Céline Widmer and Daniel Kübler (Editors) REGENERATING URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS IN EUROPE Eight case Studies in six European Countries Aarau Centre for Democracy Studies, Working Paper Nr. 3 May 2014 IMPRESSUM Working Paper Series of the Aarau Centre for Democracy Studies at the University of Zurich Series editors: Andreas Glaser, Daniel Kübler, Béatrice Ziegler ISBN-Nr: 978-3-9524228-2-3 Information: Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) Villa Blumenhalde, Küttigerstrasse 21 CH - 5000 Aarau Phone: +41 62 836 94 44 E-Mail: [email protected] www.zdaarau.ch © 2014 by the authors Table of Contents Introduction: Urban Neighbourhood Regeneration in Europe .......................................... 3 Céline Widmer and Daniel Kübler Berlin Progress Report ............................................................................................................ 9 Melanie Walter-Rogg Leicester City Report ............................................................................................................. 27 Tomila Lankina Politique de la Ville in Lille ................................................................................................... 45 Michèle Breuillard Manchester Case Study Report ............................................................................................ 65 Catherine Durose The Politics of Neighbourhood Regeneration in Paris ........................................................ 81 Sophie Body-Gendrot Prague Case Study Report .................................................................................................. 131 Tomáš Kostelecký, Věra Patočková, Michal Illner, Jana Vobecká, Daniel Čermák Regenerating Urban Neighbourhoods (RUN): an overview for Rotterdam ................... 179 Julien van Ostaaijen Zurich Case Study Report ................................................................................................... 213 Céline Widmer and Daniel Kübler Appendix ............................................................................................................................... 241 Introduction: Urban Neighbourhood Regeneration in Europe Céline Widmer and Daniel Kübler National policy programmes aimed at neighbourhood regeneration and renewal have been high on the agenda in many European countries since the early 1990s, most prominently in France (Politique de la ville), Britain (New deal for communities), and Germany (Programm Soziale Stadt)), but also in smaller countries such as the Netherlands (Grotestedenbeleid). They all draw on an area based and cross-sectoral approach to urban problems, seeking to combine physical, economic and community interventions in order to tackle decay, deprivation and social exclusion in a comprehensive and encompassing way. As such an approach had been undertaken in various countries, neighbourhood regeneration strategies also drew increasing scholarly interest. However, the overwhelming majority of the existing studies on neighbourhood regeneration is limited to single cities or provides comparisons between cities within a single national context. Systematic cross-national comparison is rare - a notable exception is van Gent et al.’s (2009) study of neighbourhood regeneration in four different national contexts (Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden). The project “Regenerating urban neighbourhoods” (RUN), initiated by Prof. Clarence Stone (University of Maryland) in 2006, seeks to explore and understand cross-national variation in place-based policy response to neighbourhood distress in Europe and North America. The project brought together European and American scholars in a networked effort to investigate differences and similarities in patterns of policy intervention in distressed urban neighbourhoods across a broad range of countries. The aim of the project is a better understanding of policy intervention that involves sub-city residential areas experiencing distress. It is not concerned with explaining the underlying causes of distressed neighbourhoods or with evaluating the impact of policy initiatives, but with answering the questions of how and why policy choices were made and acted upon. In line with historical institutionalism (Steinmo et al., 1992), it is assumed that urban policy has institutional aspects, both intergovernmental and spatial, that are distinct (Brenner, 2004). The present working paper brings together eight case study reports on neighbourhood regeneration strategies in 17 deprived urban neighbourhoods, located in eight cities within six European countries (see Table 1 below). 4 Regenerating Urban Neighbourhoods in Europe Table 1: Case studies of neighbourhood regeneration strategies Country City Neighbourhoods Britain Manchester Beswick, Hulme Leicester Braunstone, St. Matthews and St. Marks Czech Republic Prague South City, Zizkov France Lille Lille sud, Bois Blancs Paris Porte de Clignancourt-Porte Montmartre, Portes du sud Germany Berlin Kotbusser Tor, Marzahn-Nord Netherlands Rotterdam Pendrecht, Tarwewijk, Afrikaanderwijk Switzerland Zurich Schwamendingen, Langstrasse Total: 6 Countries Total: 8 Cities Total: 17 Neighbourhoods The case studies explore neighbourhood regeneration strategies in eight large European cities: Berlin, Lille, Leicester, Manchester, Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, and Zurich. The case studies were conducted between 2006 and 2010 by national research teams on the basis of a common research protocol elaborated in the framework of the broader RUN research project in 2006 and further developed during the research process (see the model in the appendix). The common goal is to understand the politics of neighbourhood-based initiatives for the regeneration of urban areas. All eight case studies focus on how and why certain policy choices were made, why a particular neighbourhood approach has been selected over other possible interventions, how neighbourhood working does fit with other aspects of city politics and governance, what mechanisms have been put in place, and how neighbourhood interventions can be explained and interpreted. While all the city-teams collected original empirical data - mainly via documentary analysis and indepth interviews - to respond to these questions, the project guidelines were formulated open enough to allow case-oriented research strategies. Therefore, the structure of the case study presentations may differ quite substantially. But although the eight case studies did not follow exactly the same structure, they basically discuss the following common topics: • Neighbourhood distress as a topic of concern • Legacies of earlier neighbourhood policy • The citywide dimensions of socio-spatial inequality • Portrait of neighbourhoods selected for detailed study • Policy interventions in neighbourhoods chosen: Agenda standing, strategy, tools, and content • The local structure of politics and government • Resource availability • Institutional structure of intergovernmental supports • Mapping of potential major players • Understanding of the problem • Explaining and interpreting neighbourhood intervention In 2010, the authors of the eight European case studies and the project convenor, Prof. Clarence Stone, met in Zurich to discuss insights from the empirical work and to identify and discuss differences and similarities across the single cases, as well as emerging overarching themes. More precisely, the following overarching themes have been identified as Examples of such themes that emerged and could be investigated further in a cross-national perspective: Introduction 5 1. The convergence towards area-based policies in neighbourhood regeneration. The European case studies show a noticeable coincidence in the evolution of area-based regeneration policies. In several countries and cities, at the end of the 1990s, governments introduced, or set a strong focus on, neighbourhood regeneration policies (either at the national or at the local level): E.g. in German, English, Swiss, and Dutch cities, so-called integral policies had then a clearly territory-based focus, and were supposed to overcome merely physical interventions and sectorisation. In French cities, area-based regeneration policies have been introduced thirty years ago but neighbourhood interventions changed their focus with the neoliberal turn in European countries. In Prague, there are virtually no neighbourhood regeneration policies that would be territorially targeted and cross-sectoral as opposed to all other cities under scrutiny. Whereas in France an ongoing discussion and critique of place-oriented (in contrast to people-oriented) policies takes place, such policies in the German speaking countries hardly seem to be critically analysed. 2. From physical to more comprehensive neighbourhood regeneration strategies: variations in policy interventions. The case studies conducted in eight large European cities reveal a broad range of different interventions related to distressed neighbourhoods. However, it seems that in almost every city, neighbourhood regeneration policy developed from physical interventions to more comprehensive policies. In this new view, intervention strategies to counteract problems in distressed neighbourhoods intend to cover more than one policy at the same time and seek to go beyond merely physical interventions. Other variations however can be observed: E.g. image improvement strategies emerged as a new instrument for distressed neighbourhoods. And by the end of the 1990s and later on, some cities called for repressive and crime prevention policies instead of inequality