Frank Wassenberg, OTB Research Institute
TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Urban Regeneration, Economical Perspectives and the Housing Market (assigned to theme
Abstract Regeneration of urban districts is dependent on several factors, just as underlying motives. As local circumstances differ, local regeneration approaches will differ too. Moreover, local approaches are influenced by exogenous trends. The first major exogenous trend is the development of individual economical perspectives (these can be good or bad), that influence the needs and demands of individual households. The better the economical perspectives are, the higher qualitative housing needs will be, and the larger the gap between high demands and the existing housing stock. The second exogenous trend is the situation on the housing market (tight or loose). This influences on the possibilities for regeneration. When the housing market is tight, shortages exist, turnover rates and removals are low, dynamics are low which ends up in lower possibilities to fulfil someone’s housing needs. The pressure on the housing market is a supply variable, and can be a combination of new construction, average household size, immigration and birth rates. In a loose housing market, vacancies, high turnover rates and liveability problems will occur easily, resulting in unpopular housing areas. In tight housing markets on the contrary, even shanties in stigmatised areas will be occupied for lack of alternatives. In the Netherlands, like in other West-European countries, the tension on the housing market and the economical situation fluctuate over the years. This has had, and is going to have, consequences for both the amount and the content of regeneration policies. During the end of the 1990s, radical regeneration policies were developed in the Netherlands. These strategies were developed in times of a loosening housing market and raising economic perspectives. In 2005 however, economic perspectives are less favourable, while the housing market is more tight. Vacancies and unpopular housing are replaced by shortages for inexpensive housing, but also for more social policies on renewal. In this paper I want to clarify the confuse relation between these three factors: the housing market, economic perspectives and regeneration of urban districts. I will show how regeneration policy changes over time when the overall situation changes. I end with recommendations what consequences changes in economics or the overall housing market may have on the regeneration of urban districts.
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(copyright Gunther Maier) |