water management and infrastructure plan. In practice, the terms ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Resilience’ can be exploited to justify conventional, non-sustainable urban development practices. The results discussed in this paper demonstrate the necessity of the integration of transformative resilience principles within sustainable urban redevelopment and regeneration. The main findings are i) Policy makers underestimate the potential of urban resilience in shaping more sustainable urban futures, since they only understand resilience as the flipside of specific vulnerabilities, ii) The building of urban resilience within sustainable urban transitions and redevelopment can effectively foster people empowerment, particularly in combination with the decentralization of resources management systems, and iii) The main challenge for the implementation and execution of transitions processes towards urban resilience and sustainability is the elimination of political barriers.

Sustainable Urban Redevelopment: Assessing the Impact of Third-Party Rating Systems

AbstractPrioritization of urban redevelopment to achieve sustainable neighborhood revitalization has received considerable attention. This study investigates whether a prescriptive approach to urban development, the third-party rating system, coupled with a business intelligence dashboard, as a data visualization tool to display the status of redevelopment can provide feasible and intuitive integration of data in which to prioritize redevelopment. This study presents a new framework and key sustainability indicators based on existing third-party rating systems to prioritize redevelopment. These assessments are introduced into a spatial decision support system using a dashboard as an interactive tool to gather and consolidate data and to present an evaluative means for decision makers. The tool allows identification of the highest-priority sites for long-term and short-term redevelopment of properties in Paterson, New Jersey. The study attempts to advance knowledge in sustainable urban redevelopment throug...

Facilitated and emergent social learning in sustainable urban redevelopment: exposing a mismatch and moving towards convergence

This article makes a case for the importance of social learning in urban planning and development practice, particularly in the context of attempts to achieve higher standards of sustainability. We proceed by comparing learning outcomes in Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek and Melbourne’s Docklands urban redevelopment projects. We find that the instrumental model of learning supports facilitated learning approaches pursued in a manner that is mostly disconnected from the learning being demanded for improved decision-making and improved results. The emergent learning which can be empirically demonstrated, which is more easily explained by a systems-theory model, lacks exposure to deliberative process.

Urban Regeneration and Socio-economic Sustainability: A Role for Established Small Food Outlets

In recent years, the challenges of urban regeneration and sustainability have been brought together in discourses concerning the re-shaping of inner-city districts of large cities. Currently, sustainable development in regeneration policies is mostly dominated by the environmental dimension and qualities of the built environment, with some focus on the more easily quantifiable aspects of social and economic dimensions. There is, however, limited discussion about integrating socio-economic aspects of sustainable regeneration in the literature. This paper presents a critical exploration of the role of the existing small business base in facilitating more sustainable urban re-development from a socio-economic standpoint. Indigenous food outlets in Birmingham's Eastside district—a re-development initiative branded as exemplar of sustainable urban development—are used to illustrate the role of small businesses in the day-to-day life of districts undergoing regeneration. The paper reflects on challenges and benefits from retaining and supporting established businesses throughout the re-development process and concludes with some reflections on lessons learnt from the case study. It argues that planners, policy-makers and developers should accord greater attention to the role of established businesses to foster urban districts that strive towards integrating aspects of socio-economic sustainability.

Evaluation of sustainable urban redevelopment scenarios

Multi-criteria analysis is often used in planning for evaluating alternative development options against a set of evaluation criteria. In the context of sustainable development, the definition of these criteria is quite controversial because of the complex and fuzzy nature of this emerging topic. Decision making for sustainable (re)development at urban planning level requires an understanding of the multiple issues implied in the problem. The multi-modal framework can help decision makers handle the multiplicity of issues embodied in the concept of urban sustainability by guiding the selection of appropriate criteria for evaluating alternative solutions. This paper applies this framework to an Italian urban (re)development decision-making process by using the analytic network process, a most advanced network version of the analytic hierarchy process. This is the first mathematical theory that makes it possible systematically to deal with all kinds of dependencies and feedback. It requires a network structure to represent the decision problem, as well as pairwise comparison with established relations within the structure. The multi-modal framework is used to structure the case study problem towards a more sustainable solution.

Sustainable urban redevelopment and shrinking the federal government's footprint

The federal government's accelerating effort to reduce its footprint comes at a time when local governments have become wary of manufacturing and other large businesses. In a globalizing world economy, corporate giants seem to have no loyalty to the communities that have hosted them, and their departure is typically associated with a depressed economy and an environmental legacy. Instead of focusing limited local resources on trying to recruit and retain large businesses, local governments increasingly are investing in schools, housing, amenities, and other sustainable local attributes. This change in approach makes it more difficult for the federal government to shrink its footprint, unless it is willing to add inducements and guarantees to the terms of the agreement with local government. Federal government efforts to sell land to private business for uses that are not favored by local government will, in some instances, precipitate considerable angst against the federal government and political pressure against the sale. In cases where the land has residual contamination and little market value, the only option may be environmental conservation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.