Restructuring large housing estates in Europe: Restructuring and resistance inside the welfare industry

All over Europe post-Second World War large-scale housing estates face physical, economic, social and cultural problems. This book presents the key findings of a major EU-funded research programme into the restructuring of twenty-nine large-scale housing estates in Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Europe.

Policy and practice between and within the ten countries studied - UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, and France - is compared. While existing literature focuses on the negative aspects of large-scale housing estates, this book starts from the premise that the estates can be transformed into attractive places to live and focuses on the possibilities of sustainability and renewal through social, physical and policy actions.

Specifically, the book explains the origins and nature of contemporary problems on the estates; examines which policy objectives, measures and processes have had the greatest impact; assesses and compares a wide range of local, regional and national initiatives; discusses current ideas and philosophies, such as 'place making' and 'collaborative planning' that are likely to influence future policy and practice and provides good practice guidance for neighbourhood sustainability and renewal.

Written by a multi-national team of experts and drawing on original fieldwork, the book provides unique comparative insights into the present and future position of large-scale housing estates in Europe.

Restructuring large-scale housing estates in Europe is an invaluable resource for a wide audience of academics, researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of housing, urban studies, community studies, regeneration, planning and social policy.

The late Ronald van Kempen was Professor of Urban Geography at Utrecht University. His research focused on urban spatial segregation, urban diversity, housing, urban governance and its effects on neighbourhoods and residents, social exclusion, and minority ethnic groups.

Ivan Tosics is Managing Director of the Metropolitan Research Institute in Budapest.