EUKN - Germany - Kvarterloeft: 10 years of urban regeneration in Denmark

Kvarterloeft: 10 years of urban regeneration in Denmark

Introduction

The kvarterloeft initiative is a large-scale attempt to 'lift' deprived urban areas in Denmark through a holistic method based on public participation and public-private partnerships. The initiative began in 1997 and was closed by two large conferences in Copenhagen in October 2007. Ten years of kvarterloeft have resulted in many interesting results. A special book on the initiative presents the results and the experience gained so that other cities worldwide can also benefit from the new knowledge on urban regeneration generated in Denmark.

Proposition

How to regenerate deprived urban areas in a holistic manner based on public participation and public-private partnerships?

Description

Danish cities are mainly dealing with two typical types of problem areas:

Large non profit housing estates often built in the period 1960-80, where immigrants from non western countries often make up a high percentage of the inhabitants
Older parts of bigger cities especially in Copenhagen with low housing standards, traffic problems and industrial sites that can be used for new functions

An approach to address the problems in these areas is called 'kvarteloeft' (Integrated Urban Regeneration). This area based approach stresses citizen involvement, integrated solutions and public-private partnerships. In total, twelve urban regeneration areas in Denmark were selected to be part of the initiative.

The results of the initiatives in the twelve kvarterloeft areas can be divided into social effects, performance and the importance of efficient processes. The main effects of the initiative were:

a reduction in the scope of vandalism
an improvement of residents' images of each other and the areas
a strengthening of society formation through the formation of traditional societies and networks
a strengthening of cross-neighbourhood networks
a strengthening of social capital in the areas
development of good district plans with residents and experts which have been successfully implemented with a high rate of completion
development of projects that were found to be of high quality by residents and experts alike
successful regeneration of large recreational areas
increased familiarity with and participation in initiative of residents
creation of holistic initiatives created by various administrations
production of a large number of tasks, specialities and research articles at universities
creation of a lively debate about the initiative among professionals
revitalisation of urban planning in Denmark
mainstreaming of the kvarterloeft concept in urban renewal legislation and social housing programmes
encouragement of new trails in governmental involvement in relation to local communities.

Contact info

The Ministry of Refugees, Immigration and Integration Affairs
inm@inm.dk

Publication date

/10/2007

Links

Click here to view documents of the kvarterloeft international conference

Click here to download the kvarterloeft book (PDF, Eng, 3 MB)

Document type

policy

Themes

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Keywords

Urban renewal