Cities do change

People-friendly cities: is it a dream come true? Those who considered it an overly ambitious goal could change their minds. The European Commission identified 50 such cases analysed in the report “Urban Development in the EU”, many of which are in the process of being implemented thanks to support by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the period 2007-13. A detailed analysis provides ideas, solutions and means of cooperation aimed at the development of intelligent, sustainable and inclusive cities”.Good practices – states the report – are those that will succeed in prompting a change, involving public authorities for a reflection on the effectiveness of collective participation in local micro projects, along with a governance in the wide sense of the term”.Improving abandoned areas. The survey examines three different kinds of intervention. The first promotes the internal cohesion of degraded urban areas, such as the former shipyard on the outskirts of Rotterdam”.The already declining shipbuilding activity virtually collapsed in the 1980s with the loss of 1 370 jobs, a major setback for the Dutch community”, states the report. In 2004 the Port of Rotterdam, Albeda College (regional vocational training centre) and the University of Rotterdam came together to explore the potential for redeveloping the site by introducing an alternative use pattern”.While the city was interested in improving its economic profile by regenerating and re-exploiting the dockland environment, the educational institutions were looking for new space to house and extend their research, learning and training activities and link to the relevant business community”. On these grounds, thanks to EDRF contributions, a new centre of reference for the city was established, understood as “an attempt to take a comprehensive look at sustainable housing and to create new jobs”, the Commission explained. Future is “sustainable”. The second aspect taken into account is the promotion of sustainable urban development, whose most outstanding example is the Danish city of Frederikshavn that in 2007 decided to become, by 2015, the first European city with exclusively non-renewable sources”.The ambitious Energi-byen (‘Energy City’) initiative is a unique initiative which aims to create a 100% renewable energy system”. The city’s green growth is expected to have a vastly positive impact on the location’s economic attractiveness and development, not to mention investments already implemented in energy infrastructure, with positive impacts on the economy”.Thanks to co-funding by EDRF, Frederikshavn shows that local contributions can play a crucial role in meeting global goals”. The geographical location of Frederikshavn makes it a particularly appropriate area to target an urban zero carbon future based on the integrated use of renewable technologies. But there’s an added value as well: “a collective will on the part of politicians, public and private stakeholders and citizens”.Managing space and time. Finally, the report highlighted the importance of a balanced and polycentric development of cities, with a network of functional connections between urban and rural areas. For the Town Council of Saint-Nazaire (Carene, France), the challenge is to improve access to the western and northern parts of the urban area, to build mixed (public and private) housing and to improve public amenities”.This aims to increase the social mix, improve the quality of life and make this part of the city more attractive”. To do so, CARENE is implementing an Integrated Urban Programme with two distinct but interconnected strands: one is in the western part of the city, while the other is in the north”.The latter allows for deep transformation of neighbourhoods not only through spatial intervention but also through the diversification of housing”. The former social housing has been partly demolished and reconstructed in small units accompanied by social development and participative planning. Other examples at local level. Among the various regeneration projects examined by the Commission figures the upgrading of one of the most degraded areas in Budapest called “Magdolna Quarter Programme”. Moreover, the Apulia region in Italy developed the Bollenti Spiriti Youth Pogramme with the purpose of “opening up space for social, cultural and educational initiatives, endorsing the entrepreneurial and creative potential of young generations”. Finally, in the framework of social inclusion and thanks to EDRF funding, the city of Amadora, Portugal, set up the Orquestra Geração, to promote the social inclusion of vulnerable children and adolescents with the support of music.