URBAN REGENERATION – an essay

HOUSING, CULTURE/HERITAGE AND PUBLIC SPACE

CASE OF DURBAN, LONDON and NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

By NNNYALADZI L. TEMA

-0-
Abstract
Cities and towns are living organisms; they are born, they live, they age and they die. As
conglomerations of socio economic advancement, at times parts of cities fail to live up the potential
they have to improve the course of human life. In addressing this decay and deterioration of cities,
the challenge appears greater than restoring and rebuilding the physical fabric of cities. Inherently
there arises a need to design processes that would provide a new local economic base to replace the
one that has failed, to restore hope to communities, within environmentally responsible or sustainable
approaches. Urban regeneration is often themed around Community, Culture, Retail, Public spaces,
Tourism, Housing, Heritage, and Public Art as anchor activities (drivers). The regeneration strategies
ought to take cognizance of the apparent stakeholders, drivers, investment, ecological implications,
local, national and global interests, collaboration and partnerships. The concept of sustainable urban
regeneration introduces a variation from classical regeneration through establishing social and
environmental justice, being in harmony with natural systems, public/community participation
processes and upgrading the quality of life.

Key words: Sustainable Regeneration; Housing; Culture/Retail; Transport/public space

-1-
Introduction
Urban regeneration emerged as a concept applied to sanitize decayed areas, improve the quality of life
and to create/enhance economic vitality. This paper observes that to understand the evolution of
urban regeneration, processes of urban decay need should precede the discussion. According to life
cycle theory there is a sequence to life: initial development, growth, maturity, decline and obsolescence.
Lang (2005, pg 4) observes that there is no single cause to urban decline, different forces and nature
influence this decline and urban development. Lang (ditto) further highlights negative demographic
and social trends and the causal role of economic factors particularly industrial restructuring in pursuit
of maximizing returns including de-industrialization; globalization and economic concentrations as
forces for economic structural change; and the problems of adapting to new demands of economic
activities and actor constraints.

Urban Regeneration emerged post World War II, as a strategy to address urban decline, decay or
transformation. According to Roberts (2000: pg. 17) it is defined as a comprehensive and integrated
vision and action which leads to the resolution of urban problems and which seeks to bring about a
lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social and environmental conditions of an area that
has been subject to change. Post the 1987 Brundtland report, the concept of sustainability became a
main concern for urban regeneration projects. To this effect, sustainable urban regeneration projects
are based on the components of social, economical and environmental sustainability. Couch and
Fraser (2003: pg 2) posit that urban regeneration is concerned with the re-growth of economic activity
where it has been lost, the restoration of social function where there has been dysfunction, or social
inclusion where there has been exclusion; and the restoration of environmental quality or ecological
balance where it has been lost.

This essay notes that urban regeneration goes well beyond efforts to put vacant land and buildings to
use, but rather that it is more about implementing policies in existing urban areas with the aim of
building upon sustainability objectives, with commitment to economic, social and environmental
problems. This concept is termed sustainable urban regeneration. According to Okumus and Türkoglu
(2011: pg. 1) until recently, urban regeneration has been interested in mostly economical problems of
deprived areas. The authors posit that based on the fact that experiences resulted in social exclusion,
migration and unemployment, social issues must be taken into consideration for creating more socially
vibrant and economically vital urban areas, and that environmental sustainability means taking action
against the global warming or environmental pollution.

Over time regeneration has been led by several key foci: Retail, Transport, Culture; Heritage, Housing;
Pubic Spaces; and Pubic Art. There are instances where the focus covers one or more drivers. This
essay, however, will explore 3 case studies in the cities of Durban, Newcastle and London, which
focused on public space, housing and culture/heritage led regeneration.

Case 1: Public space Led Regeneration

Worpole and Knox (2007: pg 4) note that there has been a tendency to confine notions of public
space to traditional outdoor spaces that are in public ownership, but opportunities for association and
exchange are not so limited. The author contends that to members of the public, it is not the
ownership of places or their appearance that makes them ‘public’, but their shared use for a diverse
range of activities by a range of different people. If considered in this way, almost any place regardless
of its ownership or appearance offers potential as public space. This would include the use of less
typical places such as station forecourts. Many of these spaces have been characterised as ‘everyday

-2-
spaces’ (Mean and Tims, 2005 cited in Worpole and Knox, ditto), a term that conveys something of
their casual, daily, functional use.

