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Statement for Strong Cities
Why is it important to invest in our cities? As the end of the ReUrbA project approaches, the partners think it is time for a Statement for Strong Cities to answer this question. The statement will make clear why it's important to invest in our cities and how ReUrbA strategies and experiences can contribute to solving city problems.
It explains why there is a sense of urgency to invest – and keep investing – in our cities. These investments need to deal with more than the physical issues alone; they must also address social, cultural and economic issues. In the light of the need for urgency, the statement describes the tasks awaiting the different parties involved in urban regeneration.
The goal of the statement is to establish an active attitude in the process of urban regeneration from the different parties involved. This active thinking results from a recognition and understanding of the problems (present and future) in our cities. Against this background, different parties are encouraged to define their own positions within the process and to develop a strategy for participating in urban regeneration.
To back up the content of the statement, interviews will take place with various prominent persons involved in urban regeneration. The interviews will be collected, and published together with the statement. Since ReUrbA is a cooperative venture between partners from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, the interviews will be with prominent people from those countries. In line with the broad scope of the statement, the interviewees will be from the physical, social, economic and cultural fields. They are listed in the table below.
Physical
United Kingdom
Peter Hall (Professor of Planning at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London)
Germany
Hardt-Waltherr Hämer (Architect and professor. He is known as the father of the 'behutsamen Stadterneuerung'.)
The Netherlands
Reinier de Graaf (architect and co-owner of OMA)
Social
United Kingdom
Alan Simpson (Labour MP for Nottingham South since 1992. Among other things, he is a champion of the Urban Renaissance.)
The Netherlands
Arnold Reijndorp (a city sociologist researching the relation between city development / urban planning and society)
Economic
The Netherlands
Rinnooy Kan, chairman of the Social Economic Council of the Netherlands
The Netherlands
Rudy Stroink (Director of TCN Property Projects, a development agency with international operations)
Cultural
United Kingdom
Alain de Botton (Philosopher. Author of "The architecture of happiness" about how important it is to get architecture right.)
Germany
Wolfgang Kil (architectural critic and writer)
The Netherlands
Tracy Metz (journalist of a Dutch national newspaper)
Depending on the person interviewed, the emphasis of the interviews will shift between the different points of view (physical, social, economic and cultural) and also deal with the urgent issues facing us, or define tasks awaiting urban regeneration. Other subjects of the interviews are:
a) ideas about the different positions of parties involved in urban regeneration and
b) desirable strategies for those parties. The interviews will – like the statement – create an active attitude and encourage different parties to define their own position within the process and to develop a strategy for participating in urban regeneration.
In line with the approach outlined above, the questions can be broken down into two categories:
Urgency
What are the current problems in our cities?
What future problems are to be expected in our cities?
Are incidents of the kind we have witnessed in French cities to be expected in other European cities as well?
What will happen to our cities if we don't change our current urban policies and strategies?
What will happen if we stop investing not only money, but also time and effort, in our cities?
What are the opportunities available to our cities now that may not be there in 20 years?
Future tasks
What is necessary to create sustainable cities?
How can we overcome problems – actual and anticipated – in our cities?
Is a shift in policy and strategy necessary and – if so – what form should it take?
Which parties are needed to create sustainable cities and what roles and strategies are desirable for these parties?
Signature and publication
The statement will be signed at the ReUrbA closing conference (on 16 November 2006) and published (it will, of course, also appear on this web site).
>>> CLOSING CONFERENCE
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