Comparison of the areas

What is this Danish urban regeneration experiment?

It is an experiment in citizen participation and integrated and coordinated urban regeneration in selected urban areas
Twelve urban areas in Denmark are participating in an extensive urban regeneration experiment. The purpose is partly to improve the individual residential areas as a whole and partly to provide models for urban policy in the future. Seven of the twelve projects started in 1997 and the remaining five in 2001

The seven residential areas, which have a total population of around 63,000, are: East Aalborg, Tøjhushaven in Randers, South-west Kolding, Avedøre Stationsby in Hvidovre and the Holmbladsgade area, Kongens Enghave and the North-west area in Copenhagen.
The five new projects are the Vollsmose-area in Odense, Vestbyen in the Horsens-area, the Broendby Strand-area in Broendby, the Noerrebro Park-area and the Northwest-area in Copenhagen.

The urban regeneration project in the Femkanten area of Copenhagen is the precursor to the other six regeneration projects, which are being carried out in the period 1997 to 2001.
The main features of the urban regeneration experiment are as follows:

• The projects concern selected areas, and not individual residents or properties
  
• The projects are based on coordinated and integrated action
  
• The projects are aimed at increasing local participation
  
• The projects are part of a controlled process
  
• Background of the urban regeneration experiment

The urban regeneration projects have been initiated in order to halt negative trends in seven selected urban areas. Danish cities do not have such massive problems as other European cities. Even so, some urban areas suffer from a concentration of social problems, traffic and environmental problems, worn-down buildings, poorly functioning urban spaces and a lack of facilities. And the negative development tends to be a self-increasing process.

The seven areas participating in this urban regeneration project all have serious problems - social problems, an unbalanced composition of the residents, worn-down housing and residential areas, heavy traffic through the area, etc.

However, they also have resources on which urban regeneration can be based - in the form, for example, of a good network among the residents or recreational facilities that are at present under-utilised.

An integrated approach
In this Danish experiment, urban regeneration is an integrated and coordinated process. That means - firstly - that the area's problems must be tackled, irrespective of the sector in which they occur, and - secondly - that the action must be integrated, i.e. the different means used must support each other and the overall purpose of the project. For example, a project can have the combined aim of living up to environmental requirements, generating employment and strengthening the cultural life of the area. An integrated approach calls for coordination in the local authorities and - often - untraditional and flexible planning methods. The integrated approach can only succeed provided the way is paved for work across administrations and for cooperation between the public and the private sectors.

The urban regeneration projects in this experiment include action on several fronts, as follows:

• action on the social front - e.g. action to help drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally ill, together with crime prevention activities
• action on the employment front - e.g. cooperation with local businesses
• action on the architectural and housing front - improvement of housing and beautification of buildings, urban spaces and recreational areas
• traffic action - e.g. traffic-damping measures
• ecological action - e.g. incorporating ecological aspects in building and housing refurbishment
• action on the cultural front - .e.g. more leisure and cultural activities, new cultural institutions, community centres, etc.

One of the ideas behind the urban regeneration projects is that synergetic effects can be achieved by action over a broad front in a single urban area.

Focus on resident participation
The projects are democratic in that they are based on local forces. The view taken is that the local residents themselves are best placed to identify the main local problems and ways of solving them, and that involving the residents results in better solutions and strengthens the residents' feeling of community. In the projects described here, the residents are participating in working groups on the urban regeneration plans' themes, e.g. traffic, environment, cultural life and employment.

In the plans, every effort is made to ensure resident influence throughout the process - by not making the objectives too narrow and by allowing for changes in the plans. Resident participation is encouraged through public information, newsletters, meetings, etc. and by strengthening the dialogue between the residents and the local authority in an organised way.

One important aim with these projects is to gain experience in good learning processes, particularly concerning involvement of the residents, and thus develop new, untraditional forms of organisation and new forms of cooperation between private and public activities.

