Volume 18 (2024-25)

Each volume of Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal consists of four quarterly 100-page issues published both in print and online. The contents of the latest issues are

Volume 18 Number 1

• Editorial
  Andrew Tallon, Editor
• Practice Papers
  Incentivising the market to build affordable housing: The New York City toolkit
  Yuxiang Luo, Director of Urban Economic Development, James Lima Planning + Development
  Abstract

  Affordable housing is among the biggest policy challenges facing cities worldwide. Treating New York City as a case study, this paper reviews a multifaceted toolkit to combat the housing crisis. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how the government incentivises real estate developers to build affordable housing, with both financial incentives such as tax abatements, tax credits and loans funded by tax-exempt bonds and non-financial means such as zoning regulations. The study demonstrates both the successes achieved by New York City and the unintended consequences that emerged from these interventions, and the research argues that beyond financial and economic considerations, long-range spatial planning factors play a pivotal role in the formulation of effective affordable housing policies. The research underscores the need for policy makers globally to take a holistic approach and integrate various elements of city growth to address the intricate challenges posed by housing crises in urban environments.
  Keywords: levelling up; unemployment; infrastructure; skills; productivity; globalisation; networks

• Stakeholder engagement: From sharing information and building consensus to mobilising public and private actors to create collaborative ecosystems
  Marco Dall’Orso, Development Director, Marina Development Corporation
  Abstract

  The paper proposes a novel approach to dialogue with local stakeholders to maximise the shared value that can be generated by infrastructure investments for the benefit of urban communities. The approach proposes a method for deliberately activating synergies between infrastructure and complementary initiatives through the active engagement of public and private stakeholders. In many cases today, infrastructure is designed, financed and implemented as functionally unitary engineering works that meet a specific need, leaving synergies with complementary initiatives to be activated spontaneously. Moreover, the dialogue with local stakeholders is limited and reductive, aiming mainly at the exchange of some project information and consensus building, thus missing the opportunity to identify and mobilise those ideas, capabilities and resources that are always present within a community. In the proposed approach, infrastructure is the catalyst for a long-term vision and stakeholder engagement is the tool for identifying the synergistic initiatives that can be implemented with the participation of public and private actors to maximise value creation.
  Keywords: infrastructure; stakeholder engagement; urban regeneration; cities; urban communities; sustainability; impact investment; public–private partnership

• Research Papers
  Respecting, retaining, recreating: The successful renovation of the Beijing 751 D-Park
  Fang Bin Guo, Reader/Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University, and Yonggang Wang, Designer, Idea Latitude/Urban Planning and Design Institute
  Abstract

  Post-industrial sites in Chinese cities are being redeveloped as catalysts for urban regeneration and economic development. Calling the shift from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’, the Chinese government is encouraging the development of the creative industry to transform post-industrial sites. Successful examples of city renewal projects provide examples of this strategy, tuning into the creative cultures and industrial heritage of these cities and offering platforms for creative enterprises to flourish. This paper describes a recently funded renovation project, Beijing 751 D-Park, which has been undertaken to analyse these opportunities, and offers the initial findings of a case study. It unlocks the development process of the renovation project in terms of its philosophy, design method and planning strategy.
  Keywords: urban regeneration; industrial heritage; aged-factory transformation; human-centred design; culture value

• Adapting to climate change and the European Union pursuit of a just transition
  Brian G. Field, Senior Research Fellow and Visiting Professor, University College London
  Abstract

  The European Green Deal was launched by the European Commission (EC) in December 2019, before being formally approved in 2020. It comprises a package of policy measures that aim to set the European Union (EU) on the path to a green transition, with the ultimate objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Despite the EU’s longstanding commitment to reducing carbon emissions in support of climate change mitigation and the achievement of its net zero ambition, this paper focuses on the growing importance of climate change adaptation within its policy portfolio. With respect to the latter, the long-term vision is for the EU to become a climate-resilient society that is also fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Achieving climate neutrality and a climate-resilient society by 2050 will be more challenging for some EU member states and regions than for others, eg poorer regions and those highly dependent on fossil fuels or with carbon-intensive industries that employ significant numbers of people. To address such issues, the EU has introduced a Just Transition Mechanism to help level the playing field and provide financial and technical support to regions most adversely affected by the move towards a low carbon economy. The paper traces the evolution of the EU’s climate policy agenda leading up to the adoption of the Green Deal, outlines its proposed road map in pursuit of climate neutrality and a climate-resilient society by 2050, and questions the efficacy of some its intermediate targets including the adequacy and equity of its just transition aspirations. It also details and scrutinises the key role that the European Investment Bank (EIB) will play in supporting delivery of the strategy.1,2
  Keywords: sustainable development; resilient cities; climate change; climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; EU climate policy; EU Green Deal; Just Transition Mechanism; Just Transition Fund; just resilience; EIB climate policy; Europe’s climate bank