The Warwick Junction Urban Regeneration Project, Durban (South Africa)

Warwick Junction, in Durban, South Africa, is the area’s primary transport hub, accommodating
460,000 commuters a day along with 5,000 traders who form several robust markets. During apartheid,
the area became neglected, unsafe, and congested. Warwick Junction is one of nine iTRUMP (Inner
Thekwini Regeneration & Urban Management Program) districts established in the 1990s by the
eThekwini municipality to improve conditions, placing strategic value on the inner city in a quest to
become a sustainable city. According to Popke and Ballard (2003: pg 101), in the history of apartheid
South Africa, urban space was the preserve of Europeans, where non whites were deemed as
temporary sojourners whose residence was the patched up homeland. Any chance for street traders
to engage in business was effectively extinguished when the apartheid government passed the Group
Areas Act in 1950, making it lawful to exclude people from certain parts of the city based on their
race. This meant that street traders, who are dependent on having access to public space, were
separated from their livelihood means (Shipley and Richards, 2013. www.participedia.net)

Political changes including the repeal of the Group Areas Act in 1991, coupled with the Europeans
flight to the suburbs increased non white access to the city as well as transforming the socio-economic
landscape of the city (Popke and Ballard, 2004: pg 102). Consequently informal trade became a feature
of the city’s urban landscape, but generally confined to particular locations and products. Traders
converged onto the station to cash in on a daily transit population of around 460000 a day
(www.rudi.net), trading on the pavement in dangerous conditions, and, lacking storage, many traders
protected their goods by sleeping overnight next to them.

This resulted in inefficient, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions that developed at the primary transport
node. The impetus for the project stemmed from urban management and design issues that resulted
from increased taxi and street trading activity. Incorporating the informal economy into the larger city
required stakeholder participation. A bottom-up approach was employed, consulting formal and
informal businesses, residents, and commuters to overcome gender, cultural, racial, and language
biases. New designs transformed dormant freeway ramps into sheltered trader stalls with locked
storage. Bovine heads, a Zulu delicacy, were boiled over open fires on the pavement, with excess water
and grease drained into the city’s storm-water system. In the redesigned Bovine Head Market, pre-
cast concrete cooking cubicles and steel serving tables reduce pollution and hazards. New designs for
trading spaces and kiosks, tailor-made storage facilities, and new widened pedestrian routes have vastly
improved trading conditions, and these improved markets have further enabled other “invisible”
employment opportunities throughout the city and region.

Figure 1: Herb and Vegetable Markets in Warwick Junction (Source: www.designother90.org)

-3-
Figure 2: Aerial view of Warwick Junction after Regeneration source. (www.designother90.org)
Despite the success apparent success of the project, the regeneration policies at municipal level do
not have the indicators to measure the level of impact on the environment, due to the cooking (fuel
wood) and the apparent exploitation of the environment to extract the traditional herbs which form
the bulk of the trade in the area.

Case 2. Culture/Heritage Led Urban Regeneration

This section looks at heritage/cultural activities as a driving force for urban regeneration. The
URBACT report (2006: pg 2) premise that cultural activities represent a powerful engine to drive
Europe forward and help citizens meet the challenges of globalization, as they represent an important
step towards a knowledge based economy as important knowledge activities in their own right, and
by establishing a climate of creativity that will generate innovation in other economic sectors. In terms
of heritage the England Parliamentary Select committee looking into the Role of Historic Buildings in
Urban Regeneration in 2004 concluded that “historic buildings provide a foundation for the
regeneration of many of our towns and cities. Regenerating these buildings can reinforce a sense of
community, make an important contribution to the local economy and act as a catalyst for
improvements to the wider area. They should not be retained as artefacts, relics of a bygone age, rather
new uses should be allowed in the buildings and sensitive adaptations facilitated, when the original use
of a historic building is no longer relevant or viable. There is need to incorporate in regeneration
strategies a clear role for historic buildings and to establish multidisciplinary teams to implement them
(Chetwyn and Carlisle, 2011: pg 1).