Focus on framework control
Government control of the urban regeneration process has been established through cooperation agreements that are regularly revised. The cooperation agreements are based on urban regeneration plans that contain clear objectives and quantitative success criteria. The negotiations on cooperation agreements are taken care of, on the government side, by the National Secretariat for Urban Regeneration under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which also helps to procure funding and assists with information, communication of experience, etc. The local authorities in which the urban regeneration areas are situated have appointed project managers and established secretariats to ensure integration and coordination. The projects will be evaluated by the Danish Building Research Institute.

The projects are largely financed through a government appropriation of DKK 625 million for urban renewal. However, other government pools and private foundations etc. are also contributing

Comparison of the areas.
The youngest areas are "Avedøre Stationby" situated in Hvidovre and "Aalborg Øst". They were built in the period 1960-1980 and are both good examples of "super-planned" towns. Stationsbyen is inspired by Dubrovnik, in the former Yugoslavia, while Aalborg Øst could be seen to have been inspired by the English garden city with its many green areas. Whereas Avedøre Stationsby is contained within the town wall, Aalborg Øst is a huge area – so large that it can be said to consist of several districts.

With regard to housing, Avedøre Stationsby is the cleanest area, considering that it is a town with 6,000 inhabitants consisting entirely of non-profit housing. One of the purposes of "Kvarterløft" (urban regeneration) is to establish better contact between the Stationsby and the surrounding neighbourhood of Hvidovre. Aalborg Øst, which has approx. 15,000 inhabitants, is also dominated by non-profit housing but is more mixed, since the area is built between four old villages and because there is a considerable amount of housing of a not non-profit nature. Only about 60% of the dwellings are non-profit dwellings. In both areas there are considerable social problems but also a considerable amount of pride.

The oldest area is the "Holmbladsgade- area" on Amager. With regard to housing, it is a somewhat run-down area marked by blocks of flats from the turn of the century, consisting of many two-room flats. The area is in need of extensive traditional urban renewal. In the area itself, which consists of 16,000 inhabitants, there is a lack of recreational areas and considerable traffic problems. The unemployment rate is high, just as there are considerable social problems. The area has many blocks of flats let out by private persons and a large number of flats under a multi-ownership scheme.

Kgs. Enghave has approx. the same amount of inhabitants and can in several ways be seen to resemble the Holmbladsgade-area. However, the housing stock is somewhat newer - consisting of a lot of mainly non-profit dwellings from the inter-war period. As several busy roads cut though the area, there are considerable traffic problems and like the Holmbladsgade-area, it contains many small dwellings.
The unemployment rate is high and there are also many people on transfer income.

The Northwest-area situated in Copenhagen, also called "Femkanten" ("The Pentagon" – due to the shape of the area), is marked by a large concentration of outdated dwellings. Due to the "Kvarterløft-project" which in this area had already commenced in 1996, there has already been an improvement in the housing situation. More than half of the dwellings in the area are blocks of rented flats and with regard to ownership, the area is marked by the co-operative housing society, "Foreningen af Socialt Boligbyggeri" ("The Association of Social Housing Estates"). The size of the households in the area are small and the average age of the residents is high. Furthermore, the area is marked by frequently changing residents.

"Tøjhushaven" in Randers and "Southwest Kolding" are more mixed than the other areas. Tøjhushaven in Randers is the smallest area consisting of just 1,100 inhabitants while there are approx. 5,000 inhabitants in Kolding Southwest. The Tøjhushave-area is situated close to the centre of Randers. The area is bounded by the harbour and a park. The quality of the housing is very varied and there is a need for some serious urban renewal. "Kvarterløft" does not only aim to serve the area but also, to a certain degree, establish new functions for the town of Randers.

The Southwest in Kolding is primarily a mixed residential area with many single-family and terraced houses but also with some 3- to 4-storeyed blocks of flats.

The area is interesting as a "model-area" - one of the reasons for this being that there are many similar areas in Denmakr’s other larger provincial towns.

Back to startpage