Urban regenerations

1. Urban regenerations But before that homework review

2. Study Figure 6 which shows the distribution of the main ethnic group in six neighbourhoods of a US city. • (i) Describe the distribution of the six neighbourhoods shown. (2) • (ii) State one indicator of deprivation on Figure 6. (1)

3. (iii) Suggest how the cycle of deprivation in neighbourhood 2 might be broken.(3) • (b) (i) What is meant by the term ghetto? (1) • (ii) Explain why ghettos develop in large cities (3) • (d) Describe the possible causes of tension and injustice in a city. Examples may help your answer.(6)

4. Changes in an MEDC city – What? Where? Why?The roles of managers (planners, politicians, propertydevelopers and industrialists) in urban regeneration and re-imaging. It can happen anywhere, but we will look mainly at Manchester

5. Cities are always changing • In Manchester, both world wars had a big impact. The textile industry suffered during WW1 as they could not use their major supplier, India but has to source cotton from elsewhere. After WW1, the cotton from India resumed but tailed off as the century progressed, dying completely after India became independent and developed its own textile industry. • During WW2 over 70% of the old inner city was destroyed by German bombs. • The engineering skills were put to good use making aircraft and weapons. This made them a target for the enemy.

6. So, in the first half of the C20 the CBD was the hub of the town with shops, offices and public buildings. • By 1950s the centres were suffering from congestion, pollution, noise and overcrowding. • The redundant buildings were cleared to make way for redevelopment. Older building were replaced by skyscrapers. Main shopping streets were pedestrianised. Inside shopping centres were developed. Multi-storey car parks were provided as part of the redevelopment.. Where the old narrow streets remained, one-ways systems altered the flow of traffic. • An alternative was to permit out-of-town shopping centres, so if they were not to loose out completely, CBDs has to change fast. 1960s coop building

7. The inner cities also needed attention. There were large areas of waste ground – some due to war damage and others due to the loss of Victorian factories. • Many of the small rows of terraces were boarded up and unused. • Empty buildings were a target for vandalism, squatting and spray paint. It was all very decayed. • Those who could afford to move out did, leaving the unemployed and those on low wages. • Crime rates were high. • The number of old or single parent families and immigrants was well above average.

8. 1955 - 75 • The first wave of redevelopment was in the 1960s and 1970s. • Over 90,000 of the worst houses were demolished and replaced by tower blocks in the inner city and ‘overspill’ communities in the suburbs. • The feeling at the time was to provide as many units as possible in a new clean and modern environment. • Tower blocks were seen as the answer. The case for tower blocks was pretty clear from the start: slum clearance. • It allowed high density (on average 200 people per acre) and the saving of urban land, which even 40 years ago was scarce. • A British dwelling that offered better light, an inside toilet and bath, central heating, electrical fittings, cleaner circulating air - all within a dry building set on a landscaped green - might, even now, seem like a thing worth having. What was seen as beautiful in the 1960s …

9. Architects decreed that the sun, not the streets, should determine the orientation of homes. But they made too little allowance for the way people actually live indoors, especially when occupying closed buildings with shared lifts and other amenities. • Very soon, those who had wrapped ribbon around their first set of inside bath taps on the day they'd moved in, wanted out - and preferably to somewhere not unlike the place they'd left so triumphantly a short while before. • Looking out from a central stair well killed the sense of community. Soon enough gangs set fire to the stairwells, sprayed front doors and went joyriding on top of the lift, shouting abuse and terrorising old people. • The surrounding shops and pubs were closed or fortified in the face of serial robberies.

10. The planners began to see the error of their ways. • They began to think that the design caused the problems, that the particular type or shape of new blocks might, itself, encourage vandalism. • But some others took a long time to learn. One planner in Glasgow is quoted as saying ‘My idea of fulfilment is to draw up the car and see the lights of …a scheme shining out and think of all the families translated from gloom to happiness'. • But what did the people say?

12. The CBD • In the city centre by the mid-1960s, the inner city area was ready for some serious redevelopment. It had grown up haphazard and hotchpotch, many of its old cobbled streets were shabby and congested. • Begun in 1972, on completion in 1979 the Arndale was the largest covered town shopping centre in Europe, encompassing some 12 hectares (30 acres – big!!) in the old city centre, with over 200 shops, major department stores, restaurants and fast food outlets with over 75,000 shoppers a day! • The Centre had an 1,800 space multi-storey car park, shopping malls on two levels, office space in the tower, residential flats, and a bus station.

13. The CBD • However, it was not a popular development as it obliterated some of Manchester's old streets and alleys and a cement monolith clad in beige tiles which have got tired over time – there was little natural light and no window on the outside. It went way over budget and many investors went bust in the process.

14. The CBD • However as luck would have it the IRA blew a big hole in part of it in 1996 – and this redevelopment, giving a much more pleasing look to it. How has it changed?

15. The CBD is not the only place that has changed…. • Within 20 years many of these tower blocks have been replaced by low rise accommodation, in attempt to take more notice of the people’s need for community as well as good facilities. • Some of towerblocks that remain have been upgraded with internal security from a caretaker and an entry phone system. • Young professional people who work in the CBD and some retired folks find them attractive and safe and compact.

16. People involved in the planning process • All these ideas need people to plan what is the most appropriate. • It is not just the planners in the planning offices of local authorities that decide what can and what cannot be built and making sure all the building regulations are followed. • It is the local and national politicians who decide the policies, who permit or forbid individual developments, who decide what publicly-funded building they can finance. • It is also these people who are setting out what they want to achieve, the objectives for the development • Together with private sector designers, they create an image to fulfil their objectives

17. Other people who are involved in the planning process • The people who own the land, on which development are to be built, have a say in how much it will be sold – not much of a say in the current climate but up until 2007, it was very much a matter of think of a number! • The developers decide where they want to build (within the limits of government policy), acquire the land and organise the finance. • The architects and builders plan and carry out the work. • Industrial business, housing associations and pressure groups all have ideas about how the built environment should change.