The England policy framework reinforces the value of heritage-based regeneration, e.g. the new 2010
PPS 5: Planning for the Historic Environment and Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and
Planning (PPG16) PPS5. Policy HE3 within PPS5 states that: local development frameworks (LDF)
should set out a positive, proactive strategy for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic
environment in their area, taking into account the variations in type and distribution of heritage asset,
as well as the contribution made by the historic environment. This is by virtue of (i) its influence on

-4-
the character of the environment and an area’s sense of place; and (ii) its potential to be a catalyst for
regeneration in an area, in particular through leisure, tourism and economic development.

English Heritage’s Constructive Conservation in Practice (2008) gives many examples of schemes
where the creative redevelopment of brown-field sites has generated economic prosperity, provided
new homes and public spaces, and ensured the long term conservation of heritage assets. This essay
notes that people value historic places in many different ways, which may be grouped into four
categories:
 Evidential value: the potential of a place to yield evidence about past human activity.
 Historical value: the ways in which past people, events and aspects of life can be connected
through a place to the present - it tends to be illustrative or associative.
 Aesthetic value: the ways in which people draw sensory and intellectual stimulation from a
place.
 Communal value: the meanings of a place for the people who relate to it, or for whom it
figures in their collective experience or memory (www.english-heritage.org.uk.)

Kingscross Regeneration project, London

The redevelopment of the former railway lands at King’s Cross is one of the most important
regeneration projects in London. The site is partly a conservation area and contains some 20 historic
buildings and structures. It is also the setting for two of the greatest monuments to the Victorian age
of railway building: St Pancras and King’s Cross stations. According to the project website
(www.kingscross.co.uk), at the heart of the regeneration is the repair and conversion of the site’s
many historic industrial buildings and structures. This includes a conversion of the Granary
Warehouse into the University of the Arts, and two gasholders – major landmarks for generations of
Londoners – which have been restored (one as an urban park and open-air performance venue, the
other as the iron frame containing a remarkable new circular residential building).
According to English Heritage (2013: pg. 23) the size of the project had posed an intimidating
regeneration challenge. The process involved many constructive and collaborative pre-application
discussions with English Heritage and Camden Borough Council, which saw a period spanning seven
years of preparation and public consultation needed to resolve the technical, financial, planning and
conservation challenges posed by the project. Camden granted an “enhanced outline planning
permission” for the project in 2007 (English Heritage, ditto). This is a highly unusual form of
permission; at face value contrary to guidance that would demand a detailed application for a
conservation area. According to English Heritage there was detail enough to understand and assess
likely impacts upon the historic environment and as such were happy to give the developer greater
flexibility to respond to a changing market.

This essay notes that development packaged a healthy mix of uses (retail, residential, civic/public, arts
& culture) and prioritized the pedestrian through well articulated and landscaped pedestrian routes.
The development further paid more respect to the existing environmental resources, e.g. Regent’s
canal, and reserved 40% of the development area as an open space network (natural parks, squares,
gardens etc). The concept of creating sustainable places includes promoting energy efficiency and
encouraging green transport, from reuse of heritage buildings to a massive program of tree planting,
and from sustainable building design to ensuring social and cultural diversity. Energy during
construction is produced onsite. Other sustainability measures adopted include new habitat areas with
native planting; Site-wide environmental management system; new buildings to achieve BREAAM

-5-
Excellent; Green and brown roofs; Sustainable urban drainage; reduced energy demand; and carbon
emissions from buildings at least 5% below building regulations (www.kingscross.co.uk).

Figure 3: Cubitt park and an aerial view of Kingscross (Source www.kingscross.co.uk – illustrative pictures)

The project was also informed by Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance intended mainly to
guide English Heritage projects on best practice. These set out six high-level principles: the historic
environment being shared resource; everyone being able to participate in sustaining the historic
environment; understanding that the significance of places is vital; significant places should be
managed to sustain their values; decisions about change must be reasonable, transparent and
consistent; and that documenting and learning from decisions is essential. These principles respond
to the need for a clear, over-arching philosophical framework of what conservation means at the
beginning of the 21st Century. The idea of significance lies at the core of these principles.
(www.english-heritage.org.uk).

Case 3. Housing led Regeneration.

