Brownfield Integrated Governance – BRING Baseline Study – Development Phase

Brownfield Integrated Governance – BRING Baseline Study – Development phase

Mai 2010

Baseline study presented by

 City of Dunkerque, Lead Partner  City of Asti  City of Bärnbach  City of Joehvi  City of Murska-Sobota  City of Sosnowiec  Etablissement Public Foncier de la Region Nord-Pas de Calais  NRW.URBAN  Krakow Instytut Rozwoju Miast (IRM)

Baseline study by Dr.-Ing. Uwe Ferber, Projektgruppe STADT+ENTWICKLUNG, FERBER, GRAUMANN UND PARTNER, Leipzig with local support from all cities

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 5

2. The aims of the BRING thematic network ...... 5

3. Brownfield aspects in the European policy – Overview ...... 7

4. Brownfields as part of anticipated land management ...... 9

4.1 Problem and challenge...... 9

4.2 Methodological approaches ...... 13

4.3 Best practice on the site level ...... 16

4.1 Best practice in land interventions ...... 17

4.1.1 Development Agencies ...... 18

4.1.2 The “Etablissement Public Foncier” in France ...... 18

4.1.3 The “Property fund by the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft (LEG)” ...... 20

4.1.4 BEG ...... 20

4.1.5 Land Restoration Trust ...... 20

4.1.6 ERDF – VwV Urban Development – Revitalization of brownfields in Saxony ...... 21

4.2 Interim Conclusion ...... 22

5. Partner description and LAP ...... 23

5.1 Greater Dunkerque Council, France ...... 23

5.2 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Asti, Italy ...... 29

5.3 URBACT Local Action Plan – District Voitsberg, City of Bärnbach ...... 37

5.4 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Jõhvi ...... 43

5.5 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Murska-Sobota – DRAFT 3/10 ...... 50

5.6 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Sosnowiec, Poland ...... 56

5.7 Local Action Plan – NRW.URBAN, Germany ...... 63

5.8 Activity Plan Etablissement public foncier- Nord-pas de Calais (EPF-NPC)...... 68

5.9 Activity Plan Krakow Instytut Rozwoju Miast (IRM) ...... 72

6. Conclusions and Work Program ...... 76

6.1 Conclusions ...... 76

6.2 Challenges and expectations...... 77

6.3 Work program ...... 79

7. Literature ...... 86

1. Introduction

Brownfield problems have been one of the major concerns of European policies since the 80s first with the target to the western European regions of industrial tradition and since the 90th to the new central European member states. Nevertheless the rate of brownfields remains still on a high level and the current economic and financial crisis led to considerable new problems including brownfields from commerce, housing, infrastructures and tourist sector. In particular, significant impacts are seen in the remaining high often still increasing rate of urban brownfields where the financial crisis has fundamentally changed the environment for private and public interventions. These effects and forced by the accelerated demographic change (“Shrinking Cities”) create a new “brownfield generation” questioning the model of the European compact cites”.

2. The aims of the BRING thematic network

The URBACT project Brownfield Integrated Management (BRING) is representing a partnership of Cities and institutions of land policy reuniting experts, civil servants, scientists and political advisors, who share competencies, know-how and experience in the field of urban land management, recycling of brownfield sites, treatment of polluted soils and in a broader field in the implementation of regional and European public policies. The following cities and institutional members supported by their Managing Authorities are partners in Network:

 City of Dunkerque, Lead Partner  City of Asti  City of Bärnbach  City of Joehvi  City of Murska Sobota  City of Sosnowiec  Etablissement Public Foncier de la Region Nord-Pas de Calais  NRW-Urban  IRM

Picture 1: Kick off meeting in Dunkerque

The partnership wish to share the know-how and experience not only as experts and specialists, but also as basic citizens of Europe in order to participate at our level in the construction of Europe. During that time of global crisis that upset the economic contexts and the property and land markets which constitute the economic framework of the requalification operations for wastelands. The issue of global warming had to be dealt with by all the countries and the measures that are planned, raise the question of the integration of these new challenges in the regional policies of the states, regions and towns organise the dialog with the DG REGIO (Directorate General for Regional Policy) and in particular with the persons in charge of the think tank on territorial cohesion work around the Leipzig charter on the aspect of urban land management and seek other networks of partners interested in our issues. The motivation of the network partners are:  The engagement in new strategies for Land cycle management and the recycling of degraded and polluted areas, whether they are of an industrial, urban, commercial, military or even agricultural origin.  The improvement and dissemination of best practice in land management and the recycling of brownfields as an indispensable component of a strategy of economical management of the rare resource that land constitutes today.  The contribution for the sustainable development of the European territories as the management of the water resource and the fight against global warming by the management of the land resource BRING partners believe that the management of the land resource by the property and land markets should be regulated and accompanied by a clearly identified and transparent public policy. The cities and their groupings are the linchpins of these public land policies, but they cannot cope with these challenges on their own. They need support at the regional, national and Europe level. The opening of the debate on territorial cohesion in Europe constitutes a real opportunity to achieve a change after 2013 in the European regional policies on these matters, even if the principle of subsidiary places the member states at the heart of this issue. Initiatives like the Leipzig charter may constitute a basis for bringing together networks that today work in isolation. The networking of competencies in these matters should rely on the resources specific to each of our regions in terms of universities, research laboratories and public institutions and bodies.

3. Brownfield aspects in the European policy – Overview

As a result of the massive decline in the coal, steel and textile industries in the beginning of the 1980s governments had to face the political commitment to actively promote structural change in the traditional industrial regions of Europe. Comprehensive strategies and programs of brownfield revitalisation with support of the European structural policy have been developed, particularly in the United Kingdom, France (Lorraine, Nod-Pas de Calais) and Germany (Northrhine-Westphalia). From 1990 a new brownfield dimension in quantity and quality (urban and housing brownfields) raised up with the integration of eastern European states. At the European level the main funding instrument used for the revitalisation of derelict industrial sites since the 1980th was the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Additionally sector-specific “Community Initiatives” such as ”RESIDER” for steel sites, ”RECHAR” for coalfields, ”RENAVAL” for ship building sites and ”RETEX” for textile industry sites help to realize the structural change in traditional industrial regions of western Europe. Since 2000 direct or indirect brownfield funding is included in many Regional Operational Programs, specific sub-programs have been set up e.g. in Saxony1 but their budgets remains still on relatively low level (e.g. Saxon). By “mainstreaming” urban actions since 2007 Member States are encouraged by the Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion (CSG) to initiate programs on urban areas e.g. “to promote internal cohesion within urban areas by improving the situation of deprived neighbourhoods, notably by the physical environment, redeveloping brownfied sites and preserving and developing their historical and cultural heritage” 2 ERDF interregional activities have been initiated since 1989 by Article 16 projects, RECITE II and INTERREG e.g. BERI: Brownfield European Regeneration Initiative CONVERnet: Development of a Central European Conversion Network, REVIT: Revitalising industrial sites. The main focus have been on the exchange of best practice on the site by site level integrating environmental aspects/soil contaminations, management models and public participation. In October 1998 the European Commission adopted the Communication Sustainable Urban Development in the European Union: A Framework for Action (COM(98)605).3 It was agreed that a more strategic and integrated approach to urban issues is needed at the European level. In 2000 the Urban Environment Expert Group stated that “Brownfield issues play a major role in the context of sustainable land use” (Expert Group, 2000). The URBAN Community Initiative has encouraged integrated development models based on local partnership to promote economic and social regeneration in urban areas often closely linked to brownfield problems. Since 2002 the URBACT programme for sustainable urban development manages the exchange of experience among European cities and the capitalisation/dissemination of knowledge on all issues related to sustainable urban development. The second thematic axes: Attractive and Cohesive Cities includes topics closely linked to brownfield problems: “Integrated development of deprived areas and areas at risk of deprivation”, “Inclusion” and “Environmental issues” and “Governance and Urban Planning”

1 Operationelles Programm des Freistaates Sachsen 2007 – 2014; www.brachflächenrevitalisierung-sachsen.de 2 CSG 3 Communication Sustainable Urban Development in the European Union: A Framework for Action (COM(98)605).3

In 2007 the “Leipzig Territorial Agenda on Sustainable European Cities” promotes integrated strategies for urban development supports the Lisbon Strategy by high quality in the fields of urban design, architecture and environment. Integrated urban development policy was defined as a process in which the spatial, sectoral and temporal aspects of key areas of urban policy are co-ordinated. In addition to the urban policy development the political awareness of EU-Environmental policy in soil protection is rising on high european political level. Issues discussed were guidelines to prevent soil pollution, arrest processes of soil degradation and erosion. The Commission intends to focus on the integration of soil protection into other policies. As a first step the Commission published a paper in April 2002 „Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection“ pointing out that pressure on land and soil is still growing, in particular by soil sealing and land take by urban expansion. Soil sealing is indirectly regulated by the Planning system in the intention to reduce “Urban sprawl”. The report “Urban Sprawl – an ignored challenge” from the European Environment Agency (EEA), Copenhagen, 2006 was a milestone related to this topic. In the period 1990-2000 the sealed area in EU 15 increased by 6%. This non-sustainable spatial development is shown by the low rate of land recycling of 2.3% compared to the Land Consumption at 97.074,00 ha (EEA 2006). It is not only restricted to growing metropolitan or coastal regions, also in the emerging economies of Eastern Europe land consumption is high. Also in the Brownfield regeneration is a key to tackling urban sprawl and ensuring a more sustainable environment (Soil Framework Directive, COM (2006). For all these reasons, the Commission adopted a Soil Thematic Strategy (COM(2006) 231) and a proposal for a Soil Framework Directive (COM(2006) 232) on 22 September 2006 with the objective to protect soils across the EU. Since the DG-Research Framework V program European research Networks, such as CLARINET (Contaminated Land Rehabilitation NETwork), have highlighted the need for the consideration of contaminated and brownfield land in a broader context. In 2002 the “Concerted Action on Brownfield and Economic Regeneration NETwork (CABERNET)” provided a framework to enhance the incorporation of sustainable development into land use planning decisions, by focussing on the specific need to reuse the brownfield resource. In conclusion land management and brownfields on highly relevant cross cutting topic for European policies but always seen from the point of view other spatial or sectorial aspects. In consequences an integrated approach to a European strategy in accordance to the principles of additionality and subsidiarity (and respecting the limits of funding) is still missing.

Picture 2: Logos of former brownfield activities

4. Brownfields as part of anticipated land management

4.1 Problem and challenge

Brownfield land is both a problem and lost opportunity. Brownfields can have a negative impact on the surrounding area and community, and hinder effective regeneration. Regenerating brownfields can stimulate opportunities at numerous levels to improve urban quality of life, enhancing urban competitiveness, and reducing urban sprawl. Although there are numerous urban challenges, such as identifying solutions for transportation pressures etc, the beneficial re-use of brownfields is significant, pervading and impacting on so many other urban issues, that it warrants a high level of both technical and political attention. Finding site specific solutions for brownfield sites is an increasingly important part of the search for effective policies that are aimed at ensuring a sustainable future for land, and cities in particular.

Definition According to the European CABERNET Concerted Action on “Brownfields and Redevelopment of Urban Area” Brownfields are sites that:  have been affected by the former uses of the site and surrounding land  are derelict or underused  have real or perceived contamination problems  are mainly in developed urban areas  require intervention to bring them back to beneficial use .

Scale and nature National and local authorities in charge of urban planning and management of derelict land are increasingly developing inventories. However, this is characterised by extremely fragmented approaches in terms of the methodology applied and in its implementation on information systems for urban land management. The last overview from CABERNET, 20044 shows for those nations for which some form of national dataset is available, the total area of brownfield land varies considerably; from 11,000 hectares in the Netherlands to 128,000 hectares in Germany with figures of 800,000 and 900,000 hectares respectively for Poland and Romania. The UK National Land Use

4 www.cabernet.org.uk

database was updated in 2008 indicates 32.400 ha 5 but updated figures for other countries are not available and information for some countries is now up to ten years out of date. No specific data was available to describe the scale of brownfield land in Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and the Slovak Republic, and there was no data on the total area of brownfield land in Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden, Italy, Portugal or Spain. In addition, inventories often focus only on potentially contaminated land and vary in terms of completeness, maturity and resources with well-developed systems in some part of Germany and in the UK (National Land Use Database) to locally based systems in Poland. In France there is a national register focusing on potentially contaminated land in France. The so-called BASIAS database6 was developed based on an inventory of old industrial sites collated at “department” level and consolidated at national level by the French geological survey (BRGM). This is completed by the BASOL database7 focusing on polluted sites requiring action from the central government to take preventive or remediation measures. Similar situation can be found in several European countries. However, these activities remain mostly separate, not coordinated, not harmonized, based on various information sources and scale and tailored for the specific national/regional/local needs. This makes it particularly difficult to exchange information between agencies, make comparisons between regions and get an overview of the situation at European level. The disparity in these figures is indicative of the current difficulty in comparing brownfield data across Europe. Moreover the long term figures from UK, Germany and France show a stagnation of the brownfield stock on high level despite the regeneration efforts of the last decencies. The nature of brownfields differs in relation to size, former use, and location. A ”first generation” of brownfields appeared in Europe with the closure of large sites from the coal and steel industries and the textile crisis since the 1980s. Since the beginning of the 1990s military downsizing and abandoned transport infrastructures have added to the list of brownfield sites. However, during this period there has been an accelerated cycle of site reconstruction and redevelopment. This has not only been seen across Europe, but also in a number of Eastern European Countries. Globalisation and economic change currently creates brownfiels and “Grayfiels” from social infrastructure, housing and commerce.

