EUKN - Urban Matrix - SURE – A time-oriented model for sustainable urban regeneration

SURE – A time-oriented model for sustainable urban regeneration

Introduction

SURE has been designed to respond to different needs of European cities and their citizens, with regard to urban crisis areas that have formed due to the economic and social transformations. Economic and social transformations have led to the emergence of new social, environmental and specifically urban problems including;

Proposition

loss of jobs and rise of unemployment
loss of public services
unsafe neighbourhoods
brownfields
high pollution levels
degeneration of public spaces

Currently, urban crisis areas are facing crucial development choices in redefining their character. SURE’s aim is to define technical and organisational tools that will help local governments and local stakeholders design appropriate development choices.

Description

SURE is a research project on urban transformation that utilises analytical and simulation models, and cartographic testing in the creation of technological tools and products. Partners involved in the application included local authorities, academics and development agencies from Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Poland, who worked to apply innovations in the most distressed or problematic areas.

Background information

Urban time policies were initially launched in Italy at the end of the 1980s, and rapidly spread to other European countries. Initially, the goal of these policies was to promote equal opportunities for all through better matching the temporal needs of users. Today, the policies combine Time and Space, in new flexible ways, to prevent economic, environmental and social disasters in urban settings. There is empirical evidence to suggest that, when they have taken into account time and space considerations within their development strategies, cities and regions have become more attractive places to live and have achieved a higher level of prosperity.

Methodology

The project analysed a comprehensive range of innovative experiments to improve community renewal in metropolitan areas through coordinating public-private time-schedules and interests, which took place in five European countries. SURE’s innovation is to ensure the multi-functionality of neglected areas by reviewing their accessibility, services, infrastructures, economic and social sustainability and governance within the ‘global’ transformation and evolution of Cities and Regions.

SURE utilised an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to design appropriate development choices for urban crisis areas. The project utilised both a time-oriented and an urban regeneration approach. Prior to this project, these two approaches had been adopted separately when designing policy options. The project integrated a variety of stakeholders from different disciplines, including; Town Planning, Social Science, Urban Economics and Political Science. Additionally, these stakeholders were integrated at different geographical scales.

This research methodology is based on:

Desk Research – a brief literature overview and the exchange of knowledge among the partners about urban regeneration practices was used in the definition of the scientific framework used by SURE
Pilot Projects – that will be implemented with collaborating Local Authorities and/or Local Development Agencies with the support of Universities or Research Institutions.

EU involvement

SURE is a research project supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme, Key Action 4: “The city of tomorrow and cultural heritage”: 4.1 Sustainable city planning and rational resource management 4.1.2 Improving the quality of urban life

Conclusions

The SURE research action project developed a tentative list of recommendations based on its findings.

The evidence so far suggests that time-oriented policies for sustainable regeneration are building capacity, confidence and skills through:

Co-ordinating policy-makers, planners, practitioners, and other stakeholders to tackle the problem of mobility, including the social and geographical nature of inequity
Identifying new urban issues such as the underutilisation of some services, infrastructures or outlets due to different timetables, difficulties of access, and/or poor transportation facilities, on a global and/or micro scale
Contributing to better city and/or neighbourhood governance by initiating independent problem-solving platforms under the aegis of local SURE teams

The overall experiment has produced a significant impact on:

The desire for an interdisciplinary approach to managing projects of public relevance
How communities are involved in the process of regeneration;
Rethinking architecture, urbanism and mobility on the basis of the shared outlooks and new technical supports

The SURE project has also provided an important new framework for networking and coordinating at local level, that has resulted in:

extending the scope of time-oriented policies
building bridges by working in the field
influencing the local policy agendas
opening new dialogues on pending issues

Contact info

North Milan Development Agency
Via Venezia, 23
20099 SESTO S. GIOVANNI
Italy
Fax: +39 02 24126540
sure@milanomet.it
http://www.sure-project.com/index.htm

Publication date

Project finished

//2005

File without description

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Keywords

Urban renewal