Critical perspectives on network governance in urban regeneration, community involvement and integration

Significant claims have been made about the benefits of network governance and management in securing community involvement and assisting social integration in complex urban regeneration programmes. The move from vertical to horizontal forms of coordination, and the assumption of a more equal power distribution between participants, have combined with an emphasis on mutuality and trust to present networks as a promising mechanism for pluriform involvement and collective decision-making. Often this promise runs ahead of the evidence of how network governance functions in practice, the opportunities for different actors to influence the process and the often disappointing outcomes of joint decision-making. This special issue contributes to the ‘second generation of research on governance networks’ by tackling key questions relating to the sources of governance network failure and success. Building on the articles in this special issue, we explore these questions in relation to urban regeneration, community involvement and the integration of minority groups in The Netherlands, Sweden and England. This article reviews the articles in this special issue from the perspective of Klijn and Skelcher’s (2007) four conjectures on democracy and governance networks and Sørensen and Torfing’s (2007) four conditions for democratic anchorage. It also suggests ways in which the research agenda on networks in urban regeneration, community involvement and integration might be developed.     

Neighborhood network governance, ethnic organization, and the prospects for political integration

How may ethnic organizations work as mechanisms for political integration in suburban multicultural contexts with participative and network modes of governance? The overall argument of the paper is that a shift from vertical to more horizontal modes of governance affects the prospects for ethnic associations to fulfil different democratic functions. It does so in a complex, multidimensional and somewhat contradictory way. Although network modes of governance are often argued for in terms of openness and inclusion, it should not be taken for granted that such governance structures do promote democratic functions of ethnic associations. Drawing on an in-depth case study of ethnic associations and network politics in Botkyrka, Sweden, the purpose of the article is to provide theoretically informed arguments on how the political integration potential of ethnic organization is affected when they participate in local network-like arrangements and institutions. In brief, the article outlines three arguments: (1) There are different mechanisms of ethnic organization that might contribute to a more politically integrated society. (2) More horizontal network modes of governance generate new conditions for these integrative mechanisms to emerge out of ethnic organization. (3) In such a context of network governance, the different integrative mechanisms of ethnic organizations are not always supplementary, but sometimes contradictory, causing genuine dilemmas to be dealt with by local actors.     

Globalization and urban governance in Istanbul

Since the 1980s, the topic of governance has been extensively investigated in parallel with the effects of globalization on policy issues. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing fragmentation of responsibilities in the urban arena. Now, the main focus is on new institutional relations and the policy process in which different constituents and agencies participate at both the national and the local level. As a result of the rescaling process of the state, networked forms of governance constitute a new form of politics. The changing governance structure in Istanbul, as in many other cities, is shaped by the interaction of economic and institutional factors, which are mediated through political, cultural and other contextual forces. To demonstrate that global forces influence urban management systems, this article describes the increasing participation of the private sector in urban development in Istanbul. An evaluation of urban governance is made to ascertain whether the concept of governance can explain the urban management model prevailing in Istanbul.     

An urban social movement challenging urban regeneration: The case of Sulukule, Istanbul

Urban regeneration projects have become a focus of attention in Istanbul due to tourism promotion, particularly great expectations from the European Capital of Culture 2010 Event. Sulukule, a Romani neighborhood on the historical peninsula of Istanbul, was designated as an urban redevelopment zone. The Sulukule Urban Regeneration Project is one of the recent efforts to present “a better urban environment” to foreign visitors and investors. The project has accelerated the struggle for land, causing dispossessions, evictions and demolitions. Locals’ needs and rights are denied. Consequently, the citizens in Sulukule started to oppose regeneration and formed an urban social movement. This paper attempts to analyze the urban social movement in Sulukule, the Sulukule Platform, which emerged as an urban coalition challenging tourism-led regeneration.     

Partnerships and networks: The governance of urban regeneration in Britain

Urban regeneration in Britain has often been described as being ‘market-led’. However, such a characterisation does justice neither to the complexity of urban policy over the past 25 years, nor to the changes that have taken place in the same period. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the 1980s partnership with the private sector – however the concept has been understood – has been a vital ingredient of the regeneration process. What is striking is the way that the will to involve the private sector has had a profound impact on local governance. This paper outlines the evolution of urban regeneration in the context of evolving urban policy since 1979. It traces the approach adopted by the Conservative government in the 1980s, specifically through the use of Urban Development Corporations; it examines the change of heart in the early 1990s that preceded the coming into power of a Labour administration; and it looks at the experience of urban regeneration under the leadership of Tony Blair. It explores the changing role of key actors within the process, and the way in which urban local government has responded to the evolution of national policy. The case of Sheffield is used to illustrate the general theme of changing national policy.     

