Improving the Quality of Life in Large Urban Distressed Areas

LUDA is a research project of Key Action 4 "City of Tomorrow & Cultural Heritage" of the programme "Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development" within the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission.

Welcome to the issue 9 of the LUDA e-newsletter! This issue contains the latest activities within the LUDA project and the usual listing of hints and upcoming events.

Two essays in this issue can be proudly enunciated: Patrycja Bielawska-Roepke examines the emergence of distress in post-socialist inner city areas in Central and Eastern Europe and focus on the bottlenecks encountered in their revitalisation. Julie Gannon discusses the role that culture can play in creating stability and a sense of place for a more sustainable urban regeneration.

Rita Cardoso from the Lisbon Team presents in this issue following up the "cities histories" the strategy developed for improvement of the case area Ameixoeira/Galinheiras.

The LUDA e-newsletter is a free electronic document, edited by the LUDA research team from the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development in Dresden (Germany). The e-newsletter is distributed every three months, providing project updates, information on current affairs and details of other interesting issues.

So enjoy reading!

The IOER LUDA Team

More information on the project´s website

The presentations of the study areas in the Partner Cities Bratislava, Dresden, Valenciennes, Lisbon, Edinburgh and Florence as well the Reference Cities Antwerp, Dublin, Genoa, Lyon, Manchester, Xanti, Essen, Graz, Malmö, Ostrava, Tallinn and Trnava have been added to the LUDA project website www.luda-project.net . The presentations contain the descriptions, potentials and possible solutions to the problems occurred and the links to the institutions responsible for the development of the areas.

To see the presentations please follow the links:

Visions for the open spaces in the Weißeritz area

On the April, 29th an exhibition with works of landscape architecture students for the Weißeritz area has been opened. During the last semester, students of the HTW (University of Applied Sciences Dresden) have been working on solutions for reusing the derelict land in the Dresden LUDA case Weißeritz. Supported by the municipality (LUDA, Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Department)as well as local stakeholders, the students developed ideas for permanent as well as temporary use of open spaces. With the suggestions the students opened new visions for the development of Weißeritz area with a green corridor as a central feature.

The works can be seen at the Ostsächische Kreissparkasse am Altmarkt in Dresden till May, 20th 2005.

The discrepancy between neighbourhood's image and resident's satisfaction

New cooperation provides further survey data for the LUDA-Project

Urban improvement in large and complex areas needs a far-sighted strategic planning and development. This is necessary in order to prevent uneconomic activism as well as ad hoc and haphazard decisions. Tailoring such strategies is highly dependent on the individual case and the specific social and economic circumstances of an area. Therefore a systematic and comprehensive analysis is important as basis for ready-made strategies for improvement of quality of life in LUDA.

For this reason the IOER team is developing a comprehensive way to analyse, assess and benchmark the situation in the case area "Weißeritz" in Dresden. Thereby statistical information and survey data of the city were analysed. As a main and expected result out of the statistical analyses it can be ascertained that it is difficult to measure and analyse qualitative and subjective dimensions like image or inhabitants' satisfaction.

This gap will be bridged by a cooperation project between the Dresden Technical University (TUD), the Dresden City Planning Department and the IOER started in April 2005. Within the scope of a seminar, accomplished by the Geographical Institute of the TUD, five different residential zones situated in "Weißeritz area" will be surveyed. The focus of the one year seminar lays on scrutinising the image of the respective city districts and the satisfaction of the residents with their housing surroundings.

After clarifying the theoretical framework, supported by the IOER project team, the students will carry out a questioning of residents in the investigation area. The city planning department will provide necessary statistical data and practical information for instance by guided excursions through the residential zones.

First outcomes are expected this summer and will be checked against the already existing results and hypothesis. The course will not stop after analysing the situation but go on further by using the gained information for discussing action options and creating scenarios together with respective stakeholders.

Leander Küttner, Markus Egermann, IOER

The 6th European Biennial of Towns & Town Planners: City Living - Living City. 9-11 of June 2005

How can European cities become more alive and creative? Urban planners, politicians, architects, management consultants, academics and other makers of the cities from all over Europe will work together in discussing this major question. Living cities are as important as ever in the global competition to attract creative people and international investments. The Biennial explores the changing terms and targets for planners in a global-, networked- and reassembled Europe.

The Biennial is a forum for meeting old and new colleagues from all of Europe. Planners and politicians from both Eastern and Western Europe will discuss core issues in contemporary planning. A special event at this Biennial is the launch of Urban Stories of Europe. Urban Stories of Europe is a young alternative and pioneer approach to city living and the living of city across the borders of Europe.

The Øresund Region represents a unique example of new border-crossing regional and urban collaboration networks. The Biennial will take place at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen, and will be held as a large conference with exhibitions, lectures, multimedia presentations and events. Workshops and excursions will take place in a variety of interesting urban locations in Copenhagen, Malmö and Lund.

www.cityliving-livingcity.org

International Conference : World Heritage and Contemporary Architecture. Managing the Historic Urban Landscape

12-14 May 2005 in Vienna, Austria

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the City of Vienna are organising this international conference, together with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.

About 200 historic cities and urban centres illustrating the diversity of cultural achievements are inscribed on the World Heritage List. This number rises to more than 300 sites inscribed, if the monuments located in an urban context, and towns included in cultural landscapes are also considered. Historic cities are under intense pressure caused by the demands for mobility, housing, commerce, public services and other development-related activities. The need to obtain the support of all actors, be it inhabitants, local authorities or the business sector, compounds the challenge of urban heritage conservation.

