Onderzoek Dat in Deze Publicatie Gepresenteerd Wordt, Is Uitgevoerd Door De Deelnemende Studenten in De Maanden Voor En Na Onze Studiereis

STUDYTRIP 2016 Colophon

Studytrip 2016 Napublicatie Studytrip 2016 Londen, Vancouver, San Francisco

BOSS Students MSc Management in the Built Environment Delft University of Technology

Cabinet 02.West.610 Juliananalaan 134 2628 BL Delft www.bosstudelft.nl [email protected]

Redacteur Liesbeth van Walsum

Auteurs Studytrip commissie 2016 Studytrip deelnemers 2016 Erwin Heurkens Peter de Jong

Sponsors Technische Universiteit Delft BOSS praktijkvereniging Bouwen met Staal ABC Nova Syntrus Achmea Universiteitsfonds Delft Stylosfonds

Omslag Britse, Canadese en Amerikaanse vlag bij het ‘Perrys Victory and Inter- national Peace Memorial’ Mike Bader fotografie

Afbeeldingen, foto’s en illu- traties Alle afbeeldingen, foto’s en illustra- ties van deze publicatie waar geen bron bij vermeld staat, zijn afkomstig van BOSS.

Copyright Deze publicatie mag, met bron- en auteursvermelding, ten dele gekopieerd worden voor educatieve doeleinden. Vermenigvuldiging met andere intenties is alleen toegestaan met toestemming van de organisatie van de BOSS Studytrip 2016.

2 STUDYTRIP Londen Vancouver 2016 San Francisco VOORWOORD Geschreven door Tine Nientker, verantwoordelijk voor de planning van het programma

Londen. Vancouver. San Francisco - drie wereldsteden die bekend staan als goed ontwikkelde, diverse, populaire en continu groeiende steden. Maar waarom waren deze drie steden voor ons nou zo interessant om te bezoeken? De reden is heel simpel: er kan veel geleerd worden van de stedelijke projecten.

Naast alle positieve ontwikkelingen hebben Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco ook te maken met een probleem. De steden worstelen alle drie met snel stijgende huizenprijzen, die niet meer in verhouding staan met de gemiddelde inkomens. Daarnaast is de stedelijke herontwikkeling constant aan het veranderen. De veranderingen die op dit moment in Nederland opkomend zijn, spelen al langer en op een veel grotere schaal in wereldsteden als Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco. Een ander economisch model maakt die grotere schaal mogelijk. Maar wat kunnen wij hier van leren?

Het onderzoek dat in deze publicatie gepresenteerd wordt, is uitgevoerd door de deelnemende studenten in de maanden voor en na onze studiereis. Aangezien het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Canada en de Verenigde Staten alle drie een (deel van) het Angelsaksisch economisch model bevatten, wat contrasterend is met het Rijnlandse model dat wij in Nederland kennen, ligt de focus van het onderzoek op de verschillen tussen beide economische modellen. Het eerste deel van het onderzoek behandeld het thema ‘Urban Redevelopments' en vergelijkt de verschillende manieren waarop de stedelijke ontwikkelingen in Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco begeleid worden. Dit schetst een duidelijk beeld van het Angelsaksische model als onderdeel van de vastgoedwereld en zo kan worden ontdekt of bepaalde aspecten ook toegepast zouden moeten worden in Nederland. Het tweede onderzoeksthema is ‘Housing Inaffordability’. Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco kampen momenteel alle drie met een overschot aan onbetaalbare woonruimte, wat sociale uitsluiting van de lagere- en middenklassen tot gevolg heeft. Aangezien Amsterdam dezelfde kant op lijkt te gaan, zullen de drivers en effecten van, maar ook de mogelijke antwoorden op deze transitie worden vergeleken met de Nederlandse situatie.

Namens de Study Trip commissie 2016 wil ik iedereen die iets aan deze napublicatie heeft bijgedragen en de reis mogelijk heeft gemaakt ontzettend bedanken. Wij hebben het heel erg naar ons zin gehad en hebben veel geleerd het afgelopen jaar!

Veel leesplezier!

4 INHOUDSOPGAVE

• Introductie 6

• Sponsors 7

• Commissie 8

• Deelnemers 9

• Introductie onderzoek 11

• Urban redevelopments 12

• Housing inaffordability 60

• Bronnen 95

• Nawoord 102

5 INTRODUCTIE Geschreven door Liesbeth van Walsum, verantwoordelijk voor het onderzoek

Bij deze versie van de napublicatie ligt de focus op het onderzoek. Dit onderzoek heeft een belangrijke rol gespeeld tijdens de BOSS Study Trip 2016 en werd dan ook als rode draad gebruikt bij het opstellen van het programma.

Voordat dat onderzoek uitgebreid aan bod komt, zullen eerst de sponsors die dit allemaal mogelijk hebben gemaakt worden beschreven. Vervolgens zal de Study Trip commissie 2016 worden voorgesteld, gevolgd door de docenten en studenten die aan de reis hebben deelgenomen.

Het grootste deel van dit boekje bestaat tenslotte uit het onderzoek, dat verdeeld is over twee relevante onderwerpen: Anglo-Saxon Urban Redevelopment practices en Housing Inaffordability. De verdiepende studies die voorafgaand aan de reis zijn gedaan worden beschreven, aangevuld door onze bevindingen van tijdens de reis.

6 SPONSORS

De TU Delft komt voort uit een Koninklijke Akademie die op 8 januari 1842 is opgericht. Tegenwoordig is dit de grootste en oudste openbare technische universiteit van Nederland. Acht faculteiten en talrijke onderzoeksinstituten bieden een plek aan 19.000 studenten, ruim 3.300 wetenschappers en meer dan 2.200 man als ondersteunend en beheerspersoneel. BOSS (Building Organisation Student Society) is in 1993 door studenten opgericht als praktijkvereniging van de afdeling Management in the Built Environment aan de TU Delft. Het hoofddoel van de vereniging is het bevorderen van het contact tussen studenten en de praktijk. BOSS organiseert tal van nationale en internationale activiteiten om hier vorm aan te geven. Bouwen met Staal is actief in promotie, advies en voorlichting, kennisoverdracht en onderzoek voor het gebruik van staal in de bouw. De activiteiten zijn voornamelijk toegesneden op de toepassingsgebieden industriebouw, utiliteitsbouw, woningbouw en infrastructuur. ABC Nova is een integraal adviesbureau op het ge- bied van ruimtelijke en bouwkundige projecten. Ondersteund door eigen specialisten, verstaan de projecten procesmanagers de kunst om het gehele proces van initiatief- definitie en ontwerpfase tot en met realisatie en nazorg in beweging te krijgen en te houden. Syntrus Achmea is een gespecialiseerde vermogens- beheerder in vastgoed en hypotheken. Zij beleggen, financieren en ontwikkelen vastgoed ten behoeve van beleggingsportefeuilles van Nederlandse pensioen- fondsen, verzekeraars en charitatieve instellingen. Daarbij wordt gezocht naar interactie tussen de financiële en de maatschappelijke meerwaarde. Om studenten de kans te geven te excelleren, biedt het Universiteitsfonds Delft ondersteuning bij de ont- wikkeling van aanvullende onderwijsprogramma’s en pilots. Dankzij bijdragen van alumni en anderen die zich betrokken voelen bij de universiteit worden in- spirerende projecten gerealiseerd en krijgt talent de kans om uit te blinken. Het Stylos Fonds vervult sinds 1984 een vliegwiel- functie ter stimulering van de initiatieven van en voor studenten van de Faculteit Bouwkunde TU Delft. Zij doet dit onder andere door het verstrekken van subsidies en renteloze voorschotten, ideeën en advies. Ook heeft het bestuur vele contacten die kunnen helpen bij de organisatie van het evenement.

7 IMG_9439 (1).jpg https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3JwcYRjMtEXMUF1SnRK... STUDY TRIP COMMISSIE 2016

(van links naar rechts)

Hans Trip Programma Liesbeth van Walsum Onderzoek Lisa Kuijpers Voorzitter Wouter Disseldorp Penningmeester Tine Nientker Programma

1 van 1 4-5-2016 10:07 DEELNEMERS

Erwin Heurkens Peter de Jong

Lisa Kuijpers Tine Nientker Liesbeth v. Walsum Wouter Disseldorp Hans Trip

Joost Nieuwenburg Sander Rovers Nick van Assendelft Sanne Harmsen Sarah Heemskerk

Huub van Manen Rowie Huijbregts Thysia Kleijwegt Imardo de Blok Eva de Biase

Sybren Geldof Marieke Slits Tymen Reijnders Nynke Wertenbroek Lisa van Dijk

9 ONDERZOEK

I) Urban Redevelopment practices II) Housing Inaffordability

10 INTRODUCTIE ONDERZOEK

Om de studiemogelijkheden te optimaliseren, zijn de huidige stedelijke ontwikkelingen in Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco voor vertrek al nauwkeurig geanalyseerd. Dat onderzoek is op twee onderwerpen gebaseerd: Urban Redevelopments, begeleid door Erwin Heur- kens, en Housing Inaffordability, begeleid door Peter de Jong. Bij het Urban Redevelopments onderzoek ligt de focus op het Angelsaksische model, dat de vastgoedpraktijken in Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco typeert. Het tweede onderzoek behandelt het probleem van onbetaalbare woonruimte – iets waar alle drie de steden momenteel mee kampen.

Beide onderwerpen waren goed vertegenwoordigd in het studiereis programma, waardoor wij onze ervaringen tijdens de reis goed aan het voorbereidende onderzoek hebben kunnen koppelen. Dit heeft tot bijzondere conclusies geleid.

11 LESSONS FROM A COMPARISON OF ANGLO-SAXON URBAN REDEVELOPMENT PRACTICES FOR THE NETHERLANDS

Eva de Biase, Imardo de Blok, Sarah Heemskerk, Rowie Huijbregts, Huub van Manen, Tine Nientker, Joost Nieuwenburg, Sander Rovers, Marieke Slits, Liesbeth van Walsum

Supervisor: Erwin Heurkens

12 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction 14

• Research questions & methodology 15

• Chapter 1: London 16 1.1 Context 16 1.2 Property market 17 1.3 Organisation 24 1.4 Processes 27 1.5 Outcomes 28 1.6 Conclusion 29

• Chapter 2: Vancouver 30 2.1 Context 30 2.2 Property market 31 2.3 Organisation 32 2.4 Processes 34 2.5 Outcomes 38 2.6 Conclusion 40

• Chapter 3: San Francisco 41 3.1 Context 41 3.2 Property market 45 3.3 Organisation 46 3.4 Processes 48 3.5 Outcomes 49 3.6 Conclusion 51

• Comparison 52

• Our experiences 54

13 INTRODUCTION

The reason for visiting London, Vancouver development in specific territories is key to and San Francisco lies in the fact that a lot explaining how real estate development can be learned from urban projects in these markets work. The environment imposes metropolitan cities. Urban redevelopment institutional rules for real estate development practices are constantly changing. Currently, that are foremost translated into market the global trend seems to be shifting behaviours, economics, and structures.” towards private-lead area developments, The second step will then be to analyse whereby market parties are responsible for the property market of each city, whereby both the land-, real estate- and maintenance the focus lies on its drivers/initiators and exploitation, but are facilitated by the implemented structures. Such markets are municipality (Heurkens, 2013). This changing central to the way places are created and movement is emerging in the Netherlands evolve over time (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). as well, but cities like London, Vancouver The third part will elaborate on the and San Francisco have already been organisational aspects, subdivided into performing such operations for quite some tasks & responsibilities, financial risks & time and on a much larger scale. A different revenues and legal rules & requirements, economic model enables that larger scale. In for which a case-study will be used. These theory, the English, Canadian and American organisational interests and instruments societies and organisations are characterized determine specific agency requirements for by an Anglo-Saxon shareholder value way of real estate development projects (Squires thinking, while various stakeholders are taken and Heurkens, 2015). into account in the traditional, European The fourth layer is about the exact processes Rhineland model (Bakker et al, 2005). The that occur. Since this study is about urban Anglo-Saxon model is based on individual redevelopment practices, the processes success, minimal governmental interference that will be distinguished are integrated- and short-term profits. The Rhineland model versus organic urban development versus is based on collective strength, societal a combination of both. The different roles consensus, an active governmental role and agencies play in this approach will also be a long-term mentality (Bakker et al, 2005). determined. In the fifth and final step, the outcomes of The practices within these three cities still realised projects will be the point of focus. differ from each other, which makes it The case study introduced in the third interesting to research them all separately. part will be tested against three aspects of To be able to compare them afterwards evaluation: spatial use, sustainability and and thereby get an overall picture of Anglo- public space. Saxon urban redevelopment practices, each study will be conducted by following certain These discoveries will be combined with the steps, based on the conceptual model findings during the study trip to get a clear by Squires and Heurkens (2015), adapted overview of the Anglo-Saxon processes. The from Keogh and D’Arcy (1999). This model eventual comparison will lead to lessons that proposes that each urban project consists can shed a new light on possible innovative of different layers which all contribute to the ways of working for urban redevelopments end-result in their own way. in the Netherlands. This will thereby not only The studies begin with a short introduction be interesting for the participating students of the environmental context. As Squires and and our department at the Delft University Heurkens (2015) concluded, “understanding of Technology, but could be of great value to the institutional context of real estate various organisations and companies as well. 14 RESEARCH QUESTIONS & METHODOLOGY

Research questions Methodology

To benefit from this research as much as The methodology can be divided into three possible, several research questions will parts: concepts, practices and synthesis. function as a guide throughout the whole study. Since the main goal will be to find Part 1: Concepts (the framework for each out whether projects in the Netherlands city) could actually benefit from the Anglo-Saxon Questions: How can the Anglo-Saxon practices, the main research question is model in urban redevelopment practices formulated as follows: be conceptualized? How can a model for comparing urban redevelopment practices What aspects of Anglo-Saxon urban re- be conceptualized? developments can be beneficial for urban Objective: To construct theoretical concepts redevelopments in the Netherlands? to use for studying the urban redevelopment practices in London, Vancouver and San Since this is a rather broad question that can Francisco. be answered from different perspectives, Methodology: Academic and professional, several sub-questions will steer the research national and international literature reviews behind each city in the same direction. to construct a conceptual framework for this study. 1. How can the institutional context be described? Part 2: Practices (case-studies) a. Political Question: How do urban redevelopment b. Economic practices in London, Vancouver and San c. State-market relation Francisco function? Objective: To create a better understanding 2. In what way is the property market of Anglo-Saxon urban redevelopment structured? contexts. a. Drivers/initiators Methodology: Empirical “case studies” b. Structures (site visits) in London, Vancouver and San Francisco to go more in depth on the 3. How are urban redevelopment projects development processes. organised? a. Organisational tasks & responsibilities Part 3: Synthesis (lessons for the Netherlands) b. Financial risks & revenues Question: What aspects of Anglo-Saxon c. Legal rules & requirements urban redevelopment practices can be beneficial for urban redevelopments in the 4. What urban redevelopment processes Netherlands? are applied? Objective: To draw lessons from Anglo- a. Integrated versus organic urban rede- Saxon urban redevelopments for the Dutch velopment versus a combination of both practice. Methodology: A combination of national 5. What are the outcomes of urban rede- institutional comparative analyses and case- velopment projects? based lessons. a. Spatial use b. Sustainability c. Public space 15 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

Throughout this work, a literature review (GLA). The GLA was created in 2000 with is provided on the capital of the United the objective to increase the level of Kingdom: London. In order to create a collaboration and to improve coordination complete image, different aspects of the between the boroughs. This way, London context the city finds itself in are explored. would develop a more unified voice (GLA, The content of this report functions as an 2012). The GFA is guided by the Mayor of underlayer for conducting the fieldwork on London and its work is scrutinised by the location. London Assembly. The Greater London Authority is a “precepting authority”, which, along with the Metropolitan Police Authority 1.1 Context and other bodies, adds a “precept” for its services to the council tax bills issued by the 1.1.1 Demography borough council’s (GLA, 2012). According to the 2011 census, the U.K. has a total population of 64.597.000 The Mayor, Sadiq Khan currently, is at the inhabitants (ONS, 2015), where this is centre of London’s political structure. He respectively 9,787,426 (London’s Urban serves four year terms and is elected by Area) and 14,031,830 (London Commuter Londoners (Peach, 2010). This independent belt) for London. This makes the city the vote means that the Mayor of London is largest metropolitan area, and second most not necessarily aligned with the political populous urban city of Europe. In the first party running the country. The Mayor of quarter of 2016, the employment rate in the London is responsible for setting policies U.K. amounted up to 74,1%, which equals on transport, buildings and land-use, 31.41 million jobs. This has increased by economic development and regeneration, 20.000 jobs compared to 2015 Q3, and by culture and the environment. His duty is 360.000 since 2015 Q1. London’s share in also to promote the health of Londoners this is approximately 7% with 4.500.000 jobs (GLA, 2012). The Mayor furthermore has (Greater London) (City of London, 2016). some control over the Metropolitan Police Notably, the average travel distance to work Service by appointing the Metropolitan of this employment force is 15 km. Police Authority – the force’s governing body. Moreover, the Mayor is responsible for 1.1.2 Political developing and implementing a number of ‘Greater London’ comprises 32 London strategies aimed at coordinating policy in Boroughs and the historic City of London. other areas, and for representing London on Most local government functions are carried the national and international stages (GLA, out by the London borough councils, which 2012). The Corporation of London governs are responsible for education, housing, the “square mile” of the City of London. Its planning, highways, fire-protection, social powers and structure are very different from services, leisure and recreation, libraries, those of the boroughs, and are largely the waste collection, waste disposal, and outcome of centuries of historic privileges environmental health. Moreover, they are accorded to the City. “collection authorities”, responsible for collecting council tax (GLA, 2012). 1.1.3 Economic London has always been a commercial city In addition to the boroughs, Greater London and today enjoys the status of having one of has a second tier of local government in the largest city economies in the world. The the form of the Greater London Authority nature of London’s economy has undergone 16 CHAPTER 1: LONDON change over the recent decades. While to encourage investment, create jobs and manufacturing industries held the dominant help meet London’s housing needs (Mayor position during the nineteenth century and of London, 2016). the early parts of the twentieth century, service industries, especially financial and business services are now the dominant 1.2 Property market sector. 1.2.1 London’s pressured markets: com-petitive Moreover, London is seen as home to many sub-regional markets banks and financial institutions and has the When addressing the property market of the highest amount of foreign banks in any city. Capital, there is only one word which aligns The city is a major centre for forex trade as with its current movement and development: well. London trades more US dollars than growth. Ever since the Municipal vision is New York does, and more Euros than all aimed at (sustainable) growth (Hoggart other cities in Europe combined. According & Green, 1991), a lot of investment to the ‘Global Power City Index 2015’ (2015) opportunities have been following the urban London is the world’s leading financial centre infrastructural investments (BNP Paribas, for international business and commerce. 2015a). The urban policy, in this regard, Furthermore, London is one of the serves as a catalyst for the city’s growth and ‘command centres’ for the global economy the positioning of London as a Global City. (Roberts, 2008). London has the fifth largest The capital’s strong economic performance metropolitan economy in the world (Florida, causes enormous pressure on the real estate 2015) with an estimated per capita Gross markets. The employment increase causes value added of $162,200 (Petroff, 2016). an annual required development of 64.000 dwellings (Savills, 2016). Economy of London compared to the UK After the banking crash, the economy of That employment increase does not only London has been stronger compared to cause a pressured residential market, it also the time of the economic bubble, while drives the office demand to a projected nearly every other part of the UK has increase of the capital of 25% over the seen its economy shrink by comparison coming 5 years (Savills, 2016). Quantifying (Chakrabortty, 2013). The Guardian this equals an annual increase of around 4 published exclusive findings that shows that billion sq. ft. in office space (+1% of the total London is metaphorically racing away from stock), which is respectively 55 million sq. the rest of the country (Chakrabortty, 2013). ft. for the residential sector. London’s retail According to the office for National Statistics market is dominated by traditional luxury (ONS), London’s economy grew by 12.4pc locations, a niche with a strong retailer- between 2007 and 2011, despite the painful demand. A diversification of retail streets, impact of the financial crisis (Rowley, 2013). varying in homogenic luxury locations (Mayfair/Knightsbridge) and heterogenic 1.1.4 State-market relation tenant-mixed streets (Covent Garden) create The Greater London Authority inherited a strong occupier demand for the Capital. 635 hectares of land in April 2012, which Other popular sectors in London include is making them one of the biggest public the Hotel sector, due to London’s prominent sector landowners in London (Mayor of position as one of Europe’s best performing London, 2016). The Mayor pledged to tourist destinations. The hotel investment release all the surplus land for development market is dominated by equity-rich 17 CHAPTER 1: LONDON international investors. Concerning student the CBD for the residential sector. Housing housing, London’s position as a leading outside of the CBD becomes increasingly educational centre is gaining momentum popular, and this currently provides a perfect (BNP Paribas, 2015a, p. 27). Student housing investment opportunity (BNP Paribas, 2015). is an asset class that continues to be an investment opportunity. The figures below Geert de Nekker (Syntrus Achmea REAF, give an overview of the residential, office 2016) acknowledges this investment and retail sector of London’s sub-regions. opportunity from an international investment viewpoint. He states that ‘U.K. 1.2.1.1 Mixed-use development hotspots: shift investors have traditionally had an aversive to the boroughs attitude towards residential investments One may assume that availability, in this due to potential image damage’ (Geert de case shortage, is the biggest problem. In Nekker, 7 juni 2016). The lack of legislative reality the affordability of both residential regulations causes a risk for these actors. and office areas becomes questionable, with However, currently U.K. investors notice the London accounting for some of the highest investment opportunities (and good returns) global office rents. These rent levels are and are increasingly becoming involved in highest in the central locations (City, West residential investments/developments. End, Docklands), whereas opportunities lie in the rest of London. Especially some location Savills (2016b) identifies eight locations with that provide quick access to financial and good connectivity that provide opportunities Governmental centres show lower rent for high-density building through mixed- levels. This differential causes a relocation development: Tottenham Hale, Croydon, expectation of rent-sensitive office-users. Stratford, Canada Water, Wembley, Clapham This is backed by the fact that employees Junction, Brent Cross and the Royal Docks. value accessibility and a short commute over Figure 1.2.1.1 shows London’s hotspots for working in centre London (Savills, 2016b). mixed-use development geographically. BNP Paribas also identifies the shift away of

Fig. 1.2.1.1.: London’s hotspots for mixed-use developments (Savills, 2016b)

18 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

These high-density mixed-use developments connectivity, (2) occupational costs, (3) can regenerate London’s boroughs to clustering potential, (4) amenity provision. attractive living and working environments. To enable the first, and most important, Land can be found by increasing densities driver for development (connectivity), the around transport corridors, creating new Mayor of London has established the Growth vibrant places to live and work. Well- Fund. This £360mln in 2012 originated thought planning and placing of ground fund has been deployed by Transport for floor leisure and retail, as seen with Argent’s London (TfL) to foresee in future demand regeneration of King’s Cross (ULI, 2016), has by establishing nine rail/tube lines and proven to be profitable in the longer run. five road projects. The goal of the Growth Besides creating a mixed-program with Fund is to maintain London’s international residential, employment, retail and social competitiveness and maximize value for the amenities, opportunities lie in education and private sector (London Assembly, 2015). This culture. Beside the fact that homeowners aligns with the private-led orientation of the tend to settle in areas with sufficient and U.K.’s economy, but the facilitating role of good educational amenities, attaining the government is stimulating. In addition, partnerships with local universities has it is interesting to see how the Growth Fund proven to be attractive for occupiers when investments have influenced the Capital’s relocating (Savills, 2016b). The incorporation investment focus. of large cultural amenities can be seen as a significant share in the regeneration of 1.2.1.3 The Capital as an investment Stratford to a rivalling sub-region for e.g. opportunity the Docklands. Investing in theatres and According to CBRE, international investors a cultural quarter generates investment are currently focussing on U.K. regions opportunities for other sectors and largely instead of on Central London. This contributes in the transformation process of shift is primarily motivated by a lack of a vibrant and lively place (BNP Paribas, 2015). availability, and relatively low yields due to undersupplied markets (CBRE, 2015). BNP 1.2.1.2 Transportation-led urban regeneration: Paribas (2015) argues this and identifies a catalyst for development and regeneration the different investment sub-regions in As indicated above, the growth of London London, each with different characteristics is causing a shift towards the boroughs. The and a different investment opportunity. The city of London is expected to undergo a following section identifies the different sub- growth from 8.6 million inhabitants in 2015 regions and their characteristics. to 10 million inhabitants by 2030 (London Assembly, 2015). This increase is intended to be realized through opportunity areas (OA’s), that are to be enabled through transport-led regeneration. Development opportunities arise by exercising urban regeneration through mixed-use developments, including residential, employment, retail and social amenities. In this process, new train lines and stations function as a catalyst for development and regeneration. According to Savills (2016b), there are basically four drivers for mixed-use developments: (1) 19 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

The City: For big players Rent projection 2017: £74.00 /sq.ft. Prime office yield: 4.0% Vacancy rate: 6.25%

Characteristics: - World’s leading financial centre - Thriving leisure scene - Growing interest in mixed-use developments - international investors climate

The West End: A safe bet Rent projection 2017: £132.00 /sq.ft. Prime office yield: 3.5% Vacancy rate: 3.61%

Characteristics: - Shopper’s paradise - Mixed investment opportunities - Vibrant mixed-use area - Steady investment market

Docklands: opportunity knocks Rent projection 2017: £44.00 /sq.ft. Prime office yield: - Vacancy rate: 8.31%

Characteristics: - Dominated by financial and banking sector - Division Canary Wharf & wider Docklands - Large availability of competitively priced A spaces - Retail destination: high-end retailers

20 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

Midtown: a good mix Rent projection 2017: £57.50 /sq.ft. Prime office yields: 4.5% Vacancy rate: 4.85%

Characteristics: - Multi-tenanted buildings - Robust investment market - Healthy take-up market - Dominated by Asian investors

New key submarkets

King’s Cross rental values show an increasing trend. King's Cross Central gives the area a whole This, simultaneously, provides development new identity. The infrastructural investment opportunities for investors and developers. of £2.5bln together with the realisation of The dominant sector located in this 50 new buildings, 2,000 new homes, 20 new subregion is TMT (Technology, Media & streets, 10 new public squares, 67 acres, and Telecommunication). 45,000 people who will live, work and study in the area makes it a whole new part of the City. Especially the relocation of Eurostar International to King’s Cross has resulted in a significant increase in (international) investment volume. The post-industrial area has transformed into a modern business district. The location of leading parties like London Bioscience Centre, the Guardian and Google (headquarters) have provided a major boost to the area. Due to the limited availability and strong demand,

21 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

Southbank sq.ft,. serving excellent quality assets. The This area has seen a significant amount cultural sector within Stratford accounts of office development and regeneration for around 400.000 visitors on annual basis, projects to transform the sub-region into a driven by the cultural quarter Olympic vibrant area. Due to its excellent connection polis. With 20.000 homes and the largest to transportation nodes, competitive rental urban shopping centre in Europe, the area values, and the high availability of A grade illustrates the mixed-use vibrant character assets, the area serves as a competitor to associated with urban regeneration. conventional business districts. Through investments in the local cultural infrastructure, the Southbank has earned the status of a Cultural Quarter. A considerably low vacancy rate of 3.6% reflects the strong occupier market for this area. Planned developments of e.g. a Shell Centre and the Elisabeth house will continue to contribute to the competitive character of this sub- region dominated by Asian investors.

