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Housing renewal has been an important feature of housing policies in many European countries, especially since the Second World War. Along with demolition and new building, renewal is one of the three main elements in housing production, yet in recent years it has received less attention than it should in public policy. The ‘housing crisis’ is seldom seen as a crisis of housing renewal despite the fact that 30 million people or 6 per cent of the EU population in 2009 suffered from ‘severe housing deprivation’, with wide variations between countries around this figure. For those affected by bad housing conditions, ‘the market’ has not been effective in dealing with their problems. Previous cross-national literature on housing and urban renewal in northern and western Europe is reviewed. The book aims to bring this analysis up-to-date and to widen the discussion by including chapters on countries in central, eastern and southern Europe which have not featured in previous studies. The background to the book, the choice of countries, the nature and approach of the project, and relevant definitions are explained. A discussion of the contemporary challenge of housing renewal sets the scene for the remainder of the book; and the chapter ends with a summary of its structure and content.

Housing shortage was for many years one of the top issues in the Netherlands and 80 per cent of the present housing stock has been built since the Second World War. Contemporary urban renewal has focused on deprived areas from the 1950s and 1960s where there are many multi-family dwellings in the social rented sector. Large-scale slum clearance and redevelopment ended in the early 1970s and the focus switched to small-scale renewal, renovating old houses in old neighbourhoods, with residents’ participation. In major projects from the 1990s onwards, an integrated policy was developed, in which the involvement of local people and greater responsibility for local government as mediator were important. A ‘big city policy’ from the mid-1990s targeted renewal in the country’s largest towns and cities. The national government’s financial contribution to this programme ended in 2014, suggesting that housing renewal is now at a crossroads. With the economic crisis, renewal projects are being slowed down, frozen, delayed, reconsidered, or cancelled. The consequences of this are questioned in the light of a situation from which the national government seems intent on withdrawing.

Since the modern Republic was established in 1923, Turkey has experienced rapid population growth, placing great demands on housing resources. Housing was developed in the past through formal and informal means, but from the 1990s, attention has been given to the need for housing renewal, to improve living conditions and to mitigate the risks from natural disasters. In the 2000s, housing renewal policy shifted from squatter settlement upgrading to a much more comprehensive approach. An account of the development of housing renewal policies from 1923 to the 2010s is followed by an exploration of present-day housing renewal, taking the Istanbul Historic Peninsula as an example. The main approaches here are ‘bottom up’ with loans, grants and other incentives for rehabilitating individual houses, and ‘top down’ using large-scale renewal under the 2005 Renewal Law. This is designed for earthquake risk mitigation and to ‘transform’ the neighbourhoods of the historic centre, requiring extensive clearance which is often controversial, especially because of the historic character of the area and its place in the city’s cultural heritage. It is argued that future policy needs to give greater weight to rehabilitation and upgrading and to the participation of local residents in renewal strategies.

The final chapter looks at the way ‘housing renewal’ is understood in the countries under study; and at the origins, development and present focus of renewal policies. It concludes that, in contrast to what was shown in previous studies, there is now much greater agreement on the purpose of housing and urban renewal, and on the approaches to it that are likely to be successful. This understanding seems to override the political and economic pathways that individual countries have followed. A consideration of what has been achieved through renewal, especially in the nine countries featured in the book, leads to a discussion of the future prospects for housing renewal and its continuing importance for public policy in Europe.

The expropriation of land and property in Estonia under the post-Second World War socialist regime was reversed in the restitution and privatisation of housing in the early 1990s. Until 1991, the socialist system concentrated on new construction rather than the restoration or renovation of the older, nationalised housing stock, which deteriorated from lack of investment. The 1990s brought a new framework for housing policy; a concern for the preservation of heritage buildings; and a realisation of the difficulties in getting flat owners to collaborate in the management, maintenance and renewal of their housing. By the 2000s, housing improvement was being encouraged, though on a small scale, by the provision of grants and loan guarantees; and in response to the need for energy efficiency. The emphasis of policy is, however, still on the renewal of single blocks rather than areas of housing. There is no estimate yet of the total dwellings requiring improvement and the likely costs involved. The chapter presents three case studies of housing renewal, from Tallinn and Rakvere: one in a district with housing of heritage value; one in an area of large-scale standard housing blocks from the 1960s–80s; and one, still in the planning stage, in an area of mixed housing, which takes the neighbourhood as a starting point for the improvement of residential quality.

The two post-war German states were founded in 1949. In the former Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), policy was dominated initially by the shortage of housing following the war. Population increase led in the 1960s and 1970s to the building of many new single family houses and large peripheral housing estates. Plans to demolish older houses in inner city areas were criticised, leading in the 1970s to a popular movement against further destruction. From 1971 to 1990 a programme co-financed by the FRG and the constituent states (Länder) supported housing renewal in older inner city areas and historic towns; and was followed from 1999 by the Social City programme, focussing on deprived neighbourhoods. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) faced similar housing problems to the FRG but chose different strategies to deal with them. New industrialised housing was constructed, and existing housing neglected. By 1988, only 9 per cent of housing in the GDR was in ‘good condition’. After reunification in 1990, renewal became a primary focus for urban policy in the former GDR: inner cities were redeveloped and system-built housing estates renewed or demolished. Demand for private housing led to suburbanisation. In 2005, the federal government began the further decentralisation of housing responsibilities to the Länder, including support for modernising the housing stock as part of the urban renewal process.

This chapter is primarily concerned with the issue of low demand housing, and reports the research conducted in the Manchester housing market renewal area. It sheds some light on how some of the primary drivers of multitenure housing abandonment originated from past public sector interventions, the economic restructuring, and market-driven changes in consumer preferences. The chapter ends by noting that former urban policy initiatives have been unable to address the powerful forces which have stimulated housing market decline. This is due to their narrow focus on housing stock rather than the wider processes that make neighbourhoods unattractive as places to live.

The chapter begins with an overview of the development and implementation of housing renewal in the nine countries featured in the book. Although there is a common concern in all countries with improving the quality of the housing stock and the living conditions of the population, the extent to which these objectives are prioritised varies, and is influenced by different traditions and capacities; by changes over time in the form of and commitment to state intervention in housing; and by the interaction of factors including ownership, policy pathways, financial arrangements and targeting which can vary from country to country. This discussion is followed by a consideration of ideas about policy making that are relevant to present-day housing renewal in Europe. Among the topics examined are the competing choices that affect decisions on the purpose and approach to renewal; and more recent issues such as the influence of neo-liberalism; the sustainability of the environment and of communities; and the geography and style of contemporary governance.

This chapter stresses the need to view the regeneration of estates in the context of how all public services operate. It cites the study of housing renewal in inner London, England, and on a benchmarking study in Brighton. It argues against the claim that public services are now successfully engaged in joined-up thinking and action. It highlights the importance of considering the issues of osmotic effects and non-zero-sum situations, and exporting costs across sectoral boundaries in order to achieve a more holistic working in urban regeneration.