5 In 2008 local authorities identified an estimated 63,750 ha of previously developed land in England, up 2.6% from 62,130 ha in 2007. An estimated 32,400 ha of previously-developed land were vacant or derelict. 6 http://basias.brgm.fr 7 http://basol.ecologie.gouv.fr

Picture 3: „First Generation of Brownfields from heavy industries, mining and textile industry

Picture 4: “Second Generation” from military conversion, traffic infrastructure

Picture 5: “Third Generation” for housing, social infrastructure, “Grayfields”

Brownfield types Using a conceptual model to characterise different types of sites in terms of their economic viability and highlighting how status can change based on variation in location standing, site treatment costs and other economic conditions, can help policy makers identify strategies that can improve the economic viability and status of sites. One of the major drivers of brownfield regeneration is the economic viability of individual sites. This can be affected by many different factors which can alter quite considerably over time. The economic status of a site can be affected by indirect as well as direct costs of the regeneration and by predicted revenues / return from the site. The A/B/C model on strategic brownfield policies refers to the costs and predicted revenues. This model identifies three types of sites according to their economic status (due to the cost of regeneration, the value of the land, etc). Sites are classified as:  A Sites are highly economically viable and the development projects are driven by private funding Sites. The redevelopment causes a clear increase in site value. There is no demand for special public interference. The regular planning and administration system could give a land value general framework to the development. (after reclamation)

 B Sites are sites of local and regional importance with „self-developing sites‟ A: „potential development sites‟ development potential but also significant risks due to the final balance of the investment and the need of advice, private- driven projects assistance in planning and funding. These typical B: public- private brownfield projects are situated in the border zone of profit partnership and loss. In these cases the strategies of public-private- partnership are most effective. Risk-division, coordinated „reserve sites‟ planning and financing of projects by public/private companies are ingenious milestone for public interference. C: public-driven projects  C Sites are not in a condition where regeneration can be profitable. Their regeneration relies on mainly public sector reclamation costs or municipality driven projects. Public funding or specific

legislative instruments (e.g. tax incentives) are required to stimulate regeneration of these sites Picture 6: ABC-model

The A-B-C model highlights the funding drivers for brownfield regeneration. The conceptual model can be used to assist institutions that are responsible for regional development and investment by allowing then to characterise strategies for dealing with different types of brownfield land. By identifying the type of site and considering the factors that are affecting a site‟s category, i.e. if it is an A, B, or C site, both public and private bodies can examine intervention options and regeneration strategies. Using this conceptual approach to examine

the factors that affect re-categorisation of a site, for example from a B Site to an A site, can result in the development of sites specific strategies which can also be useful. A number of municipalities are currently using these categories to review their local brownfield strategies and to produce informal inventories of regional brownfield sites.

4.2 Methodological approaches

The methodological approach to Brownfield problems have significantly changed over the last years and shift from the site specific perceptions in relation with soil contamination towards a wider perspective of integrated strategies in the context of land management. The first comprehensive summary from a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective at the European level have been delivered by the “Concerted Action of Brownfield economic Regeneration Network – CABERNET, 2006. CABERNET has focused on strategic approaches, exploring solutions for a number of the key social, economic and environmental issues that impact on brownfield regeneration. The Network has also identified tools and new research needs. Indicators and strategic approaches on Sustainable Brownfield redevelopment have been presented in 2005 by RESCUE - Regeneration of European Sites in Cities and Urban Environments in the framework of key action IV "Cities of tomorrow and cultural heritage"8. RESCUE integrated the concept of sustainability into brownfield regeneration. Based on the analysis and evaluation of current practice in industrial core regions in France (Nord-Pas de Calais), United Kingdom (Derbyshire, North-East of England), Poland (Silesia) and Germany (Ruhr Area, Southern District of Leipzig) was showed up and best practice approaches elaborated. The results have been integrated into a Manual of a European System Approach for Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration.9 In the concept of Circular Land Management Brownfields are considered to be a part of the land cycle.10 It represents an integrative policy and governance approach which presupposes a changed land use philosophy with regard to land utilization. This modified land use philosophy can be expressed with the slogan “avoid – recycle – compensate”. Similarly to the recycling-based principles which have become commonplace in recent years in areas such as waste and water management, “circular land use management” should become an established policy in sustainable land utilization. Materials cycles serve as a model for circular land use management:  The constructed city is understood as a system with a structural makeup which is subject to various usage phases and where, in certain instances, entire districts and industrial areas are dismantled and made suitable for subsequent use, whereby the total area of land used should remain unchanged.  Structures no longer fit for reuse are demolished or renaturalised.  The idea of a “circular” of use thus seizes upon the notion of a use cycle of the allocation of building land, development, use, abandonment and reuse

8 "Energy, environment and sustainable development" within the 5th Framework Program of the European Community 9 www.rescue-europe.de 10 www.flaeche-im-kreis.de

Stategic approach: Circular Land Use Management

Mobilisation of site potentials: brownfields (trade, industrial or military) spaces between Reintroduction Release of new Planning buildings in town and city sites for centres construction in urban redevelopment Interim Instrument mix : the green belt sites use • Legal, planning and economic sites undergoing instruments planning • Cooperative steering approaches Abandone - Use ment Rejection of sites which are unsuitable for new uses on a Cessation of long-term basis use

Source: Research group “Fläche im Kreis ”, 2005) Picture 7: Strategic approach: Circular Land Use Management

A strategy of this nature primarily and systematically seeks to exploit the potential to develop existing building sites and reuse of brownfields. It focuses solely on internal development (recycling abandoned sites, higher density development, infill development, multiple use, etc.). The entire use cycle, from planning to utilization, disuse, dereliction, and building and land recovery form the core of the strategy. The ultimate aim is dynamic site preservation. In an ideal scenario this vision would be realized if only land which is currently in use were utilized for new settlement initiatives. Zoning small areas of new land for development is not categorically ruled out, assuming

abandoned sites are being reused in other areas. Circular land use management, therefore, aims to minimize rezoning of “green belt” land (for development) and activate existing building land, including, among other options, derelict land, gaps between buildings and exploiting possibilities for infill development. Circular land use management requires a uniform, integrated and harmonized course of action which encompasses the entire spectrum of policies and activities, is fused into a single, explicit integrative political approach and employs a correspondingly complex package of instruments (policy mix). In this instance current and potential new instruments are pooled while accounting for regional differences in framework conditions. These instruments primarily affect governance in the areas planning, information, organization and cooperation, funding and budget, marketing and arrangements The application of the concept (and support to the URBACT-BRING project) are Integrated Action Plans. The integrated action plans for urban region circular land use management represent an instrument package which can be implemented or initiated locally, and which can contribute to brownfield redevelopment and reducing land utilization. The packages of measures described usually aim at reducing zoning undeveloped land and exploiting the potential of existing land on previously developed sites. Integrated action plans for urban region circular land use management are informal instruments to establish circular land use management in the short- and mid-term. They result from discussions on land use policy aims for urban regions, analysis of how existing governance instruments to regulate land utilization are employed and assessments of instrumental, spatial and organizational shortcomings. They specify a package of measures necessary in the short and mid-term to make headway towards accomplishing city and urban region land policy aims. These measures are normally closely linked with established instruments of formal and informal spatial planning. The action plans also list stakeholder responsibilities, aspects of process organization and management as well as performance reviews and time schedule for implementation. Integrated action plans are extremely implementation oriented. They cannot and should not replace current planning, instead the measures depicted in the action plans should be meshed with spatially relevant formal and informal planning or existing sectoral planning and draft planning. The key element of an integrated action plan is providing a detailed portrayal of each measure foreseen in the measures package. Recommendations for outlining such a portrayal are:  a brief description of each measure,  a description of how the measures assist in eliminating  current problems/achieving established goals,  a list of the responsibilities of city and urban region  land use management players,  a description of the type, extent and source of financing  for measures  a time schedule for implementing measures,  expected effects of each measure.

When compiling an integrated action plan for city or urban region a circular land use management and a discursive approach appears prudent (workshops, expert forums). Three full-day closed workshops were held for the “Fläche im Kreis” simulation games, with the results ultimately leading to an integrated action plan. Work groups should be intensely mediated so any conflicts of interest which may arise can be named, commented upon and noted.

4.3 Best practice on the site level

Still at the individual site level in most case brownfield redevelopment a complex process. Impacts on the physical environment, the urban fabric and natural ecosystems as well as social and economic effects are related to spatial and sectorial policies and regulations. In addition, this integrative complex process requires the joint effort of different stakeholders with different interests, capacities and abilities. The know-how to approach these problems have been developed over the last years and illustrated by nouberous successful projects often with a high degree on innovations. Categories of different after uses are  industrial reuse of the abandoned site by activities. This type of project includes relative low interventions on the site level (demolitions, adaption of infrastructure) Given the urban location of many brownfield sites this option is nevertheless handicapped by emission standards, road infrastructure; IBA  development of commercial centres as on major private driven process of brownfield redevelopement, in some cases with the integration of historical buildings, Silesia Centre

Picture 8: Shopping mall in Oberhausen, Former lignite mining areas in Leipzig, Housing in Dunkerque

 Service and office buildings illustrated by many successful office developments in industrial buildings either for office developments of services, UK Offices e.g. Belfast  Housing redevelopments either by refurbishment of industrial mulit-story buildings (Lofts) or demolition/redevelopment of housing areas on brownfields. In all cases with high attention to real (or perceived) contamination problems. Innovative examples are the ecological Quarters e.g. VAUBAN in Freiburg  Cultural after uses e.g. museums valorising the urban areas, Barcelona/Lille  Green after uses had still main importance in mining regions but also in metropolitan regions where the sites are the key for the creation of urban green belts. The demographic change and shrinking cites puts higher importance on the recultivation of brownfields areas taking into account the reorganisation of settlements and infrastructure  New energetic uses for solar panels or biomass production, e.g. in the Ruhr area. In addition to the reuse interim uses became a new strategic option.

Picture 9: Offices in Belfast, Biomass production in Halle, Cultural centre in Lille

4.1 Best practice in land interventions

The success of individual brownfield projects in closely linked to a coherent urban policy (industry, housing, comer, green developments) and on the operators and financial tools to implement these policies. Given the fact that private initiative is limited only to a small proportian of brownfield land public support is needed. Specific brownfield related models for operators in Europe are the creation of Development Agencies, the legal structures of “Etablissement Public Foncier” in France and the “Land Restoration Trust in the UK and the former LEG (NRW-URBAN) with the “Grundstücksfonds in Northrhein-Westfalia.

4.1.1 Development Agencies Manly at the level of on specific project level the creation of specific agencies is an important tool to assure the delivery of a better public service. Over the years many different models for these agencies have been tested in Europe, with differing structures (100% public/100% private/public-private mix); legal forms (private limited/private not-for profit/charitable, etc11); geographical boundaries (from site-specific to city/ municipality, sub-regional or regional areas); and operational remits (from basic site remediation & recycling, through to responsibility for wider economic and/or social responses). Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) were largely abandoned in the UK after 1992, to be followed in 2000 by the new Urban Regeneration Company (URC) The formation of these dedicated agencies has sometimes required a change in law or special legislation, and so they have often historically represented a new or innovative approach to the brownfields problem within that country. Experiences over the last 30 years have proven that this approach can be successful for the delivery of brownfield regeneration. Agencies could specoificaly use a varios scope of financial sources from private and public sector often in PPP models and operation mainly in the “B-sector” of brownfield.

4.1.2 The “Etablissement Public Foncier” in France The institutions of “Etablissement Public Foncier” in France EPFs are Land public agencies of the State (E.P.F.). It is an industrial and commercial public institution, with an assignment and a structure ruled by national law.12 It is competent to carry out "all land interventions and development operations provided for" by the town planning code. Of strategic importance for brownfields is the role of EPFs by the professionalization of land action. The EPF is not only in charge of land negotiations and purchases, but also of the rehabilitation and management of currently owned properties and buildings (site securing, aesthetic maintenance, rent collection, prevention of squatting) – difficult tasks that require professional expertise. To better carry out these tasks, it relies on specialized staff (land negotiators, lawyers, engineers and technicians) that could not be financed by a single municipality. An EPF signs agreements with local communities on the temporary land ownership required in order to carry out preparation works for the future site developments. These works include demolition, depollution and protective landscaping). An EPF cannot purchase land without a commitment by a local community to later buy the property. Additionally, the EPF cannot carry out any operation without the favourable advice of the municipality involved. Land must be appraised by the Service des domains prior to any purchase. In order to fight land speculation, these appraisals set the maximum price for land purchases by the EPF, and the minimum price for land sale. After the temporary ownership operation, the land is bought back by either the community, a public developer or a private real estate developer.. An EPF is a tool for mobilising land resources to be used in local communities' projects.

11 There is some debate as to how truly „private sector‟ these agencies are. It is true to say that they are created by the state and the extent of their true independence is very often dictated by the prevailing structures of governance; however it is accepted that many do operate on a daily basis independently of other government/state agencies 12 article L 321-1 of the town planning code, modified by the planning law nr 2005-32 of 18 January 2005 on social cohesion.

Picture 10: scheme of EPF intervention

As of today, several EPF exist in France. The most recent ones have just been set up in Ile-de- France. Beyond temporary ownership operations for the rehabilitation of derelict spaces and industrial brownfields, the EPFs' interventions are now shifting towards land control and the treatment of polluted sites and soils and more generally all "risk land". The Decision-making body is the board of governors, its composition and proceedings are set by the creation decree and include municipality representatives. The financing is insured by a special development tax collected on its intervention territory. Contributions came from the State, local communities, public institutions and any other interested public or private legal entities. Due to the rise of real estate prices and the difficulty of mobilising building land at economically sound prices, the various actors of development and housing have turned to local communities and intermunicipal structures to find solutions to their land problems.

4.1.3 The “Property fund by the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft (LEG)” The Property Fund Ruhr was founded 1979 as an instrument for structural change. The experience of the first phase of heavy industrial restructuration in Europe has made clear that the restraints on the use of mining, Industrial and transport brownfields could not be removed on a sufficient scale by the traditional means of town planning incentives. In order to put the land market of the area in motion, to overcome the worst property bottlenecks in specific cases and to clean up the most damaged landscapes, a new policy have been set up from 1980 onwards, with a yearly financing effort of 100 million DM, to acquire brownfield properties. These properties have been treated and preserved, so that they can be used for town planning as decided by the municipal authorities.” The management task of the fund was allocated to the Development Agency of the “Land” (LEG). In 1987 the directives governing the operation of the Property fund were extended. On request of the municipality, the LEG could since then mandated to draft urbanistic frame, to draft proposals of development maps, to design away to bring sites to the private market, to treat all development phases as integrated elements of a global strategy and to view site redevelopment itself as a product. This extension was very important, because in the next 10 years the LEG could improve the redevelopment of the brownfields and could bring much more sites to the private market.

