Ecology and Sustainability

The Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 rightly helped to put ecology and sustainability on the agenda. Ecology and sustainability have been a thread running through integrated urban regeneration projects ever since. However, very few of the projects we have seen concern themselves seriously with the matter.

The American and Scottish projects neglect ecology and sustainability. A general reason for this is the fact that ecology has not been a present and obvious problem for the residents or the areas in question. Often, urban ecology problems are regarded as problems of lower priority, especially when residents are confronted with very serious social and economic problems. It is therefore necessary to have a broad-spectrum policy aimed at informing about environmental problems and their possible consequences so that the residents understand the importance of the problems to themselves.

Dutch and Irish examples show that ecological measures are often limited to, say, planting of trees or waste separation. Such measures have an obvious effect and can also be planned and implemented without a main project management, whereas more complex urban ecology problems can only be solved through a thorough analysis and central management.

The best examples of sustainability within the framework of integrated urban regeneration projects are provided by the German projects described here.

The example in Leipzig shows how an extremely poor ecological starting point, such as the situation in the Plagwitz area, is described through identification of the problems without forgetting the other aspects of integrated urban regeneration.

The environmentally managed town of Güstrow shows how the Agenda 21 process can be combined with integrated urban regeneration. With that, sustainability penetrates all areas of society. Ecology and sustainability are given top priority and are represented in the town's central management, which makes it possible to consider many more ecological aspects (e.g. renewable energy).

Generally, one must accept that integrated urban regeneration is not a direct route to truly radical realisation of environmental aspects. Besides the requirement concerning ecological sustainability, integrated urban regeneration also has to fulfil the requirements concerning social and economic sustainability.

Recommendations:

1. Ecology and sustainability should be a general theme in all activities.
2. Ecology and sustainability should be discussed from the very start (together with the collection of data and analyses).
3. The sustainability indicators must be defined and discussed locally.
4. All the parties involved should enter into a dialogue on ecology and sustainability. Information and PR work are often more important than the projects actually implemented. Ultimately, urban ecology is very much about changing behaviour.
5. Ecology not just for its own sake! The synergetic effect is obvious. Ecology can help to create jobs and social networks.
6. It is best if it is the local authority that shows, time and again, that it is prepared to implement ecological projects.
7. Integrated urban regeneration and the Agenda 21 process must be linked because the objectives overlap.

Sustainable urban regeneration

Owing to its past as a busy industrial area, Plagwitz has many contamination problems. 80% of the land was sealed at the start of the project. Large areas lie as wasteland, and the canal has also been affected.

In connection with the urban regeneration project, an analysis of the ecological situation has been carried out, and attention is being paid to sustainability in the design of public spaces, e.g. the local park, cycle paths and pedestrian streets, and rehabilitation of the canal. A rainwater basin has been built in order to improve the quality of the water and the piped water courses have been reopened.

The result is an improvement of the urban environment, better quality of life and new uses for public spaces.

Tree-planting project

The environmentally managed town

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