I. WHAT IS URBAN RENEWAL?

 A planned attempt to transform

the urban environment through
structured large-scale control of
existing urban areas to
enhance both the present and
future operations of urban
populace. It is also the
deliberate physical
redevelopment of decayed or
deteriorated areas, improving
the infrastructure and the
removal of elements
considered to affect the
effectiveness and efficiency of
the area.
 A program of land
redevelopment in cities, often Figure 1 BILBAO, SPAIN
where there is urban decay.
Urban renewal often refers to the clearing out of blighted areas in inner cities to clear out
slums and create opportunities for higher class housing, businesses, and more.
 A process where privately owned properties within a designated renewal area are
purchased or taken by eminent domain by a municipal redevelopment authority, razed
and then reconveyed to selected developers who devote them to other uses.
 With the decision and authority of a governing municipality, re-arranging land use, function
and ownership features of a socially, economically or structurally decayed part of a certain
city.
 The main purpose of urban renewal is to deliberately change the urban environment and
to inject new vitality through planned adjustment of existing areas to respond to present
and future requirements for urban living and working.

a. REDEVELOPMENT
 Redevelopment consists of the removal of existing buildings and the re-use of
cleared land for the implementation of new projects. This approach is applicable
to areas in which buildings are in seriously deteriorated condition and have no
preservation value, or in which the arrangement of buildings are such that the area
cannot provide satisfactory living conditions.
 A process of removing and replacing old and poor quality structures with new ones
on the same site. Conceptually similar to land readjustment, with the exception that
it happens in existing urban areas and often involves a rezoning by the government
of a given area from a low-density (single-family housing) to higher-density (mixed-
use or commercial) development. It is also accompanied by a provision of
infrastructure improvements (mass transit, such as metro lines) that can support
such up-zoning.
 As part of this process, a government assembles the individual private properties
and undertakes a new higher development plan and delivers the necessary
infrastructure. At the end, the government returns to each landowner a share of
 the overall new development that is equivalent to their original land or property
ownership. It retains a share of the development that it then sells to recover the
cost of the infrastructure improvement.
 For developers, redevelopment represents maximum profit through the sale of new
centrally -located units. For local governments, this approach represents maximum
use of land, higher floor area ratio, and has the advantage of introducing higher
income groups and commercial activities to the city center, which increase tax
revenues. It also leads to higher population density and improved services and
infrastructures, which is highly desirable for modernizing inner-city areas.

b. URBAN DECAY
 A process in which a previously functioning city, or city area, falls into disrepair and
disuse. Common indications of urban decay are abandoned buildings and empty
plots, high unemployment levels, high crime rates, and an urban landscape that is
generally decrepit and desolate.
 The prevalent and substantial physical deterioration that impairs the proper
utilization of affected real estate or the health, safety and welfare of the
surrounding community. As a result, the previously functioning part of city falls into
decrepitude and turning into a desolate city landscape gradually.
 There are many socio-economic factors that may lead to urban decay, including:
o Deindustrialization, either by industry dying out or moving away.
o Depopulation or changing population, through ‘white flight’ (large-scale
movement from urban areas to the suburbs).
o Restructuring of transport networks.
o Political disenfranchisement.
o Rent controls.
o Economic downturn and recession which may result in local businesses
failing.
o Urban planning decisions.
o Prolonged riots and crime.
o Lack of new construction work or urban renewal projects.
o Environmental conditions, changes or disasters.
o Redlining is the practice of directly or indirectly denying services such as
banking, transport, health care or adequate shopping facilities, to the
residents of certain areas.

c. BLIGHTED AREAS
 Areas with low or sinking property values, and cities and political leaders view
blighted areas as dangerous to the “safety, health, morals and comfort” of the
people who live in those blighted neighborhoods.
 Blighted areas are characterized by the presence of physically deteriorated or
vacant buildings, and those buildings (both residential and commercial) often have
high occupancy turnover or vacancy rates. In addition to the sub-standard
dwellings that are typically found in blighted neighborhoods, the public schools and
other local amenities (parks, etc.) in those areas also tend to be dilapidated.
 A property can be said to be ‘blighted’ if:
o It is a public nuisance.
 o It is fire-damaged or dangerous.
o It poses a severe and immediate health or safety threat.
o It is open to the elements and trespassing.
o It has had utilities and other services disconnected, removed or rendered
ineffective.

d. SLUMS
 A slum household is a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban
area who lack one or more of the following:
o Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme
climate conditions.
o Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the
same room.
o Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.
o Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared
by a reasonable number of people.
o Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions
 The inaccessibility to one, or more, of the above basic living conditions results in
a "slum lifestyle" modeled by several characteristics. Poor housing units are
vulnerable to natural disaster and destruction because affordable building
materials cannot withstand earthquakes, landslides, excessive wind, or heavy
rainstorms. Slum dwellers are at greater risk to disaster because of their
vulnerability to Mother Nature.
 Many speculate that a majority of slum formation is due to rapid urbanization within
a developing country. This theory has significance because a population boom,
associated with urbanization, creates a greater demand for housing than the
urbanized area can offer or supply. This population boom often consists of rural
inhabitants who migrate to urban areas where jobs are plentiful and where wages
are stabilized. However, the issue is exacerbated by lack of federal and city-
government guidance, control, and organization.