While proper definitions and guidelines for the conservation and management of cultural monuments, natural sites, and since 1992 cultural landscapes as the 'combined works of nature and of man' are in place, they are still missing for the preservation of historic urban landscapes. This conference aims to fill this gap. The conference intends to address the challenges of the conservation of historic urban environments, in particular of World Heritage cities, to exchange ideas and visions, to explore mutually satisfying solutions to conservation and development, and to reach a consensus among the different stakeholders resulting in an international agreement on principles and guidelines for regulation and management.
Given the multi-dimensional nature of this issue (architectural-aesthetic, social, economic), international partner-organizations of UNESCO, such as the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP), the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), the International Union of Architects (U IA ), as well as city governments and real estate developers will be represented at the conference.

more: http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=83&id_event=112

The dereliction of inner cities in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to explain the emergence of distress in post-socialist inner city areas in Central and Eastern Europe, and address the bottlenecks encountered in their revitalisation. The reasons behind the emergence of distress originate from both the political transformation processes from 1989 onwards, with their economic consequences, and in developments prior to 1989. Many of the problems experienced nowadays, such as segregation or poverty, already existed before 1989, not being acknowledged as a central theme (see, for example, Weclawowicz 2003; Lorens 2005).

Cities before 1989

Two important elements of the urban economy affected inner urban growth in the classical communist era: the prominent role of the state in financing, building and allocating new urban housing, and the highly restrictive nature of land markets in inner city areas. During the first decades of socialism, the construction of private housing was only tolerated in villages; all new housing in cities was to be built by the state, with state funding. Moreover, the existing inner-city housing stock, particularly apartment buildings, was nationalised. There were no functioning urban land markets - inner urban land could not be bought or sold by private individuals. The consequences have been well documented (for example: Musil 1993; Balchin 1996; Szelenyi 1996; Markowski 1997); the list below highlights the issues which specifically relate to urban distress:

• Cities in the former socialist countries were radically altered by the construction of new housing estates, which were substantially larger than the analogous housing estates of capitalist cities. The large-scale construction of public-sector housing substantially contributed to the reduction in housing shortages across much of Central and Eastern Europe, despite marked increases in the number of households. Although housing deficits continued to decline through the 1980s, they still remained acute, particularly in Poland.
• Socio-spatial differentiation in socialist cities was caused by factors both similar to and differing from those experienced in capitalist cities. Undoubtedly, social segregation existed before 1989. Due to changes in socialist housing policies from 1960s onwards, the growing differences between incomes and the emergence of a socialist mixed housing system with strong market elements, new trends in socio spatial differentiation emerged. On the one hand, elderly people, low income households and Gypsies became more concentrated in the deteriorating city centres and the old residential areas in central urban zones: on the other hand, new housing estates in Czechoslovakia and East Germany (but not in Poland or Hungary) showed a relatively high degree of social heterogeneity.
• The quality of existing housing stock deteriorated during the communist period, leading to the physical, even social, decay of established neighbourhoods. The nationalisation of existing urban housing led, without exception, to neglected stock in all of the socialist countries. Housing authorities were under tremendous pressure to keep rent low, in order to match the low wages, and to build as much new housing as possible. This policy meant that the existing housing stock was not adequately maintained. For two decades, before the re-emergence of private housing in the 1970s, the urban middle classes were overwhelmingly served by the public sector. They had little choice but to move into the new housing estates if they had no previous housing, or if they wanted to escape the increasingly deteriorated inner-city neighbourhoods. So, until the mid-1970s, the new housing estates had a distinctively middle-class character and the inner-city neighbourhoods began to lose social status. The inner-cities retained the elderly and poorer families and began to attract socially deprived immigrants.
• During the last decade of socialism, some of the old housing was already privatized. In addition, the construction of private housing in cities was encouraged from the late 1960s and early 1970s. As the housing market gained ground, public housing declined. After the 1970s, the urban middle classes were increasingly likely to build condominiums for themselves or their children. They tried to move away from the formerly-desirable housing developments towards more ecologically attractive locations.

Transformation, post-1989

After decades of central guidance from the state in almost every aspect of life, the political and economic turnaround, post-1989, revolutionised the organisation of socialist societies. It has become clear that these radical changes have not lead only to positive developments, such as increased freedom for citizens, but also to the emergence of problems that were formerly unknown in these countries. Official unemployment and social/ spatial segregation on the basis of income and ethnicity, for example, were not recognized as a problems in socialist times (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs 2004). Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe (henceforth CEE) consisted of two different processes: the breakdown of old socialist institutions, and the rebuilding of political and market-oriented institutions.