Deadlocks and breakthroughs in urban renewal: a network analysis in Amsterdam

Urban renewal in the Netherlands has become a matter of ‘networking’. Housing associations, Dutch social landlords, became financially independent in the 1990s and have a responsibility in urban renewal. It is a joint responsibility in which local authority, social landlord and tenants are dependent on each other. This situation is rather new and needs some getting used to, as the two case studies show. The paper concludes that taking account of the complexity of networks could improve the chances of gaining support for problem definitions and solutions. This would result in agreement about goals and win–win package deals for actors, and ultimately in ‘more’ progress in urban renewal.

Local experiences of urban sustainability: Researching Housing Market Renewal interventions in three English neighbourhoods

Ideas and thinking about sustainability and sustainable development have permeated over the last decades into most disciplines and sectors. The area of urban studies is no exception and has generated an impressive body of literature, which aims to marry ‘sustainability’ and ‘urban development’ by grounding the many interpretations of sustainability in an urban setting. This has taken many forms and inspired a range of initiatives across the world including ‘healthy cities’, ‘urban villages’, ‘millennium communities’ and the ‘mixed communities’ movement. Moreover, urban regeneration has come under considerable scrutiny as one of the core mechanisms for delivering sustainable urban development. At the most basic level, it can be argued that all urban regeneration contributes to a certain extent to sustainable development through the recycling of derelict land and buildings, reducing demand for peripheral development and facilitating the development of more compact cities. Yet, whether urban regeneration bears an effect on urban sustainability is an underresearched area. In addition, little is known about these impacts at local level. This paper aims to extend our understanding in these areas of research. We do so, by taking a closer look at three neighbourhoods in Salford, Newcastle and Merseyside. These neighbourhoods underwent urban regeneration under the Housing Marker Renewal Programme (2003–2011), which aimed to ‘create sustainable urban areas and communities’ in the Midlands and North of England. Approximately 130 residents from the three areas were interviewed and a further 60 regeneration officials and local stakeholders consulted. The paper looks at the impact of urban regeneration on urban sustainability by examining whether interventions under the Housing Market Renewal Programme have helped urban areas and communities to become more sustainable. It also discusses impacts at local level, by probing into some of Housing Market Renewal's grounded ‘sustainability stories’ and looking at how change is perceived by local residents. Furthermore, it re-opens a window into the Housing Market Renewal Programme and documents the three neighbourhoods within the wider context of scale and intervention across the whole programme.     

Regeneration of Dutch post-war urban districts: the role of housing associations

In the Netherlands the regeneration of post-war urban districts is closely intertwined with the role of housing associations. This is hardly surprising, given that the housing associations have such a large share of the market (usually over 50%; sometimes nearly 100%) in many early post-war urban districts. This has caused a growing concentration of low-income households in those urban areas and a selective migration by middle- and high-income households from the city to the suburb. Official government policy on housing and urban renewal is directed at a redifferentiation of the urban housing stock. Specifically, the policy promotes more owner-occupation, larger and higher-quality homes, and a greater percentage of homes with a garden. This implies the demolition of social housing estates and selling social housing. The position of housing associations in the regeneration of Dutch post-war urban districts is somewhat enigmatic. On the one hand, national government is expecting them to take initiative and invest in urban renewal; on the other, government is urging them to cut down their market share. How are housing associations coping with this paradoxical challenge? And what are the current national policies about the position of housing associations? Aedes (the umbrella organisation of Dutch housing associations) and the Dutch Ministry of Housing have agreed upon the so-called great transition of housing associations. Here we explain and critique this great transition, which will hamper the current regeneration of Dutch urban districts. As an alternative we present the new transition.     

Critical success factors for urban regeneration projects in Korea

Urban regeneration projects aim to foster the well-being of a city by bringing lasting improvements in the social, economic, physical, and environmental aspects of an urban area. Urban regeneration projects have a higher possibility of uncertainty and complexity than other construction projects. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of such projects and to prioritize CSFs in each project phase so that project promoters and managers can appropriately focus their efforts. We identified and confirmed 10 CSFs through a brainstorming process and 29 expert surveys. The priority of CSFs in each phase of an urban regeneration project can be determined using the suggested model, which takes into account degrees of both importance and satisfaction of each CSF. The priorities were assessed based on 122 expert surveys and the proposed model, and the implications of the results are discussed.     