e. HOUSING
 Refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings collectively,
for the purpose of sheltering people — the planning or provision delivered by an
authority, with related meanings.
 The social issue is of ensuring that members of society have a home in which to
live, whether this is a house, or some other kind of dwelling, lodging, or shelter.
Many governments have one or more housing authorities, sometimes also called
a housing ministry, or housing department.
 Social housing is the term given to accommodation which is provided at affordable
rates, on a secure basis to people on low incomes or with particular needs. Social
housing properties are usually owned by the state, in the form of councils, or by
non-profit organizations such as housing associations.
 Informal housing can include any form of shelter or settlement (or lack thereof)
which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded
protection by the state.
f. URBAN SPRAWL
 The term 'urban sprawl' refers to the spreading of a town or city and its suburbs
over previously undeveloped land.
 Implies an uncontrolled, unplanned or unrestricted spreading, typically driven by
migration from high-density urban areas to low-density suburban areas.
 The pattern of urban sprawl tends to be:
o During urbanisation, city centres experience higher density, with a rapid
decline in periphery settlement.
o As economic growth continues, people with some wealth (typically the
middle classes) begin to migrate towards the suburbs.
 The following characteristics are often associated with urban sprawl:
o Single-use development: Land is dominated by a single use and is
segregated by open space, infrastructure, and so on.
o Job sprawl: Patterns of employment spread out from the central business
district (CBD) to the suburban periphery.
o Low-density: Single family, low rise homes on large plots of land, spaced
further apart with landscaping, roads, and so on.
o Agricultural land converted to urban use: Fertile agricultural land
surrounding cities is developed.
o Housing subdivisions: Large areas of entirely of new-build developments,
often characterized by curved roads and cul-de-sacs.
o Lawns: Cheaper land at the periphery often results in the proliferation of
suburban lawns, country clubs and golf courses.
o Retail parks: Collections of commercial buildings (i.e. shopping centres)
aimed at attracting consumers.
 Urban sprawl can be caused by a number of factors, often differing according to
the country or region that is affected. However, some general causes can include:
o Lower land rates: Outer suburbs of cities are affordable compared to city
centres.
o ImproAved infrastructure: Increased expenditure on infrastructure that
connects the peripheries to the centre.
o Rise in living standards: Increases in average incomes allow people to
afford to commute longer distances.
o Lack of urban planning: Congestion, loss of trees and green space,
inadequate infrastructure, and so on.
o Lower local tax rates: City centres often have high local tax rates compared
to the periphery.
o Population growth: Cities grow beyond their capacity due to a rise in
population.
o Lifestyle choices: Those with higher levels of wealth choose to move
somewhere with more space and lower density
II. CATEGORIES OR ASPECTS OF URBAN RENEWAL
Using federal funding, local housing authorities bought decayed properties, tore them down and
built public housing complexes for lower income residents who had been displaced. Early public
housing often took the form of high rises which did not encourage a sense of community that
many residents had enjoyed in their former. Urban renewal resulted in the mass movement of
middle class citizens to the new suburbs. Federal money was used to build highways for them to
commute to work. Highways often split neighborhoods which brought more disruption to poor
residents. The term isn't used today in part because of the sad history of urban renewal.
While traditional zoning development focuses on separating commercial, residential, and
recreational areas, Mixed-use development encourages the fill up of land use. With sparsely
populated land, there is lack of pressure to density. The lack of urban renewal has led to urban
decay, more fuel consumption, and racial ghettos. Mixed-use development on Brownfield
lands has transformed sites into more sustainable populated centers as a result of economic
factors being draw in to redevelop.

a. HOUSING RECONSTRUCTION
Housing is essential to the well-being and development of most societies. It is a complex asset,
with links to livelihoods, health, education, security and social and family stability. Housing is also
an extremely vulnerable asset, and the destruction of homes or their loss through displacement
or dispossession is one of the most visible effects of conflict and natural disaster.
Housing reconstruction should take into account local resources, needs, perceptions,
expectations, potentials and constraints. In so doing, it broadens the discussion from responses
that take into consideration the needs of individuals and families, to responses that consider the
wider benefits to communities. It refocuses the discussion from a single house or shelter
reconstruction to a process, thereby reintegrating housing reconstruction into the wider recovery
context.

b. HOUSING REDEVELOPMENT
Variations on redevelopment include:

 Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed,
especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site into a mixed-
use development.
 Constructing with a denser land usage, such as the redevelopment of a block of townhouses
into a large apartment building.
 Adaptive reuse, where older structures are converted for improved current market use, such
as an industrial mill into housing lofts.
 Redevelopment projects can be small or large ranging from a single building to entire new
neighborhoods or "new town in town" projects.
 Redevelopment also refers to state and federal statutes which give cities and counties the
authority to establish redevelopment agencies and give the agencies the authority to
 attack problems of urban decay. The fundamental tools of a redevelopment agency
include the authority to acquire real property, the power of eminent domain, to develop
and sell property without bidding and the authority and responsibility of relocating persons
who have interests in the property acquired by the agency. The financing/funding of such
operations might come from government grants, borrowing from federal or state
governments and selling bonds and from Tax Increment Financing.
 Other terms sometimes used to describe redevelopment include urban renewal (urban
revitalization). While efforts described as urban revitalization often involve redevelopment,
they do not always involve redevelopment as they do not always involve the demolition of
any existing structures but may instead describe the rehabilitation of existing buildings or
other neighborhood improvement initiatives.
 A new example of other neighborhood improvement initiatives is the funding mechanism
associated with high carbon footprint air quality urban blight. Assembly Bill AB811 is
the State of California's answer to funding renewable energy and allows cities to craft their
own sustainability action plans. These cutting edge action plans needs the funding
structure; which can easily come forward through redevelopment funding.