There were three main factors which had most influence on the development of post-communist urban spaces:

Liberalisation of the inner and outer trade and capital markets. This was the first measure undertaken by the CEE countries. The pressure of national and international economic forces, and the opening-up of previously sheltered markets, have generated rapid adjustments to industry, services and other economic activities. The large-scale closure of state enterprises and industrial restructuring efforts have left post-socialist cities with huge tracts of land, including derelict buildings, close to city centres. The social impact of the transition process presents a major challenge to market reforms. Labour market adjustments have proceeded through changing sectoral and regional employment patterns, fluctuating unemployment rates and wage differentiations. The high rate of inequality, particularly in urban areas, has a broad impact on social well-being, as it reflects the inability of some citizens to participate in society and engage with activities leading to improved health and educational attainment. Poverty in post-socialist countries is predominantly an urban problem. (Tsenkova 2001)

Changes in local governance. Under the socialist system, the state and its territorial administrative bodies were major investors. The government and subordinated local authorities fulfilled a dichotomous and highly contradictory function: a governmental body responsible for satisfying social needs and, at the same time, an institution organising production processes, investing in production activities, developing industrial areas, etc. The contradiction between the control function and execution of their own decisions was clearly evident here. The political, fiscal and administrative decentralisation after 1989 reflects the concerted effort to make governments more democratic and efficient. However, decentralisation has resulted in excessive fragmentation, particularly in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, where majority of local governments are too small to operate basic services independently. Most countries are finding themselves with a very large number of small municipalities without the mechanisms to foster necessary co-ordination and economies of scale in management (Tsenkova 2001). Changing inter-governmental relations have resulted in the devolution of major responsibilities in the areas of economic development, education, health care and social assistance to the level of local government. Local governments in urban areas are seen as crisis managers, charged with many responsibilities but without the adequate financial and institutional resources to cope with growing pressures.

Transformation of the housing policy. Privatisation of housing has become the flagship of the decade, but has failed to raise the much-needed revenue. Before the transformation, the majority of the urban housing stock was owned by the state. After the transformation, a large number of these dwelling were sold to the inhabitants, often at giveaway prices (such as ten percent of the market value). It is now recognized that privatisation causes numerous problems. The new owners are not able to repair and maintain their dwellings, or manage the buildings and estates in which these dwellings are located. Moreover, public and semi-public spaces become ambiguous, because they are not usually privatized. Consequently, it is unclear who is responsible for these areas (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs 2004). Privatisation, in the form used in CEE countries, leads to polarisation; increasing the chances for rehabilitation in the better part of the stock, whilst making it impossible in the worse areas. Local governments will have to deal with this intensively in the future (Pichler-Milanovich 1994).

The national and regional attention to urban areas is, generally, limited. While it is quite normal for most West European countries to have a national urban policy, this is almost never the case in the CEE countries. Urban problems in the Czech Republic are dealt with by the city governments, sometimes with the support of the national government. In order to receive financial support from the national level, co-financing from municipal budgets is usually required. The same situation applies in Hungary. In Poland, there is also a lack of national urban policy. The strong faith in market mechanisms after 1989 led to a neglect of central planning in all kinds of policy fields, including urban and regional development. Nor is there a coherent national urban policy in Slovakia, although there are national planning approaches presenting strategic and visionary aspects of urban development, supplemented by specific initiatives concentrating on cities and their problems. These initiatives relate to social and economic development, housing and infrastructure. In Slovakia, the central government clearly considers urban problems to belong to the domain of local governments. Slovenia does have a clear national urban policy, although its objective are mostly formulated in spatial terms (redefining and implementing a polycentric urban system, the promotion of re-urbanisation, and improving transport infrastructure) and less in economic and social terms, with one exception - the elimination of social exclusion (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs 2004).

Despite the common features of many CEE countries, generalisation is only possible to a limited extent. The more detailed the description, the more likely mistakes and misunderstandings will arise. Therefore, to enable a clearer understanding, the example of Poland will be used, which will also provide details characteristic to all CEE countries.

Poland

In Poland, 1989 marked the end of a system of "people's democracy" which was, in fact, one variant of partially-veiled totalitarianism. In its place, Poland adopted the economic and political system tried and tested by Western Europe in recent decades. State structures have begun to be shaped by democratic principles, and market reforms have been introduced to the economy.

By 1992, local governments (gmina) with planning rights were reintroduced. By 1998, after the second wave of reform, the number of regions (wojewodztwo) was reduced from 49 to 16. The new regional governments received more planning responsibilities and competences. As part of the changes to the regulation and structure of regional and local government, the national government decided to back-out of providing most subsidies for urban development. These were to be replaced through local programmes and strategies developed by the gmina. The decentralisation efforts were focused upon the responsibilities, rather than the finances. Even the biggest cities, with the potential to attract private investment and capital, are not able to fulfil all their responsibilities and at the same time to have enough money to improve, even in the smallest scale, the local infrastructure (Lorens 2005).
A characteristic feature of many Polish towns is the existence of both spatially and socially neglected and degraded areas, filled with buildings from the turn of the century and early 20th century. Part of these areas have, from the start, featured low standards of living and constitute bad districts which experience poverty, social pathology and general dereliction. A specific example can be seen in parts of cities formerly regarded as elegant and prestigious, previously inhabited by people with high economic and social status, yet later neglected or falling into complete disrepair. The poor condition of these areas at present results from a number of factors, mainly post-war social transformations and ownership changes, liquidating de facto landlords responsible for the maintenance of buildings. The common reason for the degradation of housing stock is known as "the housing gap" phenomenon; currently estimated at 1,6 million flats, which represent over 13% of the existing number of flats (approx. 12,5 million) (Markowski 1997). Revitalisation measures are primarily directed to the improvement of the stock and solving the problems of overcrowding.

