Tool 12 Concerning the integrated action plan

Transcription

1 Tool Concerning the integrated action plan

2 Tool Concerning the integrated action plan 200

3 Outil Tool x III. Strategy Tools for action to renovate historic centres Josep Armengol Architect and town planner Manager of FORUM S.A. (Manresa) Spain We can define three categories of instruments which are necessary for action in historic urban areas: Instruments for planning the project which define the objectives and justify the action to be taken Instruments to manage the project which will ensure that the plan is carried out properly Instruments for participation and monitoring to guarantee that all the objectives are achieved 1. Instruments for planning An in-depth diagnosis which enables us to understand in full the situation to be dealt with. This diagnosis must also explain the causes which have led to the area being abandoned or falling into decay. This is essential in order to design and plan the action and strategies required to restore the area. That is to say, that in order to rectify the neglect and destruction that has occurred in many historic urban areas it is essential to know the causes of this situation and the events which lie behind it. The instruments required for planning have to go beyond a diagnosis and need to be devised according to two main coordinators: wholeness and scale. The principal of wholeness is a principal of horizontal or oblique coordination which guarantees a complete and coordinated treatment of all the sectors which need to be dealt with, directly or indirectly, in the restoration process in order to begin successfully. This means integrating and coordinating territorial, physical and structural aspects with demographic, social and economic aspects. The principal of scale is the principal of vertical coordination which, on the one hand, ensures proper articulation and integration of specific activities in order to act within a partial area-that of the neighbourhood,-while employing a superior urban strategy-at least in the municipal sense-using the global idea of the city. On the other hand, this same principal must guarantee that all the other inferior activities-buildings, services, programmes,...- are not only valid in themselves but also within the context of wholeness. In order to be more specific about the instruments required for the planning of restoration activities, it is important to differentiate between different levels of planning tools. The majority of these, given that they are designed to legislate on the action to be The fundamental planning tool is the Integral Plan of rehabilitation, which gluttonizes the conjunct actions by sectors and their respective programs. carried out, are of a legal nature. For this reason, they depend to a great extent on the type of legal rulings which regulate urban activity in each different context. Here we are referring to instruments which go from the legal ruling which establishes methods and guidelines for general action to the rules for urban planning which legislate on specific activities to physically transform the city. The legal rulings are based on legal texts: Laws, acts, rulings, municipal regulations, In this area of planning permission we also have to include direct supra-municipal planning, general urban planning, and detailed urban building projects which are all regulated by the relevant urban planning laws such as the Plans Especials de Reforma Interior (Interior Renovation Plan) and the Estudis de Detall. In spite of the possibilities that all these different regulations seem to offer us when planning urban renovations, in the majority of cases it is difficult to benefit from these laws. In many cases, despite the fact that urban legislation in the majority of European countries includes planning options, the same laws ignore and don t include the specific management tools to enable action in historic urban areas. In any case, the most important thing here is to emphasise the need to decide planning and management instruments at the same time and to coordinate them. Only by 201