• A tale of two generations: Justice in cities for a low-carbon world
  Alicia Phillips, PhD Researcher, and Raphael J. Heffron, Professor, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
  Abstract

  According to the greenhouse gas (GHG) protocol for cities, GHGs are responsible for an estimated 75 per cent of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This represents a key opportunity to tackle climate change. With the year 2023 and, in particular, the month of July delivering record-breaking temperatures, this demonstrates a clear need to accelerate decarbonisation and, in this context, to reduce the carbon footprint of cities. Further, acting on urban development addresses a number of key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Many cities, however, are struggling to break away from a reliance on carbon and some are economically dependent on it. This paper seeks to investigate, through an energy justice lens, some first considerations of how to secure just and sustainable urban regeneration. It posits that energy justice, and its five core principles, is a useful analytical tool for considering the justice and development concerns related to the transition to a low-carbon world. The cities examined in brief in this comparative study are Bordeaux in France, Venice in Italy, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Bangkok in Thailand. The research posits that despite different trajectories, cities can play a leading role in ensuring justice and sustainability in our low-carbon world.
  Keywords: cities; decarbonisation; energy justice; sustainable urban regeneration; economic development; Bordeaux; Venice; Bangkok; Ho Chi Minh City

• Stakeholders’ longitudinal perspectives on a large public housing redevelopment in Los Angeles, California
  Judith L. Perrigo, Assistant Professor of Social Welfare, Luskin School of Public Affairs, University of California, Jose J. Scott, PhD Candidate, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, Victoria Shier, Research Scientist, Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California and Ashlesha Datar, Associate Director, Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California
  Abstract

  The Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere VI programme (HOPE VI) model created a new approach to redeveloping public housing in the US, paving the way for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI). Unlike traditional public housing redevelopment, CNI aims to revitalise entire ecosystems to create sustainable, thriving communities by focusing on housing, people, neighbourhoods and participatory community planning. This study used qualitative methods to explore the longitudinal perspectives of 12 stakeholders involved in a large CNI-funded public housing redevelopment project in Los Angeles, California. Our grounded theory analysis identified four key themes: (1) persistent community ghosts; (2) growing regeneration rooted in optimism and hope for the future; (3) displacement concerns; and (4) the emergence of a mixed-income dichotomy. These findings underscore the importance of continued community involvement in redevelopment efforts, especially in communities that bear complex historical and social challenges.
  Keywords: ecosystems; community development; economic development; low-income housing; public housing; Choice Neighborhoods Initiative

• From desperation to best practice: Spatial decision-making in the regeneration of Gyldenrisparken
  Nezih Burak Bican, Professor, Department of Architecture, Atilim University
  Abstract

  Post-war social housing estates in Europe have been undergoing wide-scale regeneration to improve the physical decay of these sites and address the concentration of vulnerable residents in these areas, which has resulted in their social segregation, marginalisation and stigmatisation. As these estates cover and affect quite large public spaces, holistic approaches have recently been adopted. Bearing in mind that each regeneration case is unique, this paper describes the collaborative approach taken in the regeneration of Gyldenrisparken in Denmark, which evolved from a desperate situation to a best practice case. The paper focuses on the spatial decision-making process — in particular, how the architectural quality of physical interventions was established and how participatory mechanisms were utilised and developed to enable liveable spaces and sustainable regeneration. Making use of a combination of qualitative documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with key actors, this study encompasses the whole regeneration process, including initiatives taken by the housing association and municipal agents, the methodology developed to collect ideas and implement them in the physical design of the public spaces, and the social effort to make the whole process sustainable and the estates liveable. It concludes that post-war estates have the potential to secure their future by embracing physical and social efforts through proactive empowerment strategies and creating new spatial identities.
  Keywords: post-war housing; social housing; regeneration; architecture; participation; liveability; sustainability; Gyldenrisparken

• Community energy in Italy through the lens of social innovation
  Caterina Nicolais, Researcher in Geography and Economic-Politics, University of Naples Parthenope, and Valentina Battista, Lecturer, Materias
  Abstract

  Sustainable urban regeneration, in particular with respect to energy, has become a very important issue for local communities currently as a result of the Green New Deal (GND). Renewable energy in domestic consumption is being used to initiate a transition to cleaner energy and limit environmental damage. Through the lens of social innovation, this paper highlights the continuous challenges faced in the transition to lower carbon energy by investigating the opportunity to change the classical top-down management approach to a bottom-up process. The paper fills a gap in the literature by presenting a regional overview of recent Italian community energy sector developments and outlines a number of national best practices in renewable community energy innovation.
  Keywords: renewable energy sharing; Green New Deal; sustainable urban regeneration; energy communities; social innovation

• Book Review
  What’s possible: Investing now for prosperous, sustainable neighborhoods by Kista Egger, David Erickson, Madeline Fraser Cook and Claire Kramer Mills (eds)
  Reviewed by Marie Howland, Professor Emeritus, Urban Studies and Planning, University of Maryland