Urban space in Poland has been very unfavourably affected by the construction of very large housing estates, usually forming a ring round the majority of Polish towns and cities. The industrial, large-panel construction style, prevalent from 1960s-80s despite continual improvement to technological standards, has resulted in today's substandard housing which features high exploitation costs as well as substantial economic depreciation. In some Polish cities, these high-rise blocks house 30-40% of the cities' population. Such areas are now becoming post-socialist clusters of slums, featuring a concentration of low-income groups. Rehabilitation of these areas will probably take decades, and the consequences are unpredictable for such degraded urban space. (Markowski 1997)

The bottlenecks for improvements in such areas have to be considered, primarily, at the financial and institutional levels (for example Markowski 1997; Habitat 2003; Billert 2004; Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs 2004; Lorens 2005).

State policy concentrates on supporting new construction, at the expense of the maintenance and improvement of existing stock. The modernisation of substandard urban areas requires a substantial improvement in current legislation. The basic barriers in this field are the lack of public resources and incentives from the local government authorities. Urban development in Poland is lead by market rules. The public sector, due to its limited financial means, is not able to play an active role in the property market. There is still a lack of clear legislation or an established pattern of good cooperative practice between public and private sectors, therefore, the gminas have little experience in public-private partnerships. The gminas do not know how to ensure the partnerships are safe and credible; the private sector largely acts from a short-term perspective and is not interested in the development of the urban infrastructure.

The instruments of spatial regulation do not allow the production and approval of consistent, complex and correct planning documents. On the other hand, many local governments are evading the make of local law with the necessity of its later protection due to different reasons. National policy does not provide clear regulations regarding revitalisation processes. For over 10 years, parliament and city planners have discussed the potential of a revitalisation act, without discussing other necessary regulations. On the other hand, legal regulations are constantly changing, producing inconsistent and complicated procedures. For example, the procedure of preparing local plans is regulated by three different acts.

The function of a leading investor in urban space is still inherent in the model of thinking of present local authorities. Some social expectations persist, such as the prospect central and local government continuing as major investor under the new system. It is difficult for local authorities to recognise and accept the fact that they will be one of many investors in the city, not even the most important one, and that encouraging private investment is their principal task. Such an attitude is quite understandable considering the fact, that under the socialist system, the whole city was a political realm because the government had monopoly power over its development.

The problems relating to polish urban spaces are not valued in Poland yet. Many analyses like e.g. of Habitat (2003) show that Polish society and many politicians do not see the problematic nature of the spaces, and a large percentage of people are pleased with the situation in their cities.
Only few Polish gminas are able to build and maintain residential buildings. The gminas have had many flats in the old buildings in the inner cities, built before WW2. Many of them have been sold to the tenants for almost nothing, because the buildings required renovations which would have proven too expensive for the gmina. As a consequence, the problem of maintenance has been passed on to the private buyers. The intensive privatisation, mostly occurring between 1990-1995, does not lead to the modernisation on the same scale. The regulation of rents, also in some private buildings, does not allow setting rents covering the maintenance cost of the buildings. Another bottleneck for the complex revitalisation process following privatisation is a complicated owner situation - the flats have been sold to anyone, without consideration of the buildings' infrastructure and surrounding space. Not every tenant in a residential building wanted to buy their flat, so many forms of ownership are possible: gmina ownership; private ownership of the property including the grounds; a condominium of owners in property, without the surrounding space, with or without the communal part and the ownership of a flat without grounds.

Challenges for the future

Privatisation of flats, aggressive capitalism, enabeling of the commercial investment are pushing social problems into the background. Urban space in Poland has not undergone qualitative change yet, so there are still two possible scenarios. The first is comprehensive restructuring and modernisation of urban fabric and infrastructure; the second is increasing polarisation, i.e. division into modern enclaves of wealth, further degrading areas of poverty. The actual transformation of cities seems to be following the negative trend of deepening social and spatial differentiation (Markowski 1997; RCSS 2002). In Polish cities, as well as in the other CEE cities, first attempts towards gentrification have been observed (see, for example, the detailed descriptions by Lorens 2005, Weclawowicz 2003). It is to be expected, that in the near future the differences between districts will grow - the good districts will be better, the bad ever worse. There is substantial, reasonable inner-city housing built around the turn of the century, which could become attractive for yuppies and the nouveau riche. The low-quality housing, located in undesirable neighbourhoods and poorly served by public transportation and other services, cannot easily be privatized. Only those who are trapped there would buy, and if they did, they would not have the resources to pay for maintenance or renovation. Those who can afford to move are beginning to escape from these areas, leaving the poor and ethnic minorities to concentrate in them. As a result, the whole belt of "new housing estates" are likely to become the slums of the early twenty-first century (Szelenyi 1996). Urban social problems - largely related to conflicts over the affordability of services, housing shortages and poverty - require urgent commitment to the development of economically and politically feasible strategies which facilitate social integration and cohesion.