c. MIXED- USED DEVELOPMENT

Mixed-use development or often

simply Live-work space is a type of urban
development strategy for living
spaces (housing) that blends residential,
commercial, cultural, institutional, or
entertainment uses, where those functions are
physically and functionally integrated, and that
provides pedestrian connections.
Mixed-use development can take the form of
a single building, a city block, or entire
neighbourhoods. The term may also be used more specifically to refer to a mixed-use real estate
development project—a building, complex of buildings, or district of a town or city that is
developed for mixed-use by a private developer, (quasi-) governmental agency, or a combination
thereof.
FEATURES OF MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT
OUTDOOR SPACE
Mixed-use development allows the creation of plazas and outdoor corridors between buildings
and sidewalks. Street facing facades have a maximum setback to how much space is allocated
for pedestrians to gather in. Landscaping another feature in outdoor spaces allow trees and plants
to grow on buildings vertically rather than being faced out in a front row.

PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
Mixed-use in centers that have increased in population density has allowed people to access
places through public transit and has helped encourage walking, biking, and cycling to places of
work and errands. Transportation has played a role in mitigating climate change by reducing
congestion on roads and building up freight movement for goods and services. With street-level
design in place in cities like Boston, Seattle, and Denver Mixed-uses allowed the designs of
pedestrian walkways, plazas, and eye distances to shops and workplaces. This in turn has
reduced parking lots in alleyways and garages.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Older cities such as Chicago and San Francisco landmark preservation policies to allow more
flexibility on older buildings being reused as third spaces.
Benefits of mixed-use development include:
 greater housing variety and density, more affordable housing (smaller units), life-cycle
housing (starter homes to larger homes to senior housing)
 walkable neighborhoods

 reduced distances between housing, workplaces, retail businesses, and other amenities
and destinations
 more compact development, land-use synergy (e.g. residents provide customers for retail
which provide amenities for residents)
 stronger neighborhood character, sense of place

TYPES OF CONTEMPORARY MIXED- USE ZONING

 Neighborhood commercial zoning – convenience goods and services, such

as convenience stores, permitted in otherwise strictly residential areas
 Main Street residential/commercial – two to three-story buildings with residential units
above and commercial units on the ground floor facing the street
 Urban residential/commercial – multi-story residential buildings with commercial and civic
uses on ground floor
 Office convenience – office buildings with small retail and service uses oriented to the office
workers
 Office/residential – multi-family residential units within office building(s)
 Shopping mall conversion – residential and/or office units added (adjacent) to an existing
standalone shopping mall
 Retail district retrofit – retrofitting of a suburban retail area to a more village-like appearance
and mix of uses
 Live/work – residents can operate small businesses on the ground floor of the building where
they live
 Studio/light industrial – residents may operate studios or small workshops in the building
where they live
 Hotel/residence – mix hotel space and high-end multi-family residential
 Parking structure with ground-floor retail
 Single-family detached home district with standalone shopping center

Mixed-use buildings are a combination of residential and non-residential buildings, ranging from
a single building to an entire neighborhood. When done right, mixed-use developments promote
improvements in home affordability, walkability to homes, workplaces, and amenities, and strong
neighborhoods
d. RESIDENTIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT
A neighbor-hood or environmental improvement is something which improves the quality of life
for our customers, as well as the local community.
 Enhanced landscaping features around homes
 Improved rubbish storage and disposal system
 Investment in community projects
 Improved car parking for our residents
 Renewed playground and recreational areas
 Improved recycling facilities
 Improved external lighting and security lighting repairs walkway, pathways and other hard
landscaping.

e. PARADIGM SHIFTS IN URBAN IMPROVEMENT

Urban planning and transport paradigm shifts for cities of post- petroleum age
- The transition of cities into a post peak- oil paradigm will entail a massive reduction
in transport energy use. Urban transport system are the most dependent and
vulnerable of all sectors to rises in the price of oil and potential shortages.
If cities are to adapt to the post- petroleum age, relying purely on technological fixes will not be
adequate. A combination of changes are needed to provide the essential paradigm shifts for cities
to reduce car –use including
- Curtailing or abandoning major road construction
- Dropping congestion can help cities reduce car use and energy consumption
- Prioritizing the construction of speed- competitive transit system
- Integrating development around those transit system.
TRANSIT AS A NET, NOT A WEB

Presently we inhabit a very strange cultural space, where a vision of a sustainable future inspired
by George Jetson competes with one straight out of The Flintstones. For example, in Vancouver
our leaders are, on the one hand, loudly supportive of the Jetson’s Orbit City style version of a
sustainable future -- enthused about a gleaming SkyTrain all the way out to UBC. SkyTrain. The
name itself excites. This is no mere mass transit system. This is a fleet of spaceships gliding
effortlessly out of reach of the impediments of the street -- sleek star cruisers that slow only to
dock at luminous regional town centre space ports.

THINK SMALL

By Dan Granirer

Building family-sized apartments in Vancouver is a major opportunity to replace the desperation

over high housing prices experienced by many in the middle class, with economic dynamism,
more growth in the size of young families, and hope for the future.
Vancouver is ripe for the kind of paradigm shift that occurred in New York around the turn of the
19th century, when in two to three decades, the majority of middle and upper class inhabitants of
Manhattan moved from single detached homes to apartments and brownstones.

