Urban regeneration, defined: here’s why it matters

Posted on: 20 January, 2025

Urban regeneration is the process of bringing derelict and deprived cities back to life. Here’s how it works, with several examples from across the world.

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From industrialisation and war to population decline, natural disasters and economic uncertainty, many factors can make a city fall into disrepair.

In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, urban decay, urban shrinkage and even ghost cities have become recurring phenomena across the urbanised world, with areas in our biggest cities decaying or even abandoned altogether.

Urban regeneration has long been a popular approach by city planners and governments to combat these issues and restore the quality of life in derelict and blighted areas. Here’s what it means, and how these strategies work.

Contents

• What is urban regeneration?
• The history of urban regeneration
• The 3 types of urban regeneration strategy
• Why urban regeneration matters
• What are the benefits of urban regeneration projects?
• 10 examples of urban regeneration projects from around the world
• The negative impacts of regeneration
• Final thoughts

What is urban regeneration?

Urban regeneration is an urban planning strategy where money is invested into the improvement of specific urban areas. Often referred to as urban renewal, urban renaissance or even urban redevelopment, it tends to focus on three core areas:

• Economic revitalisation
• Social regeneration
• Sustainability

The goal of urban renewal is to address the above issues through investment and improvement in infrastructure, economic opportunities, social provisions and public facilities.

The history of urban regeneration

Throughout history, war and natural disaster have been the most significant drivers of urban regeneration. This method of planning first emerged in the 19^th century throughout Europe and driven by the likes of Emperor Napoleon III.

In the UK, the impact of aerial bombardment across 16 different cities during the war left the country with a significant rebuilding challenge. This reconstruction, re-design and re-distribution of people, places and spaces has informed British planning policy to the present day and given birth to the modernised concept of regeneration.

The 3 types of urban regeneration strategy

To achieve its aims in the core areas outlined above, urban regeneration strategies can take the following approaches:

• Economic renewal: This renewal strategy seeks to improve the economic conditions of urban areas, along with employment levels. It’s accomplished by investing in commercial areas and supporting small businesses and startups, which help to reinvigorate local communities and create places where people want to live and work.

• Social regeneration: This strand of urban renewal focuses on community life and the social lives of an area’s residents. Through social interventions that emphasise health, wellbeing and education, social regeneration seeks to address negative social habits and create a stronger sense of community.

• Environmental sustainability: The third type of urban renewal focuses on an urban area’s relationship with the natural environment. Some of the measures associated with this strategy include redeveloping brownfield lands into public spaces, creating green spaces and implementing green belt planning techniques.

Learn more: What is urban greening (and how is it creating the cities of the future)?

Why urban regeneration matters

At its core, regeneration projects seek to improve the quality of life and well-being of an urban location’s residents. Over time it can have an immeasurable impact on the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people, and produce widescale social, economic and environmental benefits.

As global economic conditions fluctuate and population numbers shift, regeneration initiatives are seen as an effective way to revitalise communities, fuel economic growth and bring our existing cities and infrastructure in line with a sustainable future.

What are the benefits of urban regeneration projects?

Urban renewal practices can offer a wide range of benefits for residents, communities and organisations alike, including:

1. Economic growth

Urban regeneration can attract investment, employment and tourism into urban areas, which will subsequently strengthen their economy, support local businesses and residents and create further opportunities for development.

2. Reduced pollution

There are several ways that urban renewal can have a positive impact on sustainability:

• Replacing urban land with green spaces that combat noise pollution and emissions

• Promoting alternatives to vehicle use

• Encouraging the construction of energy-efficient buildings

• Addressing poor air quality

• Improving public transportation options

3. Healthier communities

Another goal of urban renewal projects is to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of an area’s residents. The creation of green spaces and infrastructure not only offers benefits for the environment but also serves to encourage physical activity and improved wellbeing.

Learn more: Green infrastructure, defined: how could it help us solve the climate crisis?

4. Cultural regeneration

While these projects do involve the replacement of urban areas with green spaces, they can also factor in the conservation of historic buildings and even serve to reinforce the existing culture and heritage of an area or community.

5. Affordable housing

A key benefit of regeneration initiatives is their ability to address housing inequities. With a shortage in housing felt around the world and countries like the UK falling far short of their housebuilding targets, renewal of existing and derelict urban areas is a compelling alternative to increased urban sprawl.

6. Enhanced property value

From a commercial and investing perspective, the renewal and revitalisation of urban areas also enhance economic growth by increasing the value of existing properties and buildings in the location.

10 examples of urban regeneration projects from around the world

1. Manchester, United Kingdom

The city of Manchester is currently the home of several urban renewal projects. Billions have been spent on the regeneration of Manchester city centre, helping to attract entrepreneurs, startups and large media organisations like the BBC and ITV. It’s also become a property investment hotspot, thanks to a surplus of affordable housing.

Manchester’s focus on redevelopment projects first began in the 1980s, after the city experienced urban decay in the loss of 17.5% of its population and almost 50,000 jobs. Today, it’s become a shining example of the potential of urban renewal in the North West of England.

2. Santiago, Chile

Between 1950 and 1990, the city of Santiago lost almost 50% of its population and a third of its housing stock. High inequality rates, coupled by an exodus of its middle-class population, left lower-income residents to sustain a city blighted by high crime rates and a lack of commercial opportunity.

In response, the Chilean capital set out a repopulation programme, with the goal of attracting 100,000 residents by 2005. Residents of the city were consulted as part of the process, which saw the implementation of mixed-use developments to provide commercial opportunities and housing, while green spaces were added to improve quality of life.