Patrycja Bielawska - Roepke

References:

Balchin, P. (1996). Introduction. in: Paul Balchin: Housing Policy in Europe. Routledge, London, New York: 1-22.
Billert, A. (2004). Stadterneuerungsprobleme in Polen als Folge fehlender Marktstrukturen im Wohnungswesen und ungenügendem Planungsrecht - Praxisbericht und Ausblick
Habitat (2003). Bariery i problemy gospodarki przestrzennej w Polsce
Lorens, P. (2005). Stadtentwicklung in Polen: Aktuelle Trends und Herausforderungen. in: Uwe Altrock, Simon Güntner, S. Huning und D. Peters: Zwischen Anpassung und Neuerfindung. Raumplanung und Stadtentwicklung in den Staaten der EU - Osterweiterung. Berlin. 11: 35-48.
Markowski, T. (1997). Major Tendencies and Structural Problems of Major Polish Cities in the New Economic Context in: DISP 130.
Merrill, S., R. Lawrence, et al. (1998). Local Government rent policy and best practice in Poland: the need for rent reform and an improved housing allowance program. The Urban Institute. Washington.
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs (2004). Cities in the New EU Countries. Position, Problems, Policies. Amstelveen.
Musil, J. (1993). Changing Urban Systems in Post-communist Societies in Central Europe: Analysis and Prediction in: Urban Studies 30(6): 899-905.
Pichler-Milanovich, N. (1994). The role of Housing Policy in the Transformation Process of Central-East European Cities in: Urban Studies 31(7): 1097-1115.
RCSS (2002). Transformacja spoleczno-gospodarcza w Polsce. Warszawa.
Szelenyi, I. (1996). Cities under Socialism - and after. in: Gregory Andrusz, Ivan Szelenyi und Michael Harloe: Cities after socialism. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, Cambridge: 286 - 317.
Tsenkova, S. (2001). Urban Policy Futures. Cities in Transition: Challenges for Urban Governance. Urban futures seminar 09-12.05, Södertäljei, Sweden.
Weclawowicz, G. (2003). Geografia spoleczna miast.. Warszawa, PWN.

Pictures: inner city in Szczecin 2005; Patrycja Bielawska - Roepke
Language revision: Fiona H. Campbell (SBE)

Cultural Models for Sustainable Urban Regeneration

Introduction

Large urban distressed areas suffer from a range of interrelated problems, social, economic, environmental, and indeed, cultural. To achieve sustainable urban regeneration, cultural resources need to be integrated fully into regeneration policy, rather than simply being seen "as a marginal addition to be considered once the important planning questions like housing, transport and land use have been dealt with" (Landry, 2002, p.7). The phenomenon of globalisation has resulted in cities becoming more similar to one another and, consequently, more detached from their cultural heritage and historical connections. The spread of fear, insecurity and xenophobia within original communities when cities see the arrival of large populations from other parts of the world can increase the chasm between different classes and sectors of society, thereby exacerbating the problem of social exclusion. Concurrently, rapid changes in the composition of urban communities can leave incomers feeling isolated, lonely and excluded from their new community. This paper illustrates the role that culture can play in creating stability and a sense of localness within urban distressed areas. Culture can play a role in demonstrating that a city is unique, distinctive and has a real sense of being. The cultural resources of a city can be used to maximize a city's potential and create economic gain. Consciousness of culture, it is contended, is an important asset and a major driving force in the regeneration process.

Context

The late 1970's saw the start of a process of urban restructuring throughout Western Europe to transform the many unattractive, unloved and unpeopled urban environments. Compounding and reinforcing this dereliction were the social problems of joblessness, delinquency and poverty for those that remained. To counter this economic, social and environmental decline, urban commentators and policymakers have increasingly propagated culture-driven regeneration policy. Out went the prevailing wisdom from the postwar boom-years' era that ran into the 1970's where cultural policy centered on public 'cultural expenditure'. With the recessions of the late 1970's and 1980's, administrations began to look for new models, ones that incorporated market forces, to breathe life back into urban environments and so turned to 'culture'. A new parlance of 'cultural investment' has become common currency by authorities keen to promote themselves as efficient partners and encourage inflows of private sector capital to public private partnerships (PPPs) (Bianchini 1993; Matarasso 1996; Garcia 2004). A commodified cultural policy, where tangible, quantifiable returns on investment in museums, events, theatres and 'creative' production infrastructure were expected in the form of profits, jobs and physical regeneration, thus took route and was driven on by what appeared to be some remarkable successes. Critics have, however, attacked this use of cultural policy for an essentially economic agenda as crude and divisive - a 'carnival mask' (Harvey, 1989 in Garcia, 2004) worn by the city to serve the needs of business or wealthy tourists and hiding the social deprivation in the peripheries, whilst papering over the 'real' culture of their residents (Evans, 2003; Mooney, 2004; Garcia 2004). This paper, therefore, gives a brief synopsis of some culture-led regeneration models, addresses the validity of arguments from both sides of this polemical debate, and in the year that Cork 2005 celebrates its year as European Capital of Culture, looks at how the event brings the battle out into the public domain.

'Cultural Production' Models of Renewal

Bianchini (1993) defines two cultural investment strategies employed by urban authorities to drive economic regeneration: 'production' or 'consumption' oriented models. Investment in 'production' is geared toward the growing 'cultural' or 'creative' industries. Their definitions have their origin in 'individual creativity skill and talent'. 'Creative industries', which have a wider catchment than cultural, include 'advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software and computer games, television and radio' (DCMS, 2004). Devising comprehensive agglomeration or clustering strategies for such a wide category can be quite a challenge and investing in production, and favouring what appear to be growth 'industries', are not unduly controversial; even if the optimism driving this investment would appear unfounded, the real debate surrounds 'cultural consumption' strategies.

