Urban Renewal Policies

Geoforum 30 (1999) 145±158

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Three generations of urban renewal policies: analysis and policy implications
Naomi Carmon *
Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion ± Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel

Abstract This paper, based on 20 years of research and teaching related to urban renewal policies and programs, analyzes the history of planned intervention for the regeneration of distressed residential areas. It divides it into three ``generations ' ', each with unique policy components, related to the social, economic and political characteristics of its period in history, with di€erent major players, methods of action and outcomes. All three generations can be identi®ed in the US, the UK and several other European countries, although not always precisely in the same form and at the same time. Analysis of three case studies in Israeli neighborhoods is used in this paper to point at typical results and the main lessons that can be taken from each of the three generations. Finally, a set of proposed policies, based on lessons learned from the preceding generations and projects, is presented. This set is likely to achieve better results with respect to both people (the residents) and places (the neighborhoods) than those obtained from earlier e€orts at regeneration. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The goals of this paper are to analyze policies of intervention in deteriorated urban areas, learn from past experience and propose a set of improved regeneration principles of action. The paper is composed of three parts. The ®rst is a condensed historical analysis of planned ± mainly public ± intervention in distressed residential areas, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom, but also in European countries and Israel (the authorÕs country). The analysis introduces three generations of policies, and includes a description of the initiatives with their

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