18. How did it all go wrong in the 1960s? • As we see, the aims put in place by the politicians and made into a realizable form by the designers is where it went wrong. • They aimed to improve the physical circumstances, while ignoring the social ones • But this happened all over the world in the 60s and 70s. • It was not until later that slowly people began to see that this simply did not work

19. One of the worst horrors in Manchester A closer look – if you want it! Aerial view of the Crescents in Hulme - 1970'

20. As we have said cities are always changing. Where there are major schemes, these take many years to plan and implement. They usually involve many different types of project, shops, offices, industry, housing and transport. These are known as urban renewal or regeneration. • These 2 words are used interchangeably. • They both mean the revival of old parts of the built-up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as ‘improvement’) or opting for redevelopment. (knock down and start again).

21. However, some cities take this even further. Where there is widespread need for modernisation, and where the city feels it is known not for the good things about it, it attempts to change the perception of how the city is seen through it regeneration. This is called re-imaging. • A well know example of this has been the re-imaging of the London Docks. • It was know to be old and decaying, a good place for criminal gangs to operate, where life was short and hard. • Now when we think of the London Docks, we think of it as a very select area where you do not live without serious money, the centre for National Newspapers and other high-tech industries and as a financial centre – all in about 30 years!

22. A bit of a change? The blocks on the left of both pictures are part of the same place!

23. The Image of Manchester • Can you remember mentions of how Manchester was seen in the past? • Given what it was like in the 1950s, can you see in your mind's eye the kind of images people had of it from elsewhere in the UK?

24. Manchester in 1960-80 was a city in decline. They were no longer able to compete with many industries which produced much cheaper in the NICs and LEDCs. • There was a recession in the UK (just like now – they happen every so often). • The Trafford Area, in the 1880s one of the first UK industrial parks, was loosing companies at an alarming rate, declining from several thousands to a few hundred. • The docks on the Manchester Ship canal which joined it to the big port of Liverpool, finally closed and lay derelict.

25. It was made an Enterprise zone, with all the grants and development help government that came with that status, but little happened. • It then became an Urban Development Corporation in 1987 and things moved much faster. • Opportunities were made for industrial, residential, commercial and leisure facilities. • It has become a major area of finance and the arts (Lowry Centre) in an attractive landscape along the old ship canal (in a similar way as Docklands in London). What is the image that they are trying to show the world?

26. Re-imaging often applies to areas within a city • Good transport and excellent facilities have been important features of Manchester’s success. • Motorways link Manchester to the rest of the UK. It has a railfrieght terminal. • It has the metrolink system for travel within the city. • It also has a large international airport for links to the continent and USA. What is the image that they are trying to show the world?

27. More re-imaging • In the 1990s Manchester put in for a bid for the Olympic games for 2000. As part of its application, it chose an area of East Manchester as a potential site for sporting facilities. Even though it failed to win, it built The Velodrome as a centre for British cycling. • However, it did win a bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and built the City of Manchester Stadium to house it. This was handed over to Manchester City Football club after the games were finished. East Manchester gained a lot of prestige form hosting the games and several nationally acclaimed sports venues are now sited there. • In addition new housing and new community and business facilities were built. The new investment created jobs and an estimated 1/3 million visitors annually. What is the image that they are trying to show the world?

28. More re-imaging • In the inner city there have been a number of innovative housing schemes, e.g. turning old mills into apartments, with prices up to £2 million each! This one however is cheaper – only £650 a month for a 2 bed apartment in the roof! What is the image that they are trying to show the world?

29. Hulme ‘Design out crime’ • This is south of the ring road a little to the west of the university area- similar to Rusholme • The jewel in the M15 housing crown, this is a delightful area with a seamless blend of terraced houses and three or four storey apartment blocks. • Everything is light in colour, the place abounds in young trees and other floral touches, roads are short, many graciously curved, and the street plan deters any rat-run possibilities. • The residents' pride in their properties is evident, and a common sight throughout Hulme is a balcony groaning under the weight of its own private jungle. • The houses also boast their own tiny gardens and some have driveways, and community gardens and allotments enhance the pleasant ambience. • The northern half of West Hulme has Hulme Park as its focal point, facing south to the local high street of Stretford Road.

30. Pictures of Hulme and Hulme Park Zion Arts centres Basketball Also outdoor performance space, playground and lighting and fencing throughout, at the request of residents. Why? Sensory Garden

31. The way the park evolved shows another way in which planning has changed • Local people were involved in the development of Hulme Park, a large area of green space and sports facilities which connects Hulme to Manchester city centre. Designed by Landscape Projects. • The new 16 hectare park extends the vitality of the city centre into the previously neglected area of Hulme, provides an off-street route for pedestrians and cyclists into the city centre. • Its green space is close to community, sports and leisure uses, and within its clearly defined edges are themed gardens, professional sports provision and informal planted areas, as well as a performance space. • The park's design and completion took place only after successful public consultation process, during which major adjustments were made to the layout and content of the park. • Everyone working together created the genuine sense of ownership now expressed by local residents, and its value to the community is reflected in the rise in house prices in the area since its creation.

32. So today we have looked at… • Why there needed to be redevelopment • Who was involved and what they were trying to achieve in the early days. • What happened then and the mistakes that were made. • In what ways has it been put right since • How a city changes its image • And lastly just how much ideas have been changed about how to redevelop – gone is the "Defending Jobs, Improving Services“ attitude and in has come “People and community first”