RISE (project proposal)

Regeneration takes a long time. What can be done in the “interregnum”, from start to finish of the operation?
RISE addresses this question, working on 3 issues:

Neighbourhood Academies on local and transnational level.
Regeneration is no longer only a task of city administrations. One single actor can no longer bare powers and responsibilities alone. For integrative regeneration all main stakeholders and the residents need to be on board to set up a common vision to which everyone adheres to. RISE will set up Neighbourhood Learning Academies to involve all parties concerned. And will use them also for transnational learning.

Temporary and transitory solutions
During the regeneration process the built environment is under attack.  Demolition and architectural renewal means inconvenience for the residents. During regeneration social and local supply structures get worse, not only for a few months but for up to a decade or so. The gap between visions for the future and the actual situation become wider and wider. This can undermine the desired success of the operation. RISE develops new methods and ideas through pilot projects to keep the areas attractive  during the operation  with added value for the future.

Continuous evaluation to steer the process
Evaluation (upon completion of the regeneration process) is often seen as a means to ensure that public funding was allocated in accordance to laws and rules and that the funding has lead to success. In addition to this limited role of evaluation, RISE implements new forms of evaluation for all phases of the process. This helps to steer measures and actions.

Topics we want to cooperate on
All partners make specific contributions and are keen to learn from other partner’s experiences. So there will be no single actions in RISE.  

RISE will cooperate on how to:

• Develop and implement Neighbourhood Learning Academies on local and transnational level
• Analyse and compare the different situations and approaches in the partner areas
• Develop and implement new ways  to incorporate new governance structures for integrated regeneration approaches
• Implement, analyse and compare new temporary and transitory measures to support (physical) regeneration processes
• Implement new evaluation methods to be used to steer the regeneration process
• Work on the implementation of visions and brands that already have been developed in the areas
• Discuss and clarify what the function of post war high-rise residential areas is for NWE’s cities as a whole, how their functions and images can be improved  and how their meaning for and in the cities can be reinforced.

Why is transnational cooperation necessary?
Post war high-rise residential areas were once regarded as the ultimate incarnation of new city models, supporting modern life. Nowadays  they are seen as failures resulting from outdated planning doctrines. NWE member states have initiated  programmes to regenerate these areas. Examples are the Socially Integrative Cities (DE), the New Deal for Communities (UK). These kind of programmes stress the need for learning and new thinking. To secure value for money they promote exchange of best practices, knowledge and experience.

RISE will do so on NWE level and installs Neighbourhood Learning Academies to facilitate local and transnational training and exchange. Transnational exchange is important for solving problems on local level, because RISE is exploring new ground. It is about developing a common way of thinking (e.g. to see residents as co-producers of their areas), changing ideas and gain new experiences. Transnational cooperation will lead to extra value because the different partners and member states have different backgrounds, knowledge and experiences.

Transnational cooperation will save costs because the partners complement each other’s investments and actions,

The RISE partners are in different stages of their regeneration process, but all of them face the same challenges: it is about bringing a vision or a brand into reality, it is about bridging the gap between physical regeneration (hardware), social diversity as engine for a better quality of life (human resources), and creating good governance (software). Some partners have more experiences on the one pillar, some have more experiences on the other, but for all of them transnational cooperation and learning will improve their integrated and long-term strategy.

The INTERREG IIIB IMAGE project showed that every neighbourhood needs a unique approach of similar tools used by all. In RISE Rotterdam University will compare local situations and help turn tailor made solutions into general tools for others.

Main actions and outputs
Actions and outputs are structured according to work packages:

In  WP 1 Neighbourhood Academies will be installed in the local areas for local and transnational training of residents, stakeholders and external people. The local academies will be set up according the areas specific’s needs and questions and  will thus have different focuses and tasks. To facilitate this the academies will be allocated in the neighbourhoods. Training modules will be developed and disseminated for different target groups.  A synthesis of training modules will be made available for general use.

In WP2 different temporary and transitory solutions to improve living conditions in the local areas during the regeneration process will be conceived and realised. Partners will start to exchange and analyse their experiences with small-scale activities. Then different measures will be taken:

• Community gardens in Newcastle, the Red Ribbon in Recklinghausen improves meaning, safety and quality of public spaces.
• After-school projects in Dublin and the temporary housing of a school in Delft support the social integration of youth.
• Newcastle, Delft, London and Recklinghausen work on measures to make earlier developed brands more alive by marketing, artwork and design.
• A catalogue of good practices will be published.

In WP 3 RISE develops, tests and implements new evaluation methods to be used to steer regeneration processes. Innovative measures for the inclusion of residents (Bristol) and the Mind World method (Delft) will explore new grounds. The partners will exchange experience with the use of these and additional local methods. The projects’ core team will analyse the methods to give recommendations to the partners. This will be used to steer the process at transnational level. A cross section of methods for new forms of local governance will be formulated by RISE and disseminated widely.