1.2.2 Urban planning: London’s ‘growth first’ strategy In their work, Hoggart and Green (1991) addressed the, at that time, fast pace in which the post-industrial areas were being renewed. They disregarded the Americanisation and polarization concepts Stratford and identified the gentrification of Inner- The main driver for the development of London as the biggest threat to the urban this sub-region is The International Quarter development of the city. According to Imrie (TIQ), a huge new mixed-use development et al. (2009), the current development aims transforming Stratford into a rivalling area at a ‘growth first’ strategy, driven by major for King’s Cross and Canary Wharf. A £12.5bln property-led regeneration. The main pillar in infrastructural investment followed by the these regenerations is the provision of urban development of 4 million sq.ft of flexible infrastructure. workspace, 330 new homes, 275,000 sq.ft of London’s status as Global City extends to hotel provision, and 52,000 sq.ft dedicated urban policies being deployed as a catalyst to neighbourhood retail, with childcare and for the city’s growth. This urban policy community facilities, all set within 700 acres is exercised through urban planning by of surrounding parklands, is the next big governmental entities. thing in the development of the capital city. Leading transportation developments are 1.2.2.1 Planning System: The United Kingdom the opening of Stratford International and London station and the planned opening of Crossrail Planning ensures that the right development (2019). Prime rents are currently at £35-£40 happens at the right place at the right time, 22 CHAPTER 1: LONDON benefiting communities and the economy. sub-regions of 2008-2011 were altered In most of the United Kingdom, many local according to the Further Alterations to the government structures consist of three London Plan (Mayor of London, 2006b). components: (1) county councils, (2) districts, These sub-regions were meant to connect and (3) parish or town councils (Department inner and outer boroughs (Mayor of London, for Communities and Local Government, 2008). In the 2011 version, the Central sub- 2015). In London, the Mayor determines region was downsized and the London part planning application of (potential) strategic of the Thames Way was allocated back to importance. He does so through issuance East London. of the London Plan, a statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater 1.2.2.2 Land use London area published by the Greater The city of London’s Zoning by-Law London Authority (London Assembly, 2016). ‘establishes and regulates the use of land This document was first originated in 2004, by implementing the policies of a City’s then again in 2008, and in 2011 a version was Official Plan’ (www.London.ca). It provides published with a vision until 2032. the municipality with a legally enforceable tool to regulate land-use, and scale, density The six components of this last version and standards for developments. The (London Assembly, 2016) are: municipality can provide an amendment A city that meets the challenges of economic to the Zoning-by Law to allow uses non- and population growth; conform the zoning plan. An internationally competitive and successful city; Current urban plans A city of diverse, strong, secure and accessible Southwest Area Secondary Plan; neighbourhoods; Meadowlily Secondary Plan; A city that delights the senses; Riverbend South Secondary Plan; A city that becomes a world leader in McCormick Area Study; improving the environment; Old Victoria Hospital South Street Secondary A city where it is easy, safe and convenient Plan; for everyone to access jobs, opportunities Blackfriars/Petersville Zoning Study and facilities. 1.2.3. Conclusions The London Plan ed. 2011 identifies areas of This chapter set out to analyse the property opportunity (AO’s), with a focus on reducing market of London by evaluating the supply- social depreciation and creating sustainable demand equilibrium, identifying market development. The Plan decomposes London characteristics and studying governmental into five sub-regions, which developed over involvement in the (urban) planning. time. London, as a Global City, is currently growing enormously on an annual basis. Not only Within this categorization, there are one does this pressure the availability of assets central sub-region and four surrounding in multiple sectors, it also influences the ones (Addison & Associates, 2006). The affordability of inner-city locations. To London part of the Thames Gateway zone manage this growth opportunity, areas in was entirely contained within the East the London boroughs are appointed by London sub-region. The 2004-2008 sub- the Mayor of London to serve as mixed-use regions all had a Sub-Regional Development development hotspots. To enable these Framework (Mayor of London, 2006a). The areas, transportation-led regeneration is 23 CHAPTER 1: LONDON applied through a Growth Fund that creates lines, two national mainline train stations, the urban infrastructure to support the and an international high-speed rail private sector. This serves as a catalyst for connecting to Paris. The area is, with its 26 urban regeneration and creates investment ha, one of the largest urban redevelopment opportunities for (international) investors. project in the city of London (Urban Land Attractive, competitive-priced, high-quality Institute, 2014). assets are available in areas like King’s Cross and Stratford, which are becoming rivalling areas to the city centre.

London’s ‘growth first’ strategy is also part of the vision from the London Plan, as issued by the Mayor of London. In this work, the property-led regeneration is translated in a legal enforceable document. London’s Zoning by-Law is the instrument used by the municipality of London to determine land- use. Amendments to this zoning plan can be made, when this is of a (potential) strategic importance to the municipality of London.

1.3 Organisation Image 1.3: Incredible Renovation of London’s Historic King’s Cross Station is Complete, Hufton + Crow, To gain knowledge about the organization McAslan + Partners, John Sturrock, Phil Adams within real estate companies in London, a case study will be explored: London’s railway 1.3.1 Organisational tasks & responsibilities station King’s Cross. The railway station King’s Cross had a single landowner, The opened in 1852, on the northern edge of King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership the city centre. In this case study, the focus (KCCLP), which comprises three groups: will lie on the £500 million restoration plan. U.K. property developer Argent, owning The restoration of the major London railway 50 percent via Argent King’s Cross Limited terminus was approved in 2007 whereby Partnership; the U.K. state-owned London completion was scheduled for 2013. The and Continental Railways Limited (LCR), completion of the whole area is scheduled holding a 36.5 percent interest; and DHL for 2020. The restoration includes the Supply Chain (formerly Exel), with a 13.5 replacement of an extension, built in 1972 by percent stake. The development philosophy an open-air plaza, a thorough restoration of focuses on all the landowners working the historical building and re-glazing of the together within one overarching, shared arched roof (London Borough of Camden, vision. This vision is that King’s Cross, as a 2006). The uses of the renewed King’s Cross place, must be attractive to them. It must area include 316,000 sq.m of office space, also be safe, easy to understand, and easy to almost 2,000 residential units, 46,400 sq.m navigate (Urban Land Institute, 2014). of retail and leisure space, a hotel, and educational facilities. Furthermore, the site is The creation of the new district has been served directly by six London Underground an organic process from the beginning,

24 CHAPTER 1: LONDON whereby flexibility, negotiation and change Heurkens stated: ‘’Where power, resources are important aspects. This led to a lot of and expertise are located in close proximity criticism in the beginning of the project. to the strategist or planner, perhaps Nevertheless, the developers chose to let even within their immediate domain, the the ‘’lack of detail’’ emerge naturally. This prospects of successful implementation are is moreover the reason for sought-after greatly enhanced.’’ (Heurkens et al., 2015). companies such as Google to lease space. Whereby big brands such as Louis Vuitton The new scheme for King’s Cross is, after a and the University of the Arts London’s conclusion of the Principles for a Human Central Saint Martin’s school have been City, designed around people. Ten principles key in the project’s arrival as one of the stated that King’s Cross would serve to most exciting creative commercial centres create a “lasting new place” that supported in London. These companies turn the area changing patterns of social and economic into a diverse district in London and make it behaviour. To realise these objectives, the interesting for other big tenants as well. To development team carried out multiple realize this effect, the development team did interviews with a variety of people on the not trade out early, but picked up trends as street. The marketing strategy has focused they emerged. (Urban Land Institute, 2014). on the area as a whole rather than on specific As stated by Heurkens, ‘’A constant challenge buildings. Nevertheless, different heritage for any strategist or planner lies in the stock is included in the marketing strategy strength or weakness of likely connectivity to help foster a feeling of the area being an between strategic intentions and actual embedded part of the city of London (Urban outcomes’’ (Heurkens, Adams and Hobma, Land Institute, 2014). 2015). In the end, the redevelopment team is rewarded for this long-term creation, In the UK local planning, authorities often whereby the development team has been use a combination of planning instruments flexible concerning their business plans, in order to expand their impact on financial strategy, and the masterplan (Urban development decisions. The development Land Institute, 2014). teams constantly interact with private organisations and by doing so, they build Before the renovation, planners had outlined the capacity for the realisation of urban that the scheme should be high density which regeneration projects. This is a flexible did not necessarily mean high rise, to protect option in decision making whereby new the quality of the urban environment. They ideas and concepts about the development stated that a ‘pic ’n’ mix’ approach was not possibilities and limitations of a site are the solution. Instead, the developers wanted generated, enabling planners to adapt to establish individual areas, each with its and construct policies, visions, plans, and own character and sense of place, lively from regulatory frameworks in accordance to the morning until the evening. To realize a market opportunities (Heurkens et al., 2015). scheme, the development team had almost 4,000 meetings during the consultation 1.3.2 Financial risks & revenues process. There were three architects involved Since the financial crisis of 2007 it is clear in the design team to avoid stylistic bias that realizing land development is becoming (Urban Land Institute, 2014). The architects much more difficult (van der Post 2011). could furthermore combine their expertise. Parties have to deal with bigger financial This expertise refers to creative knowledge risks (Urban Land Institute, 2014). London and sound professional judgement. As itself has not experienced these difficulties. 25 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

However, the upswing of the seven years of By example, a £250 million investment in growth in the commercial real estate after infrastructure has unlocked the 557,000 the financial crisis seems to be running out sq.m of development on the project. In of this momentum after 2015. Furthermore, addition, KCCLP entered a £100 million London offices appears to be the occupier construction contract with the University of sector most at risk if the UK exits the Arts for its campus. In the same way, multiple European Union (Levis, 2016). An example of investments have led to new possibilities and a risk that cannot be predicted but certainly income. The total estimated value, including is possible. construction, professional fees, and interest costs, is expected to reach £3 billion Because the strategy of the urban (Urban Land Institute, 2014). A breadth of redevelopment of King’s Cross is flexible, offerings, which create a professional, but the business plans, financial strategy, and not corporate area, has been a key aspect of the masterplan must be flexible as well. the leasing strategy. Office tenants are now Therefore, some basic costs, such as phasing paying an excess of £60 per square foot and costs and unrecoverable service charge housing sales started at £700 per square costs, have been much higher than predicted foot. This rate has almost doubled since the (Urban Land Institute, 2014). outset (Urban Land Institute, 2014).

Before the redevelopment, the site consisted The UK government has sold its stake in mostly of contaminated brownfield land, the King’s Cross redevelopment to the while the broader area was plagued by Australiansuper pension fund for £371m, unemployment and crime (Evans, 2016). ending its direct involvement with the site Therefore, the urban redevelopment King’s after almost 20 years. After two rounds of Cross was suffering from years of decline. competitive bidding, the sale values the By the 1980s, it was the lowest-rent area partnership at just over £1bn, whereby the for central London offices. The commercial gross development value of the completed stock was mostly unchanged since the 19th site has been estimated at more than £5bn. century and the area was densely populated The partnership has taken out development with lower-income groups. Since the area loans and also sold leaseholds to parts of the that was once known for lost industry will be site (Evans, 2016). transformed into a mixed-use city quarter, there is a differentiated supply of real estate, 1.3.3 Legal rules & requirements namely office space, retail and leisure and To save both time and expense a lawyer, residents which all comprise old and new Hogan Lovells, drew up a legal matrix of buildings. Thousands of workers, residents, titles, encumbrances and agreements. and students already inhabit King’s Cross, These helped employees to make sense of which is thereby the largest area of city- rights and restrictions across the site. This centre redevelopment in Europe. Therefore, time was needed, after all it took six years in this case the financial risks and higher of negotiations to get the outline planning costs have been compensated by higher permission for the main site. The permission revenues (Urban Land Institute, 2014). allowed a flexibility of 20 percent to vary the mix of uses and was therefore very To stretch the partnership’s equity across innovative. The requirement in gaining this numerous projects, a disciplined cash flow approval was affordable housing with good management is used. This management transport links. Out of the 2,000 homes has created a momentum for King’s Cross. on site, 42 percent will be affordable. Also 26 CHAPTER 1: LONDON bodies like English Heritage have been unexpected collaborations, universities, innovative and brave to allow flexibility and research centres and the public sector are therefore uncertainty. After King’s Cross, this deploying each other’s strengths to enhance type of scheme has become more accepted urban innovation as well. London, in this in practice (Urban Land Institute, 2014). regards, provides a unique environment to facilitate these collaborations. Through its strong combination of ‘skills, business 1.4 Processes activity, and research expertise’ (ARUP, 2014 p. 3) it provides a fertile environment for 1.4.1 Urban planning in the United Kingdom: urban innovation. blurred lines Local planning authorities use a combi- When reflecting this on chapter 2, the nation of planning instruments. Thereby, an combination between integrated and expansion of their impact on development organic urban planning becomes apparent. decisions can be made. New ideas Knowing that from a municipal perspective and concepts about the development there is a strong orientation on transport- possibilities and limitations of a site are led urban regeneration through providing generated, enabling planners to adapt train and metro lines and constructing and construct policies, visions, plans, and railway stations, one would naturally say regulatory frameworks in accordance this is a strongly integrated urban planning to market opportunities. To reach this system. However, by executing this strategy combination, it is essential to constantly the municipality of London enable their interact with private organisations, whereby development zones and stimulate private the capacity for the realisation of urban initiatives (London Assembly, 2015). regeneration projects will be increased. The latter is more in line with an organic Generating insight into the behavioural logic system, where collaboration with private of the market through informal interaction organisations is essential for regeneration with private actors is crucial for other projects (Heurkens et al., 2015). When looking instruments to become effective strategic at King’s Cross, the construction of the new tools for planners (Heurkens et al, 2015). This railway station has become the catalyst for means that there is a big reliance on organic the regeneration of the London sub-region urban development in London, but the (BNP Paribas, 2015a). So on an integrated combination with an integrated approach level, the municipality determines the will still be needed. urban planning on a municipal scale level. However, it merely enables the potential The challenges modern global cities face of the development zones they determine provide new business opportunities for and create a fertile environment for private urban innovation. A necessary driver to sector initiatives. It is up to the private seize these opportunities is establishing sector, in collaboration with educational, collaborative cross-disciplinary to provide social and cultural organizations, to seize the products and services for global cities. opportunities and create urban innovation Five business capabilities are identified to and urban regeneration. form these collaborations: spatial design, physical infrastructure, digital technology, commercial business services and social service provision (ARUP, 2014). In the U.K., not only are firms cooperating in 27 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

1.5 Outcomes brownfield regeneration project attempts to use the property development industry The different aspects of urban redevelopment as a key actor to interlink ‘sustainable in London result in multiple outcomes. development’ and ‘sustainable brownfield’ In this chapter the results for spatial use, policy agendas. These agendas have sustainability and public space are explored. found an additional focus through the UK government’s ‘Sustainable Communities 1.5.1 Spatial Use Plan’, part of a growing international London’s zoning regulations state what emphasis on sustainable development land uses are permitted on a property, (Dixon, 2007). what can be build and regulations such as plot size and type of buildings. As stated In the case of King’s Cross, the property in chapter 2, London’s Mayor determines developer promised to create an example of planning application of (potential) strategic “best practice in sustainable development.” importance. He does so through issuance The developer was already experienced in of the London Plan, a statutory spatial developing Birmingham’s Brindleyplace, a development strategy for the Greater 17-acre (6.9 ha) large, mixed-use canal side London area published by the Greater scheme. The sustainability of the urban London Authority (London Assembly, 2016). environment focussed on mixed-use in real The case study King’s Cross, a vibrant mixed- estate. Furthermore, King’s Cross represents, use city quarter, is created out of an area in comparison to the rest of the United once known for lost industry. Whereby a high Kingdom, one of the most sustainable quality fully mixed-use scheme comprising major developments. This is reflected in old and new buildings is assembled around energy-efficient initiatives to the reuse of 26 acres (10.5 ha) of public space (Urban heritage buildings, green transport policies, Land Institute, 2014). three BREEAM “Outstanding” buildings, an installation of 200m of green walls, The 1.5.2 Sustainability Global Generation Skip Garden which is In sustainable urban form models of the UK, an award-winning garden that educates density can be one of the most contentious children and adults in sustainable business elements. There are two types of density, and lifestyles, 900 bicycle spaces, and a residential density defined as the number of diversion of 81 percent of estate waste from dwellings, bed spaces or habitable rooms per landfill in 2013 (Urban Land Institute, 2014). sq. km. Building density may be described via plot area, floor area ratio or ratio of open 1.5.3 London’s public space: truly public? to built-up space. In the UK, there is foremost The ongoing debate in the U.K. is on how a high residential density. It is favourably open the city of London actually is, due to cited by proponents such as ‘compact city’ the increasing amount of Privately Owned that this high density can bring benefits for Public Spaces (Pops). Especially since it is a residents but this is an under-researched municipal goal by the City’s Authority to own claim (Dempsey, Brown & Bramley, 2012). more of its public space, it is remarkable that this share is actually declining. The earlier The emphasis in strategic planning nowadays defined King’s Cross case is a perfect example is placed on urban development projects of a Pops, and finds itself in a contradictory and thereby on achieving high quality urban position compared to public spaces owned places and sustainable urban regeneration by the Crown and managed by the Greater (Heurkens, et al., 2015). The policy in the UK London Authority (Garrett, 2015). 28 CHAPTER 1: LONDON

In a report of the GLA (2011) on the public 1.6 Conclusions space in London, this issue was already addressed. Where private ownership of For years, London has been a high-pressured public space, in its essence, does not form global city, but nowadays, a shift towards the a problem, the cases they address show burrows takes place. Transportation is used proof of situations where commercial as a catalyst to enable development zones interest prevails over public access. London for private sector initiatives. There is a mixed is subject to more and more complex private approach between integrated and organic ownership structures. Since a lot of actors, urban planning, whereby London provides a all with their own priorities and interests, fertile context for urban innovation. are involved with managing the public Public space is a hot issue in London, due space, the process becomes increasingly to its privately owned nature through difficult. Despite the fact that developers are POPS. New collaborations and contracts are increasingly aware of the financial potential explored during the redevelopment of King’s gains of investing in the public space, this is Cross. This case study shows the benefits not yet common business. In their work, the of flexibility in urban redevelopment. This GLA (2011) advocates for executing open flexibility is expressed in its design and in discussions with all involved actors in early the finances of the King’s Cross project. This stages of projects. King’s Cross, in this regard, has enlarged the risks for the development provides a potential innovative and suitable project which, in this case, has been template for a collaboration structure. In this compensated by higher revenues. To make redevelopment project it was agreed upon the implementation of an organic approach that the London Borough of Camden would possible and to survey the higher risks, many take care of the public areas and streets, meetings between the project team where despite the privately owned status of those needed. Furthermore, multiple interviews on components. If the maintenance standards the streets have been conducted. The King’s from the innovative legal agreement are met Cross project is a flagship project for the rest this may prove to be a suitable collaboration of London. structure for future projects (Planning Housing Committee, 2011).

Strategic policy guidance can be exercised in London by the Mayor. The London boroughs manage their public space on a local level, but have to account to the Mayor and his vision. The Local Development Frameworks provide initial guidelines for accepting or neglecting projects, but the Mayor has the power to overrule local decisions and guide development proposals if this is in the better interest of the city and has apparent strategic importance (Planning Housing Committee, 2011).

29 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

2.1 Context 2.1.2 Economic In a global context, the City of Vancouver 2.1.1 Political is a municipality home to small businesses Vancouver is governed under a unique with a modest level of export (VEC, 2012). provincial statute, the Vancouver Charter, Their main strength lies in the international which was passed in 1953 and grants the trade being conducted through the Port of city greater powers of self-government Vancouver, which is Canada’s largest port, than other Canadian cities. The Charter can trading more than $43 billion in goods submit private bills to the British Columbia to more than 90 countries annually. It is legislature and offers the municipal therefore the leading North American port in government more policy autonomy to export tonnage, but the container flow is still respond directly to local circumstances. expected to triple by 2020 (VEC, n.d.). The The municipal government consists of a port generates about 69,200 jobs (Wikipedia, Mayor, Gregor Robertson elected in 2008, n.d.a.). a small number of counsellors in the Vancouver City Council, a city manager and With recent provincial and federal tax two boards concerned with the school and changes, Vancouver’s business costs are park system of Vancouver (Punter, 2003; now amongst the lowest of developed Wikipedia, n.d.b.). Civic politics operate nations and therefore has become one of under a system of local political parties, the most competitive cities to do business rather than unaligned independents. The in. In addition, the VEC (2011) defined an three main political parties in Vancouver economic strategy with a threefold focus on are: (1) Vision Vancouver, (2) the Coalition the following areas: of Progressive Electors, and (3) the Non- Partisan Association. A healthy climate for growth and prosperity; Support for local business, new investment With Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver and global trade; winning the municipal election in 2008 and A focus on people: attracting and retaining securing seven out of ten spots in the City human capital. Council, the municipal government is now characterised by a more centre-left view on Another economic development concerns politics after a short period of right wing Vancouver’s strong reputation for research, dominance between 2005 and 2008 when teaching and sustainability. The City of the NPA was the largest contributor to the Vancouver has set the goal of becoming City Council (Wikipedia, n.d.b.). Thus giving more globally recognized as a centre the impression to be moving away from the for study and teaching regarding the Anglo-Saxon model. implementation of urban sustainability The main task of the City Council is to shape solutions in economics. Current ideas and policies and set up design guidelines, and initiations to reach these goals include approve all plans concerning rezoning. expanding and developing the concept of They are therefore not directly interfering incubator- and change labs, sustainable and in day-to-day planning practices. This is the local food procurement in the private and responsibility of the city manager, who takes government sectors, the development of an all decisions on development permissions eco-industrial park which is accessible for big (Punter, 2003). as well as small businesses to increase their access to cooperative resources and services, and moving towards a more European 30 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER economic business model which brings prices in some sectors have grown with together government, businesses and the 25% in one year (Larsen, 2016). This makes community (VEC, 2012). Vancouver one of the most unaffordable cities in the world, with even high-earning 2.1.3 State-market relation professionals facing problems when wanting Overall, the municipality of Vancouver is to buy a family-sized apartment in the city. very involved in the real estate market The origin of the rapid increase of housing and its issues. On the website (http:// prices remains unknown, but causes many former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/ residents to move away (Todd, 2015). rezoning/applications) one can find a large On a social geographical level, the City of number of re-zoning applications that are Vancouver is characterized by a clear east- being processed and/or approved. They are west split. With the Westside neighbourhoods therefore open to development and support being most expensive and sought after and the densification of the city. In addition, the eastside neighbourhoods marked as the municipality also took a strong position considerably poorer (Punter, 2003). concerning the downsizing of foreign money Vacancy 3.35% in the real estate market, by the left as well as the right wing political parties. However, Average rent $8.83 people believe that more government (per Sq.Ft.) intervention is needed in the real estate Table 2.2a: Industrial market summary of Q2 2015 market to deal with current problems (Source: DTZ Vancouver) (Gordon, 2016). For instance, Josh Gordon of the School of Public Policy suggests that Vacancy 10.2% the government should act and take control Average rent $20.00 by e.g. introducing a progressive property (per Sq.Ft.) surtax deductible against income tax paid, Table 2.2b: Office market summary of Q2 2015 better monitoring of foreign investors, (Source: DTZ Vancouver) further restrictions on foreign ownership and the development of more affordable housing initiatives for locals like social 2.2.2 Structures: land-use plan, planning housing (Sheppard, 2016). flexibility Since 1970, the planning regime in Vancouver has been characterised by an 2.2 Property market environmentally conscious approach, under the main planning objective of repopulating 2.2.1 Drivers/initiators the central area and creating a liveable Citywide, the total property value of downtown. Policies were defined to stop Vancouver was $283 billion in 2014 freeway intrusions in the city landscape (BTAworks, 2014). An affluent immigration, and promote neighbourhood conservation. internal population growth, and steadily They were aimed at reinforcing the reducing household size have created a diversity, vitality, and attractiveness of its vigorous and largely uninterrupted demand downtown and inner neighbourhoods. for housing development throughout the Major implications of these policies included city in the post-war era (Punter, 2003). But the replacement of redundant industrial steady development of housing did not and port lands with high-density residential contribute to the affordability of the real neighbourhoods and the reclaiming of the estate market. New figures show that house waterfront for public use (Punter, 2003). 31 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

Later, in 1991, the City Council wanted have been under development in the last 40- to redefine the downtown of Vancouver 50 years. The False Creek area can be divided and increase its attractiveness by taking into three different parts: South, North and predefined sustainable goals into account. Southeast, which have been developed in The new planning policy was theorised that order in time. We start with a description under the expression “Vancouverism” of the organisation of the project after which (Douay, 2015). This term means tall slim the processes of the developments will be towers for density, widely separated by discussed. low-rise buildings, for light, air, and views. Vancouverism is therefore often summarized 2.3.1 Organisational tasks & responsibilities as a combination of New York’s brownstones In the 1980s, the city planners of Vancouver that were the inspiration for Vancouver’s experienced some trouble with the podiums to provide more vibrant public commercial developments in Downtown spaces while retaining overall density, and Vancouver (Punter, 2003). This initiated the Hong Kong’s tall, slim line towers (Douay, developments of the north and south shores 2015). which then located industrial and railway lands. This started with False Creek South, This approach to planning and development which mostly consisted of industrial land. combines a deep respect for the conservation At that moment, the 1970s, The Electors of nature with the enthusiasm for busy, Action Movement was in power, which active streets that provide the means for a resulted in a very specific development. The dynamic urban life. They try to achieve the next chapter will elaborate on this. The city goals of “Vancouverism” by creative urban obtained all the land in the area they wanted planning policies, regulations and bylaws, to redevelop and with leasehold contracts discretionary zoning systems and control, developers were able to take initiative in the development levies and management development of False Creek South. for neighbourhood change. All of which with extensive consultation of residents, The next part of False Creek that would be businesses and experts (City of Vancouver, developed was the Northern part, which n.d.; Punter, 2003). was owned by Marathon, the property arm of Canadian Pacific Railway. However, the With the development and usage of the Canadian Pacific moved its railways, which policy over the years, the term Vancouverism resulted in the land being a surplus in the has now become a reference in terms of middle of Vancouver. After a lot of plan- urban design that inspired other urban making and negotiations, the province developments in other cities in the world like acquired a large part of False Creek North San Francisco and even Dubai (Douay, 2015). on a part of which they realised a sports stadium. This resulted in a period in which the province was seen as the developer and 2.3 Organisation the city as a regulator. However, the stadium turned out to be one of the biggest urban In the following part of this research, the failures of that time and the city decided to focus lies on one specific urban development take more control over the development in Vancouver: False Creek. False Creek is an of False Creek. Internationally renowned inlet into the middle of the city of Vancouver planners and architects were brought in and and divides downtown from the rest of the with stricter restrictions new development city. Around this inlet multiple urban areas plans were made. In 1986, the public was also 32 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER integrated in the plans for False Creek, which “In order to meet the City’s commitments to could best be seen in the development of complete the Area 2A for the 2010 Games and the North Park. then to market ready, Council has the option of the City taking on the financing for the The Southeast corner next to False Creek development. This option has the advantage of was the site of industries that had left reducing overall project costs and the exposure behind a very contaminated soil. The site of the advances made by the City since October was acquired by the city which suggested and of the balance of the purchase price owed a sustainable development of the site in by Millennium when the project completes. 1994. The same planner who worked on Two financial instruments available to the City the plans for False Creek North was asked under recent Vancouver Charter amendments to prepare a masterplan for this part. When will be sought from a consortium of Canadian the sustainability plans became a point banks with funds provided to Millennium after of discussion, the Vancouver Planning execution of appropriate agreements which Commission stepped in to convince the other provide security to the City.” (Bayne, 2009) parties of the importance of sustainability. In the end it was the self-appointed Southeast All in all, it is clear that most finances have False Creek Working Group that convinced come from the city itself. the council of the sustainable plans. In 1997, public participation became an important 2.3.3 Legal rules & requirements part of the development of False Creek As stated before, the city of Vancouver Southeast. An advisory group joined the wanted to realize a vibrant city centre project to guide the city and to keep track by transforming the industrial location. of sustainability indicators. This group was Therefore, they mostly regulated themselves supposed to become a neighbourhood the possibilities for the development of the integrated service team. False Creek region.

