Re-activating the inner-city fringe: Towards sustainable transformation of inner city neighbourhoods to reactivate urban core.

Re-activating the inner-city fringe: Towards sustainable transformation of inner city neighbourhoods to reactivate urban core.

Kim, Y.

Westrik, J.A. (mentor)
Stouten, P.L.M. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Urbanism

Urban regeneration in the European context

2013-06-27

This study fundamentally intends to reflect the process of urban renewal during the period 1974-1993, based on the principle of ‘Building for the neighbourhood'.This was aimed at improving housing quality,living condition and providing affordable social housings to low-income groups.That is to say that not only enhancing physical conditions but also lessening economic and social inequalities were a main objective of this principle. With changing contexts, this principle had left the many critics and was replaced by a new concept, called ‘urban regeneration’ since 1990s.A main failing of ‘Building for the neighbourhood’ did not meet the sustainable development despite of a success of the qualitative improvements. For instance, housing standards and environmental quality brought social obsolecence in the end according to the research. Oude Westen, for instance is a representative neighbourhood, applied to the principle of ‘Building for the neighbourhood’. This was a typical pre-war residential neighbourhood with 14.365 inhabitants, mostly from the working class. During the completion of urban renewal, an area-based, step by step rehabilitation strategy with reconstruction and renovation piece by piece was undertaken instead of wholesale demolition and a new construction.This was so local residents could continue to stay in same neighbourhood without displacement in the process. In terms of physical change, more outdoor space(public and collective) with public/commercial facilities were created in the old urban fabric. Over the last decades after completion of urban renewal, this neighbourhood has had problems in terms of physical and socio-economic aspects.According to analytical and exploratory research by author, some spatial problems could be found to interfere with the sustainable urban environment for living. First of all, a lack of connectivity regarding physical and socio-economic aspects to the surroundings is an obstacle to have a strong agglomeration at the district level. Secondly, in the neighbourhood itself, there is a series of public spaces created during completion of urban renewal that are not attractive and there is a deficiency of permeability because of the isolation of functional network and monotonous ground-floor frontages of buildings. As a consequence of the neglect for car parking in the early stage of urban renewal, Oude Westen as a high-dense neighbourhood inevitably has a problem of car parking. Lastly, a lack of diversity in housing typologies has led a number of local inhabitants to leave to a other neighbourhoods within the city. In addition, there are ongoing strategic urban developments, with Oude Westen is adjacent to such as a new central station of Rotterdam, many new offices and business and huge public space(Kruisplein) will enforce Oude Westen to become a part of central district in near future. Driven by the research, the design interventions show a possible scenario for Oude Westen in the future to enhance a built environment for living. Furthermore, this would be a sustainable transformation to connect the side with the city centre. In the end, the research and design proposal as mentioned before can be reflected in another case of neighbourhoods where urban renewal has taken place in major cities in the Netherlands. From the study, therefore, the findings have social and scientific relevance for offer similar neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.

Urban Regeneration
Urban Transformation
Reurbanisation
Rotterdam
Building for the neighbourhood
Oude Westen

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e9801b55-3732-405b-a5d9-84a7cac9432d

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 Kim, Y.