'Cultural Consumption' Models: Flagship Infrastructure and Event Hosting

The other side of the coin is a consumption-based strategy, often backed up with some form of investment in production. Through such a policy, city authorities attempt to develop a culturally vibrant image deemed attractive by mobile, middle class, high-tech or 'knowledge' industry workers. Cultural activities are one sellable asset that along with a clean and safe environment, congenial climate, social capital, aesthetic qualities, and so forth, can be added together to make up city dwellers' 'quality of life'. An attractive image is also thought essential for competition in that other post-industrial growth industry: tourism. Cultural heritage now accounts for 30% of the European tourism market with attendance at cultural sites doubling in the last twenty years (European Commission, 1998, in Bayliss, 2004).

Big hallmark iconic cultural infrastructure is one way to draw attention (often referred to as the 'Bilbao-Guggenheim effect' after what is perceived as successful culture-led regeneration). It reads as a highly visible statement on the importance of cultural consumption to a city and can thus be used as a potent symbol in place marketing. It is, however, a costly and therefore risky business that could leave an embarrassing white elephant blotting the cityscape (such as London's Millennium Dome).

Hosting cultural or sporting events such as the Olympic Games, festivals or the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) are a complementary or alternative strategy to get the edge, luring footloose desirables in from a globalised marketplace. Events are potentially a useful weapon in a city administrator's armory when bidding to disseminate their chosen image to potential investors, tourists and policy-makers. Having the title 'Capital of Culture', for example, is a city's equivalent to having letters after one's name, hard-branding that can later be used in marketing (Evans, 2003). On a more instantaneous level, for the attention generated, the knock on effect on the rest of the economy, and a temporarily heightened status, extra EU or central government funding may be made available, acting like a regenerative shot of adrenaline to the city in question.

European City of Culture: A Model For Cultural Consumption Based Regeneration

The ECOC was conceived to transcend national boundaries by working on two levels: to draw the peoples of Europe together culturally and illustrate their common cultural heritage, whilst simultaneously bypassing central governments and delegating to local authorities the task of celebrating each city's individuality and artistic heritage. The first five ECOCs (Athens, Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris) were all already recognized as 'Cultural Capitals' in their own right and were thus given the title to reflect their artistic heritage (Bianchini 1993; Richards 2001). Glasgow, however, was the first to break the mould, for the onus was very much on what the accolade could bring to the city.

Glasgow's authorities used the ECOC event as part of a longer term arts based strategy which attempted to engineer economic, social and, perhaps most importantly, image change by facilitating its emergence from a conceptual steel clad cocoon as a beautiful post-industrial butterfly, a centre of cultural creativity. Official endorsement and the extensive (free) publicity that accompany winning the title were seen as pivotal in underpinning the turnaround. The policy has largely been seen as successful and is held up as a model for culture-led regeneration. Glasgow's image has indeed widened and the city has become a cultural, entertainment and even retail, tourism centre: Glasgow is the UK's largest retailing centre after London, serves a large IT industry, and has become the UK's third city for tourist visits (The Herald, 2001). It is a success story many of Britain's city councils are trying to replicate: 'They may now talk about trying to become the new Barcelonas and Bilbaos, but realistically England's northern cities want to be the new Glasgow' (Khan, 2003).

Whose Culture? Challenging Official Narratives in the Culture-Led Regeneration Debate

Mooney (2004) argues that not all Glaswegians were happy with its recasting as an arty, fashionable, terraza loving, cappuccino sipping, theatre going city; it just didn't ring true for the many residents living in run down housing estates with high unemployment and a myriad of other social problems. He sees Glasgow 1990 as a defining split in conceptions of local culture and identity; no longer was there one Glasgow but two: an official sanitized version which overlooked or deliberately blotted out the existence of another ever poorer and more deprived section of society (2004, p.337). His criticisms (largely economic) of poverty and a widening gap between rich and poor are valid, but need to be seen in the context of extensive and popular community events programme which reached out into the peripheral estates (Booth, 1993). Be that as it may, empirical evidence supports the argument of a cultural apartheid operating, whereby though there was balanced grassroots and elite cultural provision during 1990, support has been one-sided since (Garcia, 2004).

The Cork 2005 pageant also has dissenting voices, though possibly less bitter than those in Glasgow. These have come together to form a group, a 'fringe' ECOC, set up to give expression to local cultural talent they see as left out of the confines of the official show. This fringe group would seem an ideal medium to contest the symbolic order being imposed on a city by authorities' vision of how things are or how they should be. As there is no corporate sponsorship, gone are the constraints of keeping up an attractive image, leaving artists with the leeway to partake in societal roles for which they have traditionally excelled such as satire, spontaneity and subversion.

Conclusion

Huge sums of money, especially throughout Britain, are currently being invested in providing for cultural consumption through the construction of hard infrastructure, and softer aspects such as event hosting. The economic rationale when translated into crude figures for profits or job creation is likely to prove disappointing. As businesses have an ever growing list of 'culturally vibrant' cities to invest in, and only so much to invest, there will be winners and losers in inter-urban place marketing competition. Despite the hype, cultural amenity provision does not figure at the top of companies' relocation priorities; the bubble bursting when the relatively easily quantifiable economic returns of investing in culture are shown not to be paying off raises the fear of disillusionment setting in, and consequent abandonment of cultural policies.

