Successes and failures are related to factors on macro, meso and micro level. They take place, however, within an institutional framework that enables some (successful) interventions and yet constraints other ones. Success and fail factors are often related to planning processes and less to planning outcomes. Hence, these factors are strongly related to local and national cultures of politics, (public and private) governance and to administrative and management cultures. Most successes mentioned by the experts are related to the physical sphere, while many failures appear in the social field.

The analysed large post-war housing estates have been confronted with various problems, such as vandalism and crime, pollution, maintenance arrears, a decrease in the number and quality of services. Since the problems are very diverse and appear in different fields, they are the result of a combination of different events (e.g. decreasing popularity, financial problems of both the local government and housing associations, the local allocation system). In order to improve the situation, various policy interventions have been developed, varying from interventions that focus on the physical environment to interventions that focus on the economic or social situation. The research was started in order to analyse the success and failure factors of these interventions.

The main findings of the discussion within the expert group included the following:

• The local authorities should have a key position in bringing actors together and taking the lead in future developments.
• Capacity building may be more important than the de factual plan. In this respect, the actors should be willing to take (financial) risks and even more important willing to cooperate.
• Likewise, it should be totally clear at the start of a planning process what residents can expect. Physical and social interventions should be attuned better.
• With respect to social interventions, residents should get a certain amount of responsibilities; local organisations should provide the framework in which residents can apply for funds to implement their own plans, while they would not be saddled with too many organisational and financial responsibilities.

RESTATE
Prof. Dr. Ronald van Kempen, tel. + 31 30 253 2243/1399

01/01/2005

Ellen van Beckhoven

research

Urban Policy > Housing

Housing management