2.3.2 Financial risks & revenues “Whether individual city planning or larger The exact revenues of the False Creek projects social and cultural shifts have been precipitated are hard to find, because of the sensitive this change, the renewal of urban centers and information. However, it is possible to make the creation of urban communities have been some assumptions regarding the financial facilitated by gentrification practices advanced risks and responsibilities of the development. by local governments and financed in large First of all, the city has tried to transform the part by public-private partnerships and foreign False Creek region into the vibrant living area investments.” (Zuberi & Taylor, 2013, p.293) they wished for. Before Marathon sold his land to the province, there have been some The unique position Vancouver is in, negotiations between the city and Marathon. a separate council that makes its own All in all, most developments in the region planning decisions, also results in the fact have been carried out by the city or under that the planning officers have a high level regulations of the city. The Southeast part of discretion in day-to-day decision making was very special since it was developed (Punter, 2003). Since the 1990s, this also for the 2010 Winter Games. The statement includes the requirements for realising a from the administrative report of the city of sustainable city, which is clearly visible in the Vancouver shows that the city would invest development of False Creek Southeast. its own money in the realisation of this part of False Creek. 33 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

2.4 Processes to only cover the the land assembly and servicing costs. This way, the municipality As mentioned earlier, the False Creek urban could use its market disposals for public redevelopment can be divided into three sponsored housing. Beside this, the city parts: False Creek South, False Creek North did not want to sell the development sites and False Creek Southeast. The first phase but provided 60 years lease contracts and comprises the redevelopment of False Creek remained owner of the land. Leaseholders South in the 1970s, whereafter False Creek can renew the lease contracts after they North was redeveloped in the 1980s. The were finished or purchase their property at last phase is the development of False Creek market value. Southeast, which was the Olympic Village of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The project was implemented by the city by a special appointed project manager, the Since different approaches were used during False Creek special committee and the city’s the different phases of the redevelopment of planning and property department. Within False Creek, these phases will be discussed this approach, the city combined “Strong separately in the first part of this chapter. political leadership [...] with substantial In the second part of this chapter, these managerial experience” (Hardwick, 1994, approaches will be abstracted in terms of cited in Punter, 2003, p.35). organic and integrated urban development. False Creek North 2.4.1 Approach Whereas the redevelopment of False Creek North was mostly led by a public institution, False Creek South the redevelopment of the area at the northern The redevelopment of the False Creek side of False Creek was characterized by a South area is a common example of TEAM’s whether public or private parties. This was planning regime. TEAM, The Electors Action mostly caused by the changing ownership of Movement, is a political organisation land in that area over time. which was in power during the 1970s and The area was originally owned by Marathon, had a big academic representation. Their the property department of the Canadian planning agenda was broad and diverse, Pacific Highway. When this railway company and focussed on neighbourhood planning, left the area in 1969, Marathon proposed affordable housing, heritage protection, a major redevelopment plan for the area transit provision and enhancement of consisting nineteen 150 to 200 meter towers. the built environment (Punter, 2003, p. Marathon did however not proceed with this 27). This was in contradiction to the other development because the city required one- Modernist development in North-America third of the housing being for low-income which merely focussed on efficiency and target groups. profitability. The approach used in False Creek South is therefore more a postmodern In 1975, the province of British Columbia approach. decided to held a world’s fair in False Creek North, which would be the focal point of The local government of Vancouver Vancouver’s centennial celebrations. In the undertook some land swaps with the context of this the province let Marathon province in order to obtain all the land in build a new mega-stadium in the return of the area in order to redevelop this former zoning plan adjustments in the vicinity. This industrial zone. The goal of the city was stadium is currently known as BC-place. 34 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

Around 1976 the province of British to work alongside the developers and their Columbia bought the entire plot from designers. This created cooperation and Marathon, before selling it off again in 1986. collaboration between private and public In 1980, the government announced not parties. Five mechanisms characterized the to only build the stadium, but also to held development process: a transportation World Fair, the Expo ‘86. A few months after this announcement, the Development of the design principles; province bought all the land from Marathon Regulatory framework of policy broadsheets; to organize the Expo ‘86 on. The Expo putted Integrative official development plan; Vancouver in the spotlight of the world press Guidelines developed in sequence; and left the city with some important tourist Cooperative planning process. and cultural facilities. Next to this, it created jobs during a recession (Punter, 2003). The zoning plan was developed by both the city and the developers and has been After ‘86, the province sold the land at influenced by different public groups False Creek North because (1) the province during different consultation sessions. The was in money shortage, (2) the citizens of zoning plan comprised a framework which Vancouver saw the province as developer prescribed amenities, quantities, target instead of regulator and (3) the local groups and dwelling and unit types per sub- development industry was opposed to the area. The plan also provided some flexibility province acting as a developer. The land by allowing a variation of 10% of number was sold to Li Ka-shing, a wealthy property of units and floor-space areas phase by tycoon from Hong Kong. The price reputedly phase. Next to this, a specific set of urban paid for the site was $320 million (Punter, design guidelines were incorporated in the 2003). It can be assumed that the land development plan (Punter, 2003). was sold to Hong Kong’s wealthiest man, because it could stimulate other massive The plan reflected a mix of the ambitions of Asian investments. Which perfectly fitted in the developers and planning department Vancouver’s demand for the globalization requirements. This created a plan that of its economy in that time. Of the total incorporated interest of both public as area, 30 hectares were designated for parks, well as private parties. For both parties roads, schools, daycares, community centre the plan provided some guarantees. For revitalisation and other public space. The the developers this were some workable remaining 36 hectares were free to develop parameters to further develop on and at a modest floor-space ratio of just over 3.0 having certainty about quantities. The city (Punter, 2003). had an assurance over key-aspects such as build forms in terms of height, volume and The city thereafter adopted another approach massing and number of amenities. Because that pushed the development of the area, of the size of the developments, the plan in this approach there was a lot of public- was divided into several sub-areas. When private sector cooperation to develop the market conditions or political conditions scheme for the Official Development plan. changed, both parties were capable of According to Punter (2003) the developers adjusting the plan and re-negotiate about had to pay all the costs of the city’s planning the preconditions of the framework which work, the developers therefore had the they collaboratively designed (Punter, 2003). chance of creating a dedicated staff team across the several city departments that had The ‘cooperative planning model’ that is 35 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER being used by the city in the False Creek False Creek. But during the redevelopment North project acts as a blueprint for other of this area, much more attention was being mega projects in Vancouver. This model paid to sustainability, ecology and flexibility. consists of 5 practices (Punter, 2003, p.239): This meant simpler guidelines that focus on the essentials, increasing the sustainability 1. Establish parameters agenda and extending participation into - Council decides policy, planners set stewardship. guidelines and decide permits - Early resolution of major issues The sustainability aspect was put on the - Gross floor-space allowances defined by agenda of the city by the Southeast False official development Creek Working Group, they put up a list - Clear statement of public-facility benefits of sustainability objectives and wrote a required development proposal for the area. With this, the group implemented a framework that 2. Team working was adopted by the municipality for future - City and developer / designers work as a developments. This framework was put up in team the mid-1990s, but came to a standstill when - Developer pays for dedicated planning it was clear the feasibility of the project was team under pressure because the soil was heavily - City work corporately: planning, engi- contaminated (Punter, 2003). neering parks When it became clear that Vancouver 3. Public participation would host the 2010 Winter Olympics, the - Extensive, continuous public participation redevelopment of Southeast False Creek at each stage was pushed because part of this area was targeted to provide room for the Olympic 4. Design skills Village. - Skilled private architectural practices prepare master plans, rezoning, design The urban planning goal of ‘ecodensity’ was guidelines implemented in this area. The city believes that raising densities will facilitate walking, 5. Steady progression cycling and transit and therefore limits the - Long-term certainty offsets slow speed at amount of fuel consumption by the private the outset car (Ley, 2012). The city of Vancouver wanted - Clear stages of policy broadsheet, official a LEED Gold standard certification for the development plan, rezoning guidelines, neighbourhood and, which influenced the permits design of the area a lot. Next to environmental - Move from concepts to specific details over sustainability, the city demanded also some time social sustainability in the project. The main - Smooth permitting with development objectives of the Official Development plan planner managing the process (refusals therefore were (Vaughan, 2008): almost non existent) - Establish a foundation of urban design Southeast False Creek principles, sustainability principles and According to Punter (2003), this cooperative environmental, social and economic planning model was also being used for the sustainability practices that enable the last former industrial area that surrounds development of Southeast False Creek. 36 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

- Develop a mixed use neighbourhood The approach of the municipality was to focusing on a diversity of residential uses to implement the blueprint they designed accommodate all incomes. combined with some strategic aspects such as inclusiveness, increasing social interaction The first phase of the Southeast False Creek and creating lively neighbourhoods to developments was the 2010 Olympic increase the quality of the city. Winter Games Village, these were being transformed into residential condominiums False Creek North and sold at the market. The rest of the plan From a broad perspective, the redevelopment is currently being developed and expected of False Creek North is much more organic to be completed in 2018. The district will than the redevelopment of False Creek eventually house between 12.000 and South. The northern area has reacted much 16.000 people in 2020 (Wernick, 2012; more on the economic and political context Vaughan, 2008). of Vancouver than his southern fellow. An explanation of this is that False Creek North is The objective of the city was to create a much bigger and therefore the development similar planning approach than was being took more time and the plans were therefore used in the False Creek North project, but gradually reformed at every step. This made because there was a lot of time pressure the the development of the area a strategic part cooperation between the developer and of the city’s demand for globalization. the city were more traditional and about negotiations rather than about participation. The role of governmental bodies changed What started as a persistent framework for over time as well. During the preparation for dialogue lost its value as the project moved the Expo ‘86 the government was a project towards implementation. developer himself and was a very active and risk-bearing partner in the area. When the 2.4.2 Integrated versus organic urban de- land was sold to the Asian property tycoon, velopment the city cooperated with the developers in order to make an integral zoning plan. For False Creek South the municipality this was a strategic choice The masterplan for False Creek North was to keep the quality of the city as high as being implemented in the area at once, possible while assuring the area was actually the masterplan combined different target being redeveloped. groups and functions, which makes it an integrative masterplan. The city arranged a From the moment the city sold the land, the project team consisting of different property development gradually transformed from an and planning departments, an appointed organic urban redevelopment with a variation project manager had to make sure the plan of actors towards an integrated plan that was was implemented as it was designed in the dominated by the project developers and blueprint. The role of the city was therefore the city. Together they approached the area very proactive and risk-bearing, the city as one urban redevelopment project and the could therefore be seen as the main project zoning and masterplan they made could be developer of the False Creek South area. seen as blueprints for the redevelopment. The single large developer managed the Therefore, the False Creek South urban redevelopment as it was a project instead of redevelopment could be seen as an integral a gradual process. governmental led redevelopment project. 37 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

Overall, in the 1980’s False Creek North could 2.5 Outcomes be seen as an organic urban redevelopment project wherein the developments were The developments in False Creek have heavily influenced by several governmental resulted in three different areas with each bodies. When the land was sold an their own advantages. This chapter discusses integrative approach for the area was used the outcomes of the developments. The which pushed to total development of the elements that are analysed most are spatial area forward. use, sustainability and public space.

False Creek Southeast False Creek South The approach of the City of Vancouver in the The False Creek South district houses many Southeast False Creek was quite similar than public amenities such as parks, a seawall in the last development phase of the False and several cooperative and private housing Creek North project. The collaboration with schemes. Within the design of False Creek different parties was even more extensive South, three main design principles are because of more intensive consultation recognized. These are: session with the interest groups and - A social mix that reflects the diversity of several developers. Within this collaborative incomes in the greater Vancouver region; approach a similar framework was put up - Enclaves of clustered housing to promote as in the False Creek North project, but the social contact; framework focussed more on sustainability - Hierarchy of open space from private yards than in the former project. to open areas.

The development of Southeast False Creek is The spatial configuration of small enclaves going more gradually and step by step than separated by park, school or pedestrian the former False Creek developments. This is paths should create almost utopian ‘Cells for because there is more conscious about the Subcultures’ (Punter, 2003). economic context after the Global Economic By having a proper network of bike paths, Crisis in 2008 and there are more parties three story homes, preservation mountain involved in the project. views and a public market, False Creek South is “one of the earliest conscious attempts Besides this, the redevelopment is mostly to create a more “liveable” environment for seen as a process instead of one project. Vancouverites” (Wikipedia, n.d.). The ultimate goal of the public parties is to create an environment that is sustainable in Remarkable in this area is the division of multiple ways and can is therefore a mixture space, 47% of the space is allocated by two between a set blueprint and a strategic plan. large parks and only 40% is actually used Within this context, the municipality acts as a for real estate developments which results facilitator wherein some smaller developers in very low densities. This maximized the can develop real estate. Because of this, the amount of public space in the area. The Southeast False Creek redevelopment can be general design principles insisted by the classified as an organic urban redevelopment city created intimate courtyards with play project. and sitting facilities to serve local residents and create a neighbourhood feeling while maximizing waterfront access for the citizens of Vancouver (Punter, 2003).

38 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

However, a research conducted by the city showed that the social goals of local The amenities in the neighbourhood are well governments were reached. But the semi- organized: there are schools, a community private spaces within the enclaves - which centre, day-care centres, a branch library, were the focus points of the spatial plan - are etc. The sustainability is slightly visible in this under-used, while the park and seawall are region, mostly because of the combination very popular places. The research concluded of a well-organized public transportation that the social mix not contributed to the network and a high density living area. experience of environmental quality and that resident prefer ‘less personal, more False Creek Southeast anonymous, possibly higher density site The core of False Creek Southeast is the plan(s)’ (Punter, 2003, p. 40) 2010 Olympic village, which is currently surrounded by a mixed-used residential area. False Creek North Sustainability is the main focus in this area and The legacy of the plans of Marathon are still it has become the second neighbourhood recognizable in the Vancouver skyline in the in the world to meet the platinum standard form of the BC stadium. Because this stadium (City of Vancouver, Retrieved 2016). One was developed in such a short time there is important development in the area is the a strange relation with the level-changes on new ferry dock that is situated next to the the site. It furthermore blocks the potential Community Recreation Centre. The village to improve inner city highways, which cause that started off with mostly residential a lot of problems for further redevelopments functions is increasing by the addition of in the area. more and more amenities. However, the development is not finished yet, but should The part of the plan that is being designed be completed by 2020. The following after the Expo ‘86, in collaboration with list gives an overview of the planned public and private parties, is much more developments (City of Vancouver, Retrieved appreciated. Most of the people of Vancouver 2016): see this high-density plan as a welcoming - Development of 5,000 residential units; contribution to the city’s skyline that offer - A mid-size grocery store and community quality to the neighbourhood and the city in retail services; multiple ways. - A full-size community centre; - A non-motorized boating facility; The planners of the city and the developer - Three to five licensed childcare facilities; emphasize that this “megaproject has - Two out-of-school care facilities; brought all the advantages of suburbia - An elementary school; in high-density inner-city living” (Punter, - An interfaith spiritual centre; 2003, p.226). The plans create a proper - Restoration of five heritage buildings; infrastructure network together with - 10 hectares of park land, including habitat, major public amenities that provide a wide playgrounds and opportunities for urban range of tastes and preferences. During the agriculture. design phase, a lot of emphasize was put on the urban design, which resulted in the The picture below illustrates the False Creek plan being well connected to surrounding Southeast site plan. neighbourhoods and the creation of pleasant public spaces between the building blocks and along the waterside. 39 CHAPTER 2: VANCOUVER

Fig. 2.5: False Creek Southeast site plan (Ryerson University, n.d.)

2.6 Conclusion could be seen especially in the development of False Creek North in which the city The focus of this research lay on the was not satisfied with the developments development of False Creek, which illustrates of the province and decided to take the how much time an urban development development into own hands. project can take. The project could be separated into three different parts, that Later in time, the influences of the community each has its own characteristics. also became more visible and important. The fact that the development was At the end of the developments in False furthermore spread over a long period Creek North there was already some form of of time results in a lot of different factors public participation. For the development influencing the project. Especially politics of False Creek Southeast, the public played can play an important role, since over time a major role in the development and even the power within a country changes and stimulated the city to make a sustainable different political parties have different project, which is now a major marketing views on the development plans for such element for the neighbourhood. Even after important regions within a city. Moreover, the development, the public continues to a conflict between province and city arose. be important for the False Creek Southeast This is partly due to the special position region and keeps influencing it. This part of of the Vancouver Charter, which gives False Creek is still under development and Vancouver the power of self-government. it will probably take five more years for it to This is mainly interesting because it is be 'finished’. However, it may not be possible officially defined. More often it is the case to say that such a neighbourhood, at such that the municipality of a large city has so an important part of the city, is ever truly much power it can overpower the province finished. in which it is situated, which can for example be said about Amsterdam. In Vancouver it

40 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

3.1 Context settlement were established and Yerba Buena began to attract American settlers. In this chapter, the political and economic context of urban development in San 3.1.1.4 American rule Francisco is described. Moreover, the state- The U.S. Navy claimed California for the market relation in San Francisco’s urban United States in 1846 during the Mexican development practice is described. American War. The San Francisco area and the rest of California officially became American 3.1.1 Political context in 1848 by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, A political timeline of urban development in which ended the Mexican–American War. San Francisco is provided – based on Habert From 1848 onwards, Yerba Buena was called (1999), Perez, Pollay, Quach, Sabbagh, and San Francisco, after the Spanish missionaries. Steuble (2016), San Francisco Bay Area California was admitted to the U.S. as a Planning and Urban Research Association state in 1850. The State of California soon (SPUR) (2016), San Francisco Planning chartered San Francisco and San Francisco Department (2016c), and Wikipedia (2016a, County. 2016b, 2016c). 3.1.1.5 California Gold Rush and population 3.1.1.1 First human habitation boom The earliest archaeological evidence of The California Gold Rush starting in 1848 human habitation in the territory of the city led to a large boom in population of San of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Native Francisco. Between January 1848 and Americans, Ohlone people, settled there. December 1849, the city’s population The Ohlone inhabited the area until Spanish increased from 1,000 to 25,000. San explorers and missionaries arrived in the Francisco became America’s largest city 18th century. west of the Mississippi River (until it lost that title to Los Angeles in 1920). The population 3.1.1.2 Spanish rule boom included many workers from China The earliest Europeans to reach the site who came to work in the gold mines and of San Francisco were from a Spanish later on the Transcontinental Railroad. The exploratory party in 1769. The Spanish Chinatown district of the city became and found this location to be of a great strategic is still one of the largest in the country. The significance. A follow-up land expedition Gold Rush ended in 1855. called Mission San Francisco de Asís (also called Mission Dolores) selected sites for both 3.1.1.6 Massive expansion military and religious settlements in 1774. It was during the 1860s until the 1880s, The Presidio of San Francisco was established when San Francisco began to transform to be the center of military activities. Mission into a major city, starting with massive San Francisco de Asís began the religious expansion in all directions, culminating in conversion of some 10,000 Ohlone people the construction of the Golden Gate Park in who lived in the area. The small settlement 1887. that grew up was named Yerba Buena. The city’s famous Cable Cars were built around this time (starting in 1890), a unique 3.1.1.3 Mexican rule invention in order to traverse the city’s steep Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the hills while connecting the new residential San Francisco area became part of Mexico. developments. From the 1830s onwards, plans for expanded 41 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

3.1.1.7 Earthquake and re-development a federal maximum security prison, housing On April 18th, 1906, a devastating notorious inmates such as Al Capone. earthquake centered immediately offshore of San Francisco. The quake is estimated to 3.1.1.9 1950s: urban renewal have had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter The 1950s were marked by urban renewal. scale. Water mains ruptured throughout San Francisco’s mayor George Christopher San Francisco, and the fires that followed hired M. Justin Herman to head the burned out of control for days, destroying redevelopment agency for the city and approximately 80 percent of the city, county. Justin Herman began an aggressive including almost all of the downtown core. campaign to tear down blighted areas of the Almost immediately after the quake re- city that were really working class, non-white planning and reconstruction plans were neighborhoods. Enacting eminent domain hatched to quickly rebuild the city. One of whenever necessary, he set upon a plan to the more famous and ambitious plans came tear down huge areas of the city and replace from famed urban planner Daniel Burnham. them with modern construction. His bold plan called for Haussmann style avenues, boulevards, and thoroughfares that 3.1.1.10 1960s: counterculture and Summer of radiated across the city, and a massive civic Love center complex with classical structures, Following World War II, San Francisco had what would have been the largest urban become a magnet for America’s counter- park in the world. This plan was dismissed culture. During the latter half of the following at the time by politicians and by critics now, decade, the 1960s, San Francisco was the as impractical and unrealistic to municipal center of hippie and other alternative supply and demand. Property owners and culture. In 1967, thousands of young people the real estate industry were against the idea entered the Haight-Ashbury district during as well due to the amounts of their land the what became known as the Summer of Love. city would have to purchase to realize such San Francisco’s frontier spirit and wild and proposals. While the original street grid ribald character started its reputation as a was restored after the earthquake, many gay mecca in the first half of the 20th century. of Burnham’s proposals eventually saw the light of day such as a neo-classical civic 3.1.1.11 1970s: major construction projects center complex, wider streets, a preference The 1970s brought major changes to the city of thoroughfares, and a more people friendly such as the construction of its first subway Fisherman’s Wharf. In 1915, the city hosted system, BART, which connects San Francisco the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, with other cities in the Bay Area, in 1972. officially to celebrate the opening of the At stations in downtown San Francisco, Panama Canal, but also as a showcase of the BART connects with MUNI, the city subway, vibrant, completely rebuilt city less than a which has lines that run underground along decade after the earthquake. Market Street, and then along surface streets through much of the city. San Francisco’s 3.1.1.8 Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz tallest building, the Transamerica Pyramid The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was was also completed during that year (1972). opened in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. The 1939 Golden Gate International 3.1.1.12 1980s: Strategic Urban Planning Exposition was held on Treasure Island. It was Strategic Urban Planning (SUP) began in this period that the island of Alcatraz, a to appear in the 1980s. The city of San former military stockade, began its service as Francisco carried out its strategic planning 42 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO process between 1982 and 1984. In 1985 for the city’s “fastest shrinking population”, the city adopted a General Plan, which reducing the city’s population by 30,000 in provides guidance to all city agencies and just a few years. While the bust has helped departments regarding urban design, land put an ease on the city’s apartment rents, the use, transportation, housing, open space city remains expensive. By 2003, the city’s and a variety of other issues. In the 1980s, economy had recovered from the dot-com during the administration of Mayor Dianne crash thanks to a resurgent international Feinstein, San Francisco saw a development tourist industry and the web 2.0 boom boom referred to as “Manhattanization”. that saw the creation of many new internet Many large skyscrapers were built—primarily and software start-up companies in the in the Financial District—but the boom also city, attracting white-collar workers, recent included high-rise condominiums in some university graduates, and young adults from residential neighborhoods. An opposition all over the world. Residential demand as movement gained traction among those well as rents rose again, and as a result city who felt the skyscrapers ruined views and officials relaxed building height restrictions destroyed San Francisco’s unique character. and zoning codes to construct residential A “skyscraper revolt” forced the city to embed condominiums, although the late 2000s height restrictions in the planning code. For recession has indefinitely halted many many years, the limits slowed construction of construction projects. new skyscrapers. 3.1.1.15 2010s: real estate and population 3.1.1.13 1990s: dot-com boom boom During the dot-com boom of the late In 2011, city manager Edwin Lee was 1990s, large numbers of entrepreneurs and elected the first Chinese-American mayor computer software professionals moved in any American major city. Lee has been into the city, followed by marketing and a strong proponent of tenant’s rights, but sales professionals, and changed the social also a business-friendly mayor to the city’s landscape as poorer neighborhoods became burgeoning tech community. By 2013, gentrified. The rising rents forced many San Francisco, with thanks to the web 2.0 people, families and businesses to leave. San boom, had fully recovered from the late Francisco has the smallest share of children 2000s recession and is experiencing a real of any major U.S. city, with the city’s “18 and estate and population boom. The computer under population” at just 13.4 percent. In the industry is moving north from Silicon Valley. 1990s the waterfront area of San Francisco Availability of vacant rental units is scarce was planned to be redeveloped, supported and the prices for vacant units has increased by the Waterfront Master Plan (1997) and the dramatically, and as of 2015 is reported to be Mission Bay Redevelopment Plan (1998). the highest in the nation.

