URBAN REGENERATION: FORMS, POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ASPECTS
Charalampos Theocharopoulos
In Biology, the term "regeneration" means the revitalization of old or damaged tissues or the restoration of a system in its initial form. This is the case in urban fabric, where economic activities and business are revitalized, social structure is reinstated and the quality of the environment is increased. A general descriptive definition of the urban regeneration would be that it is the city planning interventions in parts of the existing urban fabric.
As a consequence, regeneration of an area is the sum of the guidelines, measures, interventions and procedures of the city planning, economic and architecture character which come of relevant studies. Their mainly aim is to improve the quality of life of the citizens, to cater the environment, to protect and indicate the cultural, historical, morphological and aesthetic elements and characteristics of an area.
The areas that require a special treatment are mainly those which are degraded and are been gradually abandoned.
The Olympic Flame during the Opening Ceremony of t...
English: Archery competition at the Athens 2004 Ol...
Yesler-Atlantic urban renewal fact sheet, 1967These areas are categorized to:
- Areas with functional issues in the town planning such as: older properties in need of improvement and modernization, narrow streets, air pollution caused by traffic, inadequacy or inappropriateness of the public facilities and infrastructures, insufficient space for car parks, lack of large surface public land and dispersion of public space.
- Areas with cultural and economic problems such as: decentralization, social degradation, high rates of unemployment, poor quality and low cost housing, unequal distribution of the wealth, hooliganism, racism, social exclusion and other anti social phenomena due to the diversity of the population and the low educational level.
- Areas with land use and environmental issues such as: brownfields, abandoned houses and industries, polluted waterways.
In order to improve the quality of life, the living conditions and the economy of...