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Sustainable Regeneration in Urban Areas , URBACT II Capitalisation April 2015 Urbact Ii Urbact urbact ii capitalisation, april 2015 URBACT is a European exchange and learning programme promoting integrated sustainable urban development. It enables cities to work together to develop solutions to major urban challenges, Sustainable regeneration re-a�firming the key role they play in facing increasingly complex societal changes. URBACT helps cities to develop pragmatic solutions that are new and sustainable, in urban areas and that integrate economic, social and environmental dimensions. It enables cities to share good practices and lessons learned with all professionals involved in urban policy throughout Europe. URBACT II comprises 550 di�ferent sized cities and their Local Support Groups, 61 projects, 29 countries, and 7,000 active local stakeholders. URBACT is jointly financed by the ERDF and the Member States. Sustainable regeneration in urban areas , URBACT II capitalisation urbact ii urbact , April 2015 www.urbact.eu URBACT Secretariat 5, rue Pleyel 93283 Saint Denis cedex France Sustainable regeneration in urban areas, URBACT II capitalisation, April 2015 Published by URBACT 5, Rue Pleyel, 93283 Saint Denis, France http://urbact.eu Editorial advisory board: Melody Houk Jenny Koutsomarkou Emmanuel Moulin Maria Scantamburlo Ivan Tosics Graphic design and layout: Christos Tsoleridis (Oxhouse design studio), Thessaloniki, Greece Printing: bialec, Nancy (France) ©2015 URBACT II programme urbact ii capitalisation, april 2015 Sustainable regeneration in urban areas This publication is part of a bigger These topics have been explored by four capitalisation initiative set by the URBACT URBACT working groups (workstreams), programme for 2014–2015 with the objective composed of multidisciplinary to present to Europe’ s cities existing urban stakeholders across Europe such as urban knowledge and good practices about: practitioners and experts from URBACT, representatives from European universities, New urban economies European programmes and international organisations working on these fields. Jobs for young people in cities Social innovation in cities Sustainable regeneration in urban areas CONTENTS 04 ....................navigator What is this publication about? 06 .........................article Setting the scene: raising the game in environmentally sustainable urban regeneration By Darinka Czischke, Conor Moloney and Catalina Turcu 15 .........................article Why ‘Think Global, Act Local’ is no longer enough. A reality check from the emerging intelligence on environmental limits. By Conor Moloney 22 ................... case study Cities tackling climate change: the case of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Hamburg By Nils Scheffler 28 ....................interview Energy-efficient housing renovation and sustainable urban regeneration: looking for synergies Interview with Sorcha Edwards, by Darinka Czischke 30 ....................interview Connecting ‘new urban economies’ to sustainable urban regeneration Interview with Luís Carvalho, by Darinka Czischke 32 .........................article Governing the sustainable city By Nils Scheffler and Catalina Turcu 37 ....................interview Keeping residents’ involvement going in sustainable urban regeneration Interview with Manuel Humburg, by Nils Scheffler 39 ....................interview Calling for socially innovative local authorities for sustainable urban regeneration Interview with François Jégou, by Darinka Czischke 41 ................... case study The path towards sustainable urban regeneration in Vilnius By Tadas Jonauskis, Justina Muliuolytė and Darinka Czischke 50 ....................interview Working with the private sector in sustainable urban regeneration: towards win-win solutions Interview with Ruta Matoniene, by Ivan Tosics 52 .........................article Towards pro-environmental behaviour By Catalina Turcu and Conor Moloney 58 .........................article Policy responses: the way forward By Darinka Czischke, Conor Moloney and Catalina Turcu 61 .......................... annex The URBACT workstream ‘Sustainable regeneration in urban areas’: how did we get here 66 .......................... annex Where to find out more sustainable regeneration in urban areas WHAT IS THIS PUBLICATION ABOUT? Welcome to the publication his publication presents a selection of the of the URBACT workstream T evidence, analysis and concrete solutions that ‘Sustainable regeneration in urban areas’! we have brought together over the course of this workstream. A first article sets the scene by A group of experts, urban policy-makers providing an overview of the main challenges and and practitioners from across Europe have types of approaches applied across Europe. The worked together since June 2014 to answer following