Construction in Vancouver of a large stock of apartments with multiple bedrooms and gracious
living spaces (that came to be known in New York as Classic Sixes and Sevens) could help
transform these expectations, and provide attractive alternatives for urban family living in our
beautiful city.

GREENER CITIES

Small parks and plazas, well-treed streets without cars for strolling and relaxing, playgrounds,
bikeways, waterfronts and rooftops must be included in all developments. A new holistic vision is
needed for creating open urban spaces that are safe, sustainable and healthy.

Rene Dubos said many years ago, “The concept of an optimum environment is unrealistic,
because it implies a static human life. Planning for the future demands an ecological attitude
based on the assumption that man will continuously bring about evolutionary changes through
the creative potentialities inherent in his biological nature.”

‘Longing for nature is built into our genes.’

E. O. Wilson, the well-known scientist wrote, “The longing for nature is built into our genes,” and
“nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” This
quote directs us to make nature accessible for all ages and abilities in well-designed open urban
spaces, crucial to the quality of urban life in Metro Vancouver.

We should commit ourselves to establish a task force for public open space in 21st century
Vancouver. These spaces ought to address the quality of life to which we aspire, as well as limiting
footprints of developments, which will reduce our impact on the earth. These guidelines must
address climate change, reduce storm water runoff, and show imaginative design, which save
labour and operating expenses and choose plant material commensurate with our ecology.

This task force is to be composed of planners, architects, landscape architects, citizens, city
officials, and parks officials, among others.

The Danish architect Jan Gehl says, “Basically, it is all about respect for people” -- designing the
ground floor, the city at eye level, and re-ordering priorities away from cars and traffic, because
everyone has the right to see a tree from their window, sit on a bench with play spaces for children,
or to walk to a park within 10 minutes of their home. “We shape cities and cities shape us.”

The buildings and landscapes we design today should be examples of the most advanced
technology and incorporate green roofs with green balcony gardens. Then Vancouver would lead
the way to being truly a green city.
III. WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF URBAN RENEWAL?

PROS:
o May increase density and reduce sprawl
o Might have economic benefits and improve the global economic competitiveness of a city's
center
o Improve cultural and social amenity
o May also improve opportunities for safety and surveillance
o May bring new business and breathe life into existing businesses
o Creates a pedestrian environment and reduces the need for cars
o May result in an influx of new businesses and increased patronage of existing
establishments
o Establishes an environment that fosters growth in new businesses
o Restoration of crumbling or abandoned buildings
o Increased use of public transport
o May reduce number of slum areas in a city
o Provides for orderly renewal for worn out and obsolete areas
o Greater Housing Choice - Suburban growth being dominated by detached housing, mainly
suitable for family households, provides more options in terms of housing choice as well
as availability for rental
o Supports local historic preservation efforts
o Provides upgraded and needed infrastructure for future growth
o Promotes the introduction of new housing products, and offers resources for reinvestment
in established neighborhoods
o Better utilization of existing and proposed infrastructure
o Increased city productivity from the co-location of more intensive jobs and housing
o New employment opportunities
CONS:
o May involve relocation of businesses
o The demolition of structures / neighborhoods
o The relocation of people
o May increase traffic congestion and noise
o May be an improper use of eminent domain by a government (purchase of property for
public purpose)
o Increased pollution - As a result of traffic congestion, pollution levels will increase. This
will negatively affect peoples' health and wellbeing.
o Decimates urban bush land - Value of our natural flora and fauna diminishes
o Increases housing cost - As the government is restricting development on the urban
fringes makes land scarce, existing land becomes more valuable raising its worth.
o Induces climate change -There is more energy produced when constructing multi-unit
buildings.
IV. SUCCESSGUL CASE STUDIES EXAMPLES:

A. Gardens by the Bay & Supertree Grove

Transformation from a Garden City

to a City in a Garden

Location: Marina Bay, Singapore

Size: 101 hectares (250 acres)

Inquiry

How can we integrate cities into nature while

enhancing the lives of citizens in a beautiful
and sustainable way? What are the design
challenges and opportunities for integrating infrastructure at this scale?

Project Summary

Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning 101 hectares (250 acres) of reclaimed land with
three waterfront gardens. Gardens by the Bay is part of a strategy by the Singapore government
to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden". Intended to be Singapore's
premier urban outdoor recreation space, and a national icon, an international competition for the
design of the park was held in 2006, attracting more than 70 entries submitted by 170 firms from
24 countries.

Design

Gardens by the Bay includes a complex of two of the world's largest glass-roofed conservatories.
The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest were designed as an energy efficient showcase of
sustainable building technologies and to provide an all-weather “edutainment” space within the
Gardens. They are built without additional interior support (no columns) and have minimal
environmental footprints. Rainwater is collected from the rounded glass surface and circulated
through the cooling system which is connected to the Supertrees in the park outside the
conservatories.