4.1.4 BEG Today the NRW.URBAN developed together with die BahnflächenEntwicklungsGesellschaft NRW mbH (BEG) and with three ministries (Building and Traffic, Economy, Ecology) the new idea of the “Flächenpool NRW”. The BEG was founded in 2002 to exploit the potential path area and to cope with the challenges that the state of NRW and German Railway. Its mission is to manage and develop the “Bahnflächenpool NRW” with unused railway sites and properties. For that goal the BEG needs more flexibility towards bringing means and benefits from the know how to consensual development particularly difficult locations. So, the BEG is the public-private balance of interests required and takes into account interests of the DB Group, of the municipalities and of the country NRW. All of them are active partners. A consensus process, the fallow-priority, participation readiness and reliability agreed to be, is the basis of implementation success. This strategy is 2009 become also a model for the new national instrument “Flächenpool NRW”. This new strategic instrument is due to re-use the brownfields integrates the owners and users of the sites and helps municipalities in their developing process: by managing the process and stimulating more private investment on the old sites. In 2010/2011 a pilot-phase for this new instrument will happens together with 10 cities all over NRW, to test the new instrument and to improve it in a real time study.

4.1.5 Land Restoration Trust Created by a partnership comprising English Partnerships (now the Homes and Communities Agency), Groundwork, the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency, the Land Restoration Trust is tackling enduring dereliction across England. The Land Restoration Trust is improving the environment and quality of life for communities by providing long-term sustainable management of

public spaces across England. Within 10 years it will acquire, own and manage 10,000 hectares of previously derelict and under-used land, to deliver environmentally informed, community-led regeneration. The Land Restoration Trust‟s approach to the restoration of derelict land will add value to the national regeneration agenda by providing long-term solutions for a large number of otherwise abandoned brownfield sites, in addition to raising the profile of green spaces in our daily lives, complementing other local and regional initiatives. The Land Restoration Trust provides a coherent national framework to address the shortcomings of past policies and programmes by providing a long-term home for many sites lacking in commercial value. During the first three years of operation the Land Restoration Trust acquires and secures funding packages for some 1,500 hectares of brownfield land. It establishes appropriate way of achieving maximum local benefits from the restoration and long-term maintenance of these sites. This is done by identifying and working with local management partners who, along with the Trust, engage the principles of community involvement and ecological understanding to establish the correct solutions for each individual site. Through land reclamation research and demonstration activities the Land Restoration Trust promotes good practice. Its national presence enable land transfer negotiations at a national level and a strategic overview to creative solutions for long-term sustainability and the exploration of income generation.

Best practice Dinnington, South Yorkshire: 36 hectares of former colliery lost after 1992 their using and after that, a constant reminder of the community‟s misfortune. When the site became part of English Partnerships' National Coalfields Programme in 1996 it was strewn with spoil tips, slurry ponds and demolition rubble. The Regional Development Agency, Renaissance South Yorkshire, remediated the land with funding from the Coalfields Programme. Following consultation with the local community the agreed use of the site included infrastructure for a 25 hectare industrial/commercial development and 36 hectares of public open space, footpaths, community woodland and natural wildlife habitat with an additional 20 hectares of short rotation willow coppicing. The open space part of the site was transferred into the ownership of the Land Restoration Trust in April 2006.

4.1.6 ERDF – VwV Urban Development – Revitalization of brownfields in Saxony On purely financial option is the introduction of a brownfield program in the regional ERDF programs. The EU-ERDF program since 2000 from the State of Saxony put particular focus on the development of inner city brownfield sites.13 The overall objectives are the strengthening of the inner cities and the reduction of land use and urban sprawl in the wider regions of cities. At beginning of the program period 2000 – 2006, the commercial re-use of brownfields was at the forefront. The business location “city” should be strengthened and

13 www.brachflächenrevitalisierung–sachsen.de

jobs created. Only in the second line, a positive impact on the environmental situation and the attractiveness for urban settlement of subsequent uses was of interest. Now, the municipalities have the option of funding to eliminate disposed sites, without the subsequent users in an area already exist. But, the intended economic use of land has to fit in a coherent urban development concept. The funding was based on the administrative regulation of the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior on the implementation and promotion of projects for sustainable urban development and revitalization of brownfield sites (VwV-Urban Development). It is due to the Operational Program of the Free State of Saxony to the European Regional Development Fund in the period 2007 to 2013. By the end of 2008 195 projects in 118 communities were promoted. These included various measures ranging from commercial revitalization, new municipal facilities to parks and recreational facilities. Only about half of the commercial space could be located subsequent uses or services. But, 367 new jobs could be created at the sites and the restructuring old industrial mixed situations secured further 1379 jobs. In addition to these undoubtedly presentable "“lighthouses", including the redevelopment of industrial heritage, more and more sites had to be eliminated because of the now often disastrous state of many buildings. Interims use and re-natured was in foreground. A total of about 265 hectares of brownfields were promoted by these funding in about eight years. But there are approximately 7,000 hectares of inner city brownfield sites in Saxony left. The program “VwV Urban Development” often succeeded in local small and medium-sized cities to eliminate industrial areas completely and to pave the way for the revitalization of entire neighborhoods.

4.2 Interim Conclusion

5. Partner description and LAP

5.1 Greater Dunkerque Council, France

URBACT project partner/contact details Contact: Communauté Urbain de Dunkerque (CUD) Pertuis de la Marine, B.P. 5530 FR-59386 Dunkerque Cedex 1 59386 Dunkerque www.dunkerque.fr Contact persons: Yves Philibert ([email protected], +33 328 627 262)

Inhabitants: 210.000 Administrative Unit: 18 municipalities in the CUD

Area size of the region: Nord-Pas de Calais Terrain characteristics: Harbour city, flat landscape Settlement in the region (district): Industrialised conurbation with rural hinterland Population: Population Trend: negative

Introduction/General Information The Greater Dunkerque Council in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France consists of 18 towns that stretch from the Belgian border to the Calais region with 210 000 inhabitants. The district is an industrial and seaport conurbation, marked by the establishment of an internationally important iron and steel centre in the 1960s. During this period, the population doubled, mainly as a result of immigration from Eastern France and North Africa. In the late 1980s, it went through a major economic crisis that resulted in a sharp increase in unemployment which weakened the economic fabric of the region causing negative effects on social and urban life. The resulting urban, social and economic challenges were substantial and are related to the appearance of industrial, urban and commercial brownfields. Unemployment is currently 10.6% with 33% of private employment in the industrial sector. Greater Dunkerque Council (CUD) is a public body for inter‐city cooperation between the 18 towns. Established in 1969 as the first greater council, it is comprised of 80 members: a President, 21 vice-Presidents, some mayors and town councilors, each appointed for 6 years. Its activities are focused on the implementation of policies and services in relation to the environment (e.g. waste and water management, risk management, energy supply, eco‐construction, green areas), land and urban planning, housing, transport and mobility, economic development, social cohesion (culture, health), tourism, information and communication technologies, training, primary schools and cemeteries.

Specific Information on land related policies and projects Greater Dunkerque Council has addressed the issue of sustainable development increasingly over the last two decades and as a result of its work was awarded the first European prize for sustainable development in 1996 and will be responsible for the organization, together with ICLEI network, of the 6th Conference of Sustainable Cities. In this time, sustainable development has been an integrated priority in all local strategies; e.g. Urban Strategic Plan, Development Agreements and Urban Mobility Plan. In 2009 the Greater Dunkerque Council has developed a common project “Project Communautaire” for the 2009-2014 period. The project tackles the key challenges of sustainable development in the territory and supports the principles of the “Leipzig Charter” by linking urban development and social cohesion. The strategic orientation will be integrated in the new Local plan currently under development. The main ambitions are:  To look towards the sea : an open territory through sea and world  To safeguard and champion : a environment of quality  To attract and shine forth : a dynamic and forward looking economy  To bloom : a joint agglomeration where in which it feels good to live All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform for discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations.

After the 2nd World War, it was necessary to rebuild the Nord-Pas de Calais territory. In order to facilitate reconstruction 12 towns decided to implement an urban community. Since then, the public intervention has been important, notably in green areas. Since then the CUD has been in possession of key intervention instruments such as the Territorial Cohesion Scheme (SCOT), Local Housing Plan (PLH) and shortly, the Urban Local Plan (PLU). These instruments, evolving from the local history of post war reconstructions, the industrial development of the 80s and the ongoing economic transformations, were possible thanks to abundant human resources in the early 80s. Land information is collected and supervised by the CUD/Department of land policies on the GIS system. Urbanisation in the territory of CUD is limited and linked to density obligations (30 housing units/ha). Brownfield information covers approximately 80 individual sites of 69 ha in total. Brownfield redevelopment schemes have been elaborated in the framework of land concessions or simple consultation under public or “Etablissement public foncier” leadership.

Planned operation of Instruments of intervention

housing improvement  P.A.F (land action program) Urban development  Acquisitions (acquisitions)

 Droit de Préemption Expropriation SITES RU (right of first refusal)

 ORI (property restoration operation) National agency of urban Planning instruments renovation  Emplacements Réservés

(reserved areas Buildings buy to repair or  Zonage renovate, entrusted to (delimitation of land value) public housing by emphyteutric lease  Quotas logements sociaux (social housing quotes)

Picture 11: Land policy Greater Dunkerque

ERDF- Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment Since 1989, an integrated strategy was adopted with contribution from national and European Union structural funds which helped in managing a long period of economic recession. Economic diversification and development of the Dunkerque region have been facilitated and supported by massive brownfield redevelopments in the derelict harbour/ship building area. Examples of successful brownfield transformations are:  Môle 1 business park, created on harbor brownfields  Grand Large, created on recovering urban brownfields.

Picture 12: Images of Dunkerque: Grand Large, city center, Neptune Area, Bois des Forts

Key Challenges for Dunkerque Facing ongoing economic restructuring the Greater Dunkerque council is challenged by:  Remaining industrial brownfield sites from the ship building industry of the 90s, underused harbor areas, ongoing industrial restructurating and derelict sites from railway infrastructure in central locations  Brownfields from the housing sector mainly from post war construction. Remediation and social coherence are challenged by urban sprawl and “green field” completion on individual houses in the sub-region  Brownfields from small commercial sites – one of the biggest projects of the Greater Council and the city of Dunkerque is to enhance the center of the city in a commercially in order to develop a new collective wealth. We use brownfields and deserted areas to build attractiveness.

Specific problem identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are:  High cost of land and recycling in urban areas and of urban redevelopment projects (housing)  The limited private initiative in the urban areas combined with restrictions to access credits for private developers  Ongoing reduction of public funding and questions about the mid-term viability of the financial basis in France and at European level  The inter-municipal competition in the sub-region specifically in the housing sector  The communication and interaction with state institutional land owners  The lack of anticipation in land management and interventions  Higher value on soil difficult to realize  Construction costs  Acceptance by inhabitants of a different form of housing  Small incomes of inhabitants

Expectations and local support group

The BRING activities of CUD will be closely linked to the implementation of the new urban developement plan and specificaly prepare land intervention stategies for the housing sector in urban areas.

The local support group members are:  Communauté Urbaine de Dunkerque: Service foncier, Mission partenariats, Aménagement, Service habitat, Service technique  Etablissement public foncier (EPF)  Dunkerque Urban Agency  Notary  Société d´économie mixte (SEM) specialized in land management  Private developer

 Social developer Additional contacts for specific inputs are held to  Institutional site owners (SNCF, Post, Etat)  Planning and environmental Consultants,  Banks and Regulators (DRIRE (Environment), Equipement, Region/Department, ABF, Service des domaines).

Local action/activity

BRING Target Land management/brownfield focus activities BRING Outcomes

Intensive city Accelerate the reuse of brownfields, interim uses, land Outcome: Further qualification of the land data management cycle management involving key public and private Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention stakeholders strategy and institutional structures, new local housing plan with inputs from BRING-Partnership Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020 Landscape/natural Limiting urban sprawl and consumption of agricultural Outcome: Mobilising pilot sites for different profiles of housing heritage and land in peri-urban locations by new brownfield offers (social mix, demographic change) and initiate private initiative, industrialized space and (priority on individual housing for young families) reducing costs and non-adapted housing offer safeguarding and Exchange on concepts: Green belt, Soil Alliance/NRW protecting agriculture Outcome: Developing financial instruments for the renaturation of industrial land. Examples : harbour (GPMD) underused lands could be used for environmental issues Economic diversification/ Mobilising derelict and underused areas with existing Outcome: Profiling of brownfield sites and mobilization of state land offers infrastructure (SNCF, harbour) owned land (Mole 1, SNCF-site), Contract template between state services and CUD Maintenance and support New affection for small private unities Outcome: Test of Jessica applications, Venture Capital to commercial activities

5.2 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Asti, Italy

URBACT project partner/contact details: Contact: City of Asti Piazza S. Secondo 1 14100 Asti http://www.comune.asti.it/ Contact person: Ornella Lovisolo, [email protected]

Surface: 33 km2 Inhabitants: 73.000 Administrative Unit: Regione Piemonte

Introduction/General Information Asti is a medium sized city, situated in the Piedmont region, in north-western Italy, about 455 kilometres east of Turin in the Plain of Tanaro River and it is the capital of the province of Asti. The city‟s four administrative districts constitute the residential area of the town, as opposed to the more rural territory defined by the remaining ten administrative districts. Asti is situated in an area where agriculture is still of great importance, since the wine production has become a leading economic asset. Nevertheless, in the years fifties and sixties the city and its district were affected by a moderate industrial grow, fostered by the economic boom of those years. With the arrival of the crisis several factories have closed or scaled down their activities. Besides that, the City of Asti was home of military command until the eighties and therefore exist in some areas in some areas of the city state property once used for military use. For these reasons Asti has some important degraded areas and brownfields located in the urban centre. The elective City Asti Council is composed by 40 members, besides the Mayor and six councilors, each with specific powers. It administrates a territory of 33 square kmeters with a population of 73.000 inhabitants. The main institutional duties of the Asti Council are specified in its statute. They concern the custody of cultural values and democratic traditions: the promotion of the social and economic development of the local community and the valorisation of cultural, historical and civic resources; the promotion of solidarity within local communities, with particular attention to social groups at risk; the implementation of activities aimed at encouraging equal opportunities between men and women; the protection of the environment and the territory; and finally the security of the citizens. The Urban Planning Service of the Municipality will be mainly involved in the project. In 2007 the Integrated Local Development Program was presented to the regional authority containing proposals for urban transformation of abandoned areas. In 2008 further investigation of recovery of urban wasteland was presented, including a study for rehabilitation of the old hospital. BRING will be supported by the Asti Europe Desk which was created within the Municipality of Asti to provide citizens with proper information on opportunities offered by the European Union and on EU policies, to promote and implement transnational projects and to support the administration in project management and fund raising. The Asti Europe Desk has developed significant experience in several fields as project leader and partner. It has created partnerships all over Europe and worked in synergy with other municipalities in Europe, as well as with private actors.