4 III. Strategy Outil Tool xtools for action to renovate historic centres doing this, will we avoid the lack of coordination which can make urban restoration impossible. The planning tools determine the method and scale of the project, as well as the amount of renewal as opposed to restoration required according to the option value. At the same time, due to the fact that these projects are organised by the public sector, it is normal to decide within the planning tools the level of private involvement in the process. Apart from the legal planning instruments, which, as we have seen, mainly apply to the physical modification of buildings, there are other mechanisms which are just as important. These are social mechanisms or tools which involve direct support for people such as for example, the Schemes to promote economic activity or the Schemes to create Social Services. The objective of the Schemes to promote economic activity must be, above all, to introduce new business into the area while maintaining businesses and services which, despite adversity, have managed to survive. The process of degradation of an area tends to accompany a gradual closing of businesses and services and therefore new business activity along with the employment prospects it offers the residents is usually a fundamental strategic requirement for its revitalisation. The Schemes to promote economic activity often include training programmes, ways of promoting employment, services to advise people and encourage new business and they often contain programmes to introduce strategic activities into the area, for example the promotion of tourism. Another issue is that in these run down areas there tend to be specific social problems. Sometimes these problems are due directly to the neglect of the area but sometimes the social problems are the same as in the rest of the city only more intense. To deal with this specific social problem in run down areas, it is necessary to plan a social policy through the Schemes which promote social services, which like all the other planning tools must be consistent with the social planning designed for the city as a whole. Some examples of the programmes that can be included in the Schemes to promote social services are the specific programmes for elderly people, the programmes for receiving and integrating immigrants, the programmes for infants and adolescents and the schemes which fight against social exclusion. Finally, within the tools for planning a revitalisation project, we have to underline the importance of the Integral Schemes for revitalisation. The Integral Schemes are a fundamental planning tool which coordinates across the different sectors and programmes. The Integral Schemes for revitalisation are a tool which guarantees that in the revitalisation process all the problems are dealt with using a common strategy and also that this is done within a process of global development at city and territorial level. In other words,, the Integral Schemes are the main guarantee of the principles of wholeness and scale. As we will see later on, the Integral Schemes for revitalisation are not only a fundamental planning tool in the process of urban renovation but also a tool for management, participation and follow-up. 2. Instruments for management The regulations in our countries have tended to make provision for increases in the size of cities but not for renovation. In this way, The Action Plan must provide for the creation of a renovation office or management body. Panel for the office at Selva del Camp, Catalonia (Spain) Planning tools must include all interventions in open space. Gonoscodina, Sardinia (Italy) 202

5 Outil Tool xtools for action to renovate historic centres III. Strategy these legal tools have favoured the extensive city model, a model which cannot be sustained environmentally, economically or socially. From an environmental point of view, this model is undesirable not only because it involves indiscriminate use of land, but also because of the type of mobility it creates. From a social point of view, this model is also undesirable because it causes social segregation in urban areas. In fact, the prevalence of these regulations, along with the lack of specific laws to encourage the maintenance of our historic areas, are the two factors which have caused the gradual abandonment of these areas leaving them in the state of neglect in which we find them today. Here, we also want to stress the importance of the law as a legislative tool for management of projects. We need new legislation, specifically urban legislation, to make the revitalisation of our historic areas viable. This is the challenge for many countries and some countries have made more progress in this area than others. Here, a good example is France, which has for a long time been the leader in this area having created a wide range of laws designed to improve the management of revitalisation projects in depressed areas. For example, the right of repurchase and the power of mayors to declare properties uninhabitable if they do not meet a minimum standard. There is also a wide range of laws which make provision for a wide range of specific cases with different criteria for action and with specific tools for management (areas where urban architectural heritage is protected, perimeters for property renovation, protected areas...) These are some of the management tools that France has introduced to make revitalisation projects in historic areas viable and effective. In the last few years, some of these laws have also been passed in Catalonia. Specifically, in the year 2004, the Catalonian Government passed several laws which establish specific management tools for action in historic urban areas: The Llei 2/2004 (Law 2/2004) of 4 of June for the improvement of neighbourhoods, urban areas and towns requiring special attention, and the decret 369/2004 (Act 369/2004) of 7 of September which develops it further. The Llei 10/2004 of 24 of December which modifies the urban Llei 2/2002 of 14 of March. The Decret 454/2004 of 14 of December, which includes the Plan for the right to housing , modified and updated by the Decret 244/2005 of 8 of November The Decret 455/2004, of 14 of December, which regulates the Plan for the renovation of housing in Catalonia. Before these laws were passed, Catalonian urban legislation already included some valid tools for managing projects in historic urban areas but few people were able apply them. Some examples are the law of municipal heritage of land, the register of sites where building has been compulsory, the units for urban action and the system for expropriation. But, the great limitation of these instruments has been that none makes provision for the financial viability of these activities and therefore they depend on the amount of deficit that the public bodies are able to or willing to incur. With this range of laws, urban management of restoration projects has many new instruments at its disposal such as the possibility of repurchasing or the possibility to demand building work to rectify situations where property doesn t reach habitable standards, and thus it legislates for the intervention of local government. But above all, these laws provide effective tools for Universitary building near a new square in the old centre of Barcelona (Spain). Adrià Goula 203

