Restructuring large housing estates in Europe: Restructuring and resistance inside the welfare industry

Description

All over Europe post-Second World War large-scale housing estates face physical, economic, social and cultural problems. This book presents the key findings of a major EU-funded research programme into the restructuring of twenty-nine large-scale housing estates in Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Europe. Policy and practice between and within the ten countries studied - UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, and France - is compared. While existing literature focuses on the negative aspects of large-scale housing estates, this book starts from the premise that the estates can be transformed into attractive places to live and focuses on the possibilities of sustainability and renewal through social, physical and policy actions. Specifically, the book explains the origins and nature of contemporary problems on the estates; examines which policy objectives, measures and processes have had the greatest impact; assesses and compares a wide range of local, regional and national initiatives; discusses current ideas and philosophies, such as 'place making' and 'collaborative planning' that are likely to influence future policy and practice and provides good practice guidance for neighbourhood sustainability and renewal. Written by a multi-national team of experts and drawing on original fieldwork, the book provides unique comparative insights into the present and future position of large-scale housing estates in Europe. Restructuring large-scale housing estates in Europe is an invaluable resource for a wide audience of academics, researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of housing, urban studies, community studies, regeneration, planning and social policy.

Ronald van Kempen, Urban and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Karien Dekker, Urban and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Stephen Hall, School of Public Policy, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Ivan Tosics, Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI), Budapest, Hungary

"I am convinced that this will be a well used book, and deservedly so. The issues that are explored here, not to mention the richness of the empirical material that is provided, will be of interest to policy makers, community activists and students at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a range of social and public policy, urban sociology and built environment courses and elsewhere." Social Policy "This book is an important source of knowledge and inspiration for both academics and practitioners faced with the challenge of how to restructure what are often seen as 'problem' estates." Hugo Priemus, Professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands