URBAN RENEWAL
QUALITY OF LIFE AND LIVEABILITY
INTRODUCTION TO URBAN RENEWAL
• Urban generation, urban renewal, urban redevelopment and urban
rehabilitation share same meanings in the town-planning field, but
they are considerably different in term of scale.
• Urban renewal and urban regeneration express nearly the same
meaning and both involve work of a relatively large scale.
• Urban renewal is defined as a process of slum clearance and
physical redevelopment taking account of other elements such as
heritage preservation.
• while urban regeneration is a comprehensive integration of vision
and action aimed at resolving the multi-faceted problems of
deprived urban areas in order to improve their economic, physical,
social as well as environmental conditions.
• The term ‘renewal’ is defined as transformation, reform, to enter into
another form and to take another case. When called ‘urban renewal’ , the
first thing that came to mind was the improvement of slum areas .
• Actually, urban renewal is a general concept including the applications
carried out for the renewal of the existing urban structure .
• Generally, urban renewal has been regarded as a sound approach to
promoting land values, improving environmental quality, rectifying the
urban decay problem and meeting various socioeconomic objectives .
• It also aims in enhancing the existing social networks, improving the
inclusion of vulnerable groups and changing adverse impacts on the living
environment on the other .
• Urban renewal is also considered as a comprehensive work aiming at
improving the physical, social, economic and ecological aspects of urban
areas through various actions including redevelopment, rehabilitation and
heritage preservation .
• Urban renewal is associated with other concepts such as sustainability and
defined in a broader sense.
The identified key elements of the Spatial
Strategy are the following:
• Establishment of urban growth boundaries
to limit urban sprawl;
• More compact city structure based on urban
consolidation and mixed-use centres;
• A hierarchy of Centres – land uses clustered
in Capital City Centres, Metropolitan
Centres; Town Centres and
local/neighbourhood centres;
• Creation of mixed-use Transit Oriented
communities on key public transport nodes
to boost economic and retail activity, and
reduce traffic congestion;
• Move away from a roads-dominated
transport system to more public transport;
• Focus on place-making and unique place
identity;
• Adopt more traditional and climatically
suitable architectural design.
The following are the major spatial development
challenges:
• Managing population growth and demographic
change;
• Building strong and self-sufficient communities
• Reversing environmental degradation and
depletion of resources;
• Managing unconstrained and fragmented land
development and over-supply;
• More effective supply/demand management and
use of land and vacant areas;
• Connecting land-use and transportation,
reducing congestion;
• Delivering appropriate and timely investment in
infrastructure;
• Improving access to health, education and other
community facilities;
Dealing with isolated and disconnected large
single-purpose land uses.
SUSTAINABLE URBANISM
• As for sustainable urbanism, it is a widely used phrase, often with
ecological and green connotations, constituting a rather complete
framework for the interdisciplinary planning and urban design of
contemporary cities, neighbourhoods and residential places .
• Hall emphasized that ‘Planning and renewal must not be separated;
instead, renewal must be an integral part of planning’.
• Sustainable urban renewal is understood as renewal actions, policies and
processes within a city, which addresses interrelated technical, spatial and
socio-economic problems in order to reduce environmental impact,
mitigate environmental risk, and improve environmental quality of urban
systems, lifestyles and assets.
• Especially in the early developed cities, urban areas grow and deteriorate as time goes by,
and adversely changing conditions of the environment make life miserable for the people
living in them. So urban renewal projects to improve the built environment take place .
• In general, urban land is both precious and scarce, like some other sources. Thus, the
main objective of urban planning is providing reuse of the already scarce urban sources
taking into account the public interest .
• To do so, urban planning should be obliged to enable the public interest principle, and
establish and apply necessary rules reconciling private interests with the public interest
depending on the character of the economic structure and political regime of every
country.
• In the context, of the future cities, a sustainable urban renewal strategy should take into
consideration with the participation of relevant stakeholders mainly consisting of the state
sector, local government sector, private sector, civil society organisations, local residents
as well as academics.
• Finally, as a living organism, the city is a hybrid system consisting of structures with
natural areas. But, rapid and unplanned urbanisation is the biggest threat in terms of the
sustainability of the natural and cultural sites. Technical infrastructure and transportation
are extremely important for sustainable organisation and also decisive in terms of the
quality of urban life .
INDICATORS FOR MEASURING URBAN
SUSTAINABILITY.
• Population, migration, and Urbanization
• Income disparity, Unemployment, and Poverty
• Health and Education
• Urban productivity and competitiveness
• Technology and connectivity
• Housing
• Urban land
• Municipal services
• Urban environment
• Urban Transport (both people and goods)
• Cultural
• Local government finance
• Urban governance and management
“The compact sustainable city list” and consists of the following:
• 1. A mixed-use city
• 2. Graded density
• 3. Compact communities
• 4. Representation and participation
• 5. Local identity
• 6. The flourishing of city life
• 7. Buildings should form closed blocks
• 8. Buildings that line the streets
• 9. Community centres must be served by main streets
• 10. Traffic tamed but not forbidden
• 11. Networks of shared streets
• 12. A piecemeal, fine-grained, bottom-up process
Pros and cons :
Urban renewal sometimes lives up to the hopes of its original proponents
– it has been assessed by authorities, urban planners, civic leaders, and residents
– it has played an undeniably important if controversial role.
But at other times urban redevelopment projects have failed in several American cities,
having wasted large amounts of public funds to no purpose.
Replenished housing stock might be an improvement in quality; it may increase density and
reduce sprawl;
- it might have economic benefits and improve the global economic competitiveness of a
city's centre.
- It may, in some instances, improve cultural and social amenity, and it may also improve
opportunities for safety and surveillance.
