Sports Stadia– Catalyst for Urban Regeneration of the Local Community?
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Sports Stadia– Catalyst for Urban Regeneration of the Local Community? A theoretical study on the role of sports stadia in the urban regeneration of the local community including a comparative case study of stadia in England (New Wembley, Emirates Stadium, New Anfield, New White Hart Lane) and the Netherlands (New Kuip) Dennis Blom Universiteit van Amsterdam Masterthesis Urban and Regional Planning Supervisor: Menno van der Veen The Hague, June 2014 Title: Sports Stadia – Catalyst for Urban Regeneration of the Local Community? University of Amsterdam Faculty of Social Sciences Master Urban and Regional Planning Supervisor: Menno van Veen 20th of June, 2014 Dennis Blom Noordland 38 2548 WB, The Hague [email protected] 0623226226 UvA no: 10547096 Pagina | 2 Preface The present master’s thesis is the end of my one-year Master Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam. I have had the opportunity to build this research around strong personal interest which derive from my personal real-life experiences as a football fan and football player. All my life I have been fascinated about new sports stadia. Every time a new stadium is built, I want to know everything about it. For me it was very special to include the new Kuip case in this research, because as a youth player of Feyenoord I played several times a pre-match in the Kuip. I decided to examine the new Kuip, because it is today a hot topic in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the plans were during my research still at an early stage so I could not examine the new stadium plans in detail. Though, it was interesting to see the difference between the English urban regeneration stadia and the new Kuip case at this early stage. I hope I contributed to the international debate and on the sly I hope to contribute to the final new Kuip plans from an urban planning viewpoint. For me, writing this thesis has been a rewarding and thought-provoking experience. During this research I found out that many beautiful stadia that offers many economic benefits to the club owners or football clubs, are often not good in terms of urban regeneration. In the context of economic crisis it seems for me desirable stadia should be designed for clubs and public spill-overs. In this way stadia also have value for disadvantaged local communities. Consequently, because of this research I currently look at stadia very different than I was used to. At first the inside of the new stadia and the outside with respect to flagship architecture was very interesting for me, now I’m more into the role of stadia within local communities. I would also like to use this preface to thank a number of people. First of all my parents, friends and fellow students for their interest and stimulating words while writing this thesis. I could not have done it without them. I also have to thank my thesis supervisor Menno van der Veen. The pleasant cooperation, suggestions and feedback have sent me in the right direction. Finally, I hope this study inspires and helps other people to carry out similar research on the impact of sports stadia on urban regeneration of disadvantaged areas. In addition, I hope policy makers become more aware of the importance of sports-related regeneration and the creation of an integrated area-based strategy with the building of new or renovation of existing stadia. In this way the expensive stadia will also produce positive spill-overs and public benefits, instead of focusing on the benefits for the respective clubs. Dennis Blom The Hague, June 2014 Pagina | 3 Abstract Anywhere around Europe, from England to Spain, stadia are built or upgraded for mainly economic reasons. Often the stadia projects are focused on the interests of the sports teams, and not on the value of stadia for the local community. The use of constructing or upgrading sports stadia as a tool for regenerating cities has become very popular in Europe, and especially in England, recent years. In England clubs and stadia are very much attached to the local community. Therefore the clubs in general do not relocate to out-of-town locations, which is for instance very common in Germany. This is also the reason the German stadia are do not have value for the local community in terms of urban regeneration, and the English “urban regeneration stadia” do. The English sports stadia are often the centre of a development of an area and thus seen as catalyst for urban regeneration of a neighbourhood. However, there is some disagreement about the benefits of stadia. Are stadia really a catalyst for urban regeneration of a local community? Numerous authors have criticized the value of the economic promises. The benefits of sports stadia are also questioned because the benefits for the local community have been poorly researched. Although there are many views on the positive and negative effects of sports stadia, theoretical insight on what conditions stadia must meet in order to actually have a function for a local community is missing. This research has therefore a theoretical perspective, which means that based on existing literature, expert interviews, own research and a policy analysis of several case studies a number of conditions are formulated which (future) stadia must meet to have value for local community. Aim is to investigate how stadia can act as a catalyst for urban regeneration in disadvantaged working-class quarters. This eventually leads to recommendations, conditions which stadia must meet, that is very relevant to today’s practice of building or upgrading stadia within disadvantaged working-class quarters like the case of the new Kuip in Rotterdam. This research provides evidence to suggest that sports stadia can have a positive impact on a disadvantaged working-class quarter, but that stadia must meet certain conditions in order to actually act as a catalyst and have value for a local community. Pagina | 4 Table of contents 1. Sports Stadia and Urban Regeneration – Introduction……................................................7 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….………………….…………………7 1.2 Problem statement, aim and research question(s)……………………..………………………………………......8 1.3 Innovation and relevance……………………….………………………………………………………………………………..9 1.3.1 Social context……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 1.3.2 Scientific context………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…10 1.4 Thesis outline……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………….10 1.4.1 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 1.4.2 Theory…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 1.4.3 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11 2. Sports Stadia and Urban Regeneration - Research Design ……………………………………………12 2.1 Operationalization………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12 2.2 Research design and methods………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 2.2.1 Phase 1: Theoretical design. Methods: Literature study, expert-interviews and own research…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 2.2.2 Phase 2: Comparative case study design. Method: Policy analysis…………………………….…….15 2.2.2.1 Case studies…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 2.2.2.2 Case selection………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 2.2.3 Phase 3: Concluding design. Method: Creation of conditions……………….…………………………16 2.3 Data analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 2.4 Reliability and validity ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………16 2.5 Limitations……………………....………………………………………………………………………………………………….…17 3. Sports Stadia and Urban Regeneration - Theoretical Framework…………………….…………..18 3.1 Sport stadia development………………………………………………………………………………………………………18 3.1.1 Sports stadia through history: transition from downtown normal stadia to stadia having a function for the local community……………………………………………..…….………..……………………18 3.1.2 Present-day stadia……………….………….……………………………………………………………………………..27 3.1.3 Stadia culture and context dependent……………..…………………….……………………………………….28 3.2 Sports-related urban regeneration…………………………………………………………………………………........31 3.2.1 Four elements of urban regeneration……………………………………………………………………………..31 3.2.1.1 Economic…………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………..32 3.2.1.2 Environmental…………………………………………………………………………………………………………32 3.2.1.3 Physical……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 3.2.1.4 Social……….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 3.2.2 Three models of sports-related urban regeneration……………………………………………………….33 3.2.2.1 Model 1: Sports-led Regeneration – “iconic flagship projects”………………………………..34 3.2.2.2 Model 2: Sports-Regeneration – ”integrated area-based strategy”………………………...34 3.2.2.3 Model 3: Sport and Regeneration – “independent interventions”……………………..……34 3.3 Sports stadia as catalyst for urban regeneration…………………….………………………………………………35 3.3.1 Economic: Spin-off of stadia in semi-urban working-class quarters ………………………………..35 3.3.2 Environmental: Upgrading environment to improve resident’s quality of life …………………36 3.3.3 Physical: Improved accessibility and architectural iconic design………………………………………36 3.3.4 Social: New image of the neighbourhood, increase in public health and involvement of local residents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………37 3.4 Sports stadia as barrier for urban regeneration………………………………………………………………………38 3.4.1 Economic: Great uncertainty about the economic promises and the contribution to the local community ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………38 3.4.2 Environmental: Nuisance and (visual) pollution for residents without experiencing benefits Pagina | 5