EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Innovative Urban Planning and Management IUPM Denmark

Innovative Urban Planning and Management IUPM Denmark

Introduction

The project aims to develop perspectives and a selection of approaches to enable deprived local communities in decaying urban areas to undertake, i.e. conceive, design and implement, urban neighbourhood regeneration programmes based on sustainable local effort.

Problem

How can we ensure sustainable neighbourhood regeneration in disadvantaged residential areas, involving all stakeholders from the very beginning?

Description

Kongens Enghave is an area situated in the south-west corner of Copenhagen and it is the leading partner in the IUPM project. This is a neighbourhood with little local civic spirit, high unemployment rates, many single-parent families and a high concentration of families in need of public aid. IUPM is used to try to renew the urban environment. Rostock in Germany and Vilnius in Lithuania have implemented the IUPM project, as well as Copenhagen.

Approach

The project is based on two preconditions, which are:

Planning of the renewal programme has to be based on an integrated approach, employing trans-disciplinary, cross-sectoral projects and measures geared to holistic processes and overall results.
As many stakeholders as possible have to be involved as soon as possible in a dialogue on the planning of urban neighbourhood renewal, so that a common approach is shared from the outset.

This project develops the means to meet community needs by improving living conditions, balancing the investment climate and securing cohesion in the settlement structure.

Essential means are:

encouraging disadvantaged communities in decaying urban areas to undertake responsibility for development processes;
opening up new opportunities for stakeholders to take part in planning;
addressing a wide spectrum of complex inter-related problems, ranging from poverty to lost cultural identity.

IUPM represents an interactive approach in which workshops, theme sessions and discussions are an essential element. Stakeholders are encouraged to participate in these meetings, to give their views on their own neighbourhood and its future. This process has generated plenty of ideas and has produced several concrete results.

Results

Successful results of the IUPM approach are:

long-term traffic planning in order to improve safety;
strong community commitment and co-financing;
representation of all stakeholders in a newly established housing corporation;
decrease in unemployment through intensive counselling.

In addition, a set of guidelines will be developed based on the combined experience of the pilot projects in participating areas. This "Manual" will collate and explain approaches and instruments. Educational tools which will also be developed (and tried out in theme sessions) to enable all stakeholders in the renewal process to better contribute to the planning and implementation of the neighbourhood renewal programmes. Co-operation will be further developed through a trans-national network of pooled experience established in this project.

Resources used

The project costs for the period 1997-2001 were:

urban renewal EUR 17,4 million;
integrated projects EUR 3,4 million;
social projects EUR 1,3 million;
process EUR 1,3 million.

Contact info

Byfornyelse Danmark s.m.b.a.
Mr. Paulius Kulikauskas, tel. +45 33766079

Project start date

05/08/2003

Links

Project Innovative Urban Planning and Management Exchange Network for Sustainable Urban Renewal Experience Byfornyelse Danmark s.m.b.a.

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Keywords

Land use