Picture 13: Images of Asti‟s surroundings

ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment Italian Strategic National Framework (QRSN) and the Operative and Strategic Planning Document (DPSO) focus on cohesion, polycentric development and co-planning as main orientations for the planning approach. In compliancy with the above mentioned objectives, the ERDF Operative Program 2007-2013 Regione Piemonte fosters the sustainable territorial and urban development. The Axis 3 “Territorial Requalification” specific objective in line with ERDF regulation 1080/06 art. 5.2f, art. 8, art.10 aims at promoting the integration between the valorization of environmental, historic and cultural heritage and requalification of urban areas fostering economic development, social inclusion and regeneration of degraded areas. Axis 3 promotes an integrated approach in terms of involved public institutions (at the different levels of the administration), funding (combination among ERDF, FAS – Fund for underused areas, other regional funds), territory (union of public administrations affected by common problems and seeking joint objectives), fields of intervention (infrastructural, industrial, social). Target areas are both areas with high cultural and environmental value, able to promote touristic development, and urban areas able to sustain polycentric development, combining sustainable territorial development and high quality of urban systems and local public administration. Therefore, metropolitan cities and urban territorial systems should play the role of drive behind the over-local development. Operative objective III.2 aims at promoting urban requalification supporting sustainable development, social cohesion and territorial competitiveness. The regeneration of degraded areas is an important factor able to improve both the attractiveness and the sustainable developments of urban centers. Urban areas are conceived as drive behind economic development, innovation in productive, social and cultural processes, competitiveness. In order to achieve the objective, strategic urban planning at local level should foster high level of integration among involved stakeholders and planning actions. Activity III.2.1 focuses at sustaining investments for requalification and regeneration of abandoned former sites into service and productive centers. Similarly, Activity III.2.2 aims at requalifying urban areas, affected by social, economic and physical degradation. Beneficiaries of both activities are mainly local public authorities and institutions interested in the regeneration of the areas, that will receive incentives for localization and services implantation.

Key Challenges for Asti Behind the background of the historic city and landscape development Asti is facing key challenges  Remaining industrial brownfield sites with heavy contamination problems  Restructing not technical and social infrastructure  Concentration of brownfields in the eastern part of the city with tendencies for social segregation and general urban decline

At regional level the “Regional Territorial Plan” - PTR conceives urban recovery as the focus of Strategy 1, promoting quality of life and social inclusion. General objectives of this Strategy are urban recovery in urban and peri-urban context (1.5) and the renewal and redevelopment of brownfields and greyfields (1.9). Specific goals are the promotion of physical, economic and social recovery, regeneration and reconversion of urban and peripheral areas, promotion and valorization of natural and agricultural peri-urban areas and greenfields, recovery of brownfields and greyfields. At local level the City of Asti has mainly worked on two planning tools:  PISL: The Integrated Program for Local Development named “Asti.Uni.Fer.Expo” was carried out in 2005. This tool is a link between the regional DOCUP and the local planning. The area involved is at municipal level and the main projects are related to infrastructures, schools and University, exibition centers mainly situated in the East area of the city.  PTI: The Integrated Territorial Program called “Il futuro dalle Radici” (The future from the roots) focused on a sustainable development for a high quality area including the city of Asti and 84 surrounding municipalities. The territory of Asti has a strong identity and a deeply rooted culture; the landscape is widely recognized as extraordinarily rich (90% of the territory is covered with hills cultivated with grapevines). The development of the territory is planned through a widely shared strategy, in order to develop a strong synergy with other regional systems, always safeguarding its peculiar features, and with the aim of letting it find its own role in an extra-local context. Therefore, the objective of the strategic planning consist in developing a system that is able to transform tradition into innovation, setting up a system composed of local knowledge and productions.

According to the Program, the strategic items for the territorial development are a high level education, an integrated and good transport service and the valorization of the several high quality elements characterizing the site. In this context, the chief town may have a managing role in producing knowledge, expertise and services for a territory that is capable of offering quality products, as well as quality living and tourism. The aim of the project is to find the best suitable function to settle in the area, taking into account all the inputs coming both from the local context and from the expectation of stakeholders and future users, in order to set up the re-use and re-fictionalisation of the area. Intervention strategies and models in the context of the Italian legal and institutional framework will be developed on the basis of three brownfield cases from industry, technical and social infrastructure. Especially the eastern part of Asti grew-up together with the Way Assauto factory which used to produce car components. With the crisis of the industry for the whole area a period of decline started. The signs of this crisis are evident and all the area needs a strong and integrated action to give a new impulse to renovation and revitalization. So, the Municipality is now trying to find adequate solution for the future of following 3 sites.

The former hospital, located in the city center, near the largest city park and walking distance from the building of the old town, covers an area of 107.000 square meters. The current intended use is social services, health and welfare and the current owner is Local Health Service. On the reuse of the area was carried out a feasibility study with different assumptions (transformation into residential, tourism, hospitality, business services). It has been activated a work table with many stakeholders (ASL, Municipality, Province, Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Union, ATC, Confcooperative, CRAT Bank Foundation) Picture 14: former hospital

The dismissed railway area is located at the edge of the historic center and covers an area of 25.000 square meters. The area is owned is by Ferservizi SPA and the current use is mobile station. Also for this area the Municipality has a feasibility study showing some assumptions of transformation into residential. This area is affected by light pollution to be reclaimed.

Picture 15: railway area

The old factory Way Assauto, an old industrial site owned by a private company, covers an area of 90.000 square meters and currently is occupied by industrial buildings. The feasibility studies carried out under the PISL show possibility of transformation into residential and schools but these assumptions involve high costs because this site is polluted by hexavalent chromium and is subjects to mandatory reclamation prior the future use.

Picture 16: way assauto factory

Specific problem identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are  Missing information on the site level (ownership, property transactions, technical information)  Low construction quality of abandoned or underused buildings including housing (energetic status)  The administrative coordination of the decision making process and missing interaction between different public programs  Financial and personal restrictions for municipalities to organise land interventions  The massive contamination problems of the site of Way Assauto  Missing private investments.

Expectations and local support group In relation to the project, the Asti Urban Planning Service of the Municipality will be mainly involved. BRING should support the implementation of the Integrated Local Development Programme and prepare the revitilisation of East Asti with two main brownfield sites /Old hospital/ASS-Wayauto. The “round table” methodology will be used to engage wider stakeholder groups in Asti in order to mobilise public and private initiatives for East Asti and the pilot projects.

The Local support group members are:  City of Asti: Service foncier, Mission partenariat, Aménagement, Service habitat, Service technique  Chamber of Architecture  Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation - SiTI  ASL Additional contacts for specific inputs are held to  Institutional site owners (railway, Sanitary office….)  Planning and environmental Consultants,  Banks  Regulators

Local actions Over the last ten years the City Council has undertaken strategies to reach better quality of life and of the territory, aiming at the progressive reduction of the impacts generated from human activities. Particularly, it has been implemented innovative programs for the management of urban areas. In addition to the above PISL and PTI, it carried out projects such as “Programma di recupero urbano” (Program of urban renewal) and “Contratti di quartiere” (Neighbourhood contracts) both co-financed by Piedmont region and aimed to recover degraded residential areas through the use of techniques of sustainable architecture and plans for social support. The main objectives are:  Creation of economic and social dynamism in the eastern quarters of Asti  Intensifying informal planning, participation and coordination by a ”round table” process All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform of discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations on new institutional options and specific site redevelopments.

BRING Targets Land management/brownfield focus activities BRING Outcomes

Revitalising East Asti by Development of strategic orientations Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention integrated brown-field strategy and institutional structures for East Asti Cooperation with partners on the development of redevelopment brownfield strategies

Creation of the new urban Revitalisation of the site of Way Assauto Outcome: Strategic orientations for the future use of the site center in East Asti Outcome: Proposal to the national level on the integration of funding for decontamination

Improving the Reuse of the old hospital as cultural centers, link to the Outcome: Development of reuse concept by a round table attractiveness for cultural, future of the planned University campus approach and a PPP funding model technological and formation

Improvement the quarter Initiating private initiatives on housing, railway land and Outcome: Exchange on technologies (e.g. building by mobilizing further Telecom sites thermography) brownfields Outcome: Development of an incentive policy for mobilisation private sites

Finalising green Development of permanent and temporal green space Outcome: Pilot project

BRING Targets Land management/brownfield focus activities BRING Outcomes infrastructure on military on the former military site brownfields

Improving the Improvement of the Asti-Round table methodology Outcome: Workshop and documentation with BRING partners revitalisation process Outcome: Further qualification of land data registration and management management

Institutional Developing financial instruments for the municipal Outcome: Test of EPF-Nord-Pas-de-Calais model in France structure/financial brownfield policy and JESSICA applications mechanism Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020

5.3 URBACT Local Action Plan – District Voitsberg, City of Bärnbach

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: Stadtgemeinde Bärnbach, Hauptplatz 1, A-8572 Bärnbach, [email protected], www.baernbach.at, Contact person: Bernd Osprian ([email protected], +43 3142 61550-49)

Surface: Bärnbach 17,2 km² Inhabitants: 5.176 (1.1.2006) Administrative Unit: District of Styria – Voitsberg

Area size of the region: about 680 km² Terrain characteristics: low and middle mountains, hills, basins and valley floors. Settlement in the region (district): 3 cities and 22 municipalities (core- and outer conurbation area) Population: 53.300 Population Density: 78 E/km² Population Trend: 1991 – 2001: - 1,8 % , 2001 – 2008: - 1,7%

Introduction/General Information The district Voitsberg lies west of the metropolitan area Graz, the regional capitol. The now abandoned lignite mines (underground and open cast mining) are located in the central region Voitsberg-Köflach-Bärnbach, one of the most populated areas in Styria. The tributary valleys of Kainach and the Styrian border mountains are sparsely populated. The expansion of the southern A2 motorway and the national B70 improved the accessibility of the region to the national transport network significantly. A private railway connects the railways of Voitsberg-Köflach-Bärnbach to the central region of Graz. The link to international air traffic is the airport of Graz-Thalerhof - 35 km southeast from Voitsberg. Spatial Planning Unit: The Austrian pilot-region is a union of five communities (Regional Development Association Voitsberg) and represents a typical shrinking region; i.e. decreasing number of inhabitants, break-down of former coal mining industry but with considerable land consumption at the same time. Significant indicators of the region are: Demography: Slightly shrinking population (1,5 % between 2001-2006), the proportion of older and non-working people is growing, 25% of the population is older than 60 years and small households with 2.3 persons are dominating. Industry: The region of Voitsberg is a traditional former coal mining region and is now facing structural transition. Surface mining of lignite and a central coal-fired power plant were key employers of the region. Both were only recently closed down between 2004 and 2006. A private investor purchased the power-plant in 2009 and will keep it in operation with imported hard coal. Besides mining, Voitsberg- Köflach-Bärnbach has a tradition of glass making which been in decline over recent years. Today only 3 glass factories are still operating.

Locality No District Area size(km²) Population Population Density

Bärnbach 61601 Voitsberg 17,2 5.176 302

Köflach 61609 Voitsberg 20,4 10.223 502

Lankowitz 61613 Voitsberg 23,9 2.297 96

Rosental 61618 Voitsberg 6,5 1.765 271

Voitsberg 61625 Voitsberg 28,5 9.919 348

The district Voitsberg has experienced dramatic changes since the middle of the 1960s and the structural change in connection with glass-making and coal mining, two industries dominating the region for decades of years, is still going on. As brown coal mining declined and finally ended in 2004, the area lost its original attraction as an industrial conurbation and the structures of the buyers of the products of these industries crumbled. Today, service industries have a share with about 60% of the industrial strength of the region. SMEs have

become a strong earning factor for the region. (e.g. REMUS, SEBRING, KRENHOF, STÖLZLE, HOLZHER, BINDER, EJOT, BAUER). This can also be seen in the settlement of centers supporting new business with a focus on information technology, manufacturing engineering, renewable energy, trades and crafts business and automotive suppliers. Voitsberg, Köflach and Bärnbach are the most important job-creating centers with about 70% of all jobs in the region. However, there is still a lack of local jobs so over 7.600 people are forced to commute. The stud farm Piber, a breeding centre for Lipizzaner horses, which later become world famous in the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, the parish church of Bärnbach, reconstructed in 1988 according to plans development by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the West-Styrian Wine - route and the spa „Therme Nova“ (built 2006) in Köflach are tourist attractions in the region. In addition to skiing- areas, a regional cycling and roaming path network and outdoor swimming pools, the region now boasts another large leisure centre with a lake, a golf course and a shooting stand, which were built by the mining company as part of the recultivation and revitalization plans.

Picture 17: St. Barbara-Kirche-Bärnbach picture 18: Mosesbrunnen-Bärnbach picture 19: Stud farm Piber/Köflach

ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment The region and its cities participated in earlier interregional networks on bronwnfield related topics, e.g INTERREG III B CADSES „Projekt REVITAMIN“ on the revitalisation of former brown coal mining areas / development of a transnational computer-aided multicriteria decision aid for mining regions.

Picture 20: Schlossbad Bärnbach Picture 21: Therme Nova-Köflach Picture 22: Kunsthaus Köflach

Key Challenges Faced with the ongoing economic restructuration the City is challenged by:  Restructuring brownfields – project development for future regional industrial, manufacturing and service businesses as well as for facilities for education and recreation  Development of a kind of a “Regional Funds” (Venture Capital Funds) to support/finance the projects The development of 2 major brownfields sites (open cast mining) was stopped because of the financial crisis, there is a need for new concepts based on an integral urban and landscape approach. Also because of the crisis the investors of case example 2 could not raise the necessary finances, so the project development was stopped. Industry: Commercial, Infrastructure – (brown coal) mining (open pit, underground mining)  Case example 1: 48,60 ha Location development in the city of Köflach (former bicycle factory)  Case example 2: 10 ha Location development in the city of Bärnbach (former brick factory/Wienerberger Ziegelfabrik)  Case example 3: 13,30 ha Development of a former coal storage area Financial instrument: Development of a financing instrument (“Regional Funds” for a venture capital) to support innovative solutions by ensuring/guaranteeing the financing.

