Towards Dutch Regeneration or Gentrification?

If you’re into scanning through articles on how much the human race has done to mess with Mother Earth, you’ve probably read somewhere that cities are responsible for 75% of global energy consumption and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. The Randstad in particular is a hotspot of consumption, waste generation, pollution and energy use. However, the renovation of our energyvorous residential and commercial dwellings has begun to be viewed as a chance to seize economic, societal and environmental opportunities, and some city governments are taking steps in this direction. I wanted to look into this, because I don’t advocate that we should go back to living in the wild. I love urban stuff too much.

Towards renovation: the economy and climate change as drivers

Buildings typically last for a long time, and we have large stocks of these in Europe and in the Netherlands. Investments toward renovation have generally remained low. But in the context of our never-ending economic crisis, they have started to shift from new constructions to the rehabilitation and maintenance of buildings. Meeting climate change mitigation goals also implies making substantial investments in retrofitting existing buildings — a less expensive way to cut down on emissions than construction. Retrofitting comes with lower maintenance costs and lower energy expenditure of the existing building stock.

Changing the role of our buildings

Look around. The world of work and leisure is evolving.

Rapidly evolving information technology and the interconnectivity of global business are fundamentally changing locational constraints. More and more companies are offering flexible working arrangements. Teleworking is on the rise in the Netherlands, with the most common arrangement being to work one day per week from home — that day you usually spend having the munchies and emptying your fridge of food.

Building regeneration as a solution to shifts in working and living patterns

Adapting buildings to new uses then becomes necessary. And here, the sustainability of buildings is an opportunity in the sense that it can positively impact our urban quality of life.

Things are already happening here in the Netherlands. OK, Rotterdam is known for its unstoppable wave of new constructions built from scratch with incredible designs and innovative techniques, with projects such as the Markthal, and the SkilledIn Office, the Rotterdam, the Timmerhuis and even Central Station, to name a few. There isn’t much to ruin in this city anyway. But with respect to building regeneration, it has also undertaken some initiatives that are worth mentioning.

Dutch regeneration

Firstly, buildings can be renovated and converted through adaptive reuse; the process of reusing an old site or a building for a purpose other than that for which it was designed. Secondly, the concept ofarea regeneration has come to the fore. Over time, the meaning of urban renewal became less about the large scale demolition of existing buildings and new construction, and rather focused on rehabilitation. It can be undertaken successfully by relying mainly on renovation and conversion.

Rotterdam’s Do-It-Yourself houses (‘klushuizen’) are a good example of area regeneration — a successful one.

Launched in 2004 by the city of Rotterdam, the project aimed at gradually improving Rotterdam’s underprivileged neighbourhoods through the conversion and renewal of obsolete buildings

The project was a success, gaining public recognition and international publicity (winning the EUROCITIES 2011 Innovation award and featured in the New York Times). The ‘DIY’ houses concept became very popular among inhabitants, and contributed to an urban dynamic based on the participation, organisation and ownership of new residents, individual creativity, commitment, social inclusiveness and urban diversity. Buying and renovating houses at affordable prices was made possible.

Cities have the power to regenerate people’s living environments and people’s minds. But like any other initiative, this may come with secondary effects. What happened in Rotterdam? DIY houses attracted residents from outside the city, and a well-educated population migrated to a multicultural environment. Great, but then, one term inevitably comes to mind: gentrification, code word for regeneration. A.k.a., the potential enemy of social diversity and inclusiveness.

Regeneration and gentrification: any solutions?

Projects such as the DIY houses encourage interaction between higher-income and low-income households in the hope of strengthening social cohesion. But as wealthier residents move to low-income neighborhoods, rents and house values increase. As a result, low-income homeowners and tenants may no longer be able to afford to stay in their neighbourhood, and move further away from the city’s vibrant areas.

Policy makers and project developers ought to keep in mind that regeneration of neighbourhoods should not be reflected by a single isolated action transposing a problem from one area to another. Concretely, a comprehensive approach could be supported by running regeneration projects within several different neighbourhoods simultaneously, to avoid the exclusionary displacement of low-income citizens and small businesses from one district to another. Additionally, the involvement of active grassroots citizen organisations is crucial to ensure the community’s goals and priorities are respected. These measures may sound cliché or easy to mention. But as logical as they seem, they are not always put in practice. Yet they could very well prevent regeneration from rhyming with gentrification.

It can’t hurt to remind ourselves that just like building space, good ideas are not lacking. In the end, converting buildings is like converting minds: it takes time and effort. But don’t silent revolutions happen this way?