3.1.1.14 2000s: web 2.0 boom 3.1.1.16 To conclude: city politics In 2001, the markets crashed, the dot-com Following the social revolution of the 1960s, boom ended, and many left San Francisco. San Francisco became one of the centers South of Market (SOMA) in the Financial of liberal activism, with Democrats, Greens, District, where many dot-com companies and Progressives dominating city politics. were located, had been bustling and This trend is also visible in the results of crowded with few vacancies, but by 2002 presidential elections: the last Republican to was a virtual wasteland of empty offices and win San Francisco was Dwight Eisenhower in for-rent signs. Much of the boom was blamed 1956. 43 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

3.1.2 Economic context (Based on City-Data, pharmaceutical products, medical electronics 2009) and genetic engineering. Almost one third Since the California Gold Rush, San Francisco of the total worldwide biotechnology has been an important financial center. workforce is employed in San Francisco and Because of its harbor, the city has thrived the surrounding region. Another prominent on trade and shipping since its early days. industry is tourism, which generates $6.73 Today, through its main port in Oakland, billion in tourist spending each year and is eight smaller ports and three key airports, the largest industry in the region. the San Francisco Bay Area handles nearly 30 percent of West Coast Trade.

San Francisco’s economic activity attracts and supports a range of industries. As the base for some of the country’s largest banks, the Pacific Exchange, and over 30 international financial institutions, San Francisco is a center for world commerce. Most recently San Francisco is considered the birthplace of new media: its South Park neighborhood houses some of the most innovative new technology companies in the world. San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood is a model for collaborative innovation between the biotechnology industry and academic researchers. Fig. 3.1.2: San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley World War II started a local boom in defense (http://expeditieaarde.blogspot.nl/2012/09/silicon- industries, resulting in subsequent high- valley.html) technology development that has not yet ceased. Nearby Silicon Valley (see Figure 3.1.3 State-market relation 3.1.2), along with Stanford University, are The type of capitalism applicable to the considered to be among the places where USA, including the city of San Francisco, is the worldwide technology boom began, and the Anglo-Saxon model. The Anglo-Saxon they remain on the leading edge today. More model consists of free market economies than 2,800 San Francisco Bay Area companies with limited governmental control and produce computers, semiconductors and legislation based upon Case Law (Rifkin, related components, scientific instruments, 2004). Within society, this model involves a and various other electronic systems and favoring role of the market over the state. equipment. Aerospace industries such Market-oriented planning is one of the as the National Aeronautics and Space outputs of the Anglo-Saxon model. Looking Administration (NASA) and Lockheed also at urban planning in the USA, the state maintain major research facilities in the area. cannot be positioned versus the market: the state is part of the market system and Another important high-technology in- acts accordingly. Governments accept their dustry in the area is medical science. Several position as part of public-private actor hundred companies in the Bay Area are networks (Adams & Tiesdell, 2010). In San known for research and development of Francisco, public-private partnerships (PPPs) 44 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO are organizational and legal instruments for has a facilitating role and monitors the actors to cooperate on spatial developments. Strategic Urban Planning process. The Department provide guidelines and help 3.1.3.1 City’s Planning Department and PPPs when needed. Thus, key terms concerning Today, the San Francisco Planning De- urban development in San Francisco are partment plays a central role in guiding the “strategic” and “integral”. growth and development of its city. The Department works with other city agencies, the private sector and the city’s community 3.2 Property market to help achieve “great planning for a great city” (San Francisco Planning Department, In this chapter, the San Francisco property 2016a). In order to execute its mission, the market is examined, by studying its drivers/ San Francisco Planning Department is made initiators, land use plan and planning up of the following divisions flexibility. - Current Planning Division; - Citywide Planning Division; 3.2.1 Drivers/initiators (Based on Athwal, 2016) - Environmental Planning Division; The current state of the San Francisco Bay - Zoning administration and Compliance Area housing market bears resemblance to Division; the years leading up to the dot-com bubble - Administration Division. in 2000 and the 2008 housing market collapse. At the peak of the housing bubble The Current Planning Division is responsible in 2007, the median sale price for a home in for the administration of PPP projects, from San Francisco was $895,000, while renters establishing the development concept were paying just over $2,400 a month on through the completion of the development average. by a private partner. Today, there is no doubt that the Bay Area 3.1.3.2 Strategic Urban Planning and the City’s real estate market is “white-hot” once again General Plan and that is largely due to the surging tech Strategic Urban Planning (SUP) began to industry (driver/initiator). Over the last few appear in the 1980s in San Francisco. The years, the city of San Francisco has begun Planning Department of San Francisco looking more and more like Silicon Valley, carried out its strategic planning process with companies like Google, Twitter, Airbnb between 1982 and 1984. In 1985 the and LinkedIn renting office space. city adopted a General Plan, which provides guidance to all city agencies and Nine years since the 2007 peak, housing departments regarding urban design, land prices, home values and rental rates are use, transportation, housing, open space once again climbing to unsustainable levels. and a variety of other issues. The General In 2015, home values jumped by more Plan is still used and consistently updated than 14 percent and the median sale price, (San Francisco Planning Department, 2016c). meanwhile, is hovering around $1.1 million. This integral plan does contain planning Almost 20 percent of residents living in the goals, but these are more guidelines. There nine Bay Area counties cannot afford to pay is room for private parties to work within that much for a home. Renters are not faring these guidelines. This means there is no any better, with the median rent for a one- “forced image” that is seen as a “planning bedroom apartment in San Francisco being endpoint”. The city’s Planning Department $3,490 as of January 2016. 45 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

Residential real estate is not the only sector 3.3 Organisation of the market to “benefit” from the rising tech tide. Office rents in San Francisco In this chapter, the organisation of urban recently hit an all-time record, with the rate development (projects) in San Francisco for office space reaching $72.26 per square is explored. The Fisherman’s Wharf foot according to a recent report from CBRE redevelopment plan is used as a case to Group. That puts it just ahead of Manhattan clarify San Francisco’s projects’ organisation. as the country’s most expensive city for doing business. 3.3.1 Organisational tasks & responsibilities As mentioned earlier in this report, The big question for 2016 and beyond is public-private partnerships (PPPs) are where the tech industry is headed, and how organizational and legal instruments for that will play out in the property market. actors to cooperate on spatial developments Whether or not the Bay Area is in the midst in San Francisco. Today, the San Francisco of a tech bubble is still being debated, but Planning Department plays a central role there are some hints that this movement in guiding the growth and development cannot last forever. In fact, in March 2016, of its city. The Current Planning Division is the first year-over-year drop (1.8 percent) responsible for the administration of PPP in San Francisco house prices since 2012 projects, from establishing the development was visible. And the number of homes sold concept through the completion of the dropped by 22.1 percent, showing that fewer development by a private partner. residents bought homes in March 2016 as compared to the same period in 2015. 3.3.1.1 PPPs in San Francisco (Based on City Innovate Foundation, 2015) 3.2.2 Structures: land-use plan, planning PPPs are known as integral tools for city flexibility building, but in San Francisco the traditional The San Francisco Planning Department has model for creating shared public assets is a zoning plan for the city in order to decide getting actively heterogeneous. which functions can be placed where in the Traditionally, in San Francisco, PPPs have city. This zoning plan is well documented been used to tackle areas suffering from and precise. On the website of the Planning disinvestment, such as Mission Bay, a Department both a Property Information bayside district of the city that was built Map and a Citywide Zoning Map can be on filled-in land following World War II. found (San Francisco Planning Department, After industrialization, Mission Bay became 2016d). abandoned and underutilized land. In the late 1990s, the Santa Fe Railroad Company Planning flexibility can be found within the partnered with the city to work on Mission boundaries of the city’s General Plan. This Bay, but it was hard to attract other investors. integral plan does contain planning goals, The infrastructure costs were far too large but these are more guidelines. There is room for any developer to bear. Moreover, land for private parties to work within these use entitlements given by the city to private guidelines. This means there is no “forced developers were too restrictive, so eventually image” that is seen as a “planning endpoint”. deals collapsed and the government was pressured to find additional money elsewhere to build public assets, such as parks, infrastructure and affordable housing in the area. 46 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

Eventually, San Francisco employed a the most visited attraction within the area. tax increment and redevelopment plan: Besides Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf is known a scheme where partners entered into for its seafood restaurants, several museums, ownership participation agreements with the colony of sea lions on the Pier, and the up zoned land. Developers get a share of fireworks show on the 4th of July. property tax to pay themselves back for putting in roads, streets, storm water gardens In 2010, businesses at the Wharf generated and other public assets. The city gets a share $65,5 million in revenue for the city, making of the property tax to create affordable the area a substantial income for the city housing. Through the scheme, San Francisco (Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit has been able to fund 20 percent of the District (FWCBD), 2016). This revenue was cost of affordable housing. Through this earned through rents to the Port of San model of PPP, San Francisco has been able to Francisco, payrolls, sales, properties, hotels, attract the biotech industry to Mission Bay, and parking taxes. promising land use and market flexibility. San Francisco officials, hoping to revitalize The scheme still exists today (the only place the appearance of the Wharf for tourists, and in California). The Mission Bay PPP is one of at the same time wanting to make the area the examples in the city. These PPPs can be more appealing to local residents, who have described as “horizontal models” that aim to shunned the area over the years, proposed create a sense of parity in both private and a multi-million-dollar development plan. public real estate rates. Without dual funding The Fisherman’s Wharf Public Realm Plan channels, many of the revitalization projects (FWPRP) is proposed by the Planning in the city’s downtown would be impossible. Department of San Francisco and entails an overall zoning plan, with changes to open 3.3.1.2 Ongoing projects in the city spaces and details like street trees. The sole An up-to-date list of ongoing projects in San risk taker of this project is the Planning Francisco, including information about the Department itself, in financial terms (San projects’ organisation, is provided by the San Francisco Planning Department - City Design Francisco Planning Department (2016b). Group, 2010).

3.3.2 Case: Fisherman’s Wharf redevelopment The Planning Department developed plan – Financial risks & revenues; Legal rules & guidelines on which the FWPRP is built. In requirements 2006, a robust vision was made, and upon A popular tourist attraction and neigh- this vision an extensive public outreach borhood in San Francisco is the Fisherman’s effort was made. Several months were Wharf. This is an area on the northern used to consult the community and receive waterfront of the city. From the mid-1800s feedback on the plans made. Community until now, the Wharf is home to many active workshops were scheduled to complete fishermen and their fleets (this is where it details, and regularly meetings were held to derives its name from). review the plans. The Planning Department made the final decisions, but made an effort Starting in the 1970s, this area developed to consult as many involved stakeholders as into a huge tourist attraction. Approximately possible. 10 to 12 million visitors pay a visit annually. With this number, the Wharf is the number one destination in the city, and Pier 39 is 47 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

3.4 Processes 3.4.2 Approach As mentioned earlier in this report, the type This chapter describes urban development of capitalism applicable to San Francisco is processes in San Francisco. The combination the Anglo-Saxon model. The emphasis in of both integrated and organic urban the city is on development planning and development is explained. The Fisherman’s governance (instead of permitted planning Wharf redevelopment plan is used as an and government, as in the Netherlands). In example to clarify San Francisco’s urban San Francisco, spatial planning is recognized development processes. by pluriformity and changeableness. However, the city’s Planning Department 3.4.1 Integrated versus organic urban has a clear facilitating and moderating role. development versus a combination of both The Department is the “key figure” in urban As mentioned earlier in this report, Strategic development, using its General Plan as Urban Planning (SUP) in San Francisco guiding document. But, this governmental began to appear in the 1980s. The Planning body finds itself not above but between Department of San Francisco carried out its other (private) actors involved in urban strategic planning process between 1982 and development. Due to San Francisco’s 1984. In 1985 the city adopted the General innovative PPP constructions (City Innovate Plan. This integral plan does contain planning Foundation, 2015), private actors have goals, but these are more guidelines. There is become participants in an ongoing quest room for private parties to work within these for improving the way land is being used guidelines. This means there is no “forced and (re)developed. The government is not image” that is seen as a “planning endpoint”. obviously in the lead, project developers The city’s Planning Department has a gradually replace the Planning Department facilitating role and monitors the Strategic in their task as initiators of projects – take for Urban Planning process. The Department example the Green Benefit Districts initiative provides guidelines and helps when needed. of the private sector (Poole, 2015; SF Open General urban development key terms in Data, 2016). San Francisco are “strategic”, “integral” and “integrated”. 3.4.2.1 Case: Fisherman’s Wharf redevelopment However, there are examples of more plan “organic” developments going on in the city, The Fisherman’s Wharf is a community of such as the Green Benefit Districts (GBD) old traditions and family-owned businesses initiative. This initiative seeks to improve with rich histories. In such a community the quality of the public realm within it is difficult to reach broad support for residential and mixed-use neighbourhoods. improving an area: you hardly ever have A Green Benefit District provides additional all actors involved on the same side. There maintenance and capital improvements to have been numerous plans proposed, parks, sidewalks and open spaces within a but never adopted. In undertaking the designated area, in addition to the Planning Fisherman’s Wharf Public Realm Plan, the Department’s existing level of baseline Planning Department believed that for services. The services, improvements and any plan to be successful it would have to administration of Green Benefit Districts establish and then maintain a strong and are governed by an independent property long-term presence in the community (San owners nonprofit association, representing Francisco Planning Department - City Design the neighborhood (Poole, 2015; SF Open Group, 2010). Therefore, the Department Data, 2016). has to work closely with individuals, key 48 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO stakeholder groups and the entire Wharf industries in the production, distribution community. The Department believed that and repair districts. the outreach process would need to be The use of plots is determined in the more intensive and personal than traditional zoning map. Once a (new) function is in outreach efforts. The resulting process was correspondence with the zoning plan, there one marked both by largely community are no restrictions to the number of tenants events and by numerous small, personal (in residential or commercial zones). Mixed meetings. For a while, the Department even use of a single plot is only possible if the moved to the area, in a special office at the zoning plan agrees on both functions. Wharf. 3.5.1.2 Physical appearance and use Concerning aesthetic appearance some 3.5 Outcomes discussion will always be present, because it involves questions of preference and taste San Francisco’s urban development on which opinions differ. In San Francisco, management (UDM) results in particular questions concerning aesthetics first arose dealing with (amongst others) spatial use, explicitly with rise of billboards. Quickly, a sustainability and public space. The effects complete Architectural Review Committee of UDM are described in this chapter. The (ARC) was set up for the city. The purpose Fisherman’s Wharf redevelopment plan is of the ARC is to provide early direction, used as a case to clarify projects’ outcome. comments and advice on projects submitted for review early in the design process, in 3.5.1 Spatial use order to provide productive and useful The spatial use effect is described in this feedback to the owner and architect (San section. Francisco Planning Department, 2011). The Planning Department enacted a series 3.5.1.1 Property Information and Citywide of design-related ordinances. For example: Zoning “Buildings must be designed so that the As mentioned earlier in this report, the San development will not cause excessive Francisco Planning Department has a zoning ground level wind currents in areas of plan for the city in order to decide which substantial pedestrian use of public seating” functions can be placed where in the city. (Cullingworth & Caves, 2009). The ARC checks This zoning plan is well documented and these ordinances. precise (San Francisco Planning Department, 2016d). 3.5.2 Sustainability San Francisco has a comprehensive range The largest part of the city is reserved for of policy initiatives and incentive programs public or residential functions. Between the to improve the (sustainable) performance residential zones there are several strips of new and existing buildings. These are of neighborhood commercial districts. regarded as among the most forward and There vary in size and are the biggest effective policies in the USA. The Planning in the North West of the city. This is also Department has set requirements for new where the residential zones fade away and construction and existing building in the city the neighborhood commercial district so that it can reach environmental goals (San culminates in downtown offices. Towards Francisco Environment, 2016). the South, along the East coast of the city, Quite some LEED certified building can be the downtown offices make place for heavier found in the city, mainly in the commercial 49 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO and business districts (M. Landman neighborhoods. A Green Benefit District Communications and Consulting, 2016), see provides additional maintenance and capital Figure 3.5.2. improvements to parks, sidewalks and open spaces within a designated area, in addition In April 2016, the city passed a law requiring to the city’s existing level of baseline all new buildings below ten stories to have services. The services, improvements and rooftop solar panels, making it the first major administration of Green Benefit Districts US city to do so (Domonoske, 2016). are governed by an independent property owners nonprofit association, representative Buildings that are marked with green of the neighborhood (Poole, 2015; SF Open pointers are LEED certified buildings. Data, 2016). This is a private initiative. Buildings marked with green thumbtacks are buildings that have achieved LEED Platinum 3.5.3.2 Private Owned Public Open Spaces (the highest LEED rating). (POPOS) There are public-private initiatives for public space developments as well. Private Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) for example; an incentive by the Planning Department to allow private developers to increase vertical development in exchange for creating open space for public use. The concept enables creation of little bits of nature in the city’s downtown area that are welcome escapes from the bustling city environment (Stanley, 2013).

3.5.3.3 Case: Fisherman’s Wharf redevelopment plan Agreement for development plans among Fig. 3.5.2: Green buildings in San Francisco (M. Land- all actors is important for the city of San man Communications and Consulting, 2016) Francisco. This is visible in the way the Planning Department approached the 3.5.3 Public space development process of Fisherman’s Wharf. The city’s Planning Department maintains With regard to the public space, both experts public space throughout San Francisco. and non-experts were asked to weigh However, recently, private initiatives are the possible outcome alternatives. The launched because the private sector and Planning Department secured the services resident communities feel that more effort of Gehl Architects, an internationally known is needed. These initiatives can be seen as Urban Design Firm from Copenhagen, for a more “organic” developments (as referred to visionary report on the current conditions in Ch. 4). and major opportunities that can be found on the Wharf (San Francisco Planning 3.5.3.1 Green Benefit Districts initiative Department - City Design Group, 2010). The Green Benefit District program seeks to Other stakeholders and involved residents improve the quality of the public realm – were asked to give feedback. This approach the City’s streets, sidewalks, parks and open has led to a very diverse use of public space. spaces – within residential and mixed-use On the one hand, elements from Fisherman’s 50 CHAPTER 3: SAN FRANCISCO

Wharf were demolished: like unused piers to In 1985, the city’s Planning Department make room for better water access, and the adopted a General Plan, based on principles embarcadero freeway to make room for a of Strategic Urban Planning, which (still new people-friendly boulevard. On the other today) provides guidelines to all city agencies hand, new elements were added: like green and departments. This integral plan does and quiet spaces with a local character in contain planning goals, but these are more Joseph Conrad Park and new open areas on guidelines. There is room for market parties the Wharf that are flexible of use. to work within these directives (flexibility).

The Planning Department has a facilitating 3.6 Conclusion role and monitors urban development processes in the city. Market parties can Important research output is highlighted in take a leading role if building plans fit within this section. the General Plan. The Planning Department positions itself as part of public-private Politics networks of development in the city. In Following the social revolution of the 1960s, the city, public-private partnerships are San Francisco became a centre of liberal organizational and legal instruments for activism, with Democrats, Greens, and actors to cooperate on spatial developments. Progressives dominating city politics. For example, in private initiatives such as the Green Benefit Districts initiative and POPOS, Economics the facilitating- and network- role of the San Francisco and the Bay Area are known for Planning Department is visible. a variety of industries: financial institutions, new media, biotechnology (Mission Bay), high-technology development (Silicon Valley, Stanford University), aerospace industry (Nasa Ames Research Centre), pharmaceutical industry, and tourism. (Mainly) due to the surging tech industry, the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market is “white-hot”. The city of San Francisco starts to look more and more like Silicon Valley, with companies like Google, Twitter, etc. renting office space. House prices, home values and rental rates climb to unsustainable levels. The question is where the tech industry is headed, and how the “tech bubble” will play out in the property market.

Strategic and integral city planning The type of capitalism applicable to the city of San Francisco is the Anglo-Saxon model, which consists of free market economies with limited governmental control. Market- oriented planning is one of the outputs of the Anglo-Saxon influence in San Francisco. 51 COMPARISON

In this chapter, the findings of each city are roughly compared to one another.

Institutional context London Vancouver San Francisco Local government is carried out City Council shapes policies, Market-oriented planning by borough councils. sets up design guidelines and is one of the outputs of the The Greater London Authority approves all rezoning plans. Anglo-Saxon influence. (GLA) was created in 2000 City manager takes decisions on to increase the level of development permissions. The government is part of collaboration and improve the market system and acts coordination between the Business costs are amongst accordingly. boroughs. the lowest of developed The government accepts nations. Therefore, Vancouver position as part of public- One of the largest city has become one of the most private networks. economies in the world. competitive cities to do business in. Since 1985, the General Plan The GLA inherited 635 ha of Municipality is very involved provides guidelines for city land in 2012, which makes them in the real estate market and planning, based on Strategic one of the biggest public sector its issues; they are open to Urban Planning principles. landowners in London. The development and support the Mayor pledged to release all the densification of the city. surplus land for development to encourage investment. Shift towards a European business model is taking place.

Property market London Vancouver San Francisco The strong economic An affluent immigration, Mainly due to the surging tech performance leads to an internal population growth, industry, the San Francisco enormous pressure on the real and steadily reducing Bay Area real estate market is estate markets. household sizes have created a “white-hot”. Residential and office areas vigorous demand for housing become unaffordable. development. The city of San Francisco starts to look more and more like International investors place An environmentally conscious Silicon Valley, with large R&D their focus on U.K. regions planning regime has led to and internet companies renting instead of Central London. Vancouverism. office space. House prices, home values Transportation- led urban and rental rates climb to regeneration: a catalyst for unsustainable levels. development. The question is where the tech industry is headed, and how the “tech bubble” will play out in the property market

52 COMPARISON

Organisation London Vancouver San Francisco King’s Cross has a single owner: False Creek South: Public-private partnerships The King’s Cross Central Limited Integrated, governmental led as organizational and legal Partnership, which comprises development. instruments for actors three groups: U.K. property to cooperate on spatial developer Argent, the U.K. False Creek North: Integrated development. state-owned London and development with public/ Continental Railways Limited; private cooperation. Planning Department is and DHL Supply Chain. responsible for administration False Creek Southeast: Organic of PPP projects; horizontal Organic process; flexibility, development with public/ models that aim to create a negotiation and change were private cooperation. sense of parity in both private the most important aspects. and public real estate rates: The development team picks special tax increment and up trends as they emerge. redevelopment plan.

Urban redevelopment process London Vancouver San Francisco Combination between False Creek South: Both integrated and organic integrated and organic urban Integrated, governmental led urban development processes, planning. development. based on the General Plan.

Municipal perspective: strong False Creek North: Integrated The Planning Department acts orientation on transport-led development with public/ both as initiator (Fisherman’s urban regeneration, integrated private cooperation. Wharf redevelopment plan) and system. This stimulates private facilitator (Green Benefit District initiatives, which is more in line False Creek Southeast: Organic initiative; organic). with an organic system. development with public/ private cooperation.