The role,organisation and contribution of community enterprise to urban regeneration policy in the UK

This monograph investigates the organisation, constitution and delivery of community-based organisations which are normally called community enterprises in the UK. These are organisations which emerge from local communities at the neighbourhood level, work in partnership with the public and private sectors, and provide a range of services to meet social, economic and environmental needs. The main focus of the paper is to explore how these organisations contribute to local regeneration strategies, generate social capital and contribute towards the promotion of civil society in general. The main emphasis is on organisations in England and Wales but comparisons are made with the USA and other countries where relevant literature is available. The key questions to be answered relate to the organisation and management of these bodies; the extent to which they engage with and contribute to local regeneration strategies; and the impact they have particularly in acquiring and managing assets. The diversity of the sector, and the range, scale and level of benefits it can deliver is illustrated through five detailed case studies of community enterprises established at different times, in different geographical locations and with different objectives and funding regimes. But, whilst the UK political economy is moving towards less state intervention and more community self-help, the community development corporations in the USA provide an indication of the future direction community enterprises might take in the UK as part of a broad trend towards civic capacity building.     

The local governance of culture-led regeneration projects: a comparison between Montreal and Toronto

This article analyses culture-led regeneration processes in the context of two case studies. We analyse the roles of urban stakeholders and the adaptation of regeneration strategies in two different local planning cultures: Toronto and Montreal. The two regeneration projects analysed are the redevelopment of the Toronto Entertainment District and a real-estate project proposal within the ‘Quartier des Spectacles’ in Montreal. The analysis highlights the specific planning culture embedded in local governance, aligned with two distinct applications of the creative city concept.     

Urban design, regeneration and the entrepreneurial city

This paper explores whether and how forms of entrepreneurial governance effecting deprived regions of the UK have embraced urban design as a necessary and distinctive feature of regeneration efforts. It applies established theory and thinking to work completed in the city centre of Liverpool since the late 1990s. The article examines the economic and governance context through which new forms of urban design policy and guidance have emerged, and discusses whether and how they have been applied to developments emerging across the centre.The case has embraced an urban design agenda and this can firmly be attributed to entrepreneurial forms of governance, although the attributes of the built form sometimes credited to such places were not so evident. Principles embedded in policy and guidance have dovetailed with substantive thinking within urban design and can be recognised in significant projects. Whilst there should be a concern for the privatisation of the public realm generally, issues such as gentrification and a more general concern for placelessness are overstated. Iconic forms of development have not materialised. Forms of over development, such as tall buildings, have been moderated by policy and guidance. Large scale projects can be designed to fit into and enhance the fabric of the city when urban design thinking is clearly embraced by partners. Established critiques of the relationship between urban design and entrepreneurial forms of governance have not always explored the multiple meanings and discourses that the built environment can contain, but where urban design is concerned the discussion must at least embrace the criteria urban designers themselves employ to design schemes or judge the results.     

Housing the urban poor in post-reform China: Some empirical evidence from the city of Nanjing

This paper provides first-hand empirical evidence about the differentiation of housing conditions among China’s urban poor families based on a case study of Nanjing. The main findings include: (1) the Hukou family registration system has strong differential effects on poor families’ housing conditions; (2) housing conditions among the urban poor are tightly associated with privatization and home ownership, where non-owners face more severe housing difficulties than nominal owners; and (3) resettlement has played a positive role in improving the poor’s housing conditions, but its positive effects are only present in cases where work units or the government has taken the responsibility of housing the resettled poor. These findings show that housing the urban poor in post-reform China is largely: (1) path-dependent, (2) privatization-oriented, and (3) development-driven, and a mechanism that can pro-actively ensure the poor’s basic right to housing is still lacking.     

Regional changes in the urban system and governance responses in Hungary

This article aims, first, to define the nature of regional changes in the Hungarian urban system over the past two decades and the mechanism of the processes responsible for these. Secondly, it examines how these changes affected urban governance and how they influenced the urbanisation processes, as well as conflicts arising from differences in the pace of urbanisation and changes in governance, the diverse nature and possible conflicts of interest of the actors bringing about these changes, and divergence arising from the changes. Thirdly, we compare our conclusions with the results of similar processes in other Central European countries.     