Expectations to the Urbact project and local actions In the last few years the municipalities in the region have developed several project ideas in the context of urban development, sustainable energy systems and brownfield regeneration. Projects and detailed planning on brownfield sites as well as the further concretion were stopped because the necessary finances could not be ensured with the planned funding models in the crisis. The District of Voitsberg expects to intensify the regeneration through the URBACT activities and the dialog with public and private stakeholders on new use concepts, interim use options and financial models for reengaging the initiative on the model sites. Furthermore Voitberg seeks to institutionalize a model of sustainable land management in tandem with the ambitious local targets of CO2 reduction. The main targets are oriented on sustainable City development by:  Creation of a modernized compact city  Economic transformation and the reuse of brownfields  Tourist development  Creation of a climate neutral city  Implementation of a platform for land management on the regional level All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform for discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations. The local support group members are  Amt der Steiermärkischen Landesregierung, Referat für Regionalentwicklung, Regionalplanung und RaumIS  Gemeindeverwaltung Bärnbach  Gemeindeverwaltung Köflach  Telepark Bärnbach  Regional Development Agency and Regional Management Voitsberg  Umweltbundesamt The local support group members will also get local companies:  Fa. Binder (Energy Systems)  GKB: (Mining Company)  Chamber of Commerce (regional level)

Additional contacts for specific inputs will held to  Chamber of Agriculture (regional level)  University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science  Regional Management Graz-Umgebung

Local actions

Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcomes

Compact City Enhancing the reuse of two centrally located brownfields Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention strategy and institutional structures for Voitsberg including a Köflach: regional industrial, manufacturing and service future industrial service strategy businesses as well as for facilities for education (former bicycle factory) Outcome: Reuse concepts on the pilot sites Bärnbach: regional industrial, manufacturing and service businesses and for facilities for education and recreation (Wienen-berger brick factory and former coal storage area)

Climate neutral city Using the potential of brownfields for energy production Outcome: Pilot project of biomass production in co-operation with European partners Housing improvement Outcome: Concept for integration housing regene-ration in the land cycle concept and institutional model

Intermunicipal Creating permanent personal and financial capacities for Outcome: Tests and development of a organization models management structure brownfield redevelopment and housing improvement (Agentur) including new financial models (e.g. based on strategies JESSICA) Outcome: Development of a financial instrument for the region (venture capital) Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020

5.4 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Jõhvi

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: City of Jöhvi Keskväljak 4 41595 Jöhvi Contact person: Rein Luuse [[email protected]]

Surface: 7,6 km² (Jõhvi) Inhabitants: 13023 (11272 in the city and 1751 in the semi-urban belt of Jõhvi) Administrative Unit: independent municipality

Area size of the region: 124 km² (city+surrounding villages) Terrain characteristics: In general flat besides artificial hills (mining & chemistry industry leftovers) Settlement in the region (district): Ida-Viru County Population: 168 600 inhabitants (9/10 of it‟s lives in the Jõhvi – Kohtla-Järve agglomeration) Population Density: 50 inh/km² Population Trend: decreasin

Introduction/Background Jõhvi is a rather small city by its inhabitance and territory. The settlements‟ history dates back to the year 1241, when a village called Jovi was mentioned in written chronicles. Jõhvi became a small town at 1919 and stands in the full “town-rights” since 1938. Jõhvi has been originally a regional market-site, centre for business & trade standing on a crossroad (centuries ago it was a crossroad on emperal post ways St. Petersburg to Riga and then to Central Europe. And the other road connected St. Petersburg via Jõhvi with Tallinn, biggest city in Estonia). During first decades of 20th century oil shale excavating started in Jõhvi surroundings, which was used as a raw material for different oil production. After WW II oil shale was also taken in use in electrical power plants and the boom of chemical and energy industry caused quick increase of population. Many mining and industrial settlements were founded in the area and Jõhvi became surrounded by conglomerate city of Kohtla-Järve. By now, lot of mines are empty/closed and hard industry is partly left only in different parts of Kohtla-Järve. Jõhvi is changing step-by-step being again mainly a trade & business & regional administrative centre. Still, numbers of brownfields from the industrial past are standing out of use in the edges of Jõhvi city. After 2005, when Jõhvi city and Jõhvi rural municipality joined administrately, brownfields in the city as well as in outskirts of Jõhvi are under joint attention – how to bring these lands back to use, how to reclaim these territories. Jõhvi municipality lies in Viru plateau, part of it in smaller Jõhvi upland in it. Absolute height is roughly between 40-60 meters. In general the landscape is flat besides artificial hills (mining & chemistry industry leftovers). Jõhvi is independent municipality in the heart of previous Kohtla-Järve conglomerate city. During the Soviet occupation all parts of the agglomeration were jointly governed (so-called North-Eastern Estonian oil-shale industry agglomeration). After the restauration of Estonian independence also the Jõhvi municipal independence was restored. At 2005 Jõhvi city and neighbouring Jõhvi rural municipality joined administratively, so by now it is kind of mixed municipality having mostly urban but also some rural stripes in it‟s temper. Although socio-economically it is all intensely connected with other parts of the recent Kohtla-Järve conglomerate city, which is nowadays devided between city of Kohtla-Järve with 44 492 inhabitants( city of Kiviõli 6606 inhabitants and city of Püssi 1802 inhabitants and Kohta-Nõmme municipality 1032 inhabitants). Jõhvi Municipal Council is a political decision-making body with 21 members. Last elections were in October 2009 and next elections will be at 2013. Council gathers regularly once in a month. Executive body is Jõhvi Municipal Government leaded by the mayor, who is elected by the council. In the government structure there is Development Department, which is also in charge of urban planning questions.

Picture 23: Images of Jõhvi

ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment The aid of ERDF has been used so far for example:  Interreg project “FinEst Business” 2006-2008 for joint marketing of Ida-Viru Industrial Parks (former brownfields), in collaboration with Finnish oversea partners (Jõhvi Municipality as a partner in project, Jõhvi Industrial Park Foundation as an end- beneficiary  Jõhvi city centre promenade, a measure in Estonian NDP “Development of Urban areas” – renewal of the light traffic (walkways, bicycle ways), renewal of city centre design (illumination, planting of greenery, design of central square). Implementation 2009-2012  Building the mine-water regulators to prevent overfloatings in the city, a measure in Estonian NDP interposited by State Fond of Environmental Investments (2007).

Key Challenges for Jõhvi As in Urbact the outputs could mainly be: "local action plans, case studies, policy recommendations, practical guidelines etc", then following topics would be good to work on:  Step 1: Case study on Kose “to be opened” quarry of oil shale and what happens after the closing of the quarry. The plot starts a few hundred meters from the border of Jõhvi (South-East direction) and is located in the territory of Jõhvi joint municipality. The land is owned mostly be the central government, but partly also to private owners (so far).  Step 2: Case study on Tammiku Heap. This stays a few hundred meters from Jõhvi city border (South-East direction) and out of use. One option is the gangue material to be used for making building material and a flat plot will remain (a good plot will remain to erect new industry or housing there). Other option is to keep the terracing as an “accent” in the landscape (which is flat in the neighbourhood). So the case study will work more precisely on future possibilities (whether to create there recreational facilities for people living in Jõhvi-Kohtla-Järve agglomeration).  Step 3: Large territories south from the town of Jõhvi (which belongs partly to the territory of Jõhvi municipality, partly Mäetaguse rural municipality) are mostly old and deserted underground mines. The last working mine in the neighbourhood will be closed in 4-5 years and if the pumping will stop, the lands are “returning” to be swamps. But this territory is close to the urban environment, infrastructure, the swamps would be the waste of land (1/5 of Estonia‟s territory is swamp). The project will work on strategies & recommendations of what to do next with this land and where should be avoided the overfloating.  Step 4: Ahtme-ash-plateau (oil shale ash originates from soon to be closed power plant). This lies in the Jõhvi-Kohtla-Järve agglomeration. The closing project intends to forest it. Project will work on future use of this forest (how to link this with the green belt).

Picture 24: view of kirde eesti, mäetaguse, lähemalt, peris lähedalt

Specific problems identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are  Update of the most recent future plans of the land use in above-mentioned objects (by present owners/developers);  to define the “0” scenarios, what happens if concerned party‟s will do only their minimal they obliged to do;  to define “+” scenarios, what can be achieved in case of appropriate interventions;  to define “-“ scenarios, what can happen in case of uncoordinated actions.

Picture 25: Images of Jõhvi

Expectations for the Urbact-Project and the local support group

Many mining and industrial settlements were founded in the area in and around Jõhvi. Now, most of the former mines are abandoned and Jõhvi is changing step-by-step being mainly a trade & business & regional administrative centre. So the expectations to BRING are to find future use options to numbers of brownfields from the industrial past. Because of the wide range of aspects of land management and brownfield development the BRING project will be the platform of discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations on new institutional options and specific site redevelopments.

The local support group are  Chairman of Jõhvi municipal council  Mayor of Jõhvi  Vice-mayor of Jõhvi, member of the board of the Foundation “Ida-Virumaa Industrial Areas”  Foundation “Ida-Virumaa Industrial Areas”, managing director  County couverner  Representative from the Minsitry of Ecomics and Communications  State Mining Company (AS Eesti Energia Kaevandused)  Representative from the Ministry of the Environment or State Land Bureau (under the ministry)  Estonian MP in EU Parliament  State Environmental Fund  Additional contacts for specific inputs  Representative from State Forest Bureau (as operators for state owned forests) and Kose new open pit will be partly in the territory  Tallinn Technical University  Estonian Academy of Life Sciences

Picture 26: Images of Jõhvi

Local actions All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform of discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations on new institutional options and specific site redevelopments.

Target Land management/brownfield activites BRING Outcomes

Jõhvi 2030 Regional Integration of past mining restrictions into the urban Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention capital with development integration geological safety for strategy and institutional structures for Joevi development in co-operation between municipalities.  attractive urban space Outcome: Two green management concepts Sites:  with new green belt Outcome: Workshop “Qualification” around  old mining areas (case “Tammiku” limestone deposit terricone – leftover of the Tammiku mine;  with stable city centre case “mine No 2” two burnt terricones)

 future mining (case Kose)

Cooperation (model) between municipalities Outcome: Proposals/options for future of FIVIA (www.ivia.ee)  old mining areas Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020  future mining

 regional green links  future use options for the power stations‟ ash plateau (case Ahtme)

5.5 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Murska-Sobota – DRAFT 3/10

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: City of Murska-Sobota Kardoševa 2, 9000 Murska Sobota Contact person: aleš skalič [[email protected]]

Inhabitants: 19.683 (2006) Administrative Unit: Region of Pomurje

Area size of the region: 1.337 km2 Terrain characteristics: flat landscape Settlement in the region (district): disperse

Introduction/Background The Region/City of Pomurje is situated in the North-east of Slovenia by the central stream of the river Mura extending to the boarders of Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Its relatively restrictived area of 1.337 km2 (6,6% of total Slovenia's total area) has about 122.198 inhabitants, which represents about 6,3 % of the total inhabitants of Slovenia. This region is one of 12 statistical regions in Slovenia. The Pomurje Region includes 27 municipalities and has no official regional government, but there is a Regional Council and Regional Development Program 2007-2013, which decides about many regional projects, guidelines, objectives, priories, etc. Murska Sobota with 19.683 (2006) inhabitants, is the 11th largest town in Slovenia and is the largest in the region. It is about 60 km from Maribor, 190 km from the capital city Ljubljana and 90 km from Graz (Austria). Thanks to its strategic location the Pomurje region is a cross-border region of four Countries (Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia). Every day Pomurje becomes more and more important in the economic and cultural development of the cross-border region. Murska Sobota is also the largest town in cross-border region. The geo-strategic position of the region and its place in the spirit-energy system of Slovenia and Europe is supporting the growing influence of Pomurje. A relatively clean and well-preserved environment is a basis for a nature oriented development. The City of Murska Sobota is the administration, business, social and cultural centre of the Pomurje region and a city on the cross-roads of four countries – Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.

ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment Project participation in “From Army to Entrepreneurship” (F.A.T.E.), Military Brownfields as an opportunity for South East Europe (South – East Europe programme). In recent years a large number of military brownfields have been dismantled because of changes in European security and defence policies. Some of these sites are in easily accessible, city-centre locations and have good infrastructure connecting them to surrounding areas. Rehabilitation of these brownfields is an important issue on the agenda of local authorities and private investors: by recovering the sites, green fields are preserved, sustainable urban development is supported and public owners can profit from the reuse. In addition, many regions present the improvement of entrepreneurial environmental competitiveness by supporting structures as Business Incubators or Business Support Centres. “F.A.T.E. is a project financed by the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme, whose aim is to develop economic growth through the conversion of military brownfields into Business Support Centres or Incubators in regions where the promotion of entrepreneurial spirit and the creation of innovative firms represent pivotal assets for the local economy and where the rehabilitation of military brownfields is a priority of the regional/local agenda. Regions and Partners are Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, Informest, Umbria Region (Italy), Regional Development Agency Mura, Municipality of Murska Sobota (Slovenia), Drama Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Municipality of Kavala (Greece), Pannon Novum West Transdanubian Regional Innovation, Zala County, Foundation for Enterprise Promotion (Hungary), Municipality of Gotse Delchev (Bulgaria), Research Centre for Building, Architecture and Urban Planning, Municipality of Medias (Romania), Regional Centre for the Development of SMEs and Entrepreneurship (Serbia), Sarajevo Economic Region Development (Bosnia Herzegovina).

