Urban renaissance

Urban renaissance

Urban renaissance is a term used to describe the recent period of repopulation and regeneration of many British cities, including Birmingham, [ [http://www.allbusiness.com/professional-scientific/architectural-engineering-related/214284-1.html The beginnings of an urban renaissance? Recent migration flows into and out of English cities, as revealed in a new study, just may be the glimmerings of a new pro-urban movem... ] ] Bristol, Cardiff [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3243619.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | The Regeneration Game ] ] , Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and parts of London after a period of inner city urban decay and suburbanisation during the mid-20th century.

Regeneration was achieved through a number of initiatives including tax incentives and the lifting of some planning restrictions, as well as positive state intervention encouraging business and residents back into city centre areas. It differs from the New Urbanism popular in North America, but could be considered the British equivalent. Large developments such as the London Docklands project have helped to encourage people back into the city, assisted by gentrification.

Often, 17th and 18th-century canals and docks are redeveloped to create expensive modern inner city flats, and old railway yards and derelict industrial sites have been regenerated by 'Urban Renewal Companies' and 'Regional Development Agencies' to provide mixed use developments with public art and high-quality streetscapes. Derelict but attractive historical buildings are often converted into residential or commercial premises (dubbed "loft apartments" in the US) with generous grants or tax relief.

Efforts to revitalise urban areas often involve ideas of downtown/city centre as an art and cultural hub or arts district, somewhat akin to Richard Florida's concept of making the urban core friendly to the Creative Class. City leaders may promote events such as First Friday art walks and the construction of convention centers and theatres in order to attract visitors who live in suburbs.

Not all locations that claim an "urban renaissance" fully live up to the name. Many American cities have renaissance-themed agency and building names that do not actually experience downtown renewal. A good example is the Renaissance Center and Detroit Renaissance Board [ [http://www.detroitrenaissance.com Detroit Renaissance ] ] in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where the intent by city leaders to create an urban renaissance may have been thwarted. However, most American cities have seen at least a modest bounce in interest in core cities and older neighborhoods in recent years with a special emphasis on condominium projects, often in formerly non-residential structures. Most practitioners would agree that Britain's city centres have turned a corner, although some inner cities around the Central Business Districts and lower-density suburban areas continue to suffer from blight and urban decay.

Criticism

In a 2008 report, the Policy Exchange think tank argued that policies to regenerate struggling cities over the previous ten, twenty or even fifty years have failed - "we can’t buck economic geography... Places that enjoyed the conditions for creating wealth in the coal-powered 19th-century are oftenpoorly positioned today. There is no realistic prospect that our regeneration towns and cities can converge with London and the South East. There is, however, a very real prospect of encouraging significant numbers of people to move from those towns to London and the South East." [cite web|url=http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/413.pdf|title="Cities Unlimited: Making Urban Regeneration Work"|last=Leunig|first=Tim|coauthors=Swaffield, James|date=2008-08-13|publisher=Policy Exchange|accessdate=2008-08-13] The report was criticised by a number of British politicians. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7556937.stm|title=Northern cities 'beyond revival' |date=2008-08-13|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2008-08-13]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.detroitrenaissance.com/ Detroit Renaissance Board ]
* [http://www.cityofrochester.gov/mayor/r2010/c_about2010.cfm?CFID=993243&CFTOKEN=52bdc40fbade193c-60AF9B0E-60CF-205B-576E51F31BF9EA39 City of Rochester New York Renaissance plan]
* [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=downtown+renaissance+&btnG=Search Google Search for other cities touting an urban renaissance]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • European Urban Renaissance — The European Urban Renaissance is an architectural movement aiming at developing the European cities according to the principles of the Traditional City and the New Urbanism.Typology of interventionThe first exhibition dedicated to the movement… …   Wikipedia

  • Towards an Urban Renaissance — was a report written by the United Kingdom s Urban Task Force headed by (Lord) Richard Rogers and published on 29th June 1999. It examined the question of how 4 million projected new homes over 25 years, might be accommodated in the UK without… …   Wikipedia

  • Urban decay — is a process by which a city, or a part of a city, falls into a state of disrepair. It is characterized by depopulation, economic restructuring, property abandonment, high unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime,… …   Wikipedia

  • Renaissance (disambiguation) — Renaissance usually refers to a period in the history of Europe between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. See also .Cultural movementspecific regions of Europe* English Renaissance * French Renaissance * German Renaissance * Italian Renaissance …   Wikipedia

  • Urban VI — (pope, 1378 1389)    Bartolomeo Prignano, archbishop of Bari, was elected pope by a badly divided college of cardinals sub ject (to an extent that remains debatable) to the pressure of a mob of Roman citizens who feared that if the large French… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • Urban Task Force — Die Urban Task Force (kurz UTF) war eine vom stellvertretendem Premierminister des Vereinigten Königreiches John Prescott beauftragte Arbeitsgruppe, die Strategien zur Revitalisierung städtischer Zentren entwickeln sollte. Sie wurde 1998 von der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Urban renewal — For other uses, see Urban renewal (disambiguation). Melbourne Docklands urban renewal project, a transformation of a large disused docks into a new residential and commercial precinct for 25,000 people …   Wikipedia

  • Urban development in Detroit — refers to a series of revitalizations, over many decades, aimed at enhancing the city s economy and quality of life. An early effort, in response to civil disturbance and racial unrest in the late 1960s, was the New Detroit committee, a group of… …   Wikipedia

  • urban planning — n. the study or profession dealing with the growth and functioning of cities and towns, including environmental concerns, zoning, the infrastructure, etc. urban planner n. * * * Programs pursued as a means of improving the urban environment and… …   Universalium

  • Urban fiction — Urban fiction, also known as Street lit and Gangsta fiction, is a literary genre set, as the name implies, in a city landscape; however, the genre is as much defined by the race and culture of its characters as the urban setting. The tone for… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”