If, when the bubble's burst and the dust has settled, the new 'cathedrals' in a postindustrial city are dogma-free centres of accessible entertainment, education and interaction that reflect the will and individuality of its citizens, and are fed by good public transport networks in a clean, pedestrian-friendly environment, all regularly invigorated by the staging of festivals and events, then the current dominance of an economic argument for cultural policy may quietly be subsumed within a wider acceptance of intrinsic worth. To achieve this vision and to move the discourse on, a more thorough and rigorous investigation of the relationship between cultural policy, and social, environmental and cultural development must be developed (Bianchini, 1999; Garcia, 2004). Social impact is more subjective and harder to measure than economic indicators prompting a call for more robust data collection and evaluation methodologies for satisfying the need for tangible results. Participation is the key to answering Mooney's (2004) 'whose culture' critique. Sustainable culture-led regeneration requires consultation with citizens, leading to their subsequent participation, acceptance or 'ownership' of the infrastructure, event, or programme in question. Finally, cultural policy has to be more fully integrated into other aspects of urban planning; the training of planners should be enriched through an input of disciplines such as art history and philosophy, increasing aesthetic and historical appreciation, and thereby enabling the reaching of their full potential as artists in the 'cultural production' of a city; in summary, the adoption of a 'cultural planning' (Bianchini 1999) perspective.

References

Bayliss, D. (2004) Creative Planning in Ireland: The Role of Culture-led Development in Irish Planning, European Planning Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2004).
Bianchini, F. and Parkinson, M. (eds.) (1993) Cultural policy and Urban Regeneration: the West European Experience, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bianchini, F. (1999) Cultural Planning. In: Greed, C. Social Town Planning London: Routledge.
Booth, P. and Boyle, R. (1993) See Glasgow, see culture. In: Bianchini, F. and Parkinson, M. Cultural policy and Urban Regeneration: the West European Experience, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
DCMS (2004) Creative Industries.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/creative_industries/default.htm
Evans, G. (2003) Hard-Branding the Cultural City - From Prado to Prada. In: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 27.2: 417-40.
García, B. (2004) Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration in Western European Cities: Lessons from Experience, Prospects for the Future, Local Economy, Vol. 19, No. 4: 312-326.
Khan, Stephen (Scotland editor) (Sunday June 8, 2003) What did culture ever do for us? In The Observer:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,973038,00.html
Landry, C. (2002) The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators, London: Comedia.
Matarasso, F. et al. (1996) The Art of Regeneration: Urban Renewal through Cultural Activity, Stroud: Comedia.
Mooney, G. (2004) 'Cultural Policy as Urban Transformation? Critical Reflections on Glasgow, European City of Culture 1990', Local Economy, Vol. 19, No. 4: 327-340.
Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (2004) 'The Impact of Cultural Events on City Image: Rotterdam, Cultural Capital of Europe 2001', Urban Studies, Vol. 41, No. 10: 1931-51.
The Herald (7/12/2001) Rich history that's making waves in: http://www.moffatcentre.com/press_detail.asp?ArticleID=150

Luke Binns and Julie Gannon, The Futures Academy, Dublin Institute of Technology

LISBON CITY STORY - UPDATE

The Lisbon case study (Ameixoeira/Galinheiras) covers what could be classified as a heterogeneous urban area comprising the historic core, residential areas and a number of buildings of illegal origin.

This area is considered a LUDA (Large Urban Distressed Area), mainly due to its social and urban problems (lack of urban planning, poor quality of the buildings and illegal ownership). The present situation is aggravated by the lack of social cohesion and public participation in decision-making processes.

However, it was not always so. Until the late 1960s, this was mainly a rural area. Since then, important changes have occurred due to the influx of rural migrants who built illegal dwellings with the inactiveness of the municipality.
Social exclusion, conflict and insecurity are obvious phenomena that have arisen from the recent concentration of ethnic minorities (viz. Romanies), occupying social housing buildings. The social problems revealed in the area are also due to the lack of educational, social and health-related facilities. Today, Ameixoeira and Galinheiras are isolated, exposed and overlooked areas of Lisbon.

The LUDA team considers that an in-depth understanding of the context is crucial to the global urban modification process that comprises not only a transformation of the urban tissue but which also takes the cultural aspect into account, as an essential element of that change.

It is fundamental to work out an integrated strategy addressing the whole urban regeneration process; this will require long-term vision, and a coherent proposal that integrates the various aspects of the regeneration process (social, economic, environmental, physical and cultural).

It was within this frame that the Estratégia da Música (Music Strategy) for the Lisbon LUDA was established. Culture is usually influenced by social, economic, territorial or commercial strategies and it is at the core of several physical/urban regeneration strategies from where new actions favouring the regeneration process and the creation of new partnerships arise.
The new project involving the creation of the Academia de Música de Santa Cecília (Santa Cecília Music Academy) in Ameixoeira, may become a strategic project in the development of the whole LUDA area, mainly by promoting ties between the academy and socially excluded citizens and allowing for the development of a music-related activity cluster.

Through this Music Strategy, the LUDA project can play an important role in the development of the city, in view of the fact that music is a factor related to sophisticated activities, innovation and to the development of the human being.

Within the scope of this strategy, three different working areas have been identified: the Portuguese Guitar Area; the Harp Area and the Piano Area. The Portuguese Guitar Area, like the instrument, is the most typical in the whole LUDA, mainly because of its popular inhabitants and of the existing urban structures. The Harp, as a classical instrument, is associated with the historic zone. The Piano Area is the most problematic, because of the high concentration of social housing and of the difficulties experienced by the residents (mostly Romanies), hence its association to an instrument that conveys harmony.