Housing is a fundamental human need and plays a significant role in shaping our lives and our
communities. Despite recognition of the fluid, interconnected nature of urban drivers and outcomes
operating across a variety of spatial scales, the use of area-based initiatives in urban regeneration and
renewal policy continues to fix space in order to identify scope, determine legitimacy, and clarify
accountability. Mah (2012:pg 156) terms housing led regeneration as ‘Demolition for development”,
which she holds that its policies clear away “slums” and working class housing to make way for urban
development, displacing people in this process. Butler (2007), Hamnett (1984) and Smith (2002), cited
in Mah (2012: pg 156) argue that these policies have obvious connections with gentrification, a concept
which has been the subject of much academic and policy debate as to its causes, types, and
socioeconomic implications. Gentrification has been generally defined as simultaneously a physical,
economic, social and cultural phenomenon (Hamnett, 1984 cited in Mah 2012: pg. 156). This essay
notes that gentrification generally involves the invasion by middle-class or higher-income groups of
previously working-class neighbourhoods (Watt, 2009: pg 230), characterised by the displacement of
some of the original occupants.

Case Study: Walker Riverside area, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

This regeneration initiative was focused on reversing long term population decline and creating mixed
and balanced communities. The main stakeholders were councillors, The Places for People Group,
Your Homes Newcastle, funding partners and local residents who worked together to set up the
Walker Riverside Project Board with a firm vision for how to achieve the regeneration goals. The
Walker Riverside vision included (i) to build on the character, humour, strong families and informal
-6-
community networks that had enabled Walker to endure difficult times; and (ii) gradually improve the
local environment, housing, shops, schools, transport, education and health services to make Walker
Riverside a vibrant local economy and location of choice for families to live, stay and work, now and
in the future; (Newcastle City Council, 2007: pg 9). The regeneration involved pulling down 700 homes
and building 1600 flats. A critical part of the project was the ability to retain all the people who lived
in the area, a consensus arrived at during the community consultation meetings
(www.futurecommunities.net).

Figure 4 &3: Walker before regeneration, and Walker today (source: www.futurecommunities.net)
Seeing that not all houses were pulled down, it demonstrates a local policy failure in terms of putting
in measurements to ascertain that affected residents would not be worse off in their new environment.

Conclusion
Regeneration is about transforming places for the better. For housing led regeneration a key policy
aim should be to create mixed communities, including communities where there is a mix of incomes
and housing. Regeneration is about creating vibrant, safe and attractive communities - well planned
and well designed, with a diverse and attractive environment, and a sense of identity and pride. It
should also focus on social inclusion and environmentally sustainability in ways which can help local
communities make the most of their resources and develop new skills and competencies. The need
for an environmental, social and economic approach to regeneration has been well proven and
remains important. However, evidence shows that there has been a tendency for regeneration activities
to focus mainly on physical change and development, as tangible and visible achievements. Engaging
communities has been a central tenet of regeneration policy for decades, evidence of positive
engagement and knowledge of different methods has grown, but the way the engagement is conducted
remains key. There is a need to explore viable funding models, which means urban managers need to
maximise resources and consider new and sustainable ways of funding physical regeneration. Urban
managers should look to mainstream policies, programmes and services to incorporate a conscious
area-based focus on improving the prospects of deprived neighbourhoods within their strategies.
There is a need to understand the wider environmental, social and economic factors influencing or
consequent to regeneration interventions. Lastly urban managers must ensure that regeneration
initiatives are lasting and sustainable, more needs to be done to support the role communities
themselves play in regeneration.

Bibliography
-7-
Chetwyn, G. and Carlisle, J. (2011) ‘Heritage Based Regeneration” [online] available at
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/6213/Heritage-led-Regeneration-July-2011-redraft.pdf (accessed on
11February 2014)

CitySmith (2013) ‘Urban Regeneration and the Growth Pseudo-Public Space’ [online] available at
http://citysmith.net/private-interests-and-the-rise-of-pseudo-public-space-in-urban-regeneration
(accessed 12 February 2014)

Couch C. and Fraser C. (2003) ‘Introduction: The European Context and Theoretical Framework’ in
Couch, C., Charles F., and Percy, S. (eds) Urban Regeneration in Europe. Blackwell

Davidson M. (2007) Gentrification as global habitat: a process of class formation or corporate creation?
The Royal Geographic Society Vol 32 pp 490 – 506

English Heritage (2013) ‘Constructive Conservation in Practice’ [online] available at

http://www.helm.org.uk/guidance-library/constructive-conservation-in-practice/ccdpsweb. pdf
(accessed 08 February 2014)

Ethekwini Municipality (2011) Durban: Innovations for Local Sustainability – Imagine Durban.
Durban. South Africa [online] available at: http://www.imaginedurban.org/DocLibrary/Innova-
tion_good%20 practice.pdf (accessed 01 February 2014.)