6 III. Strategy Outil Tool xtools for action to renovate historic centres the financing of the project. Some of these, offer direct financing which can be obtained from the law for improvement of neighbourhoods requiring special attention or the Act 455/05 which provides financial assistance for the renovation of houses and buildings with houses. Other tools for financing are indirect, such as the reversion of capital gains from the moment of compulsory cessation of urban use deriving from renovation. In this urban context, when dealing with the question of management tools, we must not forget that it is essential that the public sector leads these processes of urban revitalisation. However, we also need to emphasise the necessity to involve the private sector in the process. In fact, the success of a renovation process cannot be guaranteed if private companies are not involved in it in the same way as they are involved in other building processes in the city. For this reason, it is important that the public bodies establish agreements with all the private companies who could be involved in theses processes. Agreements, for example, with the main service industries (electricity, water, gas, telecommunications,...), agreements with professional organisations in the technical field (architecture, technical architecture, engineering,...), agreements with private companies such as the manufacturers of the materials for the renovations and above all, obviously, agreements with banks. Finally, it is important to bear in mind that the agreement, as a tool for management or to enable the renovation has to include a commitment from the proprietors and the financial backers to carry out specific activities for urban renovation. With the same goal of encouraging private involvement in the process of urban renovation, another important tool is the system of financial assistance for renovations. It consists of several types of financial support and has proved to be a way of encouraging private involvement. It offers proprietors and financial backers a range of resources which give them technical advice and financial help in order to minimise their risk in backing the renovation of an area in a state of degradation as opposed to backing new construction in new urban estates where everything is much easier, much more secure and much more predictable. Within the area of legal options as a management tool for renovation projects, we must emphasise the importance of territorial legislation. There is a legal framework which if applied effectively can help tremendously in the renovation of run-down areas but if it is applied incorrectly it can produce the opposite effect and condemn theses areas to permanent decay. Here, I refer to territorial aspects such as the fiscal aspect, the civil aspect, the housing aspect or the aspect of construction in general One of these is the fiscal aspect. We must remember that there is generally a high level of tax levied on urban building projects regardless of whether these projects are for the improvement of historic areas or for the growth or extension of the city. The It is important to have a single, multi-competent manager so as to promote and coordinate the conjunct of necessary actions for the correct development of the rehabilitation process. experiences in countries like France, where the fiscal burden, with reduction or exemption of taxes, is reduced considerably to encourage private business to invest in the renovation of rundown areas, are a good example of how this management tool can be used. Legislation regarding urban rental, or legislation which regulates ownership of property, as well as all the legislation regulating building projects or the protection of historical and architectural heritage, are further examples of legal tools for the management of urban renovation. When I spoke earlier about tools for planning, I referred to the need for leadership from public bodies, especially local authorities, when embarking on an urban renovation project. This leadership is also required for the development and management of the project and for the coordination of all the different parties involved. As can be gathered from everything mentioned above, the different models for the management of projects to restore rundown urban areas are designed legally according to the legislation in each place. However, despite the differences that we can see from the experiences in different places, in all cases, there was a necessity to have one single management body with many skills to promote and coordinate all the activities involved in carrying out the renovation process correctly. This body is a fundamental tool in ensuring that these processes are carried out correctly. It is always a body which is linked to the local authority or acts in its name and these bodies can have different legal frameworks: private businesses funded publicly, public bodies, trusts, ad hoc departments, etc. 204

