LIVEABLE CITIES – FOUR EXAMPLES OF THE URBAN REGENERATION

Abstract

This paper is devoted to urban regeneration in the context of increasing the quality of urban space and creating a liveable city. The paper consists of four parts. The first part contains general considerations regarding urban regeneration and highlights that regeneration is an important issue driving the creation of contemporary urban space in Europe. In the second part of this paper results of the OIKONET project will be described and discussed in detail. OIKONET – A Global Multidisciplinary Network on Housing Research and Learning was a Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission. During a workshop, an international group of students and teachers from European Universities worked on urban rehabilitation of Kosančićev Venac in Belgrade. The third part presents an overview of the activities of the Urban Farmers movement, which aims to educate city residents on growing food in urban utilitarian gardens and on taking care for their neighbourhood landscape in an environmentally-friendly way. In the fourth part of the paper, ways to improve the situation in Bialystok through small scale urban acupuncture action undertaken by students on the Urban Design course are discussed. In conclusion, ethical land use patterns to reduce extreme economic disparities will be emphasized. The presented cases showed that many European countries have similar issues and highlight the need for bottom-up approaches to achieve sustainable communities. Making our cities liveable requires not only improving existing structures but it is also necessary to adopt strategies that intertwine environmental, social, psychological issues in the dynamics of renovation.