Outcomes London Vancouver San Francisco King’s Cross: High quality, fully FC South: Social mix that Spatial use: zoning plan and mixed-use scheme comprising reflects the diversity of incomes; property information mapping old and new buildings enclaves of clustered housing by Planning Department. assembled around 26 acres of promotes social contact; public space. hierarchy of open spaces. Physical appearance: Aesthetics Committee and design-related One of the most sustainable FC North: High density area ordinances by Planning major urban area that is well connected to Department. developments: reuse of surrounding neighbourhoods; heritage buildings, green pleasant public spaces; well- Sustainability: policies, transport policies, three organized amenities and public initiatives, incentives, and laws BREEAM “Outstanding” transportation. (on rooftop solar panels for buildings, an installation of 200 example). m of green walls. FC Southeast: Sustainable residential area that should be Perfect example of a POPS. completed by 2020. 53 OUR EXPERIENCES

London The entire area is developed by private investors. Not only the buildings, but the Main conclusions before the trip: public spaces as well. This is reflected in overpriced rents and insufficient benches - A development shift towards the boroughs of and trash bins. Simultaneously, quite a lot of London is occurring. garbage collectors wander around the area, - Transportation is used as a catalyst to each carrying signs that warn the visitors enable development zones for private sector about the high fines for throwing rubbish on initiatives. the streets. - Mixed approach: integrated and organic urban planning. London provides a fertile context Developments in the London boroughs for urban innovation. Two developments under construction - Public space is a hot issue in London, due that are situated quite far away from the to its privately owned nature through POPS central districts were visited during the (privately owned public spaces). Study Trip: the first by Bouygues in Canning Town and the second by Savills at the Royal King’s Cross Albert Wharf. These are both examples of When we visited the redeveloped King’s transportation lead urban redevelopments, Cross area, the weather was exceptionally since the improved reachability makes it good. Since the sun was shining, the central possible to pull people out of the city centre square was crowded and the local residents and towards the edges. This is something the all used the public space as the developers Royal Albert Wharf development highlights must have intended. Children were blowing especially. In the Savills marketing suite, the bubbles while their parents watched an relatively short distances to the business exciting Wimbledon game on a big screen, district are printed largely on the walls. The terraces were crowded and the natural open focus furthermore lies on the attractiveness air swimming pool was being used by quite of living in a less crowded neighbourhood, some people. That liveability has caused nearby the waterfront and surrounded by our memory of the King’s Cross area to be green spaces. Luxurious render images very positive. The urban and architectural provide visitors with an idea of what their design contribute to this positive image. lives might look like if they would decide to The old, industrial buildings are retained and buy a house at the edge of the city instead of complemented by new, modern, sustainable at the centre of it (Bouygues, 2016). additions to make them attractive and useable again. Maintained railway tracks and Besides the spatial advantages, another industrial details recall the lives from times important reason for people to want to gone by. move to outer boroughs, is the housing costs. Due to the risen prices, a lot of Overall, it could therefore be stated that the people can no longer afford to live in the redevelopments of King’s Cross have been city centre. Therefore, Savills offers a wide very successful. Although the area is not range of housing-types, by developing entirely finished yet, it is already attracting smaller and therefore, more affordable more than enough people. It could even be apartments as well. Consequently, a mixed seen as a city within a city, since it houses environment could arise at the Royal Albert all the facilities a city needs. The downside Wharf, transforming this area into a vibrant, of this is the fact that the connection to its attractive living environment. surrounding areas is lacking. 54 OUR EXPERIENCES

Both Bouygues as well as Savills have been city still felt quite ‘new’. Most areas have able to sell quite a lot of their spaces already, been developed within the specific urban which gives the impression that such outer planning and architectural phenomenon borough developments might actually ‘Vancouverism’ that we already came work. The future will tell whether such across during the preparatory research. transportation lead projects turn out to be This is characterized by a large residential successful, in which case they could take population living in the city centre with some pressure off the overpriced city centre mixed-use developments. A medium-height markets. commercial base combined with a narrow high-rise residential towers preserve view Conclusions corridors and leave space for the creation of - Developments like King’s Cross are suc- green park spaces. Such parks have a positive cessful, but still overpriced. influence on the liveability of the area and - Even social housing becomes less and less were developed under a special agreement affordable. between the government and the private - The expansion of the public transportation developers. In this agreement, it is stated system initiated by the government does that the developers are responsible for the seem to stimulate private investors to public spaces – in return for the ability to develop projects outside of the city centre. add more floors to the high-rise residential towers (Stadsruim, 2016). Lessons for the Netherlands: - The city of Amsterdam is becoming more Sustainable solutions at UBC and more dense and is currently coping with The campus management of this university increasing house prices as well. Developing if very much focussed on sustainability. pleasant living environments in outer Recycled wood is used for the building neighbourhood’s therefore might not be a structures, sustainable concrete floors bad idea for our capital city either. are constructed and natural ventilation is - Private initiatives bring along opportunities implemented. Compost toilets furthermore that could be explored in the Netherlands as reduce water wastage. The buildings are well. efficiently designed to reduce energy consumption. A tilted roof for example provides the right amount of light to come Vancouver in to decrease the need for artificial lighting to safe electricity. Other buildings have Main conclusions before the trip: integrated solar collectors that do not only - While researching the development of False generate energy, but offer sun protection as Creek, it became clear how much time such well. a complex urban redevelopment project can take. Living in the outskirts of Vancouver - When spread over a long period of time, Downtown Vancouver has become political changes can influence a project unaffordable to many since this is the only majorly. area people seem to want to live. Apparently there are numerous opportunities to live in Vancouverism the outskirts of Vancouver, but no one seems During a bike tour, organised by Wendy- to want to move there (Dudoc, 2016). Those and Robert de Hoog, who currently live outer areas have a negative image and for in Vancouver and work for Stadsruim, the people to be convinced of the attractiveness, 55 OUR EXPERIENCES that image has to be changed. The developed such a large and important reachability is rather bad as well, since the area of Vancouver, they see themselves as public transport system of Vancouver is quite Canada’s largest community builder. Their basic. Not so long ago, a referendum was held building style – high-rise residential towers with the question as to whether the public with a lot of glass – has put a permanent transport system should be expanded or mark on Vancouver’s skyline. Both Rennie not and the results showed that the citizens and Concord Pacific seem to mainly be of Vancouver do not find it necessary to do focussed on making money and leaving a so (Dudoc, 2016). Meanwhile, the citizens mark on the developments in Vancouver do want the government to find a solution rather than creating a mixed environment for to the unaffordable housing problem in the both low- and high-earners. This of course is city centre – just without having to give up not exceptional – this can be seen in many anything themselves. Anglo-Saxon economies. It just makes it harder for less wealthy organizations like BC Affordable housing Housing to reach their goal of creating an Several organizations fight for affordable environment in which the less fortunate can housing throughout the whole city. BC live as well. Housing is one of them. This developer focusses on building affordable housing Conclusions: in downtown Vancouver as well as in the - The luxurious ‘Vancouverism’ high-rise style outskirts of the city. The rental princes are determines the look of the city. not the same for each dwelling, but are - Private community builders keep deve- instead determined by the residents’ salaries. loping housing and office space for the high- They have to pay for their home with 30% of earners, while social housing organizations their income. This is contrasted tot the set fight against gentrification. amount for affordable rental prices as we are - The outskirts of Vancouver are too unused to in the Netherlands. attractive and unreachable. Therefore, BC Housing integrates common areas and people cannot even imagine living there. ‘urban farming’ rooftop gardens in their buildings, to stimulate social contact and to allow them to grow their own food. The San Francisco company furthermore collaborates with other associations that offer people in need Main conclusions before the trip: a home. - Due to the surging tech industry, the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market is “white- In contrast to BC Housings opinion that hot”. The city of San Francisco is beginning to everyone should be able to live in downtown look more and more like Silicon Valley. House Vancouver, real estate company Rennie prices, home values and rental rates climb to believes that some people should just unsustainable levels. The question is where accept the fact that they cannot afford to the tech industry is headed, and how the “tech live in the city centre. This company focuses bubble” will play out in the property market. on marketing and marketability and is of the - Market-oriented planning is one of the opinion that the growing house prices are outputs of the Anglo-Saxon influence in San not an issue at all. Francisco. Concord Pacific has a comparable opinion. - A General Plan, based on principles of This company has developed the Northern Strategic Urban Planning, provides guidelines part of False Creek and since they have to all city agencies and departments. There is 56 OUR EXPERIENCES room for market parties to work within these in the design tender for the Salesforce Tower, directives (flexibility). the Planning Department explicitly asked - The Planning Department has a facilitating for a new high-rise landmark in the city, role and monitors urban development branding the heart of the financial district. processes in the city. Market parties can take The winning design is by Pelli Clarke Pelli a leading role if building plans fit within the Architects (PCPA). General Plan. The Planning Department Next to the new tower, a 5.4-acre City Park positions itself as part of public-private will be realized, which is designed by PCPA networks of development in the city. as well. Underneath the park, a brand new public transport hub will be developed, as The tech bubble part of the new Transbay Transit Centre. At the Dutch Consulate, a member of The Transbay Transit Center project is a The Netherlands Network for Innovation, transportation and housing project that Technology and Science told us about his transforms downtown San Francisco and work, whereby he emphasized the so-called the San Francisco Bay Area’s regional “tech bubble” in the San Francisco Bay Area. transportation system by creating a “Grand The Bay Area has become the “mecca” for Central Station of the West” in the heart high-grossing companies such as Facebook, of a new “transit-friendly neighborhood”. Apple, Twitter, Google, etc., and therefore The approximately 6 billion dollar project the cost of living has surged. The change in will replace the former Transbay Terminal house and rent prices over the last decade at First Street and Mission Street in San is enormous. Bringing in more businesses Francisco with a modern regional transit is generally beneficial for surrounding hub connecting 8 Bay Area counties and the communities. However, when there are too State of California through 11 transit systems many people and not enough housing to (Transbay Joint Powers Authority, 2016). accommodate the increase, it becomes a The project consists of three interconnected problem. The population in Silicon Valley elements (Transbay Joint Powers Authority, has reached 7.5 million — that is twice as 2016): many people living there than there were - Replacing the former Transbay Terminal at 40 years ago. Some community members First Street and Mission Street; have started to criticize the tech boom for - Extending Caltrain and California High “gentrifying” the Bay Area, making it difficult Speed Rail underground from Caltrain’s for those that have lived there most of their current terminus at Fourth Street and King lives to afford the price surge (Marqueti, Street into the new downtown Transit Center; 2016). - Creating a new neighborhood with homes, offices, parks and shops surrounding the The Salesforce Tower and the Transbay new Transit Center. Transit Center In contrast to what we have learned about The first phase of the project, currently under the height restrictions set by the General Plan construction, includes the development of guidelines, the Salesforce Tower - a 61-stories the above-ground portion of the new Transit high office tower with 1.4 million square feet Center, bus ramp and bus storage facility. of office space - will soon exceed the height The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) of the Transatlantic Pyramid. Until now, the Board directed designers from PCPA to also city’s Planning Department did not permit to include the below-grade rail levels in the build any higher than the 48-stories of this design (Transbay Joint Powers Authority, unique landmark on the horizon. However, 2016). 57 OUR EXPERIENCES

However, high speed rail from Caltrain’s is the housing affordability issue. Many current terminus at the east side of the city to organizations are currently focusing on this Downtown San Francisco is not yet there and matter. One of those organizations is Bridge the TJPA is still actively seeking for funding Housing – which provided us with more for the rail tunnels – the Transbay Transit information during a visit. Center and Caltrain Downtown Extension Program (1.3-mile extension of the Caltrain Bridge Housing prides itself about their rail line) costs are estimated at approximately personal approach to housing. It is not 6 billion dollars. With no trains coming in just business to them. This personal touch yet, the current prospect of the new Transit can be seen in the way they select their Center is that of a “billion-dollar bus station” tenants; tenants qualify for their dwelling – as CBRE’s marketing manager joked. through special selection programs. These programs are designed to make sure that At the San Francisco Planning Department, the demands of both tenants and owner are three employees informed us about the met as well as possible. Once an applicant funding problem of this project. Apparently, for a dwelling is a tenant of Bridge Housing, these employees did not consider the they do their utmost best to keep a good funding issue a problem for the Planning relationship. Special care programs are Department itself. Rather, they see the offered and facilities like community rooms funding as an issue that should be resolved and communal gardens are provided to by the market players, the involved Bay encourage interaction between residents Area counties and the 11 transit systems. themselves and the property management. Due to this complex public-private actor Besides Bridge Housing specifics, a lot was network, the Planning Department foresees shared about affordable housing in the San that bringing together the funding will take Francisco area. It was explained that housing about 20 more years. associations always have to work with private parties to make sure a project can be paid for. The Planning Department laughed about The financial impulse from private parties is the “billion-dollar bus station” notion, primarily needed to pay for the land that has which is remarkable, since the future of to be bought for future developments. public transport seems an important issue It also became clear that it is very difficult to to talk about for city planners. Within this provide in the affordable or social sense in context, the possibility of scenario planning downtown San Francisco. However, Bridge – for example the possibility of public Housing is still trying to keep downtown San transportation no longer being useful in Francisco as diverse as possible and to stop 20 years – does not seem to be considered. segregation. This was surprising to us, especially within a region that is known for new technologies on It furthermore became apparent that the public transport – think of the “Hyperloop”, as terms ‘social’ and ‘affordable’ are not being suggested by Tesla’s Elon Musk, or Google’s used in the same way as in the Netherlands self-driving cars, already driving around in and therefore, are hard to compare to our Mountain View, Silicon Valley. country in the sense of housing. In the United States, ‘affordable housing’ concerns housing that costs a certain percentage of Affordable Housing organizations your income. This percentage being equal Another aspect that has become very or lower than 30%. In the Netherlands, clear during our preparatory research, affordable housing is not linked to your 58 OUR EXPERIENCES income, but instead states a maximum price the rent can be.

Conclusions - The “tech bubble” in the city and Bay Area is real. What happens it the bubble bursts? - The presence of technological companies influences urban developments. These companies attract highly educated employees, who earn a lot of money while working there. Therefore, they can spend a lot on their houses, which causes the focus of new housing developments to shift more and more towards the high-earners, making it increasingly difficult to find affordable housing for people that earn less. - San Francisco develops a new high-rise landmark in the heart of its financial district, highlighting its ambition for innovation and technology. - The Transbay Transit Center project is a billion-dollar transformation project in Downtown San Francisco, involving a complex public-private actor network, characterized by individualism, selective service access and inequality. - In San Francisco, the terminology “social housing” and “affordable housing” is not well defined, and differently used by city planners and market players.

Lessons for the Netherlands - Urban (re)development on a large scale, for example the Transbay Transit Center area, is characterized by complex public-private actor networks that are very much focused on individual benefits. It is difficult to determine what is public and what is private: it is not always clear in which domain actors operate, which interests and societal values they safeguard, and which responsibilities they take. - The social housing concept of the Ne- therlands is quite unique and rather well arranged compared to the organizations in San Francisco.

59 HOUSING INAFFORDABILITY IN LONDON, VANCOUVER AND SAN FRANCISCO

Nick van Assendelft, Lisa van Dijk, Wouter Disseldorp, Sybren Geldof, Sanne Harmsen, Thysia Kleijwegt, Lisa Kuijpers, Tymen Reijnders, Hans Trip, Nynke Wertenbroek

Supervisor: Peter de Jong

60 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 62 1.1 Housing inaffordability 62 1.2 Research questions 63 1.3 Methodology 63 1.4 Conceptual model 63 1.5 Research design 64

2. Theoretical framework 65 2.1 Anglo-Saxon versus Rhineland 65 2.2 What is housing inaffordability? 66 2.3 Gentrification 66 2.4 Current situation in Europe 67 2.5 Current situation in the Netherlands 67

3. London 69 3.1 Background information 69 3.2 Context and drivers 69 3.3 Social and economic effects 71 3.4 Public and private response 73

4. Vancouver 75 4.1 Background information 75 4.2 Context and drivers 76 4.3 Social and economic effects 77 4.4 Public and private response 78

5. San Francisco 80 5.1 Background information 80 5.2 Context and drivers 80 5.3 Social and economic effects 83 5.4 Public and private response 86

6. Conclusions 87 6.1 London, Vancouver and San Francisco 87 6.2 Comparison to the Netherlands 89

7. Our experiences 90 7.1 London 90 7.2 Vancouver 90 7.3 San Francisco 93

61 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Housing inaffordability as a barrier to prevent the segregation and displacement as a result of gentrification. All over the world, cities and neighbourhoods However, this may seem the only long-term are undergoing social, cultural and barrier to slow down this process (Ley, & economic transitions. Initially deprived Dobson, 2008). neighbourhoods may be strategically located within the city and hence experience The San Francisco Housing Inventory quickly rising demands for housing. These (2014) also shows the rise in housing prices rising demands often result in increasing and rents in San Francisco during the last real estate values (Geltner & Miller, 2001, decades. Although both rents and sales pp. 3, 4), which in their turn ultimately can prices were subject to a small decline during cause housing inaffordability and stimulate the economic crisis, the prices for an average displacement or social exclusion. The process two-bedroom apartment are higher than of displacement of lower classes by middle ever. Similar to London and Vancouver, this or upper class newcomers in undervalued trend seems to become problematic in San neighbourhoods can be described as the Francisco for the average working class, process of gentrification (Smith, 1996, which is gradually driven out of town (ULI p. 30). Both housing inaffordability and Foundation, 2009). gentrification are important topics in academic literature as well as on political Based on the recognized housing agendas. London, Vancouver, San Francisco inaffordability and gentrification in and Amsterdam can be seen as examples London, Vancouver and San Francisco, an of cities that are confronted with housing investigation is done in order to find its inaffordability and social exclusion of lower drivers and effects, so that other cities such and middle classes. as Amsterdam can learn from this. This paper examines the available literature on the The process of gentrification has taken relationship between housing inaffordability place in many different neighbourhoods and the functioning of the cities of London, in London, where middle-class groups Vancouver and San Francisco. For each of take over (gentrify) a former working-class these cities the drivers, effects and public and neighbourhood. As mentioned before, one private responses to housing inaffordability of the negative effects of gentrification is will be researched and compared to find ‘displacement’, a phenomenon in which possible similarities and differences, as well low-income households are pressured to as explain the responses in the different leave their home or neighbourhood. This cities and provide recommendations for can occur either directly, by rent increases or London, Vancouver, San Francisco and other home demolitions, or indirectly, by the loss cities dealing with similar issues. of neighbourhood resources (Watt, 2009). In London, already many working-class families First of all, the research questions and have been displaced. research methods are discussed, after which a theoretical framework of the In Vancouver, the housing prices and rents discussed concepts is given. Third of all, the have increased greatly over the past decades, main drivers, socio-economic effects and as market dynamics of supply and demand public and private responses to housing provide a strong pressure on the housing inaffordability in London, Vancouver and affordability in the city centre. In this city, the San Francisco are discussed. The conclusion removal of land off the private market is seen summarizes with the main findings for the 62 1. INTRODUCTION three capitals, as well as recommendations overview of the causes and effects and for other cities such as Amsterdam, that make a comparison of the three cities, to seem to be moving in the same direction. see how cities moving in the same direction could prevent these causes and effects, or which responses they could have to solve 1.2 Research questions the already existing housing inaffordability issues, as well as which would be best in Taking the mentioned problem statement different contexts. into account, the main research question of this report is: 1.4 Conceptual model What are the effects of housing inaffordability on the functioning of London, Vancouver and The conceptual model in figure 1 shows the San Francisco? And how may this be compared interrelations between the different effects to other cities that move in the same direction, of housing affordability. It is assumed that such as Amsterdam? the private response is mainly influenced by the economic effects, as well as the public The sub questions to answer this main response. While the public response is question are: mainly influenced by the social effects. In the - What are the drivers of housing end, they all influence each other, because inaffordability in the three abovementioned economic effects can’t exist separate of cities? social effects, and the private response - What are the social and economic effects can be reactive or proactive to the public of housing inaffordability in these three response, and the other way around. cities? - What are the public and private responses to this matter?

1.3 Methodology

To answer the main and sub research questions, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used. The economic outcomes and effects, are often measureable and provide quantitative data. The social effects are also investigated according to the quantitative method, looking at information Fig. 1.4: Effects of housing inaffordability and public like income and transportation costs, which and private response. can all be retrieved and compared. Besides that, the research on the social effects when it comes to societal effects and emotional impacts, asks for rich and deep data and is therefore also conducted in a qualitative manner and investigates for example the feeling of safety, stress and responsibilities. The end goal of this research is to get an 63 1. INTRODUCTION

1.5 Research design

The research design of this paper is a cross-cultural design, which is part of a comparative design (Bryman, 2012, pag. 72). Within the research, one model will be specified in three different nations. Therefore it is logical to use a cross-cultural design and compare the outcomes of the three different nations with each other.

The cross-cultural design will be used as follows; per nation/city the causes and effects of housing inaffordability will be clarified. These three separate researches will be elaborated based on the same framework, discussing the background, context, drivers socio- and economic effects and public and private response. For every nation the same research aspects will be conducted in order to ensure the comparability.

Within the theoretical framework and the separate researches, first of all, the role of the government will be investigated. Within this subject the focus lays on the influence of the government on the social and economic aspects. During the second part, the effects of the above mentioned aspects on housing inaffordability are clarified. By combining the first part with the second part, the role of the government per nation/city is set out. The results of these three researches are going to be compared with each other.

64 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 Anglo-Saxon versus Rhineland the other hand to low trading barriers and accommodating business in general (Bakker In order to make an analysis of London, et al., 2005). Vancouver and San Francisco, to obtain a full understanding of these contexts and The Rhineland model is a more social model, to subsequently compare them to the sometimes referred to as a coordinated Dutch context, it is important to clarify market economy, characterized by higher how these contexts can be differentiated. levels of market regulation and high taxes London, Vancouver and San Francisco can (especially on high incomes). It combines all be identified as ‘Anglo-Saxon’: they are the free market capitalism which is also part of English-speaking countries with a recognized in the Anglo-Saxon model, with similar cultural heritage, which has led to an a social ideology and a welfare state. It is a equivalent political and economic system. more collectivist view, based on achieving The Netherlands on the other hand can be common goals within a certain market, identified as a social market economy, which obtaining a win-win situation, rather than is referred to as ‘the Rhineland model’. a win-lose. Policies are in place to establish The Anglo-Saxon model and Rhineland fair competition and cooperative contracts model are two different approaches to and partnerships are stimulated (Bakker et capitalism. While the Rhineland model is al., 2005). recognized in Western-Europe and Japan, mainly in the Netherlands, Germany and While the Anglo-Saxon model focuses Scandinavian countries, the Anglo-Saxon mainly on achievements on an individual model is recognized in the USA, the UK, level, profiting from others doing less Canada, Australia and New Zealand, of which good, and on short-term successes, the the first two show the strongest signs of this social Rhineland model focuses on group ideology (Heurkens, 2012). achievements, although these might be less grand, and establishing long-term The Anglo-Saxon model is characterized by relationships, building something as a low levels of market regulation and low taxes collective. Coordination within these (also on high incomes), optimally supporting countries is also much more built on the main ideology of a ‘free market’ and shared values rather than strict rules and competition between companies (Albert, regulations. The government takes an active 1993). The idea is that this competition role and is quite powerful, because this is increases the quality of products and deemed needed to retain the social market services offered, because the firms not being economy (Albert, 1993). able to compete with the status-quo will go bankrupt. This also means, the government London, Vancouver and San Francisco are all does not intervene or provide many services, Anglo-Saxon, while with some differences because it is thought the free market and between themselves. The Dutch culture, market forces will provide or start providing such as in Amsterdam, is based on this these, if there is enough demand for them. Rhineland ideology (Heurkens, 2012). An For the government to have some assurance example on how this leads to differences in that this free market concept is send into the real estate sector in London, Vancouver the right direction, within the Anglo-Saxon and San Francisco on the one hand and countries, strong regulations are set. This Amsterdam on the other hand, is that leads on the one hand to very strict contract within the Rhineland model housing is enforcement, private property rights, and on often provided by public enterprises and 65 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK rents are subsidized by the government, of the household’s monthly income. In the to retain affordable options for everyone. latter scenario, often a 30-year 8% fixed rate However, in Anglo-Saxon contexts, housing loan is assumed (San Francisco Planning is almost always provided by commercial/ Department, 2015). private enterprises, playing into certain real estate demands and supplies they see on the market (Albert, 1993). 2.3 Gentrification

However, it is not as black-and-white as “One by one many of the working class it may seem now. According to Heurkens quarters of London have been invaded by the (2012), even though the Rhineland model is middle class (...)have been taken over when deeply embedded within the Dutch culture, their leases expired, and have become elegant, market and political systems, Anglo-Saxon expensive residences (...)once this process of influences can be recognized too. ‘gentrification’ starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working class In the current governance structure and occupiers are displaced and the whole social decision-making process within the character of the district is changed.” (Glass, Netherlands, Anglo-Saxon influences can 1964; cited in Doucet, 2014) be recognized, leading to i.e. public-private partnerships and neo-liberal decisions made Since its introduction in 1964 by Glass, by the government. gentrification is a term that has been discussed among many social and economic scientists. Over the past decades 2.2 What is housing inaffordability? the definition has become broader and new forms, policies and experiences of Affordable housing is defined as housing that gentrification have emerged (Doucet, 2014). can be owned or rented at prices affordable Examples are commercial gentrification, retail to households with median to low incomes, gentrification and tourism gentrification which is about 60% to 120% of the Average (Burnett, 2014; Gotham, 2005; Zukin et al., Median Income (AMI). When the housing is 2009). These new forms are considered as priced at market rates, these prices are often more indirect, subtle forms of gentrification without incentives, subsidies or any other compared to the traditional definition. affordability requirements and therefore, in popular areas to live, the market rates In the early 90s, gentrification is put into exceed ownership or rental affordability policy perspective. What started as a levels, because there are always people definition that describes an occasional willing to pay more (San Francisco Planning and spontaneous process focussing on Department, 2015). households, has evolved into a policy goal in and on of itself (Doucet, Kempen, Housing for households earning 60-120% & Weesep, 2011). Policymakers however AMI is seen as affordable when the monthly prefer to use different terms other than rent is about 30% of the monthly household gentrification. ‘Urban regeneration’, income, in the case of rental properties. ‘revitalization’ and ‘increasing social mix’ are Home ownership is seen as affordable popular terms among politicians and urban when the mortgage payments, mortgage planners (Burnett, 2014; Smith, 2002; Walks insurance, property taxes, home-owner’s & Maaranen, 2008; Yoon & Currid-Halkett, dues and insurance are equal to about 33% 2015). Although they might be packaged 66 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK differently, active gentrification policies 2..4 Current situation in Europe often have the same goals: make real estate values rise; attract high income groups; Research on 13 European capitals, such as attract tourists to the city; and retain urban Stockholm, Vilnius and Madrid has shown competitiveness. that every city deals with an increase of segregation, due to gentrification (NRC, In the context of rising real estate values in 2015). The discrepancy between the rich neighbourhoods, it can be profitable for and the poor is clearly visible in the different both governments as well as for market suburbs, where there is especially a strong parties to close ‘value gaps’ (Boterman & division between social rental housing and Gent, 2014; Clark, 1992) or ‘rent gaps’ (Clark, private housing. This occurrence can be 1992; Weller & Hulten, 2012) in undervalued explained by political changes. Due the to neighbourhoods. Higher real estate values the growing absence of control of authorities result in higher tax revenue, which will in the 80’s and 90’s, the housing market has benefit the state, the municipality and the been free to develop itself. Which resulted in local neighbourhood (Ebenezer O. Aka, higher income groups concentrating in city 2010). centers and lower income groups moving to Similarly, cities try to actively attract high the suburbs. Besides the decreasing support income groups. Several studies note that of municipalities on the social systems high income groups are attracted by the another important cause of segregation is appearance and high end amenities of an clarified by globalization. urban area and bring economic prosperity and employment to the city (Glaeser, Kolko, Every country has been dealing with & Saiz, 2001; Ponds, Marlet, & Woerkens, immigrants who are looking for jobs and 2015). opportunities to improve their lives. Cities Third of all, Gotham (2005) highlights the needed to provide a certain amount of role of state policies in encouraging tourism social housing and job possibilities to meet development. Tourism development coexist these needs. But due to the decreasing with increases in consumption, the attraction participation of authorities on the social of capital and the enhancement of economic systems, immigrants have been receiving prosperity and fiscal status of a city. Finally, very little support. Which resulted in a the attraction of higher income groups and division between a higher and a lower tourists are important for a city in order to educated group, with also a huge difference retain their urban competitiveness (Doucet of income. Furthermore, immigrants, or et al., 2011). people with the same origin, tend to live together. (NRC, 2015) Taken all this into However, policies that tend to close value account, segregations seem a logic result. gaps and attract high income groups and tourists, ultimately can stimulate income polarization, displacement and social 2.5 Current situation in the Netherlands exclusion of lower classes (Smith, 2002; Walks & Maaranen, 2008). In other words: Also in the Netherlands, changes can the above-mentioned positive values like be recognized. The past decade, Dutch rising real estate prices and the attraction governments have been stimulating of tourists and high income groups seem gentrification, which effects are now to be related to the negative values of recognized. In some neighbourhoods that displacement and social exclusion. used to house the poorest layer of society 67 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK and were known for high crime rates and bad amenities, currently a huge upgrade is recognized. Offices and retail locations are developed and they attract more prosperous inhabitants. Municipalities view attracting middle- and high incomes as a key to regional success and apply neoliberal housing policies to support that (NRC, 2016).