7 Outil Tool xtools for action to renovate historic centres III. Strategy Another very important tool is the system of economic aids, subventions as well a tax breaks in attracting the private initiative to the process. publicly to more complex tools such as community involvement in which the neighbours take part in public debates and are involved in the planning, management and follow-up of the project. The most obvious instruments for participation are those which take into account the situation of the people most directly affected by the urban renovation process. These people share a specific environment (a street, a neighbourhood,...), they share the same problems and the challenge of overcoming them and they also share human, cultural and economic resources. This is the basis for the development of a community in which we can encourage a constructive dialogue between the people and groups who make up the community and also encourage a capacity for collective organisation. In order to guarantee the coordination of the different parties involved, the correct allocation of resources, the proper execution of the restoration project and the review of the project as necessary, we require two types of instrument. Instruments for follow-up The system of indicators 3. Instruments for monitoring and participation. The final group of instruments for restoration projects are those of follow-up and participation. An integral restoration programme carried out without the involvement of the population directly or indirectly affected by it, is bound to fail. In order to guarantee the success of these projects it is necessary to devise methods for participation in order to involve various groups and above all in order to obtain the opinions and the support of inhabitants both when embarking on the project and when carrying it out. There are many models to ensure participation which have evolved as our society has evolved economically, socially and culturally. With these participation systems, the citizens, as individuals or as groups, are given a key role in the process of restoration of their neighbourhood. That is to say, that these systems enable the people most affected by these projects to decide how they want their future to be designed. A participation process is not simply a way of informing the inhabitants what the plans are for the restoration of their neighbourhood. It is something more complex. The aim of theses processes is to make residents aware of their common problems and of the current and potential resources that they have at their disposal to solve them. Also, these processes have to encourage collective organisation when it comes to facing the problems and dealing with them. There are many ways of inviting inhabitants to participate in the urban restoration process. From simply explaining the plans With the creation of specific bodies, with representation and participation of all the parties involved (the different public authorities, the private companies, the neighbours, the local business proprietors, the banks,...), we guarantee that all the action to be carried out is followed up correctly. Here I refer to organisations like Committees for technical and political coordination, the Committee to guide the process, the Boards of financial institutions, local councils and also the unique Managing Body or authority leading the project which I mentioned before. The other fundamental tool to ensure that the project is followed through properly is the System of indicators which periodically allows us to evaluate the project, and decide to what extent the work is being carried out according to the objectives set in the plan of action at the beginning of the process. Establishing a System of indicators allows us the compare work carried out with the original plan and to compare specific work with work in the area as a whole. The requirements that the System of indicators needs to meet are very simple. In fact the indicators have to be easily measurable and easy for everyone to understand. It should be noted that here we are not only talking about indicators but a system of indicators and system means a group of indicators which enables a global interpretation. In this way the system of indicators can create ratios which incorporate diverse indicators. Finally, it is necessary to be able to measure these indicators frequently so that the decision-making bodies can interpret them. The System of indicators must not only monitor action and check that the objectives are being achieved, it must also enable corrective action to be implemented to optimise the execution of 205

8 III. Strategy Outil Tool xtools for action to renovate historic centres plans, programmes and projects in the urban restoration process. In order for the system of indicators to be effective, it must cover all areas of activity and bear in mind the physical, social and economic aspects. As well as being a follow-up tool, the indicators can form part of the process of dialogue and communication and they can be used as part of a policy to inform people and make them aware of the situation. We have seen three categories of tools or instruments for the process of urban restoration, which despite historical or cultural differences or differences in scale, enable us to plan, carry out and ratify urban renovation projects. Therefore, these instruments applied systematically can enable us to take action everywhere in run-down or abandoned urban areas and to incorporate into these areas the aspects of life today. In this way, we will transform them into neighbourhoods which are lively and full of activity and which will form part of our contemporary city. The Action Plan must also include initiatives aimed at promoting renovation and attention to heritage The multidisciplinary discussion is important when it comes to defining the aims and objectives of the Plan. Renovation office at Gardaïa, Algeria The drafting of the Action Plan must include the participation of all agents in the area 206

