Urban Regeneration: Heritage, Conservation, and Development Strategies

This essay examines the utilization of heritage and conservation as tools for urban regeneration, focusing on their impact on economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability. It delves into the concept of urban regeneration, differentiating it from mere land redevelopment, and emphasizing its commitment to economic, social, and environmental concerns. The essay discusses the significance of historic buildings in urban regeneration, highlighting their contribution to community building and local economies. It explores strategies like the English Heritage Constructive Conservation in Practice and the role of public asset investment in driving private finance. Furthermore, the essay analyzes the King's Cross redevelopment project as a case study, illustrating the complexities and challenges of integrating heritage and conservation into urban development. It also discusses the role of local governments in urban regeneration, focusing on the rehabilitation of historic areas and the importance of balancing urban development with heritage preservation. The essay concludes by emphasizing the integral relationship between heritage, conservation, and urban regeneration in creating sustainable and vibrant urban environments.

Running head: HISTORY AND THEORY - PEOPLE, BUILDINGS AND CITIES
HISTORY AND THEORY - PEOPLE, BUILDINGS AND CITIES
How are heritage and conservation being used as instruments of regeneration?
Name of the Student:
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Introduction
Historic buildings should not be reserved as mere artefacts, historical objects of a bygone
age but on the other hand should focus on new uses which should be authorized in the buildings
as well as insightful adaptations aided when the unique use of a historic building no longer
shows relevance or significance. Regeneration is a broad term in an urban context entails large-
scale works intended to promote economic growth as well as smaller-scale works which enhance
the quality of life. Urban generation is at certain level referred to as ‘urban renewal’. In the view
of Le Feuvre et al. (2016), such preservation of cultural heritage and development is by virtue of
its influence of the attributes of the environment in addition to an area’s idea of place and its
potential to serve as a catalyst for regeneration of urban areas especially through the means of
economic, tourism, infrastructure as well as leisure development. In the United Kingdom,
regeneration developed as a fundamental policy of the ‘New Labour’ government between 1997
and 2010 which has established efforts in order to reverse the decline in regions of the country
which had suffered most from the downscaling of the industrial and manufacturing economy
under Thatcher’s Conservative government. However, in the course of these perspectives there
has been a ‘social’ dimension to the regeneration and secured within the sustainable development
agenda and should undertake physical, social, financial as well as environmental issues together
(Ripp and Rodwell 2016). The following essay will focus on the understanding the way heritage
and conservation being used as mechanisms of regeneration.
Discussion
Urban regeneration surpasses the efforts to situate vacant land areas and buildings to use
but has been identified to be efficient in strategically implementing policies in current urban

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areas with the primary purpose of building upon sustainability aims with utmost commitment to
economic, social as well as environmental issues. Such a concept has been termed sustainable
urban regeneration. According to Lees and Melhuish (2015), until recent times, urban
regeneration has been inclined in majority of economical issues of deprived regions. De
Magalhães (2015) has posited that on the basis of the experiences resulted to social exclusion,
migration and unemployment, social issues must be taken into account for forming more
socially, dynamic as well as economically important urban areas and further environmental
sustainability primarily implies of taking action against the global warming on environmental
pollution. Cugurullo (2016) has noted that over the time, regeneration has been driven and served
by several factors of retail, culture, heritage, infrastructure and public arts.
Such a knowledge-based financial system has been regarded as crucial form of
knowledge and understanding in their individual rights and efficiently forming an environment
of creativity which will successfully generate greater degree of innovation and creativity in other
economic sectors as well. Reports of Ripp and Rodwell (2016) have revealed that in relation to
the Heritage of England Parliamentary Select Committee supervising the Role of Historic
Buildings in Urban generation in the year 2004 has stated that historic buildings primarily aim to
provide a strong foundation for urban regeneration of many towns as well as cities of European
region. However, in the view of Lees and Melhuish (2015), regenerating these buildings tend to
strengthen a sense of community and further make substantial contribution to the local economy
and further serve as a mechanism for development to the wider area. At this juncture, Cugurullo
(2016) has shed light to the need and importance of regeneration strategies which can be
considered as a distinct role for historic buildings and further to determine multidisciplinary
teams in order to implement urban development.