In Amsterdam, where gentrification can be recognized best, home ownership increased from 15% to 28% since 2000, while social housing allocations decreased with 36% over the past 10 years. This is mainly explained by the decrease in total amount of social housing and the fact that people tend to occupy their social unit for a longer period of time. In 2000, 55% of the total Amsterdam housing stock was social housing, while in 2013 this was only 46%. In Rotterdam, the municipality recently decided to replace 20.000 social housing units with 35.000 units aimed for a higher segment (NRC, 2016). While historically, the wealthier layer of society used to move away from the city, cities now seem more and more reserved to higher incomes, while the so-called ‘working class’ moves away to the outskirts or periphery. Especially in Amsterdam this effect can be recognized, because the housing market is very tight, with high demands and little supply, even the middle income class is often unable to find housing they can afford. The amount of lower income groups in Amsterdam has been steadily decreasing for years. However, not all lower incomes are moving away. The so-called ‘working poor’, who have jobs in the city, try to find ways to still live in, or at least close to the city. Since distances in the Netherlands are relatively very small, this group can still find housing on the edges of the city, sometimes shared (NRC, 2016). This is often not possible when dealing with bigger cities such as London, Vancouver and San Francisco due to the long travelling times and expensive public transport. 68 3. LONDON

3.1 Background day, 150 years later, the suffixes are added to the street names, for example 10 Downing London, the Capital of England, the United St, London SW1A 2AA. (Unknown, N.D.) Kingdom and the Commonwealth was the world’s most popular touristic city in 2014. Both the head of the United Kingdom, With around 19 million visitors annually Queen Elizabeth, and the head of the and tourism spending’s just over 19 billion majesties government the Prime Minister British pounds, people seem very eager to (PM) are housed in London. The queen at visit this city (Jacobs, 2014). Famous touristic Buckingham Palace and the Prime Minister attractions such as the Tower bridge, Tower at 10 Downing street. This makes London of London, Buckingham palace and the the centre of the United Kingdom but also London Eye attract many visitors. still of the world. Queen Elizabeth is via the London is located in the South-East of commonwealth still the head of all these England and covers an area of about 1.1 countries being 53 (Commonwealth N.D.). square miles (2.9 square meter). The city With a total population of roughly 1.8 of London is in the centre of the Greater billion residents almost a third of the world’s London area. This metropolitan area covers population it is roughly 6 times bigger than more than 1.572 square kilometres, with the United States of America (BBC, 2012) a population of over 8 million people (Schlesinger, 2013). All together it can be (Britannica, N.D.). The city of London is rather concluded that London is an important city large comparing it to European standards. on a world scale. After Moscow, London has most inhabitants in Europe and when London is compared to other cities within the UK, it is more than 6 times larger than the second largest city: 3.2 Context and drivers Birmingham (CityMayors, N.D). Currently, London lacks to comply with the London did not become such a metropole demand for affordable housing. Affordability in a day. For centuries, London has been the of housing is affected by the way in which centre of the Island Great Britain and the housing supply markets respond to changes empire of the United Kingdom. In the 1850’s either through increased construction or the first growth problems arose, such as raising prices. In London, most adjustment mail, because 470 million letters were being occur in higher prices rather than complying sent annually in the UK and a fifth was sent housing supply with the demand through to London. All these letters had to pass the construction. Additionally, housing general post office at Saint Martin’s le Grand. affordability is inversely proportional to In 1854, Charles Canning, the postmaster the result of income versus housing costs. general, set up a committee to investigate a For example, the current average rent in postcode division in London. He proposed an London is 997 pounds (1430 USD), well almost perfectly circular area of 12 miles (19 above European standards, as seen in figure km) radius from the central post. Within this 3.2a. However, according to Cordell (2016), radius, the city was divided by eight compass other cities such as San Francisco take up points which operated much like separate with a rent level of 2824 USD. Therefore, post towns. Each was constituted “London” the London situation could be considered with a suffix (EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, relatively advantageous. Nevertheless, and NW) indicating the area it covered and London is currently the 6th most expensive each area had a separate head office. To this city to live worldwide (Cordell, 2016). 69 3. LONDON

Fig. 3.2a: Monthly rent (Cordell, 2016) Fig. 3.2b: Housing costs and earning (Cordell, 2016) Another remarkable aspect is the locality of the Thames (Booth, 2016). These increases the rent levels for housing. Again, housing in property value don’t go by unnoticed to affordability is about the relation of costs property developers. New complexes such versus earnings. The shelter-cost-to-income as the Wardian sell two-bedroom flats for 1.1 ratio (STIR) in London is ranked 9th place million pounds, and Developer Ballymore worldwide with 50.4%, as seen in figure is selling 28 square meter apartments 3.2b (Cordell, 2016). Subsequent to before (according to the government space mentioned ratios, Cordell identified the standards the bare minimum) for 562.000 required level of income based on 0,98 pounds (Booth, 2016). This means that even FTE (37,5 hours/week) in order to afford the smallest apartments are out of range a one-bed rental in each of the postcode for the majority of the population in certain areas, without spending more than half areas. That’s why more and more people their income on rent. Consequently, in one decide to work outside of London and of the most expensive areas of London commute. The average commute time for (EC3) people have to earn an extraordinary London is than 76 minutes, not the highest 50 pounds per hour. On the contrary, the but certainly not low (Cordell, 2016). cheapest neighbourhood SE2 requires a wage of 10 pounds per hour. Despite the appearance of this more reasonable price level, the minimum wages lay at 8,21 pounds per hour. Consequently, people who do earn minimum wage are priced out of the city completely (Cordell, 2016).

According to Winkwort (2014), the house prices have increased gradually since the early 80’s from 50.000 pounds to over 250.000, Fig. 3.2c: 30 years of house prices (Winkwort, 2014) which is an increase of 500%, as seen in figure 3.2c (Winkwort, 2014). Especially since However, something seems to change in the the mid 90’s the property value increased market prices. For the first time since 2007 vastly. The biggest growth rate was up to the housing prices seem to drop in London, 324%, which is more concentrated around far more than in the rest of the UK, for which

70 3. LONDON are two possible reasons. The first one being will trigger secondary activities to become the stamp duty changes (tax regulations). more expensive as well. Living standards in Since april the taxes per dwelling have risen the neighbourhood are getting higher, and to between 2,5 to 10 thousand pounds more so do the prices of your regular groceries. than before. This new tax system applies This “expansion” of wealthiness triggers a to buyers who are not buying for own use, secondary process of displacement as well which means investors, buyers who lease (Arbaci & Rae, 2013). Gentrification, as we their space and parents who buy for their may call it, reinforces itself. Eventually, social children (Rudgard, 2016). With a lower displacement, gentrification, leads to the demand from investors due to increasing segregation of social classes. The clustering costs, the demand for the housing market is of high-class, middle-class and low-classes expected to drop. The other reason is the risk takes away the diversity in neighbourhoods. for a Brexit (British exit from the European Diversity, however, is generally perceived as union) (Osborne, 2016). a favorable feature of neighbourhoods. The concentration of disadvantaged households has a negative influence on the functioning 3.3 Social and economic effects and social prospects of a neighbourhood. Being forced to live in a depriviated en- Gentrification is often seen as a negative vironment reduces your social mobility. Lack development. City-centres getting in- of aspirations, and lack of individual role affordable seems unfair or anti-social. There models results in the inability to escape from are, however, effects visible that are not your disadvantageous social and economical that negative. London neighbourhoods like situation (Arbaci & Rae, 2013). Chelsea or Kensington are nowadays only accessible for the wealthy classes. It may seem Alasdair Rae, Senior Lecturer in Urban that the excluding of middle and lower class Studies and Planning at the University people is not good, but this displacement of Sheffield, produced several maps that has some positive effects as well. Popular indicate the social displacement in the areas are always too small to accommodate London area. As said before, gentrification all interested people. This scarcity results in leads to segregation, causing certain the extremely high real estate prices. But neighbourhoods to deprivate. An occurring like every entity that gets too crowded, it change between 2004 and 2015 is made eventually will burst open. This happens visible in the maps shown in figures 3.2d - 3.2g. with the expensive neighbourhoods as well. In 2004, several deprived neighbourhoods Neighbouring areas around the popular are recognisable in the more central places become more attractive when the neighbourhoods of London. Eleven years image, cultural value and desirability of later, in 2015, some of these deprived the general location rises. Surrounding real neighbourhoods in the central London area estate increases in value as well, causing the lost their “deprived status”, meaning that values of lower-class or middle-class real the gentrification has dispersed among estate to rise. In this way, the resident will get surrounding neighbourhoods. Central areas more money for its home than the amount that lost their deprived status are: Haringey, for which he bought it (Arbaci & Rae, 2013). Heckney, Newham and Tower Hamlets (Rae, 2015). However, rising prices in surrounding neighbourhoods may be positive for the This deprivation, however, has moved to “original” residents, but the rising rents the more outer areas of London. As shown 71 3. LONDON in the following maps, areas that were areas are Bromley, Sutton, Havering, Barnet, not among the poorest, were developing Redbridge, Sutton and Wandsworth (Rae, this status between 2004 and 2015. These 2015).

Fig. 3.2d: Indices of deprivation in Tower Hamlets, Fig. 3.2e: Indices of deprivation in Hackney, London London (Rae, 2015) (Rae, 2015)

Fig. 3.2f: Indices of deprivation in Bromley, London Fig. 3.2g: Indices of deprivation in Barnet, London (Rae, 2015) (Rae, 2015)

Looking at the maps in figure 3.2d - 3.2g, one the dispersion of rising prices. Eventually, can say that popularity in central London however, lower and middle-class people will leads to an “over-demand” on real estate. be displaced to outer areas where social and Rising house prices in these neighbourhoods economic segregation come in. Poverty then are the result from this trend. The surrounding accumulates in the periphery of the London areas “profit” from this development due to area.

72 3. LONDON

3.4 Public and private response with high levels of losses of displaced groups; the labour market changed housing policies The NRC (2016) states gentrification and tenure preferences. The changes were exists due to city governments who think related to the processes of displacement attracting the middle and high income and gentrification. Displacement consists of group is the key to regional success; social costs (the need of increased housing), using the neoliberal housing policy as homelessness and overcrowding in ‘hidden an instrument. Gentrification was first households’ (Atkinson, 1997). Several parts identified by Glass (1964), in the East End of in London have had a social evacuation London as “a process of class succession and affect, resolved by the professionalization displacement in areas broadly characterised process. Neighbourhood effects (social by working-class and unskilled households” networks and reduced service provision) (cited in Atkinson, 2000). Many examples will affect groups that are less able to deal have shown several ways to move the poor with the financial and psychological costs of by the management of political influence, impacts. Furthermore, displacement erases wealthy and legislatures. For instance, the social problems and rearranges the causes development of railways, housing grants, of environmental decay, poverty and loss of slum clearance programmes moved the neighbourhood vitality which caused that poorest populations, the group with the problems will move instead of been solved quietest political voice and least equity (Le (Atkinson, 2000). Gates and Hartman, 1986; Chan, 1986 cited in Atkinson, 2000). In areas like London, It’s been 8 years since Boris Johnson became extensive gentrification has occurred the mayor of London and during these years the past 30 years. As at one hand gentrification city has faced the biggest housing crisis since aims to improve the social and physical the Victorian Era. The increasing housing impacts in an area, at the other hand it inaffordability problem has influenced implores profit-making investment activities the goals that were set by the London in run-down areas (Atkinson, 2000). government. The mayor’s first target was to develop 32,000 dwellings each year, but this A study on displacement in London found goal has already been adjusted to 49,000 that household movement (renovation) was dwellings each year (FT, 2015). Recently, the important and there was no benefit for the former mayor Johnson has taken important current residents after the living conditions governmental measures that should help to were improved (McCarthy, 1974, p.3 cited improve the government’s ability to tackle in Atkinson, 2000). Besides this, another the housing inaffordability problem. He study of Lyons (1995), as cited in Atkinson expanded the local power and he has taken (2000) found local migration was correlated control over housing policy and spending with low-status households, but longer- as the mayor’s primary area of responsibility range migration can be seen as a higher (FT, 2015). Despite the high governmental status, constraint and respectively chosen. attention to the problem of inaffordable Overall, displacement and gentrification housing, the measures that are taken are not were related to each other; gentrifies had sufficient to tackle the problem. In the year a choice whereas displaces were impacted 2014-2015 a number of 20,520 dwellings by coercion and constraints (Atkinson, were built, a significantly lower amount than 2000). Moreover, this study has shown the 62,000 dwellings that are needed each gentrification in Greater London on the year (FT, 2015). 1980s as an extensive and active process, 73 3. LONDON

The mayor also announced the development of 31 new Housing Zones, which will provide the key areas for the developments of new dwellings. These 31 Housing Zones, all spread over different boroughs, are expected to deliver 77,000 homes, of which 34 percent will be affordable housing. Boris Johnson explains: “meeting the unprecedented demand for housing after 30 years of historic failure to build new homes is a critical issue affecting the capital. That is why I have led an enormous programme of regeneration [...].”

The Housing Zones are not just solely focussed on dwellings. New transportation routes are developed, as well as supportive functions, like schools, sports facilities and retail. The former London mayor indicated that the displacement of working people in the city centre was an important driving force for taking this measure (Mayor of London, 2016).

The newly appointed mayor, Sadiq Khan, acknowledged the current housing crisis in London. He endorses the same solution: building new (social) dwellings (Mayor of London, 2016(Factfinder, 2016a)). It is striking that both mayors support a solution that does not get rid of the problem. Addressing the rising house prices, or allocating business areas outside the city centre is not on the agenda.

74 4. VANCOUVER

4.1 Background (Bogdanowicz, 2006). Urban planning in Vancouver is characterized by high-rise Due to the scenic views, mild climate and residential and mixed-use development adequate governance structure Vancouver in urban centres, as a solution to the is known as both a popular destination suburbanization (Frances, 2007). Vancouver’s for tourists and a favourable place to live characteristic approach to urban planning in since the late 1950s. Due to the position originated in the late 1950s, when city of Vancouver on the Pacific Coast, the city planners began to encourage the building has long been a magnet for immigrants, of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver’s particularly from Asia, given the fact that West End, subject to strict requirements for Vancouver now has the second largest setbacks and open space to protect sight Chinatown in North America. Vancouver lines and preserve green space (Bula, 2007). actually has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world, which is constantly Vancouver was named after the British maintained by the thousands of immigrants explorer, Captain George Vancouver, who who come here every year, attracted by sailed towards the area in 1792. However, the the famous quality of life in this city, which region had been inhabited for at least 3.000 is repeatedly voted one of the best in the years prior to that by Canada’s indigenous world to live by the Economist Intelligence peoples (now commonly known as First Unit (Wikipedia, N.D.). As a matter of fact, Nations). The city of Vancouver was officially Vancouver is one of the most linguistically incorporated in 1886 after it had become diverse cities in Canada with approximately an important port for shipping lumber out 52 percent of the population speaking a first around the world, particularly to China. On language other than English. Unfortunately, April 6 that year, the Canadian Pacific Rail the great interest to settle in Vancouver train arrived in Vancouver, and CPR president exposes at least one disadvantage as well, William Van Horne gave the city its name which is the lack of affordability for housing. in honour of George Vancouver. When the transcontinental railway arrived in the city Vancouver encompasses 114 km2 and the a few years later, the population began population of Vancouver City is 603.502. to boom (Wikipedia, N.D.) While forestry It ranks the eighth largest municipality remains its largest industry, Vancouver is in Canada and is the largest city in well known as an urban centre surrounded British Columbia. The Greater Vancouver by nature, making tourism its second-largest metropolitan area, which includes industry. neighbouring cities such as Burnaby, Canada is in fact a monarchy state, with Richmond, and Surrey. is the third largest Queen Elizabeth the second on it’s throne. in Canada (Bogdanowicz, 2006). Due to the This is because since 1949 Canada became high quality of living, Vancouver currently a part of the Commonwealth network contains the wealthiest neighbourhoods in that hosts Queen Elizabeth at it’s throne Canada. The wealthiest is West Vancouver (Commonwealth N.D.). The country itself is with an average annual household income split up into 10 different provinces and three of over $60,000. Vancouver as a whole has territories, British Columbia being one of the highest real estate prices in Canada, and the provinces. (SATCAN, 2015) The national is generally the most expensive city to live in capital Ottawa is situated in the southeast (Woolsey, 2007). side of Canada in the province called Ontario As of 2011, Vancouver is ranked as the (Monroe, 2014). Vancouver lays in British most densely populated city in Canada Columbia, and although Vancouver is often 75 4. VANCOUVER perceived as the capital of British Columbia - The household characteristics (e.g., Ska- it is actually not. The capital of BC is Victoria burskis, 2004); and is located at the south side of Vancouver - The expansion of debt as a driver of Island, about 100 km away from Vancouver increasing housing prices (Walks, 2013, City (Monroe, 2014). 2014); - The role of government actions (reducing subsidies for non market housing) (Leone & 4.2 Context and drivers Carroll, 2010).

80% of Canada’s housing market is market- But one of the main reasons of the raised based. This means that most of Canada’s prices is based on the increased growth of inhabitants finance their own housing and the metropolitan population. Growth in are independent of government assistance. metropolitan populations, much of it through According to RBC Economics the home international migration, has been bound up affordability index deteriorated only slightly with these affordability challenges, which (Factfinder, 2016b). However, the shelter- result from national government decision- cost-to-income ratio (STIR) is well above 30% making and are most pronounced in major for the median income and Vancouver rates metropolitan markets (Zumper, 2016). one of the worst in the world at 88.9%. In a period of ten years the population of Currently, Vancouver lacks on the supply of Vancouver has grown by 326,363 residents, affordable housing. The Canadian housing mostly due to migrants. During 2001 and supply market responds to housing price 2011 many international migrants moved changes with relative speed and flexibility to Vancouver, resulting in an increased compared to other OECD countries. In demand for housing. Another reason for this other words, compared to other European growing demand was the high rents, which countries new housing supply in Canada is led for many families to numerous housing relatively more flexible. But if the housing difficulties (Carter, 2005; Teixeira, 2014). supply is more ‘flexible’, how come is there still a big demand for affordable housing Interesting is the fact that all of this is in Vancouver? Affordability of housing is taken place in a period where the average affected by the way in which housing supply residential mortgage interest is decreasing markets respond to changes in prices either from a post-World War II high of 21.46% in through increased construction or raising September 1981 to a recent low of 3.98% prices. In supply-constrained markets like in December 2014. Precisely this decline Vancouver, most adjustment occurs in higher caused an increase of housing prices in prices rather than expanding housing supply Canada, because it has allowed households (Factfinder, 2016b). Great supply and low to bid prices upward. Only during the demand result in lower prices and vice versa. recent financial crisis housing prices briefly A housing market that does not respond declined, as the federal government and will cause unpredictable prices, including Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation demand changes that will affect residential intervened with the real estate market. investment resulting in economic instability. Another event that occurred during those There are several explanations of what has days was the increasing interest of the Asian- caused a rise in prices that has exceeded Pacific region to invest in the real estate rising incomes. For example; sector of Vancouver (Barnes, Hutton, Ley, & 76 4. VANCOUVER

Moos, 2011; Ley, 2010). The little possibilities waiting list already consisted of more than to extend the housing supply also caused 10,000 households in 2015 (Revington, difference in the cost of housing in Vancouver, 2015). compared to other metropolitan areas. Due to the physical geographical borders, the The inaffordability of housing in the core North Shore Mountains, Strait of Georgia of Vancouver results in a massive shift from and Fraser River, and the government’s low- and middle-income people to the agricultural land reserve, it was difficult outskirts of the city. Many policemen, nurses to facilitate a new housing supply. Which and teachers move out of the city, which resulted in an increase of housing prices results in the hollowing-out of inner-city (Revington, 2015). neighbourhoods. In the city of Vancouver families with children make up 27% of the households, while they make up 41% of the 4.3 Social and economic effects households in the rest of Metro Vancouver. This is a result of the tendency of developers The inaffordability of dwellings is a problem to target smaller households to maximize that characterizes the housing market of the density of dwellings on each site, Vancouver, as the city is even named the thereby maximizing their profits (Gurstein, least affordable housing market of Canada 2012). (RBC, 2015). In British Columbia, the district in which Vancouver is located, over one third Conventionally, housing can be considered of home renters (37,7%) pay more than 30% as affordable if costs do not exceed 30% of their household income on rent (Gurstein, of household income for those who make 2012). In Vancouver, the affordability of between 60% and 120% of the Average housing increases outward from the city Mean Income (AMI) in a locality (Gurstein, centre: the percentage of affordable rental 2012). However, according to Revington dwellings was the lowest in the city centre & Townsend (2016) proximity to high and highest in the city’s suburbs, regardless frequency and fast public transit is not taken of the household type or income level of to account in this matter, while this does its residents. For example, in Vancouver, enable nearby residents to access jobs and approximately 73% of the affordable rental other opportunities at relatively low costs. units are located in the suburbs of the Therefore, Revington & Townsend used a city. The issue of housing inaffordability residual income approach to consider the especially affects single individuals and lone spatial dimensions of housing affordability parents with a low income, as they do not in both Montreal and Vancouver, thereby have the potential that households with a taking into account the Statistics Canada’s dual income have (Revington, 2015). 2011 Market Basket Measure (MBM) for the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) as Because of the lack of affordable housing the minimum standard for non-housing for household types with a low income, necessities. Table 4.3 presents the values of these households are forced to give up other the market baskets, divided into couples essentials to obtain an affordable dwelling. with children and couples without children. This situation forms a threat to the long- and Besides, the table shows value of the lowest short-term health of these people. The only two income levels of both household types. way to prevent this situation is to provide these households access to subsidies or social housing. However, in Vancouver the 77 4. VANCOUVER

Household type Value of Market Very low income Low income level Basket level Couple with children $ 25,894 $ 39,864 $ 56,457 Couple without $ 18,310 $ 36,460 $ 51,452 children Table 4.3: Value of the market basket and income level by household type. Source: Modified from Statistics Canada (2013b, 2015d): CANSIM Table 202-0809; CANSIM Table 326-0021

Results have shown that affordable housing 4.3 (Revington, 2015). Furthermore, a lower is distributed unevenly across Vancouver, proportion of affordable renting units is with an increasing affordability towards the found in the area of rapid transit stops. The outer suburbs. In Vancouver, the majority of proportion of affordable housing that suits affordable rental units are located in these couples without children is significantly suburbs, which are automobile-oriented, higher than the proportion that suits couples spatially peripheral areas that require with children. greater automobile use, as seen in figure

Fig. 4.3: Dispersion of affordable rental housing, Vancouver (Revington & Townsend, 2016)

4.4 Public and private response neighbourhoods. On mostly vacant, former industrial sites new residential blocks were The city of Vancouver provides subsidies for built, resulting in an increasing density. By social housing, in order to give low income providing ‘density bonuses’ and raised high households access to the Vancouver housing limits the government stimulates developers market. However, the current waiting list to build dense areas and to pay for parks, consists of 10,000 households (Revington, social housing and cultural facilities. In the 2015) and therefore this measure is not last 20 years the population of downtown sufficient enough to tackle the housing residents has doubled to 85,000, resulting inaffordability problem. One of the main in an immense decrease of car trips in and strategies that the Vancouver government out of the city centre. Besides that, walking has taken in order to tackle this problem has gained more popularity in the city of is the further densification of the city’s Vancouver (Gurstein, 2012).

78 4. VANCOUVER

Furthermore, the municipality tries to protect affordable housing in downtown Vancouver by purchasing social housing, like single room occupancy accommodation (SRO). For example, the Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson recently asked Canada’s federal government for $500M to build social housing on 20 city-owned properties, worth approximately $250M. The goal of the municipality is to build 3,500 affordable dwellings in the city of Vancouver (CBC, 2016). Not only the municipality is taking measures in order to decrease housing inaffordability. Because the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been coping with housing inaffordability and long travel times for students and staff, they have developed a plan in order to develop affordable housing on the campus. They were able to change the land use plan, resulting in an increase of the maximum density. This cleared the way for UBC to develop more affordable dwellings for both faculty members and students, by taking the low-middle income groups and the amount of student loan into account (UBC, 2012).

