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Evaluating urban regeneration: An assessment of the effectiveness of physical regeneration initiatives on run-down industrial sites in the Netherlands

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  • Huub Ploegmakers

    (Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Management Research, Netherlands)

  • Pascal Beckers

    (Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Management Research, Netherlands; PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of physical improvements as a strategy to regenerate deprived and run-down urban areas, there is only limited evidence on the precise impact of these kinds of regeneration activities. A number