Supertrees are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens' landscape with heights that range
between 25 metres (82 ft) and 50 metres (160 ft). They are vertical gardens fitted with
environmental technologies that mimic the ecological function of trees – photovoltaic cells that
harness solar energy which can be used for some of the functions of the Supertrees, such as
lighting, just like how trees photosynthesize; and collection of rainwater for use in irrigation and
fountain displays, like how trees absorb rainwater for growth. The Supertrees also serve air intake
and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories' cooling systems. There is an elevated
walkway suspended between two of the larger Supertrees for visitors to enjoy a panoramic aerial
view of the Gardens. At night, the Supertrees come alive with a light and music show called the
OCBC Garden Rhapsody. (Wikipedia)

Challenges

● Blend nature, technology, environmental management and imagination to create a 21st

century civic focus for tropical horticulture and a unique destination experience.
● Build massive glass conservatories without interior columns.
● Both conservatories have a dual system structure of gridshell and arches to permit as
much light as possible through to the planted displays within. The gridshell portion is very
fragile and is designed to only support its own weight and the weight of the glass.
● Wind loads are resisted by the arches that are set away from the surface of the envelope
and arranged radially in line with the geometry of the gridshell.
● Design a heating cooling system where temperature can be controlled accurately to three
different temperature levels optimising plant growth conditions and maximizing lifetime
without compromising on energy efficiency.
● Every consideration given to passive climate control techniques. A computer-controlled
system unfolds shades on the glass panels when the sun is too intense .
● Design cooling towers (Supertrees) for conservatories that double as a public attraction.
● Grow green walls up the Supertrees.
● Integrate solar panels to provide energy for evening light displays and plant irrigation.
● Suspend a secure aerial walkway among the tallest of the Supertrees.

Pacific Northwest Context

● How might we apply this level of civic creativity for green infrastructure integration in our
own communities?
● What is the planning timeline (decades?) for big projects like this to be developed? What
are the planning, design and construction phases? Who are all of the stakeholders?
● Outstanding slide show of the engineering and construction phases for the new Seattle
waterfront “Overlook Walk” built near the Pike Place Market where the Alaskan viaduct is
dismantled with traffic moved to an underground tunnel.
B. CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Development Review Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 24, 2014

Chair Needham called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.

Members present: Chair Bob Needham, Vice Chair Brent Ahrend, Gregg Creighton, Ann Johnson,
and David Poulson. Kelly Melendez and Frank Rossi were not present.

Staff present: Scot Siegel, Planning and Building Director; Leslie Hamilton, Senior Planner; Erica
Rooney, City Engineer; Amanda Owings, Traffic Engineer; Brant Williams, Director of
Redevelopment Agency; Evan Boone, Deputy City Attorney; and Janice Reynolds, Administrative
Support

PUBLIC HEARING
LU 13-0046: A request by Evergreen Group, LLC, for approval of a Development Review Permit to
construct a mixed use project (revised), including 207 residential units and 36,500 square feet of
commercial use in three buildings, with the following exceptions to the Community Development
Code standards:

• Residential uses on the ground floor in EC zone [LOC 50.03.003.1.e.ii]

• Reduced amount of storefront glazing [LOC 50.05.004.6.b.i]
• Retail parking entrance on 1st Street [LOC 50.05.004.10.b]
• Shared private/public parking provided on-site [LOC 50.06.002]

The applicant also is requesting removal of 25 trees to accommodate the development. Location
of Property: 140 A Avenue, (Tax Lot 08300 of Tax Map 21E 03DD). Continued from February 19,
2014, for consideration of revised submittals by the applicant; re-commenced on July 21, 2014;
then continued to July 24 to finish receiving oral testimony.

Chair Needham opened the public hearing. Mr. Boone outlined the applicable criteria and
procedure. Each Commissioner declared her/his business/employment. Vice Chair Ahrend related
that a co-worker might testify on the project, but that he would consider their testimony the same
as anyone else’s. Mr. Creighton declared an ex parte contact. No one challenged any
Commissioner’s right to consider the application.
C. Urban Renewal – a Case Study in Hong Kong
Edward S. H. Au (Hong Kong SAR, China)

SUMMARY The Kwun Tong Town Centre project in Hong Kong is one of the biggest urban renewal
and redevelopment projects ever since. Occupying a site area of 570,000 square feet, this
multibillion-dollar project will be the largest single project undertaken by the Urban Renewal
Authority (URA) affecting about 1,653 property interests and about 5,000 people. Most of the
existing buildings in the area were built in the 1960s, although 24 buildings are well over 40 years
old and quite dilapidated. Back-lane hawker stalls and temporary structures pose serious hygiene
and safety problems, with the poor sanitary conditions contributing to a hazardous living
environment. The project plans include residential and commercial developments, leisure and
recreational amenities, various community facilities, a public transport interchange, Government
offices, and medical clinic. A landmark building will be erected in Kwun Tong once the
redevelopment project is completed. The implementation of the project faces lots of challenges:
The project involves more than 1,600 property interests and around 5,000 residents, and over 500
shops and licensed hawkers are affected. Taking proper care of all these stakeholders, and
handling their re-housing arrangements, is a substantial and difficult task. Because of the
unprecedented scale of the project, the very large number of property interests involved and the
need to ensure that the offers made closely reflect market prices, 11 independent surveyors have
been appointed to work out offer prices for these properties. They are required to take into account
both current market conditions and the URA’s established compensation policies. Urban Renewal
– A case study in Hong Kong As the project covers a large area, the URA needs to consider factors
such as the appropriate density of development, the height of the buildings, and the transport
facilities required, while still preserving important original local features. A further goal is to meet
the needs of the ‘grass-roots’ local population by retaining some low-cost residential flats and shops
in the town centre. With a total development cost of over $30 billion, this large-scale project is the
most challenging development ever undertaken by the URA. Despite the high financial stakes
involved, the URA’s primary aim is to take care of the needs of the community and local residents.
However, the large investment in the area should also bring with it a host of economic benefits. This
paper aims to give an overall view of this mega urban renewal project highlighting the issues as
abovementioned.