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Launch of consultation on the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster
Source: Ripp and Rodwell (2016)
Brunetta and Caldarice (2014) have noted that the England policy framework reinforces
the significance and value of cultural heritage based regeneration. Furthermore, comprehensive
studies of Martínez-Molina et al. (2016) have shed light on Local Development Frameworks
(LDF) that have established a positive, proactive approach for preservation, conservation as well
as pleasure of historic cultural environment in their area, further taking into consideration the
variations in formation as well as distribution of heritage asset and contribution made by the
historic environment. Furthermore, Ripp and Rodwell (2016) have shed light on the English
Heritage Constructive Conservation in Practice which provides examples of certain agendas
where the creative and original development of brown field sites has produced substantial
economic affluence, offered provisions of new accommodations and public spaces and further
guaranteed the enduring preservation and maintenance of heritage assets and wealth. According
to Zheng, Shen and Wang (2014), regeneration can involve the investment of public asset in
order to encourage and direct private finance into a particular area. Governments typically
decline regeneration as being a supportive measure in areas of economic as well as social decline

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where market forces have failed. Said, Zubir and Rahmat (2014) have noted that urban
generation is a comprehensive as well as integrated vision and action which results to the
resolution of urban issues and further seeks to generate an enduring development in the
economic, physical, social and environmental conditions of an area which has been subject to
further progress and development.
The redevelopment of the former railway lands located at King’s Cross is identified as
one of the most significant regeneration projects in London, UK. Research conducted by authors
has revealed that the site has been partly recognized as a cultural heritage and preservation area
and further constitutes of around 20 historic buildings along with structures (Ripp and Rodwell
2016). However, according to English Heritage, the size of the urban development project has
given rise to a highly unapproachable regeneration challenge (Brunetta and Caldarice 2014).
The regeneration process has involved several constructive as well as collaborative pre-
application conservations with the English Heritage and Camden Borough Council which have
reportedly witnessed a period spanning of around seven years of preparation as well as public
consultation which required determining the technical, economic, planning as well as cultural
preservation challenges posed by the project. Martínez-Molina et al. (2016) have noted this as a
highly remarkable form authorization with the face value which has been drawing contradictions
to the management and supervision that would call for a comprehensive application for a
conservation area.

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King’s Cross Redevelopment
Source: Conejos et al. (2016)
According to English Heritage, there has been a comprehensive detail for understanding
as well as evaluating probable impacts on the historic environment and have been competent
enough to provide the urban developer with greater degree of flexibility in order to act
responsive to a shifting market. Meanwhile, Pendlebury (2015) has noted that development
promoted a constructive amalgamation of uses related to residential, public, arts, heritage and
culture and further shed light on the pedestrian of the area through well-analysed, articulated as

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well as landscaped pedestrian routes. Reports of Vicente, Ferreira and Da Silva (2015) have
revealed that the urban development has significantly generated greater amount of deference to
the current environmental resources. Additionally, authors have cited example of Regent’s canal
and reserved around 45% of the development area as a direct as well as open space network such
as gardens, squares along with natural parks. According to Dinardi (2015), the idea of
successfully creating sustainable places primarily includes promoting energy productivity and
further encouraging green tourism specifically generated from successful reuse of heritage
constructions and buildings to a huge initiative of promoting plantation and specifically from
sustainable building plan and to ensure successful social as well as cultural diversity.
Over the last years, local government in the UK have implemented schemas for urban
regeneration as well as rehabilitation of the historic areas, which have been particularly situated
in the degraded historic and heritage urban areas adjoining to the central districts (Mengüşoğlu
and Boyacioğlu 2016). Such initiatives have not only been implemented in order to enhance the
urban environment but further satisfy the continual demand for housing facilities in an
expansion situation to mitigate the sprawl impact related to the uncontrolled development on the
outer region of the city. Conejos et al. (2016) have noted that in majority of cases, these
rehabilitation plans tend to predict mutual action between the public and private sectors to
recuperate these areas, in order to stimulate greater residential, business, leisure in addition to
tourist attention. Furthermore, comprehensive studies of Huston, Rahimzad and Parsa (2015)
have revealed that communities along with local government have been emphasizing on the role
of historic, culturally built environment in successfully promoting economic as well as regional
development whereas others have been focusing on ensuring the way heritage and conservation
can stimulate the local as well as national financial system and further create employment

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opportunities by elevating rate of tourist as well as investment demands and providing leisure,
recreation as well as educational facilities. Meanwhile, Mısırlısoy and Günçe (2016) have noted
that the advantageous effects related to the development of the urban setting and living
conditions, the conservation and preservation along with restoration of cultural heritage facilities
which have been selected as cultural heritage tend to develop in externalities which further have
an impact on the economic activity, service and welfare of the area.
On the other hand, there can be identified comprehensive studies focusing on state
intervention process in the course of urban regeneration as well as planning along with their
effect on the residential areas and adjoining areas. Meanwhile, Castanheira and Bragança (2014)
have shed light on the elevating role of cultural heritage and conservation of historic
constructions in the processes of urban regeneration as well as sustainable development of cities
and regions. While, focusing on urban housing policies, Dinardi (2015) have emphasized on the
use of the planning system in order to deliver diverse kinds of affordable as well as inexpensive
accommodation provisions and the consequential styles and densities of urban housing
development. Meanwhile, Conejos et al. (2016) have argued and further supported the protection
of heritage on an urban scale without exclusive of the significance of urban development. Zheng,
Shen and Wang (2014) have noted that distinguished monuments with other historic
conservations in addition to the reserved vernacular architecture in the UK environment to be
inseparable parts of a whole; both not being inclusive without the other. However, Schuetze and
Chelleri (2016) have opined that from a heritage management perspective, it is not only the
catalogue of buildings or the recognition that every conservation construction within a city can
express cultural significance as well as value. On the other hand, Said, Zubir and Rahmat (2014)
have posed arguments that policy initiatives related to urban regeneration have been strategically

