When regeneration is considered in the context of “urban,” it involves the rebirth or renewal of urban areas and settlements. Urban regeneration is primarily concerned with regenerating cities and early/inner ring suburbs facing periods of decline due to compounding and intersecting pressures.
Urban regeneration research aims to build new knowledge and shape policy confronting the pressures from major short- or long-term economic problems, deindustrialization, demographic changes, underinvestment, structural or cyclical employment issues, political disenfranchisement, racial or social tensions, physical deterioration, and physical changes to urban areas.
Basic regeneration principles offer an integrated framework to simultaneously develop people and places:
- coordination between various sectors,
- creating a holistic vision,
- regenerating people rather than a place,
- creating partnerships across all levels of government,
- building public sector capacity and leadership, and
- engaging the local community in the planning process.
Urban regeneration has many parallels to US urban policy in the fields of economic/community development and neighborhood revitalization. Similar to the three pillars of sustainability, this definition of urban regeneration establishes a holistic policy and planning framework with a strong emphasis on placed-based approaches that links the physical transformation of the built environment with the social transformation of local residents. As such, urban regeneration provides valuable insight as US planners and policy makers evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives and plans.
Current Urban Regeneration Projects:
Vacant Property Research Network: For more information on this project, please visit the project site.
Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellowship Pilot Program: Supported by U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the German Marshall Fund and Cleveland State University.
Past Projects
- During the 2010 academic year Metropolitan Institute led more than 20 students on two field trips to explore firsthand the challenges and opportunities of two shrinking cities (Cleveland and Baltimore) through UAP’s Shrinking City Studio.
- In 2009, Joe Schilling was appointed Visiting Scholarby the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Richmond to examine the implementation of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) by small towns and rural counties of this federal program. The project focused on insights from areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina.
- The Metropolitan Institute has presented the holistic strategies for stabilizing communities at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s community advisory board (October 2008) and for the Atlanta Banks’ Community Impacts of Foreclosure Forum in Atlanta (June 2008).