Key words: Land distribution; Land management; Real estate development; Urban renewal;
Valuation; Urban Renewal Acquisition and Resumption Reshape Redevelopment
E. The urban regeneration of Plaine SaintDenis, Paris region, 1985–2020
Integrated planning in a large ‘Urban Project’
Paul Lecroat
The successful transformation of Plaine Saint-Denis (‘the Plaine’), in the Paris region (see Figure
1), has become a reference of how a long-term development vision can take advantage of the
organisation of a major event such as the soccer World Cup (1998). The declining industrial and
socially deprived area of the 1990s has become a multi-functional and diverse urban district in
which thousands of people work, live, study or have fun. This complex regeneration process, for
a long time only fuelled by public investment, is supported now by the private sector—but this
does not mean everything is solved, far from it. However, contrary to dominant trends
internationally and unlike other large-scale European regeneration projects,1 Plaine Saint-Denis
has managed to change while keeping many of its local businesses, its residents, and enhancing
its existing assets. Therefore the development process has kept and yet renewed much of the
identity of the area.

The main reason for this success is probably that the regeneration of this 750 hectare area was
not made up of one single large flagship project. It was instead a pragmatic process combining
study, multi-level planning, area-based action and good use of unexpected opportunities, but
always with the idea of supporting a balanced development of a wider area. The local elected
representatives now believe that the Plaine Saint-Denis area should play its part in a sustainable
metropolitan policy that they see as: Maintaining industrial activities and low-income households
in the heart of the Paris region, while intensifying urban space to attract new businesses and
people around a denser network of transport and social infrastructure. The ‘city model’ this
regeneration process refers to is clearly that of an inclusive mixed-use and pedestrian-oriented
city. But trying to do this on a small level in the context of a large western metropolis of around 11
million people is not an easy task. The results, after over 20 years of combined local and regional
efforts, reflect the unavoidable contradiction between being one of the strategic development
areas of a global metropolis and answering the needs of local residents. Moreover, the social,
economic and construction dynamics of Plaine Saint-Denis are so active that nothing can be said
for sure: who knows if the early pioneer residents and activities will still be there in a few years’
time?
Plaine Saint-Denis: Background
Plaine Saint-Denis is located directly to the north of Paris and to the south of the historic cathedral
city of Saint-Denis where the kings of France used to be buried. It lies at a strategic location on
the axis linking the metropolitan centre (Central Paris and La Défense CBD) to the Roissy-Charles
de Gaulle international airport (A1 Highway, Regional Rapid Transit RER B). It is well connected
to the two inner ring highways of the Paris region: the Paris Périphérique and the A 86 Orbital
(see Figure 2).
The economic downturn revealed the drawbacks of the Plaine: • Poor environment: built in 1960,
the 8-lane A1 highway cut through the area, bringing noise and air pollution to the residents. The
area has also site contamination problems caused by past industrial activity. • Low level of
infrastructure: very poor street network as the industries were served by an extensive rail network,
inadequate public transportation accessibility, poor quality of public spaces, lack of green spaces
and education infrastructure. • Poor housing conditions and social deprivation, with a declining
population, lowincome households, and an under-skilled workforce mostly of foreign origin.

Urban Renaissance: The First Steps

The creation of Plaine Renaissance
The first seeds of regeneration were planted when the local authorities founded Plaine
Renaissance in 1985, as a public-public partnership of Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers, Saint-Ouen and
the Seine-Saint-Denis county. Its task was to prepare an Inter-municipal Development Charter,
i.e. a shared local regeneration policy. This Charter, finally approved in 1991, was based on:

 A shared assessment of the situation.

 Common strategic goals, such as: improve the accessibility of the Plaine, maintain the
industrial potential, diversify the local economy (research & development centres, new
 fields of activity such as the image-industry, editing, electronics, etc.), develop a further
education centre, improve the quality of the environment and of housing, etc.
 New instruments to set up: A global spatial vision, a new public urban development
agency, a further education centre coordination committee, a mobility plan.
 The reinforcement of the local social and economic management system—a specific task
of Plaine Renaissance—and above all, a participative process with local communities and
businesses