At this stage of the project, and after a period of consolidating knowledge, the Lisbon LUDA team is developing the following proposals:

• urban design - renewal of road and pedestrian priority areas (Calçada de Carriche and Azinhaga do Reguengo);
• social inclusion - candidacy for the national development program (PROGRIDE);
• environment - establishment of a protocol with the municipal agency Lisboa E-Nova.

In terms of urban design, we are currently developing two proposals which is principally aimed at promoting pedestrian areas, improving the environment, increasing security, reducing costs and providing opportunities for investment (in local lightning, paving of sidewalks and streets, planting of trees, improving sanitation infrastructures and lateral public spaces). The expected impacts are: improved quality of life for the citizens, humanisation of living spaces, increased urbanity, rearrangement of parking areas and an improved usufruct of proximity spaces.

One of the proposals regards the Calçada de Carriche (in the Harp Area) and is aimed at requalifying the road network and public spaces so as to make the area more pedestrian- and leisure-friendly, turning it into a true urban avenue, worthy of the city of Lisbon. The Avenida Padre Cruz, in the continuation of Calçada de Carriche, which for many years was the main north access road to Lisbon, became an expressway to the centre of the city due to the pressure exerted by intense traffic, to the detriment of the local environment.

The team's proposal comprises easier road crossing, creation of bus lanes in both directions, improvement of the sidewalks and planting of trees in the central median. It is further proposed to pedestrianize Rua do Lumiar in the historic zone, with the aim of promoting a space for leisure and trade in the area.

The other proposal for the Azinhaga do Reguengo (in the Portuguese Guitar Area) is of an urgent nature given that the Azinhaga is the access that, towards the end of the year, will be serving the new municipal Social Action and Sports Equipments (currently under construction). The Azinhaga do Reguengo was originally built by the local residents. The City Council's decision to build two important local facilities in the area implies that the they also have to provide adequate vehicular access.

The necessity for broadening this road and for creating parking areas and sidewalks is justified by the fact that the new facilities will include kindergartens, a nursing home for the elderly, and sports facilities which will result in the arrival and departure of users in large numbers, as well as an important increase in the number of pedestrians.

The proposal calls for the pedestrianization of certain streets in order to respond to the need for public spaces, the existence of local trade and the tearing down of buildings and consequent re-housing of residents.
At social level, together with several other institutions working in the area of Galinheiras and Vale da Ameixoeira, the team has prepared a joint candidacy proposal for a national inclusion and development program - PROGRIDE. The program will allow for the financing of specific intervention proposals. If the application is approved, the LUDA team will be the coordinating body and responsible for driving the partnership established for the development of this project.

The candidacy proposal, called "Cidadania, Empregabilidade e Planeamento Participado nas Galinheiras e Vale da Ameixoeira" ("Citizenship, Employability and Participated Planning in Galinheiras and Vale da Ameixoeira"), incorporates 4 key actions:

• an enquiry as to training needs, employability diagnosis and project monitoring;
• participated planning - driving processes aimed at achieving the involvement and active participation of the population in preparing the interventions to be carried out under the scope of the LUDA Project (the planning and management of public spaces, urban changes and qualification of urban spaces, environmental sustainability practices, enabling experiences on participated management in the territory);
• Citizenship Space - creation of a centre where training activities will be held and which will, simultaneously, provide a meeting space for project's partners and an open space for the community-at-large, particularly for the project's citizen engagement and participation activities (e.g. those related to participated planning).;
• training and recognition activities and the validation and certification of competencies. Development of training actions in three major areas: education, training and citizenship, designed from the perspective of integrated and multidimensional engagement, thus seeking to meet the different needs and aspirations of the resident population.

The application was submitted in February 2005 and the decision as to whether it has been approved or not will soon be known.

At the environmental level, a protocol between the CML and the municipal agency Lisboa E-Nova, a not-for-profit private association, is currently being drafted. Its mission is to contribute to sustainable development through promotion, action and dissemination of transversally-implemented good practices so as to achieve a systematic improvement of the environmental performance of the city by involving the main political decision-makers, economic operators and citizens in general.

The protocol consists of a strategic partnership on issues related to energy and environment that will be developed as pilot projects and for which there has been a great need in Lisbon and, in the LUDA in particular, where the principles of sustainable planning are being implemented.

The fact that the LUDA project and Lisboa E-Nova share their principles is crucial to the success of the jointly-developed projects.

The projects consist of building a matrix of intervention opportunities, aimed at improving the environmental performance of new buildings and of buildings requiring rehabilitation, by broadening the practice of sustainable construction and the promotion and execution of existing intervention opportunities. At the same time, public spaces are to be developed in a sustainable manner by taking the greatest advantage of their bioclimatic potential, so as to render them more pleasing to citizens, optimising their management and, whenever feasible, achieving self-reliance.

The agency also foresees the development of training and sensitising actions for the project designers and the population in general, on environmental and bioclimatic issues. These will contribute towards the efficient management of resources and creation of economic activities linked to the production of energy for internal consumption and for sale to other points outside the area.
The LUDA team believes that the implementation of the aforementioned projects, in combination with the participation of the local population and their involvement in the outlined common development strategy, will contribute decisively to improving the quality of life in Ameixoeira/Galinheiras.

Rita Quintanilha de Lemos Cardoso (City of Lisbon)
Language revision: Fiona H. Campbell (SBE)

LUDA Project Team

Project Director: Professor Bernhard Mueller

Weberplatz 1
01217 Dresden (Germany)

fon 0049 351 4679 0
fax 0049 351 4679 212

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