Three generations of urban renewal policies: analysis and policy implications

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 different major players, methods of action and outcomes. All three generations can be identified 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 efforts at regeneration. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ail rights reserved.