Restructuring large housing estates in Europe: Restructuring and resistance inside the welfare industry

All over Europe post-Second World War large-scale housing estates face physical, economic, social and cultural problems. This book presents the key findings of a major EU-funded research programme into the restructuring of twenty-nine large-scale housing estates in Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Europe. Policy and practice between and within the ten countries studied - UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, and France - is compared. While existing literature focuses on the negative aspects of large-scale housing estates, this book starts from the premise that the estates can be transformed into attractive places to live and focuses on the possibilities of sustainability and renewal through social, physical and policy actions. Specifically, the book explains the origins and nature of contemporary problems on the estates; examines which policy objectives, measures and processes have had the greatest impact; assesses and compares a wide range of local, regional and national initiatives; discusses current ideas and philosophies, such as 'place making' and 'collaborative planning' that are likely to influence future policy and practice and provides good practice guidance for neighbourhood sustainability and renewal. Written by a multi-national team of experts and drawing on original fieldwork, the book provides unique comparative insights into the present and future position of large-scale housing estates in Europe. Restructuring large-scale housing estates in Europe is an invaluable resource for a wide audience of academics, researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of housing, urban studies, community studies, regeneration, planning and social policy.

Table of Contents:
Restructuring large housing estates in European cities: an introduction ~ Karien Dekker, Stephen Hall, Ronald van Kempen and Iván Tosics; Large housing estates in Europe: a contemporary overview ~ Karien Dekker and Ronald van Kempen; Place making and large estates: theory and practice ~ Stephen Hall and Rob Rowlands; Large housing estates in their historical context ~ Stephen Hall, Alan Murie and Thomas Knorr-Siedow; Privitisation and after ~ Alan Murie, Iván Tosics, Manuel Aalbers, Richard Sendi and Barbara Cernic Mali; Tackling social cohesion in ethnically diverse estates ~ Karien Dekker and Rob Rowlands; Social mix and social perspectives in post-war housing estates ~ Roger Andersson and Sako Musterd; On physical determinism and displacement effects ~ Sako Musterd and Wim Ostendorf; Who leaves Sweden's large housing estates? ~ Asa Brama and Roger Andersson; Demolition of large housing estates: an overview ~ Fatiha Belmessous, Franck Chignier-Riboulon, Nicole Commercon and Marcus Zepf; Building partnerships in Spanish and Italian regeneration processes ~ Silvia Mugnano, Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway and Teresa Tapada-Berteli ~ Local participation in Spain and the Netherlands ~ Ellen van Beckhoven, Brechtje van Boxmeer and Lidia Garcia Ferrando; Fighting unemployment on large housing estates: an example from Sweden ~ Lars Pettersson and Eva Oresjo; Feelings of insecurity and young people in housing estates ~ Manuel Aalbers, Agnieszka Bielewska, Franck Chignier-Riboulon and Anna Guszcza; Restructuring large housing estates: does gender matter? ~ Christiane Droste, Irene Molina and Francesca Zajczyk; Knowledge management and enhanced policy application ~ Thomas Knorr-Siedow and Iván Tosics; Conclusions ~ Stephen Hall, Ronald van Kempen, Iván Tosics and Karien Dekker.

About the Author :
The editors are specialists in housing and urban research at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Birmingham University in the UK and the Metropolitan Research Institute in Budapest, Hungary.

Review :
"I am convinced that this will be a well used book, and deservedly so. The issues that are explored here, not to mention the richness of the empirical material that is provided, will be of interest to policy makers, community activists and students at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a range of social and public policy, urban sociology and built environment courses and elsewhere." Social Policy "This book is an important source of knowledge and inspiration for both academics and practitioners faced with the challenge of how to restructure what are often seen as 'problem' estates." Hugo Priemus, Professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands