REPAIR Thematic Network BASELINE STUDY BASELINE STUDY INTRODUCTION The withdrawal of the military presence from an urban area can happen suddenly, leading to extremely adverse socio-economic circumstances. This notably concerns small and medium sized urban areas where historically the military presence has dominated economic activity, providing much direct and indirect employment. These former military sites have excellent potential to act as the catalyst for urban socio-economic regeneration. Many of these sites consist of historic buildings, which may be considered critical assets. The challenge is to transform these abandoned military heritage sites into thriving sources of economic activity, employment and social cohesion. Our project will transfer identified good practice in the socio-economic re-use of military heritage sites and mainstreaming it to enable new regional development projects in other areas. Partner cities in the REPAIR Thematic Network share a common characteristic. The “sense of place” and identity has been shaped by significant presence of large swathes of military heritage buildings and sites, which military authorities have abandoned. The partners also share the major challenge of how to deliver the successful socio-economic and sustainable re-use of this abandoned military heritage so that it not only achieves economic competitiveness, in line with “Lisbon” and “Gothenburg” goals. The sites within the partner cities are a mixture of military installations from medieval to modern built heritage. The latter systems have witnessed recent de-militarisation. De- militarisation in the late twentieth century left a significant social and economic vacuum caused because the local economies were often dependent on military presence with the effect of mini “command” economies. These changes have left significant residual poverty and a lack of opportunity amongst the local populations, which is a major threat to sustainable urban development. These heritage sites have fallen into disuse, decay and disrepair, making little contribution to economic competitiveness or social cohesion. The extensive redundant military sites represent a considerable obstacle to sustainable urban development. Repair partner cities have already responded to sustainable adaptive reuse methodologies in line with the Gothenburg and Lisbon Agendas. This demonstrates the successful socio-economic re-use of these military heritage sites. The major policy development challenge still to be addressed is to address successful spin-offs for broader sustainable urban development. The Urbact II Operational Programme emphasises the high priority placed by New Member States on the “reuse of wasteland used for military purposes” and this provides an extensive opportunity for partners to test the methodology developed and ability to access funding sources. The topic for our project is the realization of the potential of abandoned military sites as an Integral part of Sustainable Urban Community Regeneration and to illustrate the reasons why it is important that we address the issues and how we plan to achieve success in this field through best practice. It is crucial that the socio-economic re-use of military sites can catalyse the broader sustainable development of the broader urban area. The definition of specific policy frameworks to provide clear direction towards the realization of this goal is also vital if sustainable urban development is to be at the heart of the drive by urban areas across the EU to achieve the social and economic restructuring of their abandoned military sites. Furthermore, there needs to be an intense dialogue with local level policy makers and regeneration practitioners in the REPAIR network partner areas in order to transpose these pioneering new policy frameworks into practical regeneration actions, where the socio-economic re-use of military sites can directly deliver sustainable urban development. Project Repair, Baseline Study 211008 REPAIR Thematic Network BASELINE STUDY BASELINE STUDY European Overview Key drivers and trends in EU A growing population, movement of people between areas and the search for employment brought about by changes in economic circumstances has led to a need to identify additional land or buildings for re-development in cities and regions across Europe. The availability of abandoned military land and buildings and heritage assets varies from one country to another however this stock does represent a source of potential development. Recent trends show much greater attention to rehabilitation of military areas than in the past. These sites are being re-utilised in the re-establishment of the public realm and to counter the negative influence communication technology, which has reduced community life. The need in Europe to rehabilitate the public realm is seen as a key to “glue” elements of fragmented cities, alienated communities and excluded neighbourhoods. Post WWII and post cold war military sites had a significant impact on aspects of local areas economic, social and environmental. The issues through demilitarization include; higher unemployment, lower incomes and the degradation and contamination. These necessitate immediate remedial solutions. However the military and heritage sites, which were located in strategically important locations, have been re-evaluated and regained their importance to a region or city. These sites with the various assets, the surrounding landscape and context have added value not only with a sense of place or non-use values but as new socio-economic drivers for the city; international tourism, sports leisure and recreation. This has resulted in a better quality of life for local communities. EU policy development The EU has over the last decade developed active urban policies to resolve the impact generated by urban development and the setting up of parameters for sustainable urban development. Through the Noordwijk meeting in 1997 the Dutch Presidency promoted the advancement of policies contributing towards urban development at all levels. The United Kingdom launched in 1998 the Urban Exchange Initiative (UEI), which set out in an informal non-binding framework, key principles for urban policies drawn from the analysis of good practice presented by the Member States. These founding initiatives were consolidated by the subsequent Presidencies. These Urban Spatial Policies have been broadly interpreted to include the development of former military and heritage sites as many are situated within city boundaries. The Lisbon Strategy (2000) set a strategy to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010". A review programme was undertaken in 2004 to give a new impetus to the process. The European Commission used this report as a basis for its proposal in February 2005 to refocus the Lisbon Agenda on actions that promote growth and jobs in a manner that is fully consistent with the objective of sustainable development. The Commission's report stated that "making growth and jobs the immediate target goes hand in hand with promoting social or environmental objectives." In its resolution on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy in March 2005, the European Parliament expressed its belief that "sustainable growth and employment are Europe's most pressing goals and underpin social and environmental progress" and "that well-designed social and environmental policies are themselves key elements in strengthening Europe's economic performance". In its resolution on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy in March 2005, the European Parliament expressed its belief that "sustainable growth and employment are Europe's most pressing goals and underpin social and environmental progress" and "that Project Repair, Baseline Study 211008 REPAIR Thematic Network BASELINE STUDY BASELINE STUDY well-designed social and environmental policies are themselves key elements in strengthening Europe's economic performance". The Gothenburg European Council (2001) completed the Lisbon strategy by adding an environmental dimension. It focussed on a new emphasis aimed at protecting the environment and to achieve a more sustainable pattern of development. It set out key environmental objectives and target dates at strategic, political and legislative levels, taking account of international agreements. The Gothenburg European Council agreed on these four priorities: • Climate change: Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Kyoto targets. Progress towards electricity generated from renewable sources. • Sustainable transport: Decoupling gross domestic product from transport growth. Tackling rising traffic volumes, congestion, noise and pollution. Encouraging the use of and investment in environmentally friendly transport and related infrastructure. • Public health: Respond to citizens' concerns regarding food safety, the use of chemicals, infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. • Resource management: Decoupling resource use and the generation of waste from growth. The Bristol Accord (2005) recognised that Sustainable Communities are diverse and reflect their local circumstances and there is no standard template to fit them all but should be: • ACTIVE, INCLUSIVE AND SAFE – Fair, tolerant and cohesive with a strong local culture and other shared community activities • WELL RUN – with effective and inclusive participation,