The Urban Project for the Plaine

The Urban Project for the Plaine Saint Denis developed by Hippodamos 93 was approved in
1992. This non-statutory project gives a clear ambition and a long term, yet pragmatic, vision for
the development of the Plaine. One of the fundamental ideas of the Project was to enhance the
existing assets of the Plaine and to create the conditions for change. Creating a grid of generous
public spaces almost from scratch was an answer to that. This system opened up the industrial
fabric and reconnected the Plaine to Paris and to the neighbouring cities: East-West and North-
South 28 metre-wide multi-functional avenues were proposed. Along this new ‘green’ street
system, with the change of image, denser new mixed-use buildings and environments could be
developed in time (see Figures 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d).
Functional-mix building, social mix, and urban diversity, were at the basis of the Project. The idea
was not to remove existing productive activities, but to create the conditions for most of them to
remain and evolve. Strategic areas were designated, where strong public intervention was
needed in the short or medium-term to improve the environment:2 the main axis (Wilson avenue),
the gateways (Porte de Paris, Porte de la Chapelle, and Porte d’Aubervilliers), the Canalside and
the heart of the Plaine. Re-use of industrial buildings was seen as an asset for future development.
Plaine Saint-Denis, Today and Tomorrow
Achievements and projects The regeneration process of Plaine Saint-Denis is now well underway:
• Over 400 hectares of public or private redevelopments are ongoing or planned in about a dozen
projects, such as the European Movie City in a former electric power station, the new Convention
centre in Landy France, the future retail-led development at Porte d’Aubervilliers, the Confluence-
Saint-Denis station redevelopment, etc. (see Figure 12).
• Over 800,000 m2 of office space have been developed since the year 2000, turning this area
into the third largest service centre in the Ile-de-France (Pleyel-Stadium axis and Icade-EMGP
Business Campus). More than 900,000m2 are still to be completed in the next few years.
• Around 25,000 jobs have already been created in or have relocated to the Plaine— exceeding
the initial target of 23,000. This has been accompanied by a deep change in the nature of jobs
(most are white collar).
• About 5000 new housing units of different kinds (flats and terrace houses, rented and owner
occupier) been built since 2000—of which 35 per cent is social housing— allowing local people
to move and newcomers to settle in the Plaine. The newcomers include a wide range of different
social groups. However many of them are young couples arriving from more central areas, with
or without children and with lower to medium incomes. Half way from 2015, the initial targets will
be met, with 7000 more dwellings still to be developed, also with the same a social-private mix.
• An education and training centre in the heart of the Plaine area is emerging; it will be developed
in the next years with a new university campus devoted to human and social sciences.
• New public spaces, avenues, streets, squares, canal-side promenade, and new school and
social facilities, creating together new life units in the Diderot, Montjoie, Landy, and Stadium
quarters.
• A new identity has been created for the Plaine, partly derived from the diversity of architectures
and local ambiances
Learning From the Plaine Saint-Denis Regeneration
Plaine Saint-Denis has been undergoing a profound physical and economical transformation over
the last 10 to 15 years. Its image has changed completely, in a positive way. This is in itself a
great success. The regeneration process has, by some aspects, been quite exemplary, but there
are also weaker points about the way things were and continue to be done. Two questions will be
briefly discussed.
Planning, flexibility and urban management
Strong points:
• The location, design and management of the Stadium were good strategic decisions, well
prepared locally by the range of studies and proposals coming from Plaine Renaissance and
Hippodamos 93.
• The ‘World Cup effect’ was successfully used, with key-investments sparking off the
regeneration dynamic, changing the image, and building trust in the whole process.
• The concept of the area regeneration as a multi-functional, mixed-use, and innovative urban
area, not a CBD. The flexibility of the Urban Project meant that it was possible to fit the Stadium
into the plan and also to keep productive activities and existing structures and buildings as long
as possible.
• There has been good coordination and consistency between the 1991 Urban Project approach,
the area-based development, and the statutory plans: the 1994 Regional Structure Plan, the
revised local plans, and the recent Plaine Commune Master Plan.
• These plans have been closely related with sector-based plans and policies of Plaine Commune,
such as the Economic Strategy, the Housing Plan, the Social Regeneration Policies, the Retail
Structure Plan, the Environment Plan, etc.
• A rare result: Re-development without gentrification. There are more jobs and people by 2020
than ever before, without the gentrification process which large projects often imply, thanks to
public land acquisition policies and public housing policies.
Weaker points
• The area was not really planned as a regional urban centre, only as a local regeneration: It lacks
a real ‘city feeling’, a real heart, with vibrant urban intensity. Many urban functions (ie: shops,
leisure and cultural facilities) are spread out in the large area or cater mainly for local needs.
• As in many large-scale projects, there is still a mismatch between new job opportunities and
local skills. This is now been tackled through agreements signed between businesses, training
institutions and local authorities.
• There is still lack of medium- and high-income families, and also of old people. A more balanced
social and generation mix is still to come. On the other hand, lowincome residents and businesses
are increasingly threatened by rising land prices and rents.
• There is a need to improve and reinforce the quality and maintenance of the public realm, as
well as architectural and urban design, and environmental standards: Plaine Commune is
currently working of these topics. Governance, time and money Strong points
• The whole project is a story of consensus-building through open debate at different levels:
neighbourhood consultative councils, municipal councils, local authorities. Very few
developments have been opposed by citizens.
• Stakeholder involvement and public participation has accompanied the first part of the
regeneration process, in particular within the ‘Open Forums’ of the Plaine and the ongoing
‘Community Approach’ district management.19
• All this has contributed to build trust between public authorities and private parties: developers,
investors and final users are now being involved upstream in the different development schemes,
which was not the case before. Weaker points
• The overall process has been relatively slow. It took almost 15 years from the creation of Plaine
Renaissance to the growth boom of the very late 1990s.
• This is related to the fact the existing governance structure is not at the right level. After 1999,
the joint strategic project committee ceased to function, with the result that strategic regional
issues have often come second to local issues. The sheer number of players with different
interests requires more coordination.
• The overall ambition and spatial vision can sometimes get lost in area-based development
procedures and short-term logic. After 2000, the Urban Project was not updated and the previous
role of Hippodamos 93 has not been fully taken over by Plaine Commune.
• Government and regional investments are not sufficient to address the needs. As a result,
infrastructure improvements have been postponed many times: Extension of the M12 metro line,
North-South Plaine tramway, Orbital metro, restructuring of major interchanges, new road links
above the canal and railway tracks, Canal-Park, some educational and training facilities, etc.
Conclusions
Urban decline can be a rapid phenomenon, but regeneration is slow at first, then—once trust is
back—things can go very quickly, as if life had to catch up. The Plaine Saint-Denis area took off
after the 1998 World Cup—5 years after the wise decision to locate there the Stade de France
(1993) and over 10 years after the start of the regeneration process. The strength of Plaine Saint-
Denis regeneration approach is that it is not a single flagship project, but a coherent spatial vision
and strategy. However, with the market-forces now supporting the process, initial ambitions and
government support have weakened. This could in turn weaken the consistency and quality of
the final result. The combination of flexible physical planning, public direct intervention, support
of private investments and making use of opportunities, has worked fairly well in the Plaine Saint-
Denis regeneration process. Community involvement in the process by the local residents and
businesses has been successful. But at wider levels, for instance at the level of the Paris region
or internationally, Plaine Saint-Denis needs to build up a stronger image. The area lacks a real
centre and cultural landmarks—with the exception of the stadium. The regeneration is mainly a
local project supported by higher-level players, and not a metropolitan project supported by local
communities. However, in many aspects, the Plaine Saint-Denis regeneration process stands out
among other large-scale urban projects as trying out an original and interesting path to
sustainable development. Halfway from the initial time-frame (2015), a lot has been achieved,
probably more remains to be done. Unlike some ‘turn-key redevelopments’, the future of Plaine
SaintDenis remains very open.
V. BENEFITS OF URBAN RENEWAL
Urban Renewal: Benefits for the Community
• Creates new local jobs – temporary and permanent – and keeps earnings local.
• Establishes an environment that fosters growth in new businesses. • Promotes the introduction
of new housing products, and offers resources for reinvestment in established neighborhoods.
• Eliminates hazards and conditions that undermine the integrity and safety of the community.
• Stems the decline of property values and correspondingly the revenues of the municipality and
other taxing entities.
• Provides upgraded and needed infrastructure for future growth.
• Supports local historic preservation efforts.
Urban Renewal: Benefits for the Local Government
• Increases tax revenues from new businesses, consumer purchases and property taxes.
• Keeps sales tax dollars local for use within the urban renewal area or community at-large.
• Only method of financing capital improvements that does not require an increase in taxes.
• Contains costs associated with the provision of government services by using existing
infrastructure in a more fiscally-responsible way.
• Encourages in-fill rather than fringe development, resulting in a more efficient use of land and
lower municipal capital costs.
• More effectively leverages transit improvements, correspondingly lowers regional infrastructure
cost.
• Identifies capital improvements needed to stabilize existing areas and encourage reinvestment.
• Makes development within municipalities more cost-effective than sprawl development outside.
Urban Criticisms: Controversy over Urban Redevelopment
• Disillusionment has set in because more than a decade of federally supported redevelopment
in major cities has failed to make the headway expected against urban blight and the social
problems that blight creates and renewal is intended to relieve.
• Wholesale clearance of slum areas and pillar-to-post relocation of the families who lived there
have generated wide discontent.
• Members of racial and ethnic minorities who have seen the slum buildings they occupied
replaced by luxury apartment houses have grown resentful of city planning that rarely seems to
make adequate provision for their needs. James Baldwin, Negro author, recently put the feeling
in one short sentence: “Urban renewal means Negro removal.”
• Mike Harris argues that “…large scale urban projects represent a new way of planning the city
that is centrally concerned with marketing and the provision of competitive infrastructure….much
of today’s city making is undertaken by delivering a list of big, often disconnected projects with
the primary aim of attracting investment, the benefits of which are almost always reaped by the
private sector.”
VI. REFERENCES:

o https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/
o https://www.memphis.edu/law/documents/dickerson46.pdf
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
o https://www.mcgill.ca/mchg/student/neighborhood/chapter1
o http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ECAEXT/Resources/MonitoringWhatMatters_chapter4.
pdf
o https://kyombenideas.wordpress.com/notes-on-urban-renewal-defination-stategies-
success-or-failure/
o http://eres.scix.net/data/works/att/eres2011_72.content.pdf
o http://www.academicroom.com/topics/what-is-urban-renewal
o https://www.theclassroom.com/what-are-the-pros-cons-of-urban-development-
12079447.html
o https://urbanconsolidation.weebly.com/advantages-and-disadvantages.html
o http://lift-littleton.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/UrbanRenewalFactsBenefits.pdf
o https://www.sgsep.com.au/publications/best-practice-principles-urban-renewal
o https://books.google.com.ph/books Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in
Charlottesville, Virginia: An Oral History of Vinegar Hill
o https://unhabitat.org/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/GRHS2009CaseStudyChapter08Paris.pdf
o http://lift-littleton.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/UrbanRenewalFactsBenefits.pdf
https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1963082100
o World Building of the Year Award - Design Review https://www.e-
architect.co.uk/singapore/conservatories-bay-south-garden
o Beautiful photo montage video of Gardens by the Bay with no narration. (3:30 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMVQKk4kOCo
o Engineers for the project - Grant Associates
o http://grant-associates.uk.com/projects/gardens-by-the-bay-cooled-conservatories/
o Slideshow including engineering diagrams:
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_by_the_Bay
o http://grant-associates.uk.com/projects/gardens-by-the-bay/
o https://waterfrontseattle.org/Media/Default/Library/Design%20Commission/16_0721_De
sign%20Comm_OLW_FINAL.pdf
o https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/boc_drc/calendarevents/2
1283/drc_07-24-14_approved_minutes.pdf
o www.tandfonline.com
o edkitehousing.org.uk