79 5. SAN FRANCISCO

5.1 Background information liberalizing attitudes and the hippie culture cemented the city as the centre of liberal San Francisco is known for the Golden Gate activism in the United States. Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz and its hippie culture and attracted around 18 San Francisco is situated in the state million visitors in 2014 which amounted California, which is one of the fifty states to a combined spending of approximately within the government of the United states $10.67 billion (San Francisco Travel, 2015). of America. The President of the United States From a commercial view, San Francisco and of America is the elected head of state and the overall Bay Area including Silicon Valley head of the executive federal government. are known as the technological hotspot The states are political entities that share its of the world. The city houses 51 of the 400 sovereignty with the federal government, but wealthiest people in the US as reported by reserves the right to organize its individual Forbes (Savills, 2016). San Francisco is the government within the boundaries set by cultural, commercial and financial centre of the U.S. Constitution. This results in a way Northern California. that various states share similar features, The city is situated along the western but however can vary greatly with regards coastline of the United States of America and to form and substance. The states tend to encompasses an area of about 121 square have the greatest influence, and are the kilometres, which makes in the smallest Tenth Amendment prohibits the federal county in the state of California. The city is government from exercising any power part of the larger San Francisco Bay Area, that is not delegated to it (Teaford, 2009). which encompasses the major surrounding Therefore, the states handle the majority of cities and metropolitan areas that include issues relevant to individuals within their San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland and respective jurisdiction. These states have amounts to a population of around 8.7 their own written constitution, government million. The population in the city of San and code of laws. States are divided in Francisco amounts to approximately 864.800 counties or county-equivalents, dividing the (US Census, 2016). The city is the fourth state of California into 58 counties. largest city in the state of California, just behind Los Angeles (3,928,900), San Diego San Francisco is the only consolidated city- (1,381,100) and San Jose (1,015,800) in terms county in California (San Francisco City Hall, of population but the second-most densely 2008), in which city and county have merged populated city in the United States after New into one unified jurisdiction, giving it both York (US Census, 2016). the power of the municipal corporation as well as the administrative division of a state. San Francisco is founded on June 29 in 1776 The elected mayor of San Francisco is also by colonists from Spain. The California Gold the county executive. The county Board Rush of 1849 brought a rapid growth, which of Supervisors acts as the city council and made the city the largest city at the West also represent the legislative branch of the Coast within that period. During a major municipal governance. earthquake and fire in 1906, a large part of the city was destroyed. However, it was quickly rebuilt in the years after. During the 5.2 Context and drivers Second World War, San Francisco was the major hub for transport to the Pacific. After San Francisco is the most expensive city in the War, factors as massive immigration, the USA to live in and cannot be analysed 80 5. SAN FRANCISCO without taking the whole demographic The city of San Francisco has the highest region of the San Francisco Bay Area into gross rents in the USA, followed by New consideration, since the high prices in York (Factfinder, 2016a) and Boston (Census, San Francisco’s city centre has already 2016). Within the San Francisco Bay Area pushed people to look for housing in the also Oakland (Factfinder, 2016a) and San surrounding regions for years. The entire San Jose (Factfinder, 2016a) are among the most Francisco Bay Area consists of San Francisco expensive cities within the USA (Zumper, and the surrounding 9 counties: Sonoma, 2016). Since the economic crisis and Napa, Solano, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, downturn in the housing markets, housing Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Clara as in the San Francisco Bay Area has become depicted in figure 5.2a. increasingly inaffordable. Since 2009, each of the Bay Area counties ranks within the 15% least affordable areas in the US. However, the housing market in San Francisco has been subjected to several real estate boom and bust cycles in the past 30 years. The period between the recovery of a bubble and its popping has been relatively stable, varying between five to seven years. Figure 5.2b shows the real estate market cycles in San Francisco, illustrating estimated percentage changes in home prices from successive peaks and bottoms of the market (Paragon RE, 2016). In recession years, prices are decreasing gradually, but as the market is recovering housing prices are increasing substantially. Fig. 5.2a: San Francisco Bay Area counties (Basis point, 2016)

Fig. 5.3b: San Francisco Bay Area RE market cycles (Paragon RE, 2016)

81 5. SAN FRANCISCO

The housing stock in San Francisco currently Francisco county, which was 50% more amounts to approximately 380,500 housing than 2013. Only 150 units were demolished, units, of which 8.3% is vacant. The housing merged or removed, which was 75% less stock in relatively aged, with 48.4% of than 2013. Of these 3.700 new housing the housing stock built before 1939 and units, only 21%, 757 units, were affordable 10.3% built between 1940 and 1949. The housing units, as seen in figure 5.2c. Of housing market in San Francisco is mostly these affordable units, more than 80% are focussed on the rental market, of which the rentals for low (below 80% Average Median housing tenure is 63.4% for renter-occupied Income) and very low (below 60% AMI) dwellings and 36.6% for the owner-occupied income households (San Francisco Planning dwellings. The overall housing stock consists Department, 2015). mostly of structures with 20 and more units with 25.8%. The second largest share of housing structures consist of 1-unit detached dwellings, with an overall share of 19.2%. The overall stock consists mostly of 4-room units, closely followed by 3-room units with 19.1% and 18.4% respectively. The housing stock in San Francisco is relatively expensive. The largest value share in the owner-occupied sector is 56.2% for Fig. 5.2c: San Francisco percentage of new built units between $500,000 and $999,999, affordable housing (San Francisco Planning followed by units over $1,000,000 with a Department, 2015) share of 26.4%. Only 6.0% of the overall owner-occupied stock has a value below To give an idea of the continuous growth in $299,999 (Factfinder, 2016b). Within the housing prices and therefore inaffordability: rental sector, the largest share of monthly in just one year, the rental prices for a gross rent is $1,500 and more with 51.4%, two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco followed by 22.0% for units with a monthly increased with 40% from $3,300 in 2013 rent between $1,000 and $1,499 (Factfinder, to $4,580 in 2014. The price for home 2016b). ownership of the same type of house, also The median rent for 1-bedroom unit in San increased with 12% in San Francisco and Francisco amounts to $3,590 per month 8% in the rest of the Bay Area region from and for a 2-bedroom unit $4,850, both 2013 to 2014. To give an example of how mean prices increasing with 2.9% and 4.8% affordable this is: A three person household respectively since the previous quarter and with a household-income of 80% AMI could 5.6% and 5.9% respectively in comparison to pay a maximum rent of about $1,686 each the previous year (Zumper, 2016). The most month. This is only 37% of the average rent expensive neighbourhoods in San Francisco price in San Francisco, which is $4,580. Also, are Russian Hill, South Beach and Soma with a family of three with a household income median gross rents of $4,010, $3,800 and of 110% AMI could afford to buy a house $3,770 respectively for 1-bedroom units and for about $366,720, and would therefore fall $5,130, $5,280 and $4,990 respectively for about $432,190 when they actually wanted 2-bedroom units. to buy an average priced San Francisco two- In 2014, about 3.500 new housing units bedroom house (San Francisco Planning were developed and 200 non-residential Department, 2015). Trends in housing prices units were converted to housing in the San are shown in figure 5.2d. 82 5. SAN FRANCISCO

Fig. 5.2d: San Francisco and Bay Area housing price trends 2005-2014 (San Francisco Planning Department, 2015)

5.3 Social and economic effects than 820.000 households make up 30% of the San Francisco Bay Area, as seen in figure The high housing costs are especially 5.3a. Another 820.000 households have an a problem for the so-called ‘workforce’ income that is below 60% of the area median households. These households earn income (Urban Land Insitute, 2009). 40% between 60-120% of the area median of these households are larger households income (AMI) and work in industries consisting of more than 3 persons, which important to San Francisco’s society as well require homes or apartments with multiple as the economic growth, such as healthcare, bedrooms, which are generally more manufacturing, education and professional/ expensive. scientific/technical services. These more

Fig. 5.3a: Household distribution in San Francisco Bay Area (Urban Land Institute, 2009)

The current housing stock of San Francisco in those regions the high-cost housing is is mainly aimed towards high-income concentrated in the city centers, while the households, with only 15% of the San outer areas offer more affordable housing Francisco Bay Area housing stock affordable (Urban Land Insitute, 2009). However, in the to these workforce households, scattered San Francisco Bay Area, moving further away across the area. In other metropolitan regions from the central San Francisco area does not the amount of affordable housing stock necessarily provide lower cost housing. is about 50-60%, which is mainly because 83 5. SAN FRANCISCO

As a consequence of the high housing housing. Most workforce households pay prices, the workforce households in San more than the average 30% of their incomes Francisco Bay Area are forced to spend much on rent, as seen in figure 5.3b, enabling them more than the average household on their to afford housing, but making them unable housing. This does not only apply to home- to afford other basic needs, like education or ownership, but also to rental housing. 42% healthcare (Urban Land Insitute, 2009). of the workforce households live in rental

Fig. 5.3b: Percentage of renter households spending 30% or more of household income on rent (Urban Land Institute, 2009)

Many workforce households now live in 29.000 housing units (Urban Land Insitute, the California Central Valley, which means 2009). Since these workforce households are they need to travel at least 2 hours to and vital to the San Francisco Bay Area’s economy, from work, which is not just a time burden, finding a solution to housing inaffordability but also comes with significant costs for becomes increasingly important. transportation and environmental impacts, as seen in figure 5.3c. San Francisco is gripped in a crisis of its own success known for its progressivism, creativity and diversity (Citylab, 2015). The result is that the region is becoming more divided, unequal, inaffordable, congested, and unliveable for all but a privileged minority. Figure 5.3d shows the average asking rent for apartments in properties Fig. 5.3c: Housing plus transportation costs in the with 50 plus units is shown for San Francisco Bay Area (Urban Land Institute, 2009) and the region it is in. This figure shows that the asking rent keeps on increasing The demand for affordable housing for and it underlines that the housing crisis has workforce households is likely to increase fallen especially in San Francisco where the to 6.000 owned and 23.000 rental houses prices are even higher than in surrounding by 2025, increasing the current shortage to areas. A new economic development 84 5. SAN FRANCISCO organization, should facilitate and ensure places are less attractive to be called home. diverse, competitive and resilient economies This results in difficulties for companies in this area. This organization is created as a to hire and retain qualified employees, result from the mentioned crisis, in order to likely preventing the state’s economy from diminish the economic grounds of this. meeting its full potential (Taylor, 2015, p. 26). Facing high home prices and expensive Citylab criticizes the report about the Bay housing options workers in California’s Area Regional Economic Strategy where the coastal communities commute ten percent current situation is described. Citylab (2015) further each day than commuters elsewhere. states the report fails to address how to deal This is because of the limited housing with the area’s chronic and concentrated options that exist near the major job centres. neighbourhood poverty. Also the measures Nevertheless, the high-tech innovation hub for wage levels for more than 45 percent existing in California still makes San Francisco of the people employed in this region are part of a global economic powerhouse. neglected. This counteracts with the effects of the high housing costs which emphasizes the Taylor (2015) states in his analysis about the problem. There exists a circular reasoning high housing costs in California that the high where the economic hub attracts people and costs are problematic for households and let the housing price rise. While the rising the state’s economy (p. 24). He describes that housing prices keep off new citizens which is as a consequence of the high housing costs disadvantageous for the economic hub.

Fig. 5.3d: Average Asking Rent for Apartments in Properties with 50+ Units Bay Area and San Francisco (City- lab, 2015).

85 5. SAN FRANCISCO

5.4 Public & private response inclusionary rental units are affordable to households earning 60% or less of the area Even though a lot of new housing is currently median income (AMI). being constructed or planned, this will most In 2006, the inclusionary requirements were likely not solve the affordability problem. This increased to 15% for units constructed on- is because the high costs of housing are also site, and to 20% for units constructed off- related to high land and development costs. site, applicable to projects of five units or Especially developing affordable housing for more (Housing Inventory, 2013, p. 23). This households of three or more people is most applies only on new projects, all projects of the time not feasible for developers and in the pipeline at the time these changes builders without public financing or subsidy were adopted will be exempt from these mechanisms. Construction costs in the San increases. The only exception is for projects Francisco Bay Area are amongst the highest that have not yet received Planning in the US and on top of that the price of land Department approval and those that will is far above average (Urban Land Institute, receive a rezoning that increases the amount 2009). of housing that can be constructed on their The average house price is about $720.000, property. In 2014, the number of inclusionary while the average construction costs are units built increased by 21% from the 220 $210.000. These construction costs are about inclusionary units provided in 2013 (Housing 1,5 to 2 times higher than elsewhere in the Inventory, 2013, p. 23). Moreover, the 2014 USA (Glaeser et al., 2008). For the households inclusionary housing units are 127% above that earn below 60% of AMI, the government the five-year annual average of 118 units. has several subsidies or other financing All 267 inclusionary units completed in 2014 mechanisms in place, in order to make the were the result of the on-site affordable development of housing for that segment of housing requirement. the market feasible. The University of Columbia San Francisco In 1992, the planning commission of the has also taken some measures. “For UCSF, municipality of San Francisco adopted the greatest current threat to our excellence guidelines for applying the City’s is the high cost of living in our community,” Inclusionary Affordable Housing Policy. This Dan Lowestein, executive vice chancellor of policy required housing projects with 10 or UCSF recently said (UCSF, 2015a). Because more units that seek a conditional use (CU) the University of California San Francisco permit or planned unit development (PUD) (UCSF) has been coping with the problem of to set aside a minimum of 10% of their units housing affordability and long travel times as affordable units (Housing Inventory, 2013, for staff and students, they are planning p. 23). to develop a large amount of affordable In 2002, these guidelines were legislated dwellings on and around the campus. into law and by the Board of Supervisors A recent partnership with the UC Hastings (Housing Inventory, 2013, p. 23). This College of the Law enables them to develop expanded the requirement to all projects at least 1,000 dwelling units on existing UC with 10 or more units. In condominium Hastings property (UCSF, 2015a). Besides developments (a form of housing tenure and that, UCSF recently acquired 3 properties other real property where a specified part of to develop student housing (UCSF, 2015b). a piece of real estate is individually owned), The university is currently working on the the inclusionary affordable ownership units establishment of more partnerships and land would be available to households earning acquisitions that clear the way to develop up to 100% of the AMI; below market more affordable housing. 86 6. CONCLUSIONS

6.1 London, Vancouver and San Francisco In San Francisco, real estate boom & bust cycles in the past 30 years resulted in extreme When looking closer at housing inaffordability housing inaffordability. The shortage causes and effects in London, Vancouver for affordable housing for workforce and San Francisco, it can be concluded households is currently 29.000 housing that (active) gentrification mainly has short units (Urban Land Institute, 2009). Since term benefits, and causes disadvantages these workforce households are vital to the on the longer term. The first few years, San Francisco Bay Area’s economy, finding a real estate values and neighbourhood solution to housing inaffordability becomes liveability increases. However, after that, increasingly important. San Francisco is income polarization, displacement and gripped in a crisis of its own success known social exclusion is caused and housing for its progressivism, creativity and diversity inaffordability becomes apparent. (Citylab, 2015). The result is that the region is becoming more divided, unequal, In London, the popularity of central inaffordable, congested, and unliveable for neighbourhoods has led to a large “overall but a privileged minority. San Francisco is demand” in real estate. Rising house prices stuck in a vicious circle eventually destroying in these neighbourhoods are the result. the cities attractiveness: it is a very attractive The surrounding areas “profit” from this city for (international) businesses and thus development due to the dispersion of attractive for their employees, this causes a rising prices. Eventually, however, lower large need for housing, which leads to rising and middle-class people will be displaced prices, whereby it becomes less attractive to outer areas where social and economic for employees. Businesses need to pay their segregation come in. Poverty then employees more to let them stay in the cities, accumulates in the periphery of the London which also drives the prices up, pushing the area. people with lower incomes out of the city.

Similarly, in Vancouver, there are several Furthermore, in the Anglo-Saxon contexts explanations of what has caused a rise in of London, Vancouver and San Francisco, prices that has exceeded rising incomes. there is low market regulation and private Amongst these are the household parties are unwilling to supply affordable characteristics, the expansion of debt as housing. In London, governmental policies a driver of increasing housing prices and on high class neighbourhoods has led to the role of government actions mainly in inaffordability in the city centre. During the reducing subsidies for non-market housing. past decade, London has faced the biggest However, one of the main reasons of the housing crisis since the Victorian Era. The raised prices is based on the increased increasing housing inaffordability problem growth of the metropolitan population, has influenced the goals that were set by which especially in Vancouver, there is a very the London government. 8 years ago, the limited area available for this growth due target was to develop 32,000 dwellings each to the surrounding nature and mountains. year, but this goal has quickly been adjusted Also, because certain household types are to 49,000 dwellings each year (FT, 2015). excluded from the urban areas, which leads Despite the high governmental attention to increased travel times and car-use for to the problem of inaffordable housing, the suburban residents and is a huge problem measures that are taken are not sufficient to for the city’s infrastructure. tackle the problem. In the year 2014-2015 a number of 20,520 dwellings were built, a 87 6. CONCLUSIONS significantly lower amount than the 62,000 UBC to develop more affordable dwellings dwellings that are needed each year (FT, for both faculty members and students, by 2015). The newly appointed mayor, Sadiq taking the low-middle income groups and Khan, acknowledges the current housing the amount of student loan into account crisis in London and like the previous mayor, (UBC, 2012). endorses the same solution: building new (social) dwellings (Mayor of London, 2016 The San Francisco Bay Area is currently (Factfinder, 2016a)). dealing with increasing housing inaffordability, as well as housing shortages, It is striking that both mayors support a which poses a difficult challenge for the solution that does not get rid of the core long-term economic and social prosperity problem. Addressing the rising house prices, of the area. Even if workforce households or allocating business areas outside the city are willing to accept long and expensive centre is not on the agenda. transportation to work, there are no truly affordable locations within the Bay Area. In Vancouver, the government actively When they do decide to live closer to work, stimulates urban densification. The city of the percentage of their salaries that goes to Vancouver provides subsidies for social housing is so much, that they are barely able housing, but the current waiting list or even unable to pay for other life essentials. consists of 10,000 households (Revington, In order to make the development of 2015), so this is not sufficient to tackle the affordable housing feasible for developers housing inaffordability problem. Another and builders, new methods of financing, strategy is the further densification of incentives and subsidies, public policies and the city’s neighbourhoods. By providing other innovative development strategies are ‘density bonuses’ and raised height limits needed, as well as methods for lowering the the government stimulates developers to costs of construction and land to be able build dense areas and to pay for parks, social to provide adequate housing for workforce housing and cultural facilities. In the past households. 2 decades, the population of downtown residents has doubled, resulting in an Similar to UBC in Vancouver, The University immense decrease of car trips in and out of of Columbia in San Francisco has also taken the city centre (Gurstein, 2012). some measures. Because the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has Furthermore, the municipality tries to been coping with the problem of housing protect affordable housing in downtown affordability and long travel times for staff Vancouver by purchasing social housing, and students, they are planning to develop like single room occupancy accommodation a large amount of affordable dwellings on (SRO). Not only the municipality is taking and around the campus. The university is measures in order to decrease housing currently working on the establishment of inaffordability. Because the University of more partnerships and land acquisitions that British Columbia (UBC) has been coping with clear the way to develop more affordable housing inaffordability and long travel times housing. for students and staff, they have developed a plan in order to develop affordable housing on the campus. They were able to change the land use plan, resulting in an increase of the maximum density. This cleared the way for 88 6. CONCLUSIONS

6.2 Comparison to the Netherlands inequality and large parts of the city being closed off for lower incomes. This poor Metropolitan cities are changing, not just working class however is essential for the in the UK, Canada and the USA, but all over economy, because of the jobs they are fill in the world. Research on 13 European capitals, at schools, hospitals and other services (NRC, such as Stockholm, Vilnius and Madrid has 2016). shown that every city deals with an increase of segregation (NRC, 2015). Also in the In the Netherlands, traditionally, the role of Netherlands, changes can be recognized. The the government is relatively large, especially past decade, Dutch governments have been compared to Anglo-Saxon cities such as stimulating gentrification, which effects are London, Vancouver and San Francisco. now recognized. In some neighbourhoods However, while it should be easier for the that used to house the poorest layer of Dutch government to influence the causes society and were known for high crime rates and effects of housing inaffordability, and bad amenities, currently a huge upgrade recent policies have decreased the income is recognized. Offices and retail locations threshold for social housing, while the are developed and they attract more private rental segment is growing. According prosperous inhabitants. Municipalities view to research, the main drivers of gentrification attracting middle- and high incomes as a are globalization, which leads to changes in key to regional success and apply neoliberal composition of society and increasing social housing policies to support that (NRC, 2016). inequality. However, the much smaller scale In Amsterdam this gentrification can be of the Netherlands and its cities, as well as recognized best. the good quality, cheap and easy public transportation, make living in the outer Gentrification is much more complex than areas of metropolitan cities, or even further the so-called flat gentrification: ‘poor class away in other cities or villages a much easier out, wealthy class in’. It can also be caused and more feasible solution for lower income by social mobility and demographic or social households. This is a solution impossible in changes, for instance when people with London, Vancouver and San Francisco, giving a low salary start developing themselves the Netherlands ‘competitive advantage’ and earning more. When they stay living in with its small size. Still, Amsterdam is the same neighbourhood, this will lead to expected to move in the same direction natural gentrification. Most government as the three before mentioned cities and it and municipal policies mainly aim for the would thus be very good learn lessons from ‘flat’ gentrification, by influencing house studying these and to take an example of the migration flows through the housing supply. ways these cities deal with their issues. In Amsterdam for example, many ownership units have been added the previous years and housing corporation units are being sold. The first few years, this leads to a better distribution of the various incomes across the region. However, after that period, segregation comes in, the long-term process of gentrification first leads to a mix within neighbourhoods, after which they become more prosperous. After a certain period of time, this leads to the risk of increased 89 7. OUR EXPERIENCES