9 Tool Concerning the integrated action plan III. Strategy Evaluation and choice of interventions in traditional environments. The case of Nicosia Eleni Petropoulou Architect Masterplan for Nicosia Cyprus Within the framework of a rehabilitation effort, either for a historic city centre or for the traditional core of a village, the choice of an architectural project is or should be the result of a long procedure, which takes into account a number of factors concerning space and economy, in a larger scale, beyond the vicinity of a certain building. This procedure consists in a series of stages, each one having its own importance, in order to provide a concrete base for the successful implementation of any project. The factors which have to be considered are in general social, economic and cultural, and those should be analyzed through a methodology which follows the basic steps of analysis-synthesis-action. The analysis of all these factors and data, targets the interpretation of the social structure and the economy base of the study area, including population analysis, land use survey, economic survey and identification of problems and prospects of the economy and society. It also comprises or it should comprise surveys concerning the quality of the architectural heritage found within the study area, as well as the analysis and evaluation of the existing building stock, its problems of social and economic decline and its prospects for development. Through this analysis, a general strategy will develop within the framework of the overall regeneration strategy for the historic city centre or for the traditional core of a village. This strategy will set out the policies and measures of intervention within the study area, and will specify certain development areas and priority projects. Within this planning procedure cultural heritage is considered as a major aspect for the formation of policies and strategies setting out the rehabilitation of the study area. Following the identification of special development areas and priority projects, the choice of certain projects lays on more specific factors, which are the availability of a building and its capability for being restored in order to host certain uses. It is very important to incorporate a number of factors in each choice in order to serve the main objectives of an intervention. Within the framework of a rehabilitation effort, it is important that the chosen project is serving the main objective of restoring and conserving a part of the architectural heritage within the study area. At the same time the project should promote certain uses which provide the local community with facilities or which reinforce the economic base of the area. It should serve the most vulnerable parts of the population, targeting the strengthening of their social and economic position in the society. The Master Plan for Nicosia specified in detail the actions and projects to be realized in the historic center of the city to revalue it, establishing priorities of action. Last but not least, it should of course provide the investor with profit, in order to become a successful example for others to follow. In the case of Nicosia, a divided city since 1974, the overall regeneration strategy was formed within a bi-communal effort, in The output of this joint effort was a document - the Nicosia Master Plan which consists of the general policies for the Street in Nicosia 207

10 III. Strategy Tool Concerning the integrated action plan Evaluation and choice of interventions in traditional environments. The case of Nicosia Plan for operations established in the Master Plan for Nicosia, Cyprus / NMP rehabilitation of the historic centre of a unified Nicosia. (Figure 1) This document still provides the basis for all efforts to intervene in the divided walled city, either bi-communal or for each side. All projects implemented within the historic centre are projects that the Nicosia Master Plan identifies as priority ones (Figure 2 and 3). The public sector local authorities, central government generally respects the priorities set out by the NMP for the historic centre and implements projects which promote the effort for rehabilitation of the declined walled city. At the same time, policies and incentives for listed buildings reinforce the efforts of the private sector to invest in the historic center by restoring important buildings. A large number of special projects are being implemented by the NMP team a cooperation of the two communities - from 1989 until today, focusing on : the restructuring of the Central Area of the city, the rehabilitation and renovation of important areas of the historic centre, the improvement of traffic and transportation, and visual improvements in landscaping, urban form and urban design. Nearly a hundred projects on both sides are listed as NMP Projects, funded either by local funds or by foreign organizations committed to contribute to the revitalization of Nicosia as a whole. (Figure 4) At the same time, these projects having an impact on the building environment and in the economy of the study area, they reinforce any effort from the private sector to invest within this area. It is important that the public sector implements projects that provide social community services and infrastructure, in order to facilitate any project issued from the private sector, for which the most important criteria are economic. 208