SURCH Social Inclusion in Urban Regeneration through Cultural Heritage The network report June 2007 This project is partly co-financed by the European Union SURCH Contents Preface By Paul Borg Olivier, Mayor of Valletta Introduction Objectives Methodology Layout of the report The cities and the case studies Athens - Kolokynthou Cork - Docklands Kaunas – Castle Nicosia – Eastern part of Walled City Valletta The development of themes and issues Coordination between public authorities and private developers/other stakeholders Community involvement in reuse and preservation The role of culture in bringing people together and developing confidence in economic development Encouraging support of local events and traditions that give a sense of identity and involvement Institutional solutions and forms of collaboration which inform the participants of the project The conclusions Cultural Heritage Social Inclusion Lessons for the future Questions still remaining Next steps Appendix The partners The experts “Every inch of soil bears witness to its culture and history, a unique privilege which, however, creates for us a serious obligation to protect such a heritage" (Melina Merkouri) “Our city is our community, our community is our capital” (Valletta mission statement) SURCH 3 Preface Paul Borg Olivier, Mayor of Valletta The citizen, traditions, cultural heritage and development are characteristics that necessarily need to remain stitched together in any social fabric going through urban renewal. The Thematic Network SURCH gives at its basis the task to study and ex- plore the trends and methods needed to retain, and support citizen-inclusive measures in urban regeneration projects. Cultural Heritage, in its widest form of definition is a strong tool to maintain and co-involve citizens experiencing change and development at their door- step. The cultural identity and the local spirit are key factors to be retained in pro- jects of urban renewal so as not to develop a faceless project straight from a plan senseless to the citizens of the area. The Network has brought together local politicians, urban planners, and lo- cal authority administrators from Valletta (Malta), Athens (Greece), Nicosia (Cyprus), Cork (Ireland) and Kaunas (Lithuania). It is an experience from the Irish Docklands of Cork to the Harbour of Val- letta in Malta, and from the Eastern Area of the Walled City of Nicosia or the Cow Stables regeneration project for its people in Athens, to the Castle in Kaunas, Lithuania. Urbact has served as a bridge of experience in this Network to three cities out of five coming from the new acceded countries joining the European Un- ion in 2004. SURCH Introduction SURCH is a network of five cities within the European Union – Athens (Greece), Cork (Ireland), Kaunas (Lithuania), Nicosia (Cyprus) and Valletta (Malta). The network is part of the EU URBACT programme, and it explores their experience of urban regeneration with a focus on social inclusion through the active use of cultural heritage. The five cities – as partners in the project – have shared and aggregated their expertise, have developed new knowledge in this field through exchange and have fed the results back into their daily work with local partners. The network focused on cultural heritage as the basis of social inclusion, and in particular on ♦ creating mutual understanding between the local actors in urban regen- eration ♦ promoting inclusion of communities in decision making and benefit- sharing from redevelopment and ♦ contributing to intercultural awareness and understanding of values from local community level, to national, trans-national and European levels This report is the result of the five cities meeting over a period of15 months, considering case study areas and looking at their own cities through the eyes of the other partner cities. Objectives The network aimed to achieve the following: ♦ a balanced multilateral learning in urban planning and management ♦ a focus on including neighbourhood communities into the process of ne- gotiation between the developers and authorities, cross-fertilising the redevelopment from an early stage, throughout conceiving, planning, decision making, implementation and operation of redeveloping the in- dustrial areas and new developments in historic neighbourhoods ♦ understanding the cultural, social and economic continuity of new com- mercial undertakings sourced in existing cultural, spatial and socioeco- nomic patterns of the existing communities ♦ exploring and validating a variety of institutional settings and agents through which the social inclusion can be implemented such as urban regeneration companies, neighbourhood agencies, public-private part- nerships, and other institutions existing in partner