Urban Regeneration and Social Sustainability Best Practice from European Cities

Urban regeneration is a key focus for public policy throughout Europe. This book examines social sustainability and analyses its meaning and significance – an area of research which has, until now, been comparatively neglected.  The authors offer a comprehensive European perspective to identify best practice in sustainable urban regeneration in five major cities in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK.

Urban Regeneration & Social Sustainability: best practice from European cities examines the extent to which social sustainability is incorporated within urban regeneration projects in the EU, but also investigates how local authorities, developers, investors and other key stakeholders approach sustainability. The book covers the recent economic recession and the growth of responsible investment (RI) and corporate responsibility (CR) agendas of investors and developers. It also provides a thorough analysis of the current metrics and tools used by the public, private and NGO sectors to implement, measure and monitor social sustainability. A range of urban regeneration models and vehicles are reviewed, with a particular emphasis on public private partnerships (PPPs) and EU structural funds, and a new framework for assessing social sustainability is described.

City-specific case studies examine regeneration projects in which institutional arrangements, financial products and tools, monitoring and measurement systems for social sustainability and stakeholders’ participation in PPPs have delivered successful urban regeneration.

This comprehensive, systematic and authoritative overview of both the scholarly literature and current best practice across Europe makes the book essential reading for researchers and post-graduate students in sustainable development, real estate, geography, urban studies and urban planning, as well as consultants and policy advisors in urban regeneration and the built environment.

• Provides a comprehensive European perspective, comparing case studies across five cities and identifying best practice in sustainable urban regeneration by focusing on social sustainability
• Defines and shows how social sustainability (a key aspect in sustainable development) can be assessed, measured and monitored within urban regeneration projects
• Takes a real estate ‘institutional’ focus by examining the role of key stakeholders within the property development industry and the public sector
• Examines detailed studies of urban regeneration projects in Spain (Sant Adria de Besos), Italy (Turin), Netherlands (Rotterdam), Germany (Leipzig), and the UK (Cardiff)
• Sets the research in the context of the recent economic recession and the growth of responsible investment (RI) and corporate responsibility (CR) agendas of investors and developers
• Is based on a major three year independent, funded programme of research through the European Investment Bank’s EIBURS programme.

Andrea Colantonio is Research Coordinator at LSE Cities, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, UK. He is an urban geographer and economist who specialises in the investigation of the complex linkages between urban growth, sustainability and the geographies of development in both developing and developed countries. He has worked and researched in numerous international universities, and he is main author of Urban Tourism and Development in the Socialist State, Havana during the 'Special Period' (2006).

Tim Dixon is Director of the Oxford Institute of Sustainable Development (OISD) and Professor of Real Estate in the Department of Real Estate and Construction at Oxford Brookes University. With more than 25 years’ experience of research, education and professional practice in the built environment he is a qualified fellow of the RICS and of the Higher Education Academy, a member of SEEDA’s South East Excellence Advisory Board, as well as the editorial boards of five leading international real estate journals. He has worked on funded collaborative research projects with UK and overseas academics and practitioners and his personal research interests revolve around (1) the sustainability agenda and its impact on property development, investment and occupation, and (2) the impact of ICT on commercial property and real estate markets. The research is based on a strong interdisciplinary approach which incorporates policy and practice impacts, and futures thinking. He is also a member of the CORENET Sustainability Working Group, and a member of the Steering Group for the ‘Future of Cities’ Research programme, based in the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford University. In 2009 he was awarded Honorary Fellow status of the Institute of Green Professionals.