Key Challenges for Murska Sobota Facing the ongoing economic restructuration, the City is challenged by:  Restructuring of industry (textile, food-processing, building)  Brain drain (challenges on the high school level, restructuring the secondary schools)  Brownfield location in the northern part of city – once mostly industrial places are intended to become residences and public (urban) programs (culture institutions, education, public services)  Insolvency as a result of decline of textile industry could lead to the Mura location becoming a possible brownfield site  City centre economy has moved on the city margins over the last two decades – leaving empty spaces in the centre (gaps in urban structure – market near bus station, Mercator site, empty shops on main street)

Picture 27: City centre and empty market near bus station

Picture 28: Military site, northern part of city and Mura textile industry

Military site

Northern part of the city

City centre

Empty market / bus station

Merkator site

Mura textile industry

Expectations and Local support group After the deep economic and social restructuration of the past decades, large greenfields developments and functionless land in the city centre Murska Sobota need new strategies to consolidate remaining land uses by developing the perspective for the city centre and limiting sprawl e.g. by green belt concepts. The BRING network offers a suitable platform for discussion at the local and national level (planning ministry, state landowner). Furthermore the composition of the Local Support Group will create synergies in the pilot project developments (state military site) to plan for the expected decline in the textile industry. The local group members are  City Departments for Planning and Economy,  Site Owners (State Ministry of Defence, Agriculture land fund)  Development Centre Murska Sobota Razvojni center Murska Sobota,  Regional development agency Mura Ltd.,  Območna obrtna zbornica Murska Sobota, Local Chamber of Crafts Murska Sobota,  Območna gospodarska zbornica za Pomurje, Local Chamber of commerce,  Enterprises: Mura d.d., Pomgrad d.d., Avtobusni promet d.d. etc

Additional contacts for specific inputs  Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs  Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia  ZZZS – Health insurance Institute of Slovenia  Employment service of Slovenia  JAPTI - Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments,  ZPIZ – Institute of pension and disability insurance of Slovenia,  Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Slovenia, Consular Department,  Working Group “Cultural Capital 2012”

Local action The main orientations are:  New strategic vision/new image  Creation of a modernized compact city  Economic transformation  Tourist development  Maintenance and support for commercial activities All aspects are strongly linked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform of discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations.

Target Land management/brownfield focus activities BRING Outcomes

New strategic vision/new Balanced Greenfield / Brownfield development and Outcome: Land policy strategy for Murska-Sobota image interim management including declining industries,

military sites and commercial locations specifically in

the northern area

Compact city Reuse of brownfiels in central locations for different Outcome: Development of a land data base profiles involving key public and private stakeholders Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention strategy and institutional structures , test on JESSICA applications for commercial locations in the city centre

Outcome: Pilot project developments (Merkator, city centre (private and public) Campus development/education Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020

Tourism/ Landscape/ Protecting natural landscape and agriculture Outcome: Concept of land management in a future “Green belt” natural heritage and Outcome: Proposal on a activity related to the Cultural Capital protecting agriculture 2011 (commercial brownfields)

5.6 URBACT Local Action Plan – City of Sosnowiec, Poland

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: Sosnowiec adress www.sosnowiec.pl Contact person: Dr. - Ing. Stanislaw Plesowicz, [email protected]

Surface: 91,26 km² Inhabitants: 219.500 Administrative Unit: Slaskie (Silesia)

Area size of the region: 12.300 km Terrain characteristics: industrial Settlement in the region (district): basin Population: 4,65 mln Poulation Density: 390 inh./km2 Population Trend: diminshing

Introduction/Background The Silesia region (voivodship) is situated in south part of Poland and consists of 19 cities 17 districts and 166 communities. It takes 12.334 square kilometers of area i.e. 3,9 % area of Poland, where live 4,65 mln inhabitants (12,6 % inhabitants of Poland). The Silesia voivodship has the fourteenth biggest area in Poland and is from the point of view of inhabitants the second biggest region. Density of population is equal to 397 person/square kilometres and is 3,2 times greater than average in Poland. This indicator is greatest in Poland. In industry and building sector is employed 805.800 person i.e. 42,1 % working person in this voivodship. The region is most degraded environmentally area in Poland and 24.000 ha of land is endangered by ground subsidence. Municipal areas in Silesia region takes 37,1 % of total area where live 3 900 000 person (i.e. 81,5 % of region). Regeneration and redevelopment of sites in cities and urban environment is the biggest environmental, economic and social problem particularly because in consequence of negative impact on environment of mining industry. The City of Sosnowiec – is one of the biggest and most important cities of the Silesian Voivodship. It has a population of more than 220.000. Recently the city has undergone a complete metamorphosis, changing from a typical industrial city dominated by coal mines and steelworks into a place of modern technologies. At present over 24 thousand companies operate in the city. It has also become a center of academic studies where 20 000 students get university education in different fields. The city has an excellent location; it is situated on the junction of road and railway transport routes and has an easy access to International Airports in Pyrzowice and Kraków–Balice. Sosnowiec is an open city, that is easy to reach and worth of investing in it.

ERDF-Involvement ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment are the Revitalization of the area of the former coalmine KWK “Sosnowiec” – stage I: reconstruction Kombajnistów Street, with territorial development in Sosnowiec stage II and the Adaptation of the post mining building for department of the Silesian University of Technology.

Picture 29: Images of Sosnowiec

Key Challenges for Sosnowiec The city of Sosnowiec is challenged by tackling the massive brownfield problems in urban locations in order to reach the target of transformation into a modern technology and a science city in the metropolitan area. Key problems are the:  high number of Brownfields from mining and metal industry  lack of information on the scale and nature of brownfields, specifically contamination information  coordination between state owned sites and regional/local activities  inadequate city infrastructure for coherent land developments  high cost of brownfield reclamation  management of natural vegetation on large post mining areas in city locations Specific support activities identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are:  the dialog between local and regional stakeholders and state land owners  cooperation between land owners, municipalities and scientific organizations on “Green Management Concepts”  collection of data and methodologies in order to improve the current “investment catalogue” towards a land information data base  support on PPP initiatives e.g. in relation with one JESSICA pilot project

Picture 30: Images of Sosnowiec – redevelopment brownfields

Picture 31: Sosnowiec – problem area 1

Picture 32: Sosnowiec – problem area 2

Expectations of the URBACT project and local support group Due to the mining history the development of the city of Sosnowiec is completely depended on urban restructuration and brownfield regeneration.

Given the target of city transformation towards a technological city BRING will support integrated urban concepts specifically for the management questions related to green management concepts on the 4 pilot areas. Furthermore the city will state the need to find stronger regional and European support for non-beneficial brownfield regeneration and will start under the URBACT moderation the dialog including the Silesian Mining Company.

The local support group members are:  Marshal office  City of Sosnowiec Departments of Planning, Economy and Environment  Mining Company  PIG  US  GIG  IETU  Regional Economic Agency

 Additional contacts for specific inputs Picture 33: Problem/Problem tree

Local actions The Sosnowiec development plan intends to transform the city into a modern technology and science city. The main orientations are:  The regeneration of the industrial and mining landscape  Monitoring of enterprise development and economic diversification and additional land offers for new economic activities  Adapting of technical infrastructure on future land development perspectives  Identification of adequate funding structures for different types of brownfields (A/B/C) All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies which will be exchanged on the national level with IRM and inside the BRING network. The BRING project will be the platform for discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations for the Management Authority for the whole Silesia region.

Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcomes

Technology and Science Reuse of brownfiels, interim uses, land cycle Outcome: Test application and revised land intervention strategy City basin management involving key public and private and institutional structures , test on JESSICA applications for stakeholder with focus on the mobilisation of public commercial locations in the city centre owned mining sites Outcome: ERDF proposals on 2014 – 2020 Improvement of the financial basis for the reclamation

of different categories of brownfields

Improving the quality of Local land acquisition and developments in partnership Outcome: Further qualification of land data registration and industrial, commercial with private sector management (“Investment Catalog”) and housing location and protecting agriculture

Improvement of the urban Development of permanent and temporal green space Outcome: Integrated green Management Concepts on pilot sites environment by creating a on Brownfield‟s and exchange on concepts: Green Outcome: Pilot concepts for 3 mining sites green infrastructure belt, Soil Alliance/NRW in the BRING partnership Outcome: Developing financial instruments for the renaturation of industrial land

5.7 Local Action Plan – NRW.URBAN, Germany

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: NRW Urban Karl-Harr-Str. 5 44263 Dortmund Contact person: Heyer, Rolf [[email protected]]

Introduction/General Information North Rhine-Westphalia, with more than 18 million people, is the most densely populated part of the 16 federal states of Germany. Based on a long tradition of immigration and integration there are today more than 2 million foreigners living in North Rhine-Westphalia (11 per cent of population). The local population density is 527 per square km. 30 of Germany‟s major cities line the Rhine and Ruhr valley. In the centre of North Rhine-Westphalia there is the Ruhr-Region, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe with over 5,2 million people. Formally dominated by the coal and steel industries, the region is focused today on new business in the service and high-tech sectors. The state is divided in 5 administrative districts: Düsseldorf, Köln, Arnsberg, Münster and Detmold. The greater cities are county-free, smaller cities and villages (total 396) are organized in districts (Kreise). For special administration there are special authorities e.g. for land use planning in the Ruhr Region the RVR (Regionalverband Ruhr). As one of the old-industrialised regions of Europe and Germany the state, especially Ruhr Region, Siegerland, Niederrhein and West- Münsterland, changed the structure of economic activity dramatically in the last 40 years. Since the early 60s the coal and iron base, the textile and clothing industries and also some other “traditional” industries have been in decline; the secondary sector in general lost its dominant position. Service industry, logistics, training and the tertiary sector generally is nowadays the leading economical sector. In the future the state will be characterized by a large demographic change; the state expects to have less people, more older people and larger international community. So in the coming years the state, particularly the Ruhr-Region will be the part of Germany, in which demographic

changes begins earlier and will be more dramatic. In the whole region are approximately 30.000 ha of brownfields are registers, 7.500 ha are located in the Ruhr area.14 The NRW.URBAN was bought from the land of North Rheine-Westfalia in 2008 through the privatization of the former land owner Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft (LEG NRW GmbH) which had traded under the name LEG Stadtentwicklung GmbH. The main business of this 100 % land-owned company is now the development, in a broad sense, of cities and townships and the facilitation of the structural change process. NRW.URBAN is engaged in master-planning, in the planning of street and waste water systems for new production zones, in the recycling of brownfields and in many other projects.

ERDF-Involvement in Land management and Brownfield redevelopment (“Property fund”/”Grundstücksfonds”) Public interventions in brownfield management over the last few decades have been focused on the “Grundstücksfonds” contracted between the state of NRW and the LEG/NRW.URBAN signed in 1980. The cities could apply for the integration purchase of derelict areas for the Property fund. They have to give an application to the regional authority (Bezirksregierung), in which they declare their targets for the development of the brownfields and commit to buy the areas needed for streets, open public spaces in order to fixed prices. It is important to mention that this process and development regulates work as an offer from the state government to its cities. The cities are integrated into the whole development process; they have to develop the masterplan, they have to decide to whom the developed plots are sold and they have to put their own money to the development. The NRW.URBAN is the project developer. The NRW.URBAN buys and sells the site and the plots, demolishes the buildings that are no longer needed, decontaminates the soil and the groundwater and manages the sites in the development period. Since 1987 it has been possible for the Ministry to charge the NRW.URBAN to develop a masterplan, a marketing concept and to build the waste and rain water system, streets, open green spaces and so on. Between 1980 and 2009 NRW.URBAN developed the Grundstücksfonds for more than 2 000 ha of brownfields in more than 100 cities and in more than 150 projects all over North Rhine-Westfalia. Nearly 50 projects are currently in development. Most of the developed areas have been sold to the private market and to the cities. The cities created new areas of open space on these sites to improve the overcrowded quarters created by their industrialized past. The private companies created new enterprises in these modern production zones; more than 3000 companies with more than 30 000 places of employment. Given the shortage of public funds the “Grundstücksfonds model” needs to be revised and new models for different kinds of brownfields and interventions, possibly based on a stronger revolving basis, need to be developed. In 2009 NWR.URBAN have examinated options like JESSICA. With its JESSICA-initiative the European Commission has triggered a discussion about the introduction of urban

14 IBOMA , 2005 :

development funds that are partly financed with EFRE funds. Ideally the funds transfer the Public-Private Partnership idea from the project to the financing level, whereby the banks, development agencies or specialized investment societies contribute to the provision of capital for a variety of urban development projects. Correspondingly many questions are unanswered or have not even been raised due to the lack of practical experience. While the construction of the funds will create few problems, it is presently open as to which projects of urban development are suitable for fund financing in which quantitative dimensions. Only when answers are available to this can a realistic appraisal of the future of urban development funds take place. On the other hand NRW.URBAN together with the BEG (Bahnflächenentwicklungsgesellschaft) and with three ministries (Building and Traffic, Economy, Ecology) developed the new idea of the “Flächenpool NRW”. This is a new strategic instrument to re-use the brownfields but to integrate the owners and users of the sites as well as the cities in this developing process. Not longer by buying the sites for the Grundstücksfonds, but to manage the process and to stimulate more private investment on the old sites. In 2010/2011 a pilot- phase for this new instrument together with 10 cities all over NRW, to test the new instrument and to improve it in a real time will begin. The result of these pilots will be introduced in the URBACT framework discussion and general model contracts could be extracted.

Picture 34: Images of NRW

Key Challenges for NRW – URBAN in the URBACT-Network In the "incrementalism" of the International Building Exhibition Emscher Park, which means planning through projects, an approach for the re-use of previously industrially used locations with contaminations was found which created flagship projects in the new federal states. From an overall perspective, punctual successes in land recycling can at most be presented as patches, and newly developed industrial and commercial areas on "green field sites" mark the ecological footprint of this failed land management policy. The current processes of decline in many regions of Germany require a new, strategic and regional management to deal with the increasingly patchwork-like settlement and open space structure beyond land management which is segmented in many places. Specific problems are  Ongoing green space utilization

 Demographic change  The shortage of public funding and The massive budget crisis in the cities  The rising number of miss- or un-used sites  The new challenges; retail and housing brownfields.

Expectations to the Urbact project and local support group The Land NRW strongly supports the implementation of the “Urban Dimension” through ERFD funding. Land management and brownfield regeneration is a key element of the strategy. Instruments like the “Grundstücksfonds” need to be adapted on new kinds of brownfiels created by the current crisis and demographic change. NRW-URBAN expect to establish the URBACT project as a “think tank” for innovative models specifically on portfolio management and funding instruments like JESSICA. URBACT will also be the “international window” for starting regional discussion on these topics (2 conferences) and the consequences for ERDF 20103+. Direct impacts on local practice are expected by the planned twinning imitative in the network. To integrate this discussion and experiences in the URBACT II project and in the discussion with the external partners will help us to improve our instruments and find new ideas but it will also give the foreign partners the opportunity to hear this strategy and to decide if it could be helpful for them in their brownfield development process. The local support group members are  Local Support Group – NRW.Urban  Management Authority  MBV  City Network “Flächenpool-Pilot study” of Arnsberg, Bergheim, Gladbeck, Herne, Kleve, Lüdenscheid, Minden, Nordwalde, Soest, Troisdorf  University of Bochum, Department of Geography and Technical University of Dortmund, Department of special planning  BEG (Bahnflächenentwicklungsgesellschaft)  Allianz für Fläche  UBA – Umweltbundesamt and ILS – Institut für Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung

Local action/activity In the URBACT framework, NRW.URBAN will develop integrated approaches and services to local brownfield management and support them at the policy and program level. All aspects are strongly liked to land management and brownfield policies. The BRING project will be the platform of discussion on the implementation of the strategic orientations.

