Urban renewal: matter of opportunities; Design projects for East Amsterdam

Abstract

As part of the research project Renewal of Urban Renewal the master specialisation Hybrid Build-ings2 launched several Design Research Gradua­tion Studios proposing as main theme of investi­gation the role of architecture in contemporary urban renewal. The research project is starting from the observation that most urban renewal approaches until now have been focusing very much on the scale of the housing block, concen­trating on the relationships within the neighbour­hood itself. Considering the Dutch scene, despite a rather convincing renewal of the housing stock, this neighbourhood­based approach does not seem to deliver the desired results. In addition, this subject deserves particular attention in the current post­crisis period, in which the official authorities too are clearly switching their position, from a leading role to almost an undefined player seeking new operational strategies and opportuni­ties. Therefore, starting from the acknowledgment that urban renewal is no longer driven by a prede­fined economic, social and spatial agenda, the Renewal of Urban Renewal research project prop­agated the need of finding new balance, consen­sus and perspectives in the approach to urban transformations. Instead of massive restructuring processes characterising the first urban regenera­tion flow, nowadays reality argues for a more bot­tom­up driven urban renewal, for more limited interventions involving facilities, infrastructures and/or public space, in short, for new challenges and opportunities.