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London March 2005:
Network Groupmeeting ReUrbA-partners 		updated
11 May 2005

Learning with lifestyles
Very refreshing and extremely educational! That is the conclusion of the five ReUrbA Partners about their 5th Network Group Meeting – 'Lifestyles' – in mid-March in London. Conducting their own research into the lifestyles in a London district has made 'Lifestyles' as a tool much more real to them. The practical exercise allowed the participants to develop much more affinity with the identification of demand in restructuring projects.

Of the four ReUrbA policy instruments, Lifestyles had been developed least in the projects conducted by the ReUrbA partners (Newcastle City Council, St. Paul’s Church in London, GIU in Saarbrücken, the Province of South Holland and the Rotterdam Development Corporation in the Netherlands).
The ReUrbA managers Mark Reede and Willemien Faling, and consultant Hans Karssenberg, saw this for themselves in early 2005 when they visited the various projects.
They found that the creative transformation strategies of the ReUrbA method were being used everywhere, as was the Governance instrument. Governance focuses on effective collaboration with all stakeholders (government authorities, residents and investors) in the projects.
During the working visits, it also emerged that there was a demand for a value-oriented financial strategy. This approach looks not only at the 'ordinary' cost of restructuring but also, and in particular, at the added value that the restructuring of a neighbourhood will generate in the future. For example, the added value will in time also generate income as a result of higher returns from property tax. In anticipation of this, it is possible to generate funding now to make the restructuring possible, for example in the form of bonds. Options of this kind are often underexploited in the usual approach to budgeting.

Lifestyles
During the working visits, it also turned out that the ReUrbA partners needed to know more about the Lifestyles instrument. So ReUrbA decided to devote the entire Network Group Meeting of March 2005 to the subject and to allow the partners to work with the method in the field. The meeting was in London so the obvious project for the purpose was St. Paul’s Church.
And so it was that thirteen participants were sent into the Bow district in mid-March with carefully prepared questionnaires. They studied the three target groups that the project manager – vicar Philippa Boardman – had described for her project.
This resulted in a good picture of the lifestyles in the Bow district. And that Lifestyles approach provides a clear basis for defining 'supply and demand' in Bow. It became a lot more straightforward to define which facilities were needed in order to cater to the demands of the fairly diverse population of Bow.
The next step will be to use the practical knowledge in the partners' own projects. That should make it possible for many more people to use the approach. So it was proposed at the meeting in London to open a digital learning platform providing support training for other people who want to work with the Lifestyles instrument.

What is the next step?
The participants want to create enthusiasm within their own organisations for this approach. They hope that they will be able to use the results of the ReUrbA² method in other key projects as well. That is why a request has been made for a marketing plan with three objectives:

  • The development of a common methodology that can be used in the ReUrbA² projects and also in other projects, despite the considerable differences between them.
  • The perfecting of this methodology in each of these projects in order to improve the final result.
  • The establishment of successful exchanges between the projects in the form of practical training and learning from each other's experiences, with the assistance of external experts, theme meetings and a resource centre.

The marketing strategy must be used to raise the profile of the project.
Ultimately, the ReUrbA² project will demonstrate to others the positive effects of the ReUrbA method and show the benefits that can be achieved by collaboration between projects.
Finally, all the expertise and experience will be recorded in a number of thematic publications.

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