3. Rotterdam, Netherlands

The city of Rotterdam was obliterated by the Luftwaffe in just 40 minutes on 14 May 1940, during an event referred to as the Rotterdam Blitz. It led to the Netherlands surrendering to Germany, however the city’s dockyards were attacked by the Allies three years later, when they were being used as German naval installations.

In the decades since the conflict, Rotterdam has undergone significant redevelopment, with the city placing itself at the forefront of thinking in architecture, planning, design and social transformation.

As Laird Ryan, Urban Planning Lecturer at UCEM, notes of the city:

“Anyone who aspires to be a planner or a time-served practitioner who wishes to challenge their professional knowledge and understanding of what’s best in planning should seize the opportunity of visiting Rotterdam: not once, but at regular intervals! Each visit will be a fresh discovery.”

4. Shanghai, China

It perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that urban renewal has been a key strategy for China amidst the country’s exponential growth as an economic superpower in the last 30 years.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the city of Shanghai underwent significant urban redevelopment, with the goal of demolishing and rebuilding 365 hectares of dilapidated housing stock. Renewal has been a continuous policy in Shanghai’s city planning strategy since then – this year, plans were shared for 2.5 million sq ft of residential properties to be renovated.

5. London, United Kingdom

The city of London is no stranger to renewal and regeneration, with the great fire of 1666 and the subsequent rebuild of much of the city serving as a prime example. One more recent example of redevelopment in London is the town of Stratford, which was partially driven by the 2012 Olympics that took place in the capital.

By 2036, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford will be home to 33,000 new houses, five new neighbourhoods and an abundance of green spaces. It’s hoped that these developments will help to create 100,000 new jobs by the end of the decade, all while improving the park’s sustainability credentials.

6. Johannesburg, South Africa

Few cities have experienced as much change and transformation as Johannesburg in the last 30 years. From rapid population growth and a decline in industrialisation to unemployment, poverty and rising crime rates, Johannesburg is a city that is trying to evolve from the socioeconomic patterns of its previous apartheid regime.

Improvements to city districts are seen as the key to creating a better space for the residents of Johannesburg. One example is a project in the neighbourhood of eKhaya, which follows the successful regeneration of areas like Mary Fitzgerald Square.

7. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Like China before it, Saudi Arabia is the latest country to undergo an incredible period of growth in its built environment, with new ‘megacities’ like The Line and New Murabba being the most eye-catching examples.

However, as a report released by Strategy& notes, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries will need to spend $500 billion on urban redevelopment projects if they are to achieve their sustainability ambitions.

8. Coventry, United Kingdom

Like Rotterdam, Coventry was one of many targets for aerial bombardment during World War II, but even before the conflict started, the city’s Council had major plans for redevelopment. Ultimately, the scale of the devastation was so significant that the city was essentially treated as a blank canvas for regeneration.

A booklet titled “The Future Coventry” was released in 1945, detailing plans for the city’s reconstruction. As illustrated in photos and model towns shared by Historic Coventry, many of these plans remain famous landmarks in the city to this day.

9. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Over in North America, the city of Atlanta’s famous railways have been turned into multi-use trails, known as the Atlanta Beltline. It will be home to 33 miles of trails, 1,300 acres of greenspace and 5,600 homes, with the goal of delivering $10 billion in economic development and 50,000 jobs.

Atlanta is not the only North American city to be experiencing urban regeneration. Thousands of old office dwellings are set to be converted to residential buildings in Washington, Dallas and New York.

10. Glasgow, United Kingdom

In Scotland, £2 billion worth of redevelopment schemes were approved in 2020, providing funding for a number of construction projects, including:

• Stallan-Brand’s campus for Barclays Bank

• Redevelopment of the St. Enoch Centre

• Collective’s Water Row housing scheme

• Buchanan Galleries shopping centre

These developments have been part of what’s been referred to as ‘Glasgow 2.0’.

The negative impacts of regeneration

While urban renewal measures aim to have a positive impact, they can also have unintentional negative effects on communities and the lives of a city’s inhabitants if they’re not implemented correctly. These can include:

Gentrification

Gentrification – the replacement of poor residents with wealthier inhabitants – is a potential impact of urban regeneration that results from an increase in house prices. While the Atlanta Beltline has been viewed as a success so far, the neighbourhoods of Old Fourth Ward and Reynoldstown have experienced gentrification.

Fuelling inequality

One challenge with regenerating large urban areas is the number of stakeholders whose interests need to be reflected, from individuals and residents to communities. Unfortunately commercial and economic interests have the potential to overshadow those of residents, fuelling inequality in poorer communities. With many renewal projects centred on banking capitals in places like London and Manchester, the needs and identities of smaller centres can be subsequently neglected.

Resident displacement

London’s regeneration strategy came under fire in 2013, with an article in The Guardian claiming the practices had actually ‘pushed poorer families out of their homes’ in Elephant and Castle.

A potential risk of urban regeneration is a focus on expensive residential development and a focus on profit, which can fail to integrate affordability and price existing residents out of being able to live in the area.

Loss of culture and character

Heritage and legacy can be brought to the present day in urban renewal developments, but failure to consider these throughout the process can rob a historical area of its culture.

Final thoughts

Urban regeneration projects have long been a part of our city planning and urbanisation strategies. With a greater understanding of how they can both positively and negatively impact communities and a balance of affordability and prosperity, these initiatives have the potential to bring real, long-term change and transform the lives of our urban populations. However, to ensure the needs and views of residents are reflected in regeneration, more people must engage in the planning process.

Find out more: MSc Urban Planning – University College of Estate Management