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Dr Jalal R Elbelazi02/11/2009

Urban regeneration

introductionWhat is urban regenerationaim and objectives of urban regenerationissues related to urban regeneration urban regeneration contexturban regeneration and conservation Case study of Modern Architecture in Libya Preservation of a shared heritage

Introduction: In recent times Libya major cities are experiencing

very visible change and there is an inner-city problem which exists in two dimensions (spatial & social).

During the 1970s & early 1980s the responsible authorities in UK became very concerned with the decline of the core areas, which was seen in the amount of vacant and under used land and empty buildings. As a result they started to exploit the urban regeneration and make the most of it.

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What is urban regeneration

According to oxford dictionary regeneration is to bring into existence, produce and evolve. Also to regenerate is to come into renewed existence.

Couch in 1990 stated that (when we talk of urban regeneration we are talking of something more than urban renewal and reinvestment in the physical structure of existing urban areas. In fact we are talking about economic process that increases what has decreased and increasing investment where it has declined)

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According to Ghomashchi 1997 said that (urban regeneration has mostly been defined particular approach to city revitalization focusing on inner city problems emphasizing local physical redevelopment and investment in building and urban infrastructure, at the same time considered community improvement and housing and cultural policies in their strategies).

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Parkinson 1989 identified urban regeneration as an idea which expresses the importance of city decline with the hope of reversing trends in order to find a new basis for economic growth and social well-being. Where Healy 1992 argued that urban regeneration is a tool used to rebuild the city cleaning away obsolete building symbolized renewal in action. Where Robins 1992 confirmed that urban regeneration is a machine to reconstruct the economic social-cultural and physical environment fabric of cities. It is about making cities look pretty for the sake of it.

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Aims & objectives of urban regeneration

The urban regeneration’s main aim is to improve the physical and economic conditions of depressed areas. The more economically depressed an area, the more it needs really superlative quality in redevelopment in order to repair its fortunes and reputation. Also to improve the conditions of the inner cities which have experienced decline in population economy and services as a result of decentralization.

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Issues related to urban regeneration

The majority of urban problems are not unique to cities experiencing the loss of population and employment. In fact the structural change in the social, physical and economic aspects resulted in severe urban problems for the central areas including high levels of unemployment declined infrastructure and the movement of jobs from the central areas to more peripheral locations.

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According to the Tyne &Wear

Development organization;

(The dynamics of cities are such that as one area is redeveloped and revitalized so another area slips into decline and decay and became a priority case for regeneration. As a result the rolling programme of regeneration became a continuous process).

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Urban regeneration context

Large cities are places of social economic and cultural experiment, but today there are places for experiments in economic activity, social structure or simply new forms of living arrangements

Therefore city regeneration involves complex social economic environmental and administrative issues so no profession can claim a monopoly over it. There are many factors which promote urban regeneration including the following:

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The economic factor

As a result of the decline in their economy the core areas are unlikely to compete with more favourable locations, where building running cost is low. Also the loss of population and business from the inner city tends to reduce taxable income and capital faster than the cost of providing urban public services. So the restoration of visually important buildings could lift the whole level of environment and morale, which could be a great success commercially and economically.

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The social factor

Changes in social organization have had major implication for city regeneration activity. Also most social policy has emphasized economic regeneration, which means that the economic benefits will filter down to all groups in due course, but such filtering of benefits to the poorest group is difficult to find.

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The cultural factor The development of cultural activities and art

production attracts target customers, improve property values provide legitimisation for urban regeneration policies and improve the relationship between economic and administration elite, which will lead to the economic understanding of cultural issues which uses it as a sector of production. Therefore many cities have become more conscious about their history and urban heritage, they use culture as a tool to promote and change their old declined areas. 12

The administration factor

The government policy can stimulate redevelopment activity through creating a framework and environment and by giving grants. It can not significantly affect the market in which developers operate, the key actor in the city regeneration project is the private sector

which would lead to a new relationship between state and market.

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Urban regeneration & conservation

Heritage tourism is an important industry in relation to the conservation and regeneration of declined old cores. Tourism industry generates jobs and income especially in those layers of the job market that are most severely disadvantage by economic situation. Therefore cultural ant tourism have become resources for soci-economic development in declined old areas. It become another tool to help regenerate the old areas.

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