cities. SURCH 5 Methodology The network was led by the City of Valletta and it brought together a group of cities that had a range of experience in urban regeneration. Each city hosted a workshop or seminar that included a visit to the city’s own case study. The case study was written up using a framework developed for SURCH, and also using the URBACT standard format for posting on the URBACT website. During the working sessions the cities: ♦ Analysed the case study areas using a series of themes and sub-themes. Each City then undertook the leadership of a main theme ♦ Using a matrix approach, identified the priority themes for their individual city and the network ♦ Drawing on the case studies and the experience of SURCH, collectively considered what is meant by the phrases ‘Cultural Heritage’ and ‘Social Inclusion’ ♦ Drew conclusions on how the active use of cultural heritage can help the promotion of social inclusion in urban regeneration ♦ Considered what the network should do next Layout of the report The rest of this report follows the partners through this journey, with chapters on: ♦ the case studies ♦ the development of themes and issues ♦ the conclusions Inevitably, this report covers only part of the discussions that took place. The SURCH website (www.urbact.eu/projects/surch/home.html) has detailed pa- pers, from which this report is drawn. SURCH The Cities and their case study areas This chapter sets out a summary of the case studies for each of the five cities. More extensive versions of the case studies are in the URBACT website. CASE STUDY Athens Kolokynthou Cow Stables The Athens case study is in the neighbourhood of Kolo- kynthou, a sub district of the 4th Municipal District, lo- cated in Western Athens. Kolokynthou is the most de- prived neighbourhood in Athens, with a different demo- graphic profile than the rest of the city, a high proportion of non-nationals, high unemployment, low incomes, low educational attainment, large areas used for transportation maintenance, high levels of pollution, poor sanitary infra- structure, and abandoned buildings. The 4th Municipal District has a population of 93,000 out of the city’s population of 780,000 (Metropolitan Athens has a population of 4.5 million). 18% of the district’s population are non-nationals (11% are of Albanian ori- Key Points gin). While the city’s population has dropped by 3% since Athens 1991; the 4th District has grown by 43%. Unemployment Capital of Greece is 13.2% compared to the City average of 10% - but more Population (metropolitan area) than 50% have been unemployed for more than 2 years 4.5million 212 different nationalities and more than 50% have no specialisation. th 4 District - Kolokynthou Population: 92,805 Kolokynthou has therefore been identified as an area Unemployment: 13.2% (City 10%) requiring ‘Integrated Urban Development’. The regenera- ♦ the most socially excluded tion project intends to improve the quality of life for the neighbourhood in Athens residents by: ♦ large areas used for transporta- tion maintenance ♦ creating new jobs ♦ poor environment ♦ providing support to the social, cultural and sport ♦ fast growing Key Cultural Heritage issues: life ♦ using an historic building to cre- ♦ tacking social cohesion and inclusion of immi- ate a community facility grants ♦ using an historic building as a base for social inclusion pro- ♦ improving environmental conditions grammes (e.g. job creation) ♦ improving the environment around the building Development of an historic building as a key to Social Inclusion issues: regeneration ♦ high levels of non-nationals The Cow Stables building is formally designated as a ♦ long term unemployment historically protected monument. It was part of the mu- ♦ low educational attainment nicipal foundling hospital, founded in 1924 and its con- SURCH 7 struction was completed in 1927. With the end of the First World War, the continuation of war in the territories of Minor Asia and its destruction created problems in the country (380.000 families reduced to poverty from Minor Asia and the region of Pontos came to Greece asking asylum) in 1920 almost daily three new children reached the Municipal Crèche, whilst 1 out of 7 children that were given birth in Athens was led to the institution. The result was that the nutrition needs of infants and children were increased, which led to the foundation of the Cow Stables. The regeneration plan is to restore and preserve the building as a multipurpose cultural centre and as a centre for creative activities for disadvantaged children. It will provide social services and support for local employment and entrepreneurship initiatives, including a network of the local labor and enterprises, the creation of new jobs and support to local businesses. Within