Target Land management/brownfield focus URBACT/BRING Activity

Urban Policy Supporting public and private awareness in circular land Outcome: LSG and Country/ internal workshop concerning the improvement management policies with focus on new brownfield mitigation of urban sprawl and anticipated land management occurring from demographic change and territorial Outcome: Schema of land policies imbalance Outcome: Exchange with scientific institutions and input in the “Land Management University master 's course”

Program development “Flächenpool” Instrument for revitalising brownfields in Outcome: Institutional model for the context of urban develop- in land management cities ment and ERDF interventions with focus on the “Flächenpool” model and JESSICA initiatives, test in partner cities

Outcome: Initial analysis of ERDF fund use 2007-2013 for brownfield regeneration, recommendations for 2014-2020

Project improvement Contracts of cooperation with cities and private owners Outcome: Model Contract for agreements with owners

Brownfields Masterplan (“Werkplan-Brache”) based on Outcome: Direct project twinning Brownfield-atlas and area quick shot.

5.8 Activity Plan Etablissement public foncier- Nord-pas de Calais (EPF-NPC)

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: Etablissement public foncier Nord - Pas de Calais 17, rue Edouard Delesalle 59040 Lille Cedex Contact person: FLAMANT Colette ([email protected], + 33 328 36 15 77)

Introduction/General Information With almost 4 million inhabitants, Nord-Pas de Calais is the 4th most populated region in France. The industrial revolution in the region started during the Renaissance with the “right to make loth”. Industry entered a new stage during the 19th century with the extraction of coal, which spread to Pas de Calais in 1850. It attracted many industries that either produced goods required by coal mining, were highly energy consuming or used the products of coal mining (steel industry, carbochemistry, plastics, mechanical industry). It also induced strong urban growth. Until World War 2, Nord-Pas de Calais was the most industrialised region in France. It lost its rank soon after war, as the region‟s main industrial sectors, textile, coal, and steel, entered a period of difficulties. An important rescue plan was implemented on the national level and helped set up many factories (most notably the car industry). Today the region‟s economy is based on:  historical strengths: car and rail industries, agrobusiness and textiles,  more precisely technical textiles;  emerging sectors: biology and health, environmental industries, IT;  competitiveness centers (“pôles de compétitivité”) that bring together businesses with education and research facilities

In the course of half a century, the region‟s industry has been entirely renewed. These changes had deep social, environmental and economic consequences. The unemployment rate is high and industrialization also had severe environmental consequences. It is an 'artificial' region (the 2nd after Ile-de-France), with only 12% of its territory being natural spaces, as opposed to 38% on the national level. In 1990, 50% of the industrial brownfields and 15% of the polluted sites inventoried in France were located in Nord-Pas de Calais.

The “Etablissement public foncier” The Establishment was created by the Décret en Conseil d'Etat in 1990. It operates on the Nord-Pas de Calais territory to support local communities that wish to control their land resource and recycle their derelict spaces. Working upstream of the community's development project, the EPF purchases, redevelops, manages and finally sells to the community the property required carrying out the project. The state, local communities or any other public institution can benefit from land ownership by the EPF Nord-Pas-de Calais. The EPF's financing system, defined by its founding decree, is based on several types of resources including:  the Taxe Spéciale d'Equipement (the EPF's own specific resource)  the revenue created by sales  the participation of local communities  subsidies e.g. from the ERDF The agency's funds are allocated to four main kinds of expenses:  Land action makes up most of the agency's expenses (over the years, between 50 and 66% of operating expenditures). Operating expenditures are distributed on two items: Real estate purchase expenses and Land ownership expenses.  Rehabilitation works account for 20 to 40% of the EPF's total expenses. If a community requests it, the EPF redevelops sites to turn the purchased property into land assets ready for use. Redevelopment works, often preceded by in-depth environmental surveys, include demolition, earthworks, pollution cleanup and waste treatment.  Salaries make up about 5% of expenses.  Other expenses are related to organizational costs, the costs of surveys or services not budgeted for a specific operation but concerning the agency's general activity, financial costs, loan repayment and investment expenses.

Key Challenges for the Etablissement public foncier In the 20 years of its existence EPF Nord-Pas de Calais has amassed an impressive portfolio of successful interventions. Nevertheless the level of brownfields in the region remains high and new types of brownfields from housing estates, commercial sites and industrial relocations are coming up. Specific problems/challenges identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are:  Ongoing urban sprawl in the Nord-Pas de Calais region (2000 ha/2009)  Lack of land policy instruments for adaption and mitigation of the climatic change  Stock of long term brownfieds with physical handicaps and appearance of new types of brownfields  Growing social and economic imbalance at the regional scale and inside metropolitan areas  Lower investments by private real estate markets in urban brownfield locations due to the effects of the economic crisis  Uncertain mid- and long term perspective of financial and resources  Administrative handicaps

Expectations The EPF supports the BRING project in the continuity of long term international networking since the 90s and expects further benefits on the exchange of project practice and financial instrument. Furthermore EPF presents to the partners this institutional and financial organization as an example and will support the national and European discussion on anticipated land management as public duty.

Local action/activity

Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcomes

Urban policy Intensifying the role of EPF as animator and moderator of Outcome: LSG and Country/ internal workshop concerning the improvement land cycle management and brownfiled regeneration to mitigation of urban sprawl and anticipated land management support sustainable city development, limitation of urban Outcome: Developing Strategic orientations of EPF 2020 in the sprawl and mitigation/adaption of climate change URBACT partnership network and European decision makers

Outcome: Schema of land policies in France in the context of urban development and ERDF interventions

Outcome: Policy paper 2010 (20 years EPF)

Program development Adoption of regional, national and European programs to Outcome: Institutional model the context of urban development in land management the new brownfield challenges and ERDF interventions with focus on the “EPF” model, Test in partner cities Diversification for financial resources for land interventions e.g. by adopting the new financial instruments JESSICA Outcome: Implementation of the Intervention methodology as a revolving system based on A/B/C types on EPF-France

Outcome: Initial analysis of the use of ERDF fund 2007 – 2013 for brownfield regeneration and recommendations for 2013+

Outcome: Position on the “General interest of land intervention” in the European Union

Project improvement Importance of public interventions in regeneration Outcome: Effective use of ERDF fund 2007 – 2013 (pilot actions) and orientations for 2014 – 2020

5.9 Activity Plan Krakow Instytut Rozwoju Miast (IRM)

URBACT project partner/contact details:

Contact: Krakow Instytut Rozwoju Miast (Institute of Urban Development) Cieszyńska Street 2 30-015 Kraków, POLAND http://irm.krakow.pl Contact person: Aldo Vargas ([email protected], +4812 6338572 ext 61)

Introduction/Background The Republic of Poland with 38 million of inhabitants and an area of 322 000 square kms is one of the biggest countries to have joined the European Union. The processes of socio-economical development of the country during the four decades after 1945 were undergoing in socialist economy and resulted in several major problems which become clearly visible together with the start of the transformation towards market economy. Amongst them a few challenges seem to be of a vital importance as far as the brownfield regeneration phenomena is concerned. Firstly, the rapid growth of the industrial sector along with the restructuring trends in industry ended in estimated min. 24 000 square kms of post-industrial urban areas in 2007. The pattern of spatial distribution of these areas shows that they can potentially play important role in the processes of renewal of some old industrial districts whose growth used to be based to a great extent on heavy industry, including mining and metallurgy and labor intense light industries. Consequently, Polish cities are also a major location of industrial waste dumping sites. 12 cities contain half of the total industrial waste dumping sites in Poland. The development of big scale socialist housing estates, although seeming necessary with the scale of urbanization processes which were generated during the socialist era, created another space which is in the need of revitalization with an area of ca. 15 000 square kms. That part of the brownfield areas is a much less vital part of the regeneration agenda than it was supposed to be according to many studies. Approximately the same area of 15 000 square kilometres needs revitalization due to misuse by Polish railway transport companies within Polis cities.

The last group of brownfields are various former military areas which were used in Warsaw Pact structures, by both domestic (People‟s‟ Polish Army) and foreign (Red Army) armies. That includes more than 35 airfields formerly used for military purposes, tens of garrisons and others. Nevertheless, most of the areas found new functions but the minimum estimate of post military area in the need of regeneration in Polish urban areas is as high as 4 000 square kms. Excluding areas of city centres which were identified in IRM‟s research projects as half of the area in the need of regeneration, all of the mentioned above concentrates area of at least 60 000 square kms of Polish urban space. Reuse of just a part of that amount of land can be highly beneficial for the Polish economy, which nowadays attracts substantial number of direct investment form overseas, most of which prefers greenfields sites. The missing instruments of revitalization at both the regional and local scale can alter that trend into the direction of brownfields regeneration, optimizing the process of land use in Poland. The Institute of Urban Development at Krakow (IRM – Instytut Rozwoju Miast) was established as a result of restructuring of the science and research sector in Poland. Its legacy is rich in tradition and achievements in the areas of research and implementation of research results obtained in spatial planning, land use and land management, revitalisation, environment protection, housing and real estate market. In its present format, the Institute is a unique research and development institution in Poland, which handles, in a comprehensive way, the issues of urban development. The Institute's personal is composed of 70 people constituting an interdisciplinary team of research and technical staff from the following areas: urban planning, spatial planning, architecture, geography, law, economy, biology, civil engineering, transportation, computer science, organisation and management. The output of the Institute during last 5 years can be summarized as follows: accomplishment of ca. 40 research tasks annually, more than 200 projects in the field of spatial planning and environmental protection, 15 training projects in the fields of spatial planning and housing, attended by 400 participants, trainings programmes for Polish and foreign students, many publications (quarterly research reports, guidelines, articles). The Institute has actively participated in international programmes of the European Union, related to urban renewal (projects: SURE, ReUrban Mobil, CoUrbiT), European urban and metropolitan development (projects: REPUS, PolyMETREX, lnterMETREX, Knowledge Networks), development of settlement networks and transportation systems (projects: PlaNet CenSE, Carpathian Project), as well as provision of affordable housing (project: COOP). Since 2007 the institute is a centre where the largest research and analysis on Urban Regeneration in Poland is carried out.  During the period of 2007- 2010 the Institute was involved in a research project commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Science: “Regeneration of cities as a means of preserving of the substantial and spiritual heritage and a factor of sustainable development” founded to a level 3 000 000 PLN. This project is realised in a consortium in which are included the Jagiellonian University, The Warsaw School of Economics and the Regeneration Forum Association.  The elaboration of Local Regeneration Plans for cities requires the elaboration of Environmental Impact Assessments. In the Institute of Urban Development there is a specialised group, exclusively dedicated to the preparation of such studies.  City Audit SCD PL (sub-city districts). Basing on spatial analysis tools of the ArcGIS family, a new method of analysis of the inner city diversity of social, economical and spatial phenomena and processes has been elaborated in the Institute.

 Method of evaluation of the revitalisation projects: Institute of Urban Development (in cooperation with company Expanse) was responsible in the framework of EU URBACT House-Es project 2007 for preparation of the Qualitative Assessment Technology for the evaluation of the revitalisation projects.

Key Challenges Specific problems/challenges identified in the first Local Action Group meeting are:  Ongoing urban sprawl in Poland as a result of rapid urbanization and reaction to earlier political and economic restrictions.  Stock of long term brownfied with physical handicaps, appearance of new types of brownfields (post-military, post-railway land)  Lack of instruments and regulations for circular land management and brownfield regeneration.  Lack of strategic approach in the regional scale.  Lack of good examples of public – private partnership and decreasing scale of private investments in brownfield regeneration.  Uncertain mid- and long term perspective of financial resources (both public and private).  Administrative handicaps.

Expectations for the Urbact-Project and local support group IRM is a key stakeholder for promoting the urban dimension in Poland and the national contact point for URBACT. By being actively involved in the BRING partnership ERM expects innovative proposals toward the national discussion on urban brownfields as well as program proposals for ERDF 2013+. The Local Support Group members are:  Institute of Urban Development  Silesian Marshal Office, Regional Development Department (with the City of Sosnowiec)  Scientific partners: GIG, IETU  Ministry of Regional Development/Environment/Infrastructure  Polish Association of the Developers  Association of Polish Cities

 Silesian Union of Municipalities and Districts  PARP – Polish Agency for Enterprise Development  Katowice Special Economy Zone  Wojewodzki Urzad Pracy (Work Office)  MARR - Malopolska Agency of Regional Development  Local action/activity

Target Land management/brownfield focus URBACT/BRING Activity

Urban policy Development of strategies on urban sprawl Outcome: LSG and Country/ internal workshop concerning the improvement mitigation of urban sprawl and anticipated land management Integrating brownfield into ERDF orientations Outcome: Review of land policies in Poland in the context of urban development Outcome: Schema of land policies of all partners in the context of urban development and ERDF interventions Outcome: BRING final publication

Program development Adoption of regional, national and European programs Outcome: Review of successful brownfield regeneration projects in land management to the new brownfield challenges in Poland. Mobilising private financial resources Outcome: Adoption of the method of evaluation for brownfield regeneration projects. Outcome: Review of the new financial instruments JESSICA initially implemented in a two voivodships in Poland. Outcome: Module on professional formation - Summer school or Summer workshop

Project improvement Importance of public interventions in regeneration Outcome: Initial analysis of the use of ERDF fund 2007 – 2013 for brownfield regeneration and recommendations for 2014 – 2020 for Silesia voivodship.