Ethekwini Munipality (2005/6) Sustainability Best Practices Report. Durban. South Africa) [online]
available at: http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/development_planning
_management/Environmental_planning_climate_protection/Publications/Documents/Sustainabilit
y%20Best%20 Pra-ctice% 20Climate%20Change.pdf (accessed 03 February 2014.)

Future Communities (No date) ‘Walker Riverside, Newcastle 2003 – 2018: Benefits and Tensions
from Working with Existing Communities’ [online] available at http://futurecommunities.net/case-
studies/walker-riverside-newcastle-2003-2018 (accessed 12 February 2014)

Gibb, K. and O’Sullivan, A. (2010) ‘Housing-led Regeneration and the Local Impacts of the Credit
Crunch’, Local Economy, 25(2), pp. 94-107

Guillino S., Haworth A., and Raco M. (2007) Urban Regeneration and Sustainable Communities: Insights from
the British Experience. LibreriaClup. Milan

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/advice/conservation-principles/Conservation
Principles

King’s Cross (no date) The Development: Energy and Sustainability. [Online] Available at:
http://www.kingscross.co.uk/energy-sustainability. (Accessed 11 January 2014)

Lang T. (2005) Insights into the British Debate about Urban Decline and Urban Regeneration, Working paper,
Erkner, Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and structural planning [Online] available at:
http://www.irs-net.de/download/wp_insights.pdf (accessed 05 February 2014)

-8-
Mah, A.(2012) ‘Demolition for Development: A Critical Analysis of Official Urban Imaginaries in
Past and Present UK Cities’ Journal of Historical Sociology, 25 (1) pp. 151-156 [Online] available at
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6443.2011.01406.x/pdf (accessed 11 February
2012)

Newcastle City Council (2009) ‘Walker Riverside: Area Action Plan’ [online] available at
https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/legacy/regen/ldf/Walker_Riverside_AAP.pdf
(accessed 10 February 2014)

Okumus, G. and Turkoglu, H. (2011)’Sustainable Urban Regeneration: The Case of Fevzipasa

Neighbourhood, Canakkale, Turkey’ [online] Available at
http://www.enhr2011.com/sites/default/files/Paper-OKUMUS-TURKOGLU-WS10.pdf
(accessed 08 February 2014)

Popke, J.E. and Ballard, R. (2004) Dislocating modernity: Identity, space and representations of
street trade in Durban, South Africa. Geoforum 35 (?) pp. 99 -110.

Richard, R. and Shipley, B (2013) ‘Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Project’ [online] available at
http://participedia.net/de/cases/warwick-junction-urban-renewal-project (accessed 10 February
2014)

Roberts P. (2000) ‘The Evolution, Definition, Scope and Purpose of Urban Regeneration’ in Roberts,
P. and Sykes H. (eds) Urban Regeneration. A Handbook. London

Robinson P. and Dobson R (No date) ‘Warwick Junction, Durban’ [online] available at
https://www.rudi.net/books/20057# (accessed 12 February 2014)

Singhal,S. Berry, J. and Mcgreal, S. (2009) ‘A Framework for Assessing Regeneration, Business
Strategies and Urban Competitiveness’. Local Economy 24(2) pp.111-124

URBACT (2006) Culture and Urban Regeneration: The Role of Cultural Activities and Creative
Industries in the Regeneration of European Countries. Lille Metropole (France)

Watt P. (2009) ‘Housing Stock Transfers, Regeneration and State-Led gentrification in London’ Urban
Policy and Research. 27:(3) pp. 229-242, DOI: 10.1080/08111140903154147

Wheeler S.M. (2013) Planning for Sustainability: Creating livable, equitable and Ecological Communities.
Routledge. Abingdon

Winston, N. (2009) ‘Urban Regeneration for Sustainable Development: The Role of Sustainable
Housing?’ European Planning Studies, 17(12), pp.1781 — 1796 [online] available at:
http://www.academia.edu/4866192/Urban_regeneration_for_sustainable_development_the_roleof
housing (accessed 12 February 2012)

-9-