7.1 London provide a good alternative. By developing transportation to new areas outside the city Main conclusions before the trip: centre, it possible to get a quick connection - Governmental policies on high class neigh- from your home to the city centre. By bourhoods led to inaffordability in the city lowering this travel time, new areas become centre. interesting to develop. Thanks to the new - The new focus is on building extra housing in DLR (metroline), some new connections are outer areas, instead of tackling the causes. being established. Therefore developments are expected to increase (Savills, 2016). Also Although the governmental policy may have the prices in the boroughs outside London focussed on high class neighbourhoods, went up in price due to this better public there is a governmental requirement on transport connection. This seems nice, but the percentage of social housing in new this is also part of the gentrification that projects. Still, this percentage is often lower spreads outside the city centre. The only since developers do not want, or cannot aspect that lowered the prices, for the first provide this amount. Although there is no time in 15 years, is the Brexit. This uncertainty actual threshold for affordable housing, In caused the house prices to drop. general developers see rental prices up to 1000 pounds a month as social housing. Nowadays developers and investors try to 7.2 Vancouver offer these rent levels by building smaller units. (Kings Cross Visitor Center, 2016) Main conclusions before the trip: - The Vancouver government provides sub- Developments in London are often done sidies for social housing, but this is not in good collaboration between public and sufficient to tackle the high housing demand private parties. This has several reasons. and housing inaffordability problem. First, it ensures supplying to the market demand (Bouygues, 2016), but it is also Real estate prices have risen continuously measure to secure future developments. since 1980, causing a huge real estate This can only be achieved if the relations bubble. During these years prices have risen are based on goodwill and trust (Bouygues, with an astonishing 30%. This makes housing 2016). Because the developments are done unaffordable for the majority of the working in close collaboration, private parties are class since salaries only increased with a often granted certain development, but slim 6%. Rising housing prices in Vancouver with the responsibility to also develop public can partly be explained by the increasing green. Kings cross is a great example of this popularity among foreign investors. Asian with well maintained new parks and public pacific investors are willing to invest in the routes. (Kings Cross Visitor Center, 2016). majority of real estate developments. This is Although there is a cooperation between the because the Asians consider the Canadian municipality and developers, there seems to housing market as a low risk/safe investment be a lack of guidelines concerning affordable market. Also, if they invest a certain amount housing, because this amount is not always this allows them a residence permit. achieved. According to Stadsruim, at least 10% of Since there is not enough land in the Vancouvers current residential real estate city centre to develop the demanded stock suffers from hidden vacancy. This housing, other measures had to be taken to hidden vacancy arises due to the fact that 90 7. OUR EXPERIENCES foreign investors only use the buildings in (for example building heights). In that way downtown Vancouver as a safe keeping of BC Housing is able to develop affordable their savings. But these investors do not only housing on different plots throughout the affect the prices in downtown Vancouver, city. (BC housing, 2016) due to the fact that people would seek their dwellings elsewhere prices increase also Starting at 375 CAD per month, affordable in other parts of the metropolitan area of rents are dependent on the income of the Vancouver (Stadsruim, 2016). resident; 30% of the residents income is the monthly rent payment. The affordable However, according to real estate agency housing is not only targeting lower income Rennie the growing house prices are not a and middle income people but also the problem at all. It just means that people who homeless. An example of this is one of BC can’t afford to live in downtown Vancouver housing its sites in Vancouver. This building have to move elsewhere. It is simply a matter is located on one of the most expensive of demand and supply (Rennie, 2016). grounds in Vancouver and houses homeless and people who have severe problems. The Concord Pacific, the real estate developer reason to build at such a location is because of False Creek and elsewhere in Vancouver, only then BC housing is able to reach these is as a traditional developer focussed on people in need. (BC Housing, 2016) the demand and supply cycle and their goal is to make profit. They did however Despite of development-projects by BC make contributions to the public green and Housing and governmental incentives provided different amenities, but only in for private developers to develop more exchange for modifications in the zoning affordable housing, supply still does not plan, such as more sq. feet or a higher meet demand. BC-Housing, as well as building level. Conclusively, in order to realise several private developers like Concord public amenities and affordable housing, Pacific mention ‘time’ as an important factor developers are willing to develop these in in this mismatch between demand and exchange modifications in the zoning plan. supply. Development-processes, especially This ‘negotiation tool’ can be used by the of affordable housing units, can easily take municipality during new negotiations for the more than 2 years. Processes are time- area of False Creek North. They can increase consuming and local communities with a the amount of square feet of the zoning NIMBY(Not In My BackYard) attitude can plan and demand the developers to realize slow down these processes even further. This affordable housing in exchange.(Concord causes great pressure on supply. Pacific, 2016) The newly developed area along False Creek BC housing on the other hand has a different by Concord Pacific in the north and various opinion: the organisation perceives rising developers in the south has generated a lot house prices as a growing problem and of dwellings, of which only a small part can strives for affordable housing throughout be called affordable. The buildings on the the whole city. In many cases BC housing- south side of False Creek that are realized projects result from negotiations between about 20 years ago have lease contracts private developers and the municipality. of 25 years. Due to the upcoming expiring Private developers have to hand over a date of these lease contracts the residents certain part of their land to BC-housing in and other parties are concerned about exchange for changes in the zoning plans their futures.The concern is mainly that the 91 7. OUR EXPERIENCES municipality would try to develop high rise extension of height limits in the zoning plan. on these prime locations. (Trevor Body, 2016) Because of the high demand of dwellings in Vancouver and the quickly rising housing Whether housing in Vancouver is affordable prices, market parties are interested to build also depends on the household composition. high apartment buildings in downtown Families are more often excluded from Vancouver. The extension of the height limit the city centre compared to one person in the zoning plan that is required to enable households. This can partly be explained this, gives the government the opportunity by the preference of Canadian families to to negotiate with market parties in order live in single family homes and the scarcity to achieve certain benefits like high quality of this typology in downtown areas. Due to public space, social housing units or facilities the enormous increase of housing prices, like schools or day-care. The negotiations a normal Vancouver single family home for these contributions, called Community will currently cost over $1 mln. As a result Amenity Contributions (CAC), have become of this, families entering the Vancouver a part of the regular development process in housing market cannot afford to live in a city Vancouver. centre location and are forced to move to more affordable dwellings in the Vancouver The enormous developments that are made suburbs, which leads to increased travel by Concord Pacific show how confident times and car-use for suburban residents people are in the real estate market of (Trevor Body). Vancouver. Interesting to see that a couple of weeks after our visit the housing prices The Vancouver suburbs are badly connected dropped immensely. Figures are 18.9% with the city centre. There is a serious lack down from July last year (2015). “After of efficient public transport lines and the several months of record-breaking sales amount of car users cause long traffic jams. activity, homebuyer demand returned to The public transport connection is currently more historically normal levels in July,” Dan being improved by the government, as they Morrison, REBGV president, said in a release. are developing new rail lines towards the suburbs. As a result of these plans, developers The University of British Columbia develops like Concord Pacific have initiated large scale their own affordable student dwellings on housing developments in future suburban campus. public transport hubs (Concord Pacific) The literature we have studied before the On the other hand, a culture shift can be study trip, stated that the University of seen: nowadays, families want to live closer British Columbia has been developing their to the city centre, which results in a rising own affordable dwellings on campus, both popularity for condo’s and town-houses in for students and faculty members. The the city centre instead of single family homes university owns quite a large plot of land, outside of the city centre. (Trevor Body). on which they provide university services. By providing ‘density bonuses’ and raised However, when visiting UBC in Vancouver, height limits, the government stimulates we found out by talking to students and developers to build densely and take getting a tour across the campus, that UBC responsibility for parks, social housing and has a fairly conservative university board cultural facilities. and is therefore not very progressive about Although the Vancouver government does building more housing on campus. The not actively stimulate urban densification, student housing that is provided by UBC is they do have a positive attitude towards the considered inaffordable by the Canadian 92 7. OUR EXPERIENCES students, because it is made of a high quality In the last couple of years rent prices have and low density, which comes at a high price risen quarterly to an extend where it out (UBC, 2016). Also, housing surrounding the ranges New York prices. This increase is UBC campus is too expensive for regular quite remarkable and has multiple drivers, students. Therefore, the housing in and for example; increase in demand, lack of around campus is only affordable to those supply and the lack of an overall planning who have access to sufficient money. approach. The increase in demand is not strange considering that San Francisco is UBC does get involved in helping students currently one of the most economically to find housing, but since it’s unaffordable booming metropolitan regions within the to the students, they don’t use this service world. Silicon valley, which is located close very often. Many Canadian students and to San Francisco in the Bay area, attracts even starters still live with their parents many highly educated professionals. These and travel several hours a day to get to the professionals put more and more pressure campus or their jobs. They also often rely on the already high demand in San Francisco. on their parents to buy them a house, even The lack of supply is caused by the lack at the age of 35 and up. In that case, the of an overall planning vision of the parents sell their own Vancouver inner-city municipality. The municipality provides dwelling at a much higher value than they little to no incentives when it comes to the bought it for, since the prices have risen so development of affordable housing units. In much over the past 10-15 years. With that this way the market can choose whether to sum of money, they buy two smaller houses: realise affordable housing or other types of one for themselves and one for their children housing. But since there is a big demand for (Stadsruim, 2016). higher market segments with higher profit margins the developers tend to build more higher segment dwellings. 7.3 San Francisco The San Francisco planning department has Main conclusions before the trip: carried out little to no adaptations of zoning San Francisco can be seen as a global economic plans since the 1980s, except on certain powerhouse. A real estate boom for housing locations like the central business district (San is the result of bust cycles which resulted in Francisco Planning Department, 2016). Plots extreme housing inaffordability. The area have been developed piece by piece, lacking of San Francisco, especially the bay area, is a coherent vision and implementation attractive for businesses. These businesses of social guidelines. Housing supply is attract employees that are looking for housing measured on the maximum potential of in and around the area. Due to this growing the zoning plan, however this maximum is amount of people searching for housing, the rarely reached, which leaves a lot of plots housing prices are rising. This makes the area undersupplied. This is mostly caused by again less attractive for workforce households. the general aversion of inhabitants towards Even if they are willing to accept long and high-rise, and is for some part the cause expensive transportation to work, there are no for the shortage (SF planning department, truly affordable locations within the Bay Area. 2016). According to the Dutch Consulate and the San Francisco Planning Department, Housing in general many Americans mainly want to live in San Francisco is currently one the most single family homes with gardens with expensive cities when it comes to housing. white fences. Furthermore, the Bay Area 93 7. OUR EXPERIENCES has many different municipalities, amongst maintained and operated by PHA’s. People which there is little cooperation and little who life in these dwellings can rent for coherent planning to arrange the spatial 30% of their monthly income. These public structure of the city. High competition and housing projects mainly gained popularity bad collaboration between neighbouring after the world wars, nowadays they are municipalities hinders the planning process considered to be of poor quality and causing of affordable housing. (Dutch Consulate, segregation under the population. 2016) Despite the high demand of housing in Besides the big demand, people who work San Francisco, there are still a lot of vacant in San Francisco would like to life there as sites that have possibilities to develop new well due to the overcrowded and insufficient housing. Bridge housing does not only aim at public transport and busy roads which the development of affordable housing, but makes commuting not an option. The city they also try to establish a certain community tries to tackle this problem by planning between tenants (Bridge Housing,2016) more metro-lines and introducing High Occupancy Vehicle- lanes on the high- and freeways. The Salesforce tower presents a solution by building a train/transit station underneath the tallest building to be in San Francisco. Unfortunately this train station exposes the big issues of the municipality when it comes to public transport budgets, even though the train station will be built there won’t be any trains coming in due to the lack of municipal budget (CBRE, 2016).

Social Housing The biggest difference between social housing in the Netherlands and in the US is the terminology. Social stands for (government related) housing for disabled or less abled residents who receive some kind of governmental subsidies. These low income housing programs are supervised by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Some type of social housing programs are carried out by private parties and other by public parties PHA’s (local public housing authorities). Social housing is partly provided by layering up indirect government subsidies such as selling tax exemptions to corporates and does not have to be affordable at all (Bridge Housing, 2016). One of the programs that is focussed on affordable housing is called public housing. Public housing is owned, 94 BRONNEN

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Vancouver: Bayne, K. (2009). Southeast False Creek Development: Financing Update (Report no. 604.873.7223). Retrieved from: http://vancouver.ca/docs/sefc/southeast-false-creek- development-financing-update.pdf BTAworks (2014). Changes in Total Property Assessment Values in the City of Vancouver by Percentage, 2013-2014. Retrieved from: http://www.btaworks.com/2014/01/29/ changes-in-total-property-assessment-values-in-the-city-of-vancouver-by- percentage-2013-2014/#sthash.fe1GAcGo.dpuf City of Vancouver (n.d.). Southeast False Creek. Retrieved from: http://vancouver.ca/home- property-development/southeast-false-creek.aspx City of Vancouver (n.d.). Urban planning, sustainable zoning, and development. Retrieved from: http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/planning-zoning-develop ment.aspx Douay, N. (2015). Vancouverism: hybridisation and spread of an urban model. Metropolitics. Retrieved from: http://www.metropolitiques.eu/Vancouverism-hybridisation-and. html Gordon, J. (2016). Vancouver’s Housing Affordability Crisis: Causes, Consequences and Solutions. Retrieved from: http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/mpp/pdfs/Van couver%27s%20Housing%20Affordability%20Crisis%20Report%202016%20 Final%20Version.pdf Larsen, K. (2016). New figures show massive growth in Metro Vancouver real estate prices. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new- figures-show-massive-growth-in-metro-vancouver-real-estate-prices-1.3524888 Ley, D. (2012). Waterfront Redevelopment: Global Processes and Local Contingencies in Vancouver’s False Creek. New Urbanism: Life, Work, and Space in the New Downtown, 47. Punter, J. (2003). The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning and Design. Vancouver: UBS Press. Ryerson University (n.d.). Southeast False Creek. Retrieved from: http://www. ryerson.ca/carrotcity/board_pages/city/SEFC.html Sheppard, J. (2016). Government inaction to blame for Vancouver real estate crisis: report. Retrieved from: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/05/vancouver-real-estate-crisis- government-to-blame/ Todd, D. (2015). Who can we trust on Vancouver real estate? Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from: http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/who-can-we-trust-on-vancouver-realestate Vaughan, T. (2008). Collaborative practice towards sustainability: the Southeast False Creek experience (Doctoral dissertation, sustainable community; collaboration; citizen participation; power; urban planning; Southeast False Creek-Simon Fraser University). 97 BRONNEN

VEC (2011). The Vancouver Economic Action Strategy: An Economic Development Plan for the City. Vancouver: Vancouver Economic Commission. VEC (2012). Vancouver as a global urban sustainability centre. Vancouver: Carbon talks. VEC (n.d.). Global Gateway. Retrieved from: http://www.vancouvereconomic.com/vancouver/ global-gateway/ Wernick, B. G., Nikl, L. H., & Adams, M. A. (2012). From brown shore to green shore: redevelopment of the Southeast False Creek lands in Vancouver, Canada. Environmental Impact, 162, 401. Wikipedia (n.d.). Economy of Vancouver. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Economy_of_Vancouver Wikipedia (n.d.b.). Government and politics of Vancouver. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Government_and_politics_of_Vancouver Zuberi, D & Taylor, A (2013). Urban Renewal in Vancouver, Canada. In Leary, M. E., & McCarthy, J. The Routledge companion to urban regeneration (Routledge companions; Routledge companions). London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

San Francisco: Adams, D., & Tiesdell, S. (2010). Planners as market actors: rethinking state-market relations in land and property. Planning Theory & Practice, 11(2), 187-207. Athwal, N. (2016). What San Francisco’s Tech Boom Means For Bay Area Real Estate. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/navathwal/2016/04/18/what-san-franciscos- tech-boom-means-for-bay-area-real-estate/#38f11b9c4305 City-Data. (2009). San Francisco: Economy. Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/us- cities/The-West/San-Francisco-Economy.html City Innovate Foundation. (2015). Public Private Partnerships in San Francisco and New York are Making it Happen. Retrieved from http://cityinnovate.org/blog/public- private-partnerships-in-san-francisco-and-new-york-are-making-it-happen/ Cullingworth, B., & Caves, R. W. (2009). Planning in the USA: policies, issues, and processes. New York: Routledge. Domonoske, C. (2016). San Francisco Requires New BuildingsTo Install Solar Panels. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/474969107/sanfrancisco- requires-new-buildings-to-install-solar-panels Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District (FWCBD). (2016). FWCBD Details & Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.fwcbd.com/district-stats/ Habert, D. (1999). Fifty Years of Redevelopment: Lessons for the Future. Retrieved from http:// www.spur.org/publications/urbanist-article/1999-03-01/fifty-years-redevelopment M. Landman Communications and Consulting. (2016). San Francisco Green Buildings Map. Retrieved from http://www.mlandman.com/gbuildinginfo/greenbuildingsmap/sht ml Perez, I., Pollay, B., Quach, A., Sabbagh, J., & Steuble, B. (2016). History of San Francisco’s Urban Planning. Retrieved from http://sfurbanplanning.weebly.com/ Poole, R. (2015). San Francisco Has a New Model to Improve Public Space. Retrieved from https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/san-francisco-improve-public-space-funding Rifkin, J. (2004). The European Dream: How Europe’s Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. New York: Penguin. San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). (2016). SPUR Timeline: A Century of Civic Involvement. Retrieved from http://www.spur.org/ 98 BRONNEN

about/our-mission-and-history San Francisco Environment. (2016). Policy, Incentives, and Resources. Retrieved from http:// sfenvironment.org/buildings-environments/green-building/policy-incentives-and- resources San Francisco Planning Department - City Design Group. (2010). Fisherman’s Wharf Public Realm Plan. Retrieved from http://www.sf-planning.org/ftp/CDG/CDG_fishermans_ wharf.htm San Francisco Planning Department. (2011). The Architectural Review Committee of the Historic Preservation Commission. Retrieved from http://sf-planning.org/sites/ default/files/FileCenter/Documents/5103-PB_20_Architectural_Review_ Committee_of_LPAB.pdf San Francisco Planning Department. (2016a). About the San Francisco Planning Department. Retrieved from http://sf-planning.org/about-san-francisco-planning-department San Francisco Planning Department. (2016b). Complete list of plans and projects. Retrieved from http://sf-planning.org/complete-list-plans-and-projects San Francisco Planning Department. (2016c). General Plan. Retrieved from http://generalplan sfplanning.org/index.htm San Francisco Planning Department. (2016d). Zoning Maps. Retrieved from http://sf-planning. org/zoning-maps SF Open Data. (2016). Green Benefit District. Retrieved from https://data.sfgov.org/ Geographic-Locations-and-Boundaries/Green-Benefit-Districts/hf4h-cmcs Stanley, J. (2013). POPOS! Privately Owned Public Open Spaces. Retrieved from http://www. sherwoodengineers.com/popos-privately-owned-public-open-spaces/ Wikipedia. (2016a). History of San Francisco. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ History_of_San_Francisco Wikipedia. (2016b). Politics of San Francisco. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Politics_of_San_Francisco Wikipedia. (2016c). Strategic urban planning. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Strategic_urban_planning

Housing Inaffordability literature

Albert, M. (1993). Capitalism vs. Capitalism: how america’s obsession with individual achievement and short-term profit has led it to the brink of collapse. Four Walls Eight Window: New York Bakker, P., Evers, S., Hovens, N., Snelder, H., & Weggeman, M. (2005). Het Rijnlands model als inspiratiebron. Holland Management Review, Vol. 103, 72-81 Basis point (2016). Looking for housing deals? Then look beyond case shriller price data. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://thebasispoint.com/2012/03/28/looking-for-hou sing-deals-then-look-beyond-case-shiller-price-data-part-2/ Barnes, T., Hutton, T., Ley, D. & Moos, M. (2011). Vancouver: Restructuring narratives in the transnational metropolis. In L.S. Bourne, T. Hutton, R.G. Shearmur & J. Simmons (eds.), 76 Canadian Urban Regions: Trajectories of Growth and Change (pp. 291- 327). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press Bogdanowicz, J. (2006). Vancouverism. Retrieved May 2016 from https://www.canadian architect.com/features/vancouverism/ 99 BRONNEN

Boterman, W. R., & Gent, W. P. C. v. (2014). Housing Liberalisation and Gentrification: The Social Effects of Tenure Conversions in Amsterdam. TESG Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 105(Factfinder, 2016a), 140-160 Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods 4th edition. Oxford University Press Inc. New York Bula, F. (2007). Some things worked. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://www.canada.com/ vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ad56af4e-0f14-4717-9603-5fe5a0713e4c&k =51576 Burnett, K. (2014). Commodifying poverty: gentrification and consumption in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Urban Geography, 35(Factfinder, 2016a), 157-176. Carter, T. (2005). The Influence of Immigration on Global City Housing Markets: The Canadian Perspective. Urban Policy and Research, 23(Census, 2016), 265-286 Census (2016). Quickfacts. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ table/PST045215/0667000 Clark, E. (1992). On gaps in gentrification theory. Housing Studies, 7(1), 16 Doucet, B. (2014). A process of change and a changing process: introduction to the special issue on contemporary gentrification. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 105(Factfinder, 2016a), 125-139 Doucet, B., Kempen, R. v., & Weesep, J. v. (2011). ‘We’re a rich city with poor people’: municipal strategies of new-build gentrification in Rotterdam and Glasgow. Environment and Planning A, 43, 1438-1454 Ebenezer O. Aka, J. (2010). Gentrification and Socioeconomic Impacts of Neighborhood Integration and Diversification in Atlanta, Georgia. National Social Science Journal, 35(1), 1-13. Factfinder (2016a). Factfinder San Francisco. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://factfinder. census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk Factfinder (2016b). Factfinder San Francisco. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://factfinder. census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF FT. (2015). Home truths: tackling London’s affordable housing crisis. Retrieved May 30th 2016. Geltner, D., & Miller, N. G. (2001). Commercial real estate analysis and investments. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western Pub. Glaeser, E.L., Gyourko, J., & Saiz, A. (2008). Housing supply and housing bubbles. Journal of Urban Economics, 64, p. 198–217 Heurkens, E.W.T.M. (2012). Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects: Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK. A+BE: Delft. Ley, D. (2010). Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. London Government (2016a). New Housing Zones Announced. Retrieved May 2016 from: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/11-new-housing-zones- announced London Government (2016b). London’s housing crisis revealed by mayor. Retrieved May 2016 from: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/londons-housing-crisis- revealed-by-mayor Monroe, S. (2014). Victoria, the Capital of British Columbia. Retrieved from http://canada online.about.com/od/bc/a/victoria.htm NRC (2016). Straks wonen alleen nog de rijken in de stad. Retrieved on May 2016 from: NRC Paragon RE (2016). Supply, Demand, Money and Demographics. Retrieved May 2016 from: http://www.paragon-re.com/Supply_Demand_Money_and_Demographics Ponds, R., Marlet, G., & Woerkens, C.V. (2015). Trickle down in de stad. In P. 31 (Ed.). Den Haag: 100 BRONNEN

Platform 31 Revington, N., W. (2015) Market Rental Housing Affordability and Accessibility to Rapid Transit in Montreal and Vancouver. Concordia University; The Department of Geography, Planning and Environment San Francisco City Hall (2008). Board of Supervisors – Does San Francisco have a City Council?. San Francisco Government San Francisco Planning Department (2015). San Francisco Housing Inventory. San Francisco Planning Department San Francisco Travel. (2015) Record Breaking Economic impact in 2014. Retrieved on 24 May 2016 from: http://www.sanfrancisco.travel/article/record-breaking-economic- impact-2014 Savills (2016) Spotlight: San Francisco and the Bay Area. Savills: London Smith, N. (1996). The new urban frontier : gentrification and the revanchist city. New York: Routledge. STATCAN (2015). Population by year, by province and territory. Retrieved from http://www. statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo02a-eng.htm Taylor, M. (2015). California’s High Housing Costs, Causes and Consequences. Legislative analyst: LAO Teaford, J.C. (2002) The rise of the States: Evolution of American State Government. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press Teixeira, C. (2013). Living on the “edge of the suburbs” of Vancouver: A case study of the housing experiences and coping strategies of recent immigrants in Surrey and Richmond. The Canadian Geographer UBC (2012). UBC’s Housing Action Plan. Retrieved on May 30th 2016 from http://hap.ubc.ca/ files/2012/12/HAP-Plan-Adopted-Final-Sept-20121.pdf UCSF (2015a). UCSF tackles San Francisco housing crisis. Retrieved May 30th 2016 from http:// ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/225836/ucsf-tackles-san-francisco-housing-crisis UCSF (2015b). UCSF acquired 3 new properties for potential student housing. Retrieved May 30th 2016 from http://ucsf.edu/news/2015/10/136651/ucsf-acquires-3-new-proper ties-potential-student-housing Urban Land Institute (2009). Priced Out: Persistence of the Workforce Housing Gap in the San Francisco Bay Area. Robert Charles Lesser & Co. US Census (2016) Facts and figures. Retrieved on 20 April 2016 from http://www.census.gov Walks, R. A., & Maaranen, R. (2008). Gentrification, social mix, and social polarization: Testing the linkages in large Canadian cities. Urban Geography Wikipedia (N.D.). Vancouver. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Woolsey, M. (2007). World’s Most Overpriced Real Estate Markets. Forbes. Retrieved from: http:// www.forbes.com/2007/08/24/housing-overpriced-world-forbeslife-cx_mw_ 0824realestate.html Yoon, H., & Currid-Halkett, E. (2015). Industrial gentrification in West Chelsea, New York: Who survived and who did not? Empirical evidence from discrete-time survival analysis. Urban Studies, 52, 20-49 Zumper (2016) Retrieved May 2016 from: https://www.zumper.com/blog/2016/04/zumper- national-rent-report-april-2016/

101 NAWOORD Geschreven door Lisa Kuijpers, voorzitter van de Study Trip commissie 2016

Ik kijk trots terug op mijn jaar als voorzitter van de Study Trip commissie 2016. Dit is uiteraard deels te wijten aan de fantastische reis die we hebben neergezet, om een breed scala van bedrijven te bezoeken en meer te leren over de vastgoedmarkten en -praktijken in Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco. Echter, het is voornamelijk te danken aan de geweldige commissie die ik als team heb gehad.

Allereerst, Tine. Tine had ik een jaar eerder tijdens de BOSS Study Trip naar Miami en Havana leren kennen en ik wist meteen dat zij een goede toevoeging aan de commissie zou zijn. Tine was verantwoordelijk voor de planning van het programma in de drie steden die we bezochten; zij heeft contact opgenomen met de hostels, universiteiten en ambassades, evenals een aantal leuke activiteiten geregeld, zoals de fietstochten. Deze taak was Tine op het lijf geschreven: zij is werkelijk de meest georganiseerde en gestructureerde persoon die ik ken. Tine stelde constant haar eigen to-do lijsten op en herinnerde mij aan de puntjes, in plaats van andersom. Dat is toch super!

Als tweede commissielid koos ik Wouter, ook wel bekend als Mr. Money met de zwoele blik en de huidige penningmeester van het BOSS bestuur 2016-2017. Terwijl Wouter aan het begin van het jaar nog verklaarde het moeilijk te vinden om “nee” te zeggen tegen mensen, heeft hij deze vaardigheid gedurende het afgelopen jaar zeker opgedaan, wat hem dit jaar als penningmeester van BOSS nog goed te pas zal komen. Met eindeloze precisie zorgde Wouter voor de begroting, betalingen en de uiteindelijke exploitatie, maar Wouter zorgde voor nog veel meer, zoals zijn mede commissieleden wanneer deze weer eens te dronken waren om naar huis te fietsen na een typisch avondje Ruif.

Als derde, Liesbeth. Ik had al snel door dat Liesbeth onze ‘stille kracht’ binnen de commissie was. Liesbeth is misschien wat minder uitgesproken dan de rest, maar voor je het weet, levert ze werk van hoge kwaliteit af, waar geen spelfout meer uit te halen is. Liesbeth was niet alleen verantwoordelijk voor de meest uitdagende taak van de Study Trip, namelijk zorgen dat alle deelnemers mee werkten aan het schrijven van de research papers over Housing Inaffordability en Urban Redevelopment, maar ze maakte ook een heel gaaf promo filmpje, voor- en napublicatie en de after movie. Toen SHS Delft me belde om te vragen of ze Liesbeth in hun bestuur moesten vragen, heb ik direct “ja!” gezegd. Uiteraard wel nadat ik gecheckt had of we Liesbeth niet zelf voor BOSS bestuur moesten claimen.

Last, but most definitely not least: Hans Jerk Trip, de enige persoon die ik ken met zoveel aliassen. In mijn telefoon is hij te vinden als: Intens Nederlandse Kaas Aap - Gossip Jerk - Adje dès - King Alev - Lord of the Bitterballs - Baconator Razz, maar ik weet zeker dat er op dit moment alweer nieuwe aliassen bij zijn gekomen. Hans was ook verantwoordelijk voor het opzetten van het programma, waarvoor hij elke avond aan de telefoon hing met sexy secretaresses van bedrijven in Londen, Vancouver en San Francisco, al fluisterend in een (sexy?) Brits accent: “This is Hans Trip speaking…” Dit zal zeker de reden zijn geweest hoe we zo’n geweldig programma hebben samengesteld! Hans was ons ‘hybride’ commissielid, ook betrokken by Company Relations, waarbij hij alle gladde acquisitie tips en tricks, inclusief gretigheid, heeft kunnen leren van niemand minder dan Sander Rovers, die hierom beroemd en berucht is. Dat heeft dus wel gewerkt!

102 Na het samenstellen van deze geweldige commissie, konden we niet anders dan grootse successen behalen. We kijken allemaal terug op een geweldig jaar vol persoonlijke en collectieve prestaties en mooie vriendschappen. Ik wil Tine, Wouter, Liesbeth en Hans enorm bedanken voor hun eindeloze enthousiasme en inzet, het was geweldig!

Dat er nog maar vele mooie reizen mogen volgen!

103