6. Conclusions and Work Program

6.1 Conclusions

The BRING baseline study results illustrate that brownfield related topics still remain on a high level in European cities and the current economic and financial crisis has led to considerable problems including the growth of a new generation of brownfields from commerce, housing, infrastructure and the tourist sector. The financial crisis has fundamentally changed the environment for private and public interventments, many project developments have been stopped or delayed. Since the 80s the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and related community initiatives have represented the main funding instrument used for the reclamation of brownfields . Despite significant financial support and numerous successful projects the brownfield stock still remains on a high level (even in western European industrial regions) and a coherent “system” approach to a European strategy in accordance with the principles of additionality and subsidiarity is still missing. The BRING partnership agreed that the management of the land resource by the property and land markets should be regulated and accompanied by a clearly identified and transparent public policy. The common motives of the network partners are:  The engagement in new strategies for land cycle management and the recycling of degraded and polluted areas, whether they are of an industrial, urban, commercial, military or even agricultural origin.  The improvement and dissemination of best practice in land management and the recycling of brownfields as an indispensable component of a strategy of economic management of the rare resource that land constitutes today.  The contribution to the sustainable development of the European territories through the management of the water resource and the fight against global warming by the management of the land resource. BRING proposes to partly involve 6 cities and 3 institutional partners with long term experience in upcoming brownfield problems. The common goal of the thematic network is to formulate new integrated policy approaches tocounter the effects of the current economic crisis on brownfields including the need to develop instrumentsfor anticipated land management. The urban focus will be on both redevelopment and “green” options taking into account the lack of private markets in disadvantage areas. The work program is based on the detailed analysis of brownfield problems at the European level, typologies, regional and national data on land and a common analytical approach by the A/B/C model.

6.2 Challenges and expectations

Key challenges for all BRING partners are to stimulate the regeneration of brownfields at numerous levels  to improve urban quality of life in their cities.  to enhance urban competitiveness by mobilising vacant land.  to reduce urban sprawl. The conditions in which we face this challenge have been significantly changed by the effects of the financial crisis, delaying or even terminating many brownfield project developments by the private sector. Public interventions are still limited to small financial resources and are facing further cuts in public budgets in the future. At the same time the BRING City partners face the ongoing economic restructurating of remaining brownfields from the “first generation” like the ship building industry and underused harbor areas (Dunkerque), ongoing industrial restructurating and derelict sites from mining (Sosnowiec, Joevi, Bärnbach), textile and automotive industries (Murska-Sobota, Asti) and railway infrastructure (all cities). New brownfields from housing, social and cultural infrastructure and commerce are created and accelerated by demographic change. (Asti, Murska-Sobota, Dunkerque and North Rhein-Westphalia) . The expectations of the city partners are the exchange of good practice and development of new institutional models taking into account the needs of:  economic diversification and modernization through brownfield redevelopment (e.g. “Technology City/Sosnowiec, Compact City/Dunkerque)  better concepts for the reclamation of former mining areas (Sosnowiec, Joevi) also from the perspective of long term maintenance (Bärnbach) and the management of natural vegetation on large post mining areas in city locations (e.g. for biomass production).  concepts to organize land interventions in the housing sector mainly in constructions from the post war period. Remediation and social coherence are challenged by urban sprawl and “green field” completion on individual houses in the sub-region (Dunkerque, Sosnowiec, Asti, Murska-Sobota)  revitilisation of commercial brownfields (Grayfields) to enhance the center of the cities (Murska-Sobota, Dunkerque, Asti). The institutional partners IRM/Poland, EPF-NPC/France and NRW-URBAN/Germany strongly support the implementation of the “Urban dimension” through ERFD funding. Land management and brownfield regeneration is a key element of their own activities and in the case of Nord-Pas de Calais and North Rhein-Westphalia, of the active land intervention instruments challenged by the reduced public budgets and EU completion policy. Current instruments like the EPF-model and the “Grundstücksfonds” needs to be revised at the European level and adapted to the new kinds of brownfields created by the current crisis. EPF, IRM and NRW-URBAN expect to establish the URBACT project as a think-tank for innovative models specifically on portfolio management and funding instruments like JESSICA. URBACT will

also be the “international window” for the regional discussion and the consequences for ERDF 20103+. From the regional and national perspective of the institutional partners the challanges are :  ongoing green space utilization in NPC NRW and Silesia.  the new challenges brought by upcoming demographic change: retail and housing brownfields.  the shortage of public funding and questions of past national funding and European co-funding structures as the future of instruments like the “Grundstücksfonds” link to the massive budget crisis in the cities.  the rising number of miss-used or un-used sites.  lack of land policy instruments for adaption to and mitigation of climatic change .  growing social and economic imbalance at the regional scale and inside metropolitan areas.  lack of instruments and regulations for circular land management and brownfield regeneration.  Furthermore EPF presents to the partners its institutional and financial organization as an example and will support the national and European discussion on anticipated land management as a public duty. IRM is a key stakeholder in the promotion of the urban dimension in Poland and is the national contact point for URBACT. By being actively involved in the BRING partnership IRM will to be able to provide innovative proposals toward the national discussion on urban brownfields as well as program proposals for ERDF 2013+.

Picture 35: Urbact day in Dunkerque

6.3 Work program

Principles and concept The principles of the proposed work program must  find common terminologies, conceptual models and understanding of problems.  integrate the state-of-the-art into Europe.  combine project related discussions with the discussion on instruments in the framework of the “Circular Land Cycle Concept”.  bundle instruments for local action plans by the partners.  propose institutional reforms on anticipated land management in the regional and national context.  finalise policy relevant recommendation including ERDF 2013+. The 3 year work programme started with the development phase and a meeting in Dunkerque defining common terminologies, conceptual models and understanding of problems in integrating the state-of-the-art in brownfield regeneration in Europe. The concept of the implementation phase is based on the interaction between the activities of city partners and institutional network members. Cities will focus on urban concepts for integrated brownfield governance in selected areas by taking into account the principles of circular land management. In the designated urban areas the city partners will analyse current planning documents and masterplans, relevant brownfield areas and private land markets and prepare a “land interventions strategy” based on a common methodology. As output of the development phases all partners have developed local action plans taking into account the common methodological elements of the BRING partnership. The LAPs have been integrated into two general workplans for city/institutional partners. (see picture below). The network proposes 4 thematic seminars and one final conference to include all management authorities. Using this BRING concept methodology will be based on the interaction between:  empirical work on the city level, classification on the A/B/C model  conceptual work on instruments and institutional models by the institutional partners  multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective work on scenarios for the implementation on instruments in all cites  final proposals for future brownfield strategies and institutional options in all cites  general recommendations on ERDF orientations

Picture 36: concept of work program

Detailed issues comprise of:

 the transfer of innovative knowledge and good practice between cities with the aim of strengthening local policies for revitalization and development of new landscapes including renewable energies in post-industrial areas  the exchange of experiences and sharing know-how among local authorities in the participant cities to enhance social and economic development and to increase their agility in the planning process (round table approach)  the shift of the policy approach away from solving individual brownfield and environmental problems to integrating management and recycling brownfield areas on a regional scale

Targets, activities and outcomes -Cities

BRING Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcomes and Pilot projects

Renewal of Brownfields as Reuse of brownfields, interim uses, land Outcome 1: Land intervention strategies for the designated areas (all coherent part of integrated cycle management involving key public and Cities) urban regeneration private stakeholders (Dunkerque-Intensive City, housing strategy, East Asti 2020, Northern Co-operation inter-municipalities development in Murska-Sobota) based on the general analysis (Local plans, brownfields,A/B/C-Scheme)

Economic diversification/ Mobilising land for different profiles of Outcome 2: Profiling specific sites for reuse, support to housing and economic uses and housing (social mix) Lead: Murska-Sobota commercial activities in Cities by land offers on Pilot strategies Dunkerque, City of Köflach (former bicycle factory) City brownfields of Bärnbach: Wienenberger brick factory and former coal storage area), Industrial service strategy, Murska-Sobota (Campus), Asti (WSSAuto)

Natural and Urban Recutivation of Brownfields towards forest, Outcome 3: Integrated green Management Concepts on pilot sites/city landscape qualification by green infrastructure and agricultural land areas) brownfield regeneration Lead: Sosnowice (Green Belt, touristic development, landscape/ Concepts in Joevi, Sosnowice, Bärnbach natural heritage, regional Outcome 4: Positions on biomass production, new forest developments agriculture) Lead: Bärnbach

BRING Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcomes and Pilot projects

Local and regional Instruments

Spatial information Reuse of brownfiels, interim uses, land cycle Outcome 5: Lead Joevi/Sosnowiec/Asti management management involving key public and private Conceptual Proposal of land data management in/for municipalities stakeholder Conceptual Proposal of an “Investment Catalogue”

Conceptual Proposal on “Round table approach‟” Local land acquisition and developments in partnership with private sector

Institutional framework Institutional instruments for land cycle Outcome 6: Institutional Models management including innovative funding All Cities (Lead EPF/NRW-URBAN) instruments (Jessica, Venture Capital, Foundations.) Six institutional Models and scenario applications in all cities Co-operation with state owned companies on Model contract with public owners derelict or underused areas with existing

infrastructure (mining, SNCF, harbours)

Environmental regulations Integration environmental regulations and Outcome 7: Position paper based on the pilot activity in Italy, site of Way funding into brownfield regeneration Assauto Lead: Asti

ERDF funding 2013+ Anticipated land management as part of the Outcome 8: ERDF/proposal OP-level and project level 20103+, all Urban dimension Partners:

Targets, activities and outcomes –Institutional partners

BRING Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcome and pilot activities

Urban land policy Supporting alliances against urban sprawl Outcome: Three LSG and Country/ internal workshop concerning the improvement mitigation of urban sprawl and anticipated land management (EPF, IRM, NRW-URBAN) Supporting public and private awareness in Outcome: Schema of land policies of all partners in the context of urban circular land management policies development and ERDF interventions ERDF orientations on brownfields/ relation Outcome: Developing Strategic orientations of EPF 2020 in the between land interventions/coherence URBACT partnership network and European decision makers territorial and social Outcome: Position on the “General interest of land intervention” in the European Union Open the focus on new brownfield occurring Outcome: BRING inputs in the URBACT conferences and scientific from demographic change and territorial networks imbalances

Program development in Adoption of regional, national and European Outcome: Review of innovative brownfield regeneration programs and land management programs to anticipated land management institutions (Poland, Estonia) Lead: IRM Adoption of regional, national and European Outcome: Intervention methodology based on A/B/C types, contractual programs to the new brownfield challenges models and mobilising private financial resources Outcome: 3 institutional and funding models for test applications by the

city partners including new financial instruments JESSICA, Flächenpool, Venture Capital funds) as a revolving system (EPF, IRM, NRW-URBAN) Finding Financial resources e.g. by the Outcome: Documentation/scenarios on institutional models in partner instrument of Flächenpool” for revitalising cities (all partners) brownfields in cities

Project improvement Setting priorities for ERDF and other public Outcome: Initial analysis of the use of ERDF fund 2007 – 2013 for interventions in regeneration and brownfield brownfield regeneration and recommendations for 2014 – 2020 regeneration based on the ABC-model

BRING Target Land management/brownfield activities BRING Outcome and pilot activities

Contracts of cooperation with cities and Outcome: Model Contract for agreements with owners private owners Lead: NRW-URBAN

Training/dissemination Outcome: Exchange with scientific institutions and input in the “Land Management master course” and Direct project twinning Lead: NRW-URBAN

Local support Group activities Each project partner had set up with the initial meetings the URBACT Local Support Group (ULSG). The participants are designated in the local profiles in general representing the city departments, landowner, and private and mixed sector stakeholders to oversee (8-12 members):  the production of input for exchange & learning activities in the pilot areas  the production of the Local Action Plan by moderated “mini-Zopp” sessions  the final composition of the ULSG, additional non-permanent members, and local work priorities  In the implementation phase the ULSG of the cities will be involved  in the final selection of the designated pilot area  development of a partnership declaration for the BRING activities  in a cohere stakeholder analysis for the area  in the development of the local strategies and action plans  evaluation of the proposed institutional models Members of ULSG will have 2 regular meetings in the year and selected members will be invited the international workshops. Specific focus will be put on the involvement of private partners having a key role in the local action and proposed institutional models targeting on complementary land intervention to the private sector. ULSG in France and Poland preparing common meetings in order to discuss national frameworks on brownfield policies.

Involvement of Management Authorities The Managing Authorities (MA) of Operational Programmes have partly initiated the project, all MA have been involved in the preparation of the work program. The MA are members of the local support groups. Given the timeline of the BRING thematic network the outcomes are highly relevant for the regional, national and European discussion on urban development policies related to the urban land management/brownfield topic for 2013+. City partners will evaluate the funding potential for projects on local brownfields. In interaction with the Management Authorities all BRING partners will prepare proposals on land policies for all future regional operational programs in the partnership. The final presentation and discussion is planned for a common workshop with members of the MA and a committee of regions invited by the Michelle Delebare, Communautee Urbain de Dunkerque (dedicated budget line).

7. Literature

Auswärtiges Amt der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: The Leipzig Charta, www. eu2007.de Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR): Perspektive Flächenkreislaufwirtschaft. Theoretische Grundlagen und Planspielkonzeption. Band 1 der Sonderveröffentlichungsreihe zum ExWoSt - Forschungsfeld "Fläche im Kreis", Bearb.: Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik u.a., Preuß, Thomas u.a.; BBR, Dosch, Fabian u.a, Bonn 2006. Bunzel, Arno und Thomas Preuß: Planspiel als Methode der Strategieentwicklung, in: Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR) (Hrsg.): ExWoSt-Informationen Nr. 25/2 „Fläche im Kreis“, Bonn 2005, S, 26–27. CABERNET (Concerted Action on Brownfield and Economic Regeneration Network): homepage information, www.cabernet.org.uk. 2006 Deutsche Bundesregierung: Perspektiven für Deutschland – Unsere Strategie für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung. Fortschrittsbericht zur Nationalen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie, Berlin 2004. European Commission: Urban Audit, www. urbanaudit.org European Environment Agency, European Commission: Urban Sprawl – an ignored challenge, 2006 Murska Sobota: Info Pack. December 2007. Preuß, Thomas and Uwe Ferber: Circular Flow Land Use Management: New Strategic, Planning and Instrumental Approaches for Mobilisation of Brownfields, Difu-Reihe Occasional Papers, Berlin 2006. The National Housing and Regeneration Agency: Previously developed land that may be available for development. Results from the 2008 National Land Use Database of Previously-Developed Land in England http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/public/documents/