Which Infrastructures Facilitate the Regeneration of Historic Urban Landscapes?

Abstract

The regeneration of historic urban landscapes, with the preservation of holistic morphology and residents’ practices, is realised through the mechanisms of management, planning, public-private partnership, participation, financial and economic instruments, and cultural regeneration. These mechanisms operate under specific political, economic, managerial, and social conditions. This review, illustrated by case studies of cities from different countries, shows how different infrastructures (institutions, policies, governance systems) facilitate urban regeneration.

Regeneration reuires participatory infrastructures. These include political culture (which allows urban actors to negotiate and implement participatory practices), the eistence of urban conservation movements, and urban communities that value and want to protect the historic environment (which helps to make reconstruction more efficient and to control it). Local culture is also important. Local identity, continuity, and place attachment contribute to residents’ willingness to participate in regeneration.

In order to implement regulatory, financial and economic mechanisms, a necessary prereuisite is the institution of private property (it makes it possible to maintain houses and yards in a proper condition and motivates users to do so). Another necessary prereuisite is the political and administrative autonomy of the city authorities (it enables them to implement their regeneration policies and to create tools for this purpose). Fiscal autonomy allows city governments to independently redistribute funds for regeneration, while project culture allows the development of local regulatory regeneration mechanisms based on the internal resources of the landscape and to implement comprehensive regeneration.