What is urban renewal?
Urban renewal is the improvement and renewal of existing parts of a city by renovating homes, demolishing and replacing outdated buildings, or filling empty sites with new buildings. The aim is to make a neighbourhood good to live and work in again, without the city spreading outwards. In Dutch it is called stadsvernieuwing.
Three forms
- Building on previously unbuilt land within the city, such as former industrial or railway land. This is also called urban infill or brownfield development.
- Large-scale clearance and redevelopment. A whole area is demolished and rebuilt.
- Small-scale infill. Gaps in a historic street are filled with new buildings that fit in scale, rhythm and materials, without necessarily copying the old style.
In the Netherlands the term is closely linked to the 1970s and 1980s, when many nineteenth-century homes in older districts of cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam were renovated or replaced. In Rotterdam this was known as ‘building for the neighbourhood’: original residents were meant to be able to stay in their area.
Application
- Buying a renewed home? Homes from these programmes were often thoroughly rebuilt behind the old facade. Ask when the renovation took place and what was done: foundations, floors, services.
- Check the insulation. Many renovations from that era have little or no wall and roof insulation, which is often a good opportunity for improvement.
- Check the foundations. In cities with timber pile foundations it is not always clear whether the foundation was repaired during renovation. Ask the local authority or archive for records.
- Plans in your area? New schemes usually include public consultation. Respond in time.
Common mistake: assuming a renovated home is also energy efficient. A renovation from forty years ago rarely meets today’s standards.
Related terms
- Urban infill
- Renovation
- Repurposing
- New Urbanism
- Facade renovation
- Pile foundation
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