Systems Engineering to improve the governance in complex project environments

Projects delivered in complex environments are often late, over-budget and provide fewer benefits than what were originally expected. Systems Engineering is the emerging paradigm in complex project environments to transform the governance from “project based” to “system based” and thereby increase the chance of holistic success. Systems Engineering is a multidisciplinary approach to enable the successful delivery of systems in complex environments through a comprehensive set of approaches, techniques and tools, initially developed in the USA after the Second World War. This paper focuses on how Systems Engineering can transform the governance from “project governance” to “system governance”, improving the performance of projects delivered in a complex environment. This paper presents Systems Engineering tools and techniques focusing, in particular, on the most relevant for project management, project governance and stakeholder management. At the end it provides a rich research agenda for further studies.     

New urban paradigm beyond the west: investigating the regeneration of urban villages in Guangzhou,China

This paper investigates the regeneration process of four urban villages in Guangzhou, China. It finds that the institutional dichotomy of the rural and urban systems in land ownership and planning management has not only rooted the emergence and proliferation of urban villages, but also obstructed their regeneration. The core of urban village regeneration is the redistribution of interest derived from land appreciation; the current regulatory framework has difficulties in accommodating this redistribution and alternative legislation is needed. Collaboration formed by some powerful stakeholders is proved to be essential for project completion, and this partnership formation has to some extent weakened the top-down single-actor planning mechanism, which has been the routine in socialist China for decades. The study identifies the dynamics of land regeneration, suggesting that there is no single universal prescribed form of land regeneration.     

Biophilia as the invariant in human thinking: A case study — the town of Tábor

Aesthetic and symbolical relations of humans to nature were not properly considered either in theory or in practice of urban planning as it was carried out in our country in the 1970s and 1980s. The fact, that elements of nature within urban environment play an important role as they partly satisfy the biophila needs of man, i.e. his affinity with plants and animals, was generally neglected.The contribution describes the attitudes of inhabitants in the housing estate of the town of Tábor, South Bohemia to the urban environment they live in. Based on the empirical evidence, two conclusions can be arrived at. Absence of nature, at least in its symbolical form, proved to be the factor limiting the “pleasant existence” of the people living within housing estates. Low willingness of inhabitants to actively participate in the process of making their urban environment livable seems to remain one of the most crucial problems inherited from the former totalitarian regime.     

旧城更新中城市文化再生方法分析

阐述了城市更新的现实意义,通过对城市更新中城市文化现状的分析,从五个方面研究了城市更新中城市文化再生的途径,最后指出探索、实施城市文化再生对适应现代城市生活需求、满足市场机制要求的特色城市形成具有重要的现实意义。     

Participation in neighbourhood regeneration: achievements of residents in a Dutch disadvantaged neighbourhood

Despite the fact that resident participation has become central to the Dutch policy discourse on ‘good’ urban planning, it is unclear to what degree new participation mechanisms have created opportunities for residents to actually influence neighbourhood governance and contribute to the improvement of their neighbourhood. This paper explores how residents in the neighbourhood of Transvaal (Amsterdam) have been involved in regeneration since 1999. Although residents have been successful in putting everyday concerns about safety on the agenda and contributed to small-scale improvements of public space, they were unable to contribute to regeneration plans at the scale of the neighbourhood, in particular strategic decisions about state-led gentrification.     

Residential decision-making and satisfaction among new suburbanites in the Tallinn urban region, Estonia

The prevailing research into suburbanisation in former centrally planned countries explains suburban change by referring to macro-level factors that are evident in the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. Findings show that in a neo-liberal environment, the public sector plays only a modest role in residential planning; the key players are developers and banks. This study takes a different approach by focusing on the micro-level factors that lead households to move from the city to new, post-Soviet suburban settlements, specifically in the Tallinn urban region of Estonia. A sample of data from the University of Tartu’s 2006 New Residential Areas Survey is herein analysed in order to ascertain the reasons for moving, the criteria used in the selection of a particular suburban settlement, and the subsequent levels of residential satisfaction. The results show that, for the period in question, housing adjustment moves were more prevalent than induced moves triggered by life-course changes. In addition, it was found that, generally, new suburbanites were satisfied with their housing and neighbourhoods. However, they were less satisfied with the provision of local services, especially when their new settlements lay at a distance from pre-transition settlements.