article, “Why ‘Think Global, Act Local’ is no longer enough”, frames our discussion about the overarching question: how can cities local solutions in the wider context of pressing develop long-term strategies that integrate global challenges by introducing the notion and the goals of more sustainable resource evidence on ‘environmental limits’, calling for a use, reduced carbon emissions and more move beyond the well-known ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ motto of sustainable urban development. equitable social development? To this end, we have examined key challenges that cities Following our conceptual framing, we move on to face in these fields and documented some of innovative approaches and concrete solutions. We the solutions that they have applied to tackle begin by looking at the physical environmental them through environmentally focused urban dimension: our first in-depth case study, on the IBA Hamburg (International Building Exhibition), actions across Europe. While our emphasis discusses in detail the implementation of the is on physical interventions at local level innovative ‘Cities and Climate Change’ strategy and in towns and cities, we have also looked at actions towards a climate neutral urban district. the wider relationships to the social and An interview with the co-ordinator of the Power House Europe project tells us about the challenges institutional dimensions of sustainability. and solutions that housing providers are facing in their quest to retrofit Europe’s housing stock, as well as on the importance of linking energy- efficient housing renovation to sustainable urban regeneration. Lastly, in an interview with Luís Carvalho from the URBACT workstream ‘New 04 urbact ii capitalisation navigator Source: Freepik urban economies’, we reflect on connections of the asked the Head of the Urban Planning Department latter with sustainable urban regeneration and of Vilnius to give us her view on how to best work the possibilities and limits of current policy trends with the private sector to achieve win-win solutions such as the ‘smart city’ or the ‘green economy’. in sustainable urban regeneration projects. A second set of articles investigates the importance But none of the above can be achieved and of institutional and social aspects in achieving sustained over time without the adoption of new, sustainable urban regeneration. In ‘Governing the pro-environmental behaviours by individuals sustainable city’, we reflect on the importance of and institutions. Our last article explores this cross-sector integration in sustainable regeneration issue and sheds light on concrete actions that projects and propose a set of recommendations cities can take to encourage their citizens to for cities to become better at that. We then look change their behaviour in that direction. at the residents’ perspective on these processes, particularly at what happens next following We conclude with a set of policy recommendations completion of a given sustainable regeneration in our last article, followed by a word on our working project, through an interview with one of the methods to carry out this work and by a list of useful leaders of the residents’ movement that gave rise literature and online resources for the curious reader. to the IBA Hamburg in Wilhemsburg. Following this, Francois Jégou, co-ordinator of the URBACT Enjoy the reading! workstream ‘Social innovation in cities’, gives us his views on the importance of social innovation not only from the grassroots when it comes to sustainable urban regeneration initiatives, but also from local authorities leading these projects. Darinka Czischke In our second in-depth case study, in the city of Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture Vilnius, we look at the specific problems that post- and the Built Environment, communist cities face in this field and adopt a Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) process-perspective to understand the root causes and co-ordinator of the URBACT workstream of problems and the way forward. In addition, we ‘Sustainable regeneration in urban areas’ urbact ii capitalisation 05 sustainable regeneration in urban areas RAISING THE GAME IN ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE URBAN REGENERATION ✍ By Darinka Czischke, Conor Moloney and Catalina Turcu* THE BIG GREEN CHALLENGE FOR CITIES vercrowding, noise, poor air quality, traffic O congestion, waste production and industrial With around three quarters of Europe’s emissions are just a few of the many externalities population – approximately 359 million of contemporary urban production and people – living in cities and urban areas of consumption patterns. Cities are currently facing major challenges to their quality of life and to the more than 5,000 inhabitants, Europe is the range of opportunities that urban
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