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implemented in order to enhance and modernize neighbourhood environments which have the
likelihood to emerge from the belief and value that neighbourhoods have an imperative and self-
determining effect on the welfare, security as well as life-chances of individuals.
New London Housing Vernacular
Source: Mısırlısoy and Günçe (2016)
Furthermore, when the urban scale-centric terminology has been re-evaluated, it has been
perceived to be gradually evolving from being related to explicitly appointed sites such as
historic, culturally heritage enriched towns and settlements towards highly generalized and less
defined names urban areas in addition to places as well as landscapes. However, Huston,
Rahimzad and Parsa (2015) have opined that the concept of an integral as well as holistic
approach towards heritage and urban regeneration in majority of heritage-related international

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cultural policy areas. Furthermore, according to Mısırlısoy and Günçe (2016), the World
Heritage Convention has emphasized on states parties in approving a general policy which
fundamentally aims to offer the cultural and natural heritage a role in the life of the community
and further to put together the safety of that heritage into all-inclusive planning initiatives as
cultural heritage has been dying out with destruction not only by the long-established reasons of
decay, but also by shifting social as well as economic conditions which worsen the condition
with highly formidable occurrence of damage or demolition.
In other expression use of cultural heritage and conservation for urban regeneration has
been considered to serve as an inclusive as well as holistic approach whereby to consider
heritage and where the site in itself is no longer an end and has been positioned in a social,
economic, environmental as well as cultural context, whereby the process becomes emphasised,
in addition to or even over the site itself (Mengüşoğlu and Boyacioğlu 2016). The urban
regeneration implies that even with focusing on safeguarding individual constructions and
cultural heritage buildings, the primary emphasis should be on the whole particularly at the scale
of the urban as well as the individual construction, both including spatial, effective and narrative
qualities. Drawing relevance to these implications, Macdonald and Cheong (2014) have noted
that not only the use of culture, heritage conservations should serve as a shield of historical and
culturally enriched monuments which will be integrated in an extensive strategy of sustainable
urban regeneration, but it should further obtain greater degree of knowledge of the individual
buildings, monuments and unique areas relate to one another and have been considered as vital
part of a process of urban regeneration. Moreover, Vicente, Ferreira and Da Silva (2015) are of
the opinion that strategically using heritage and conservation as a mechanism tends to facilitate

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the protection and preservation of urban landscapes through the protection of their imperative
social as well as economic mechanisms in history.
Additionally, Macdonald and Cheong (2014) have noted that the future of heritage
management has been expected to become increasingly more about ‘considerate change’ rather
than exclusively focusing on the protection of historic buildings and ensembles. Such an
approach essentially calls for a change of policy fundamentally at the local level further aided by
national policy, with a policy framework in order to support the concept of urban heritage which
has been developed over the past few decades. As a result, in order to achieve this approach,
several concepts, schemes, mechanisms and management tools have been developed over the last
few years and further the process of measuring the value and vitality of heritage and
conservatism. Conejos et al. (2016) have further claimed that the inclination towards integrating
heritage and conservation management with sustainable urban development is highly imperative.
Moreover, from both the urban regeneration as well as conservation perspectives there can be
identified urgency for the development of heritage and conservation by using tools as well as
instruments in order to encourage incorporating culture and heritage and further implementing a
landscape-based approach on both national as well as local level.
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, regeneration is related to modernizing places for betterment.
Moreover, regeneration fundamentally focusing on forming dynamic, safe as well as highly
attractive communities which are well planned as well as well-designed with a highly diverse
and magnetized cultural environment in addition to a sense of identity and pride. Nonetheless,
there can be identified a likelihood for urban regeneration activities to specifically focus on

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physical development and modernization as tangible and observable achievements. Thus
involving communities has an imperative tenet of regeneration framework for generations along
with evidences of constructive engagement and knowledge of diverse models which have
developed. However the way urban regeneration has been implemented tends to remain an
imperative area of discussion. Thus, there is an essential need to comprehend the extensive
ecological, cultural, social as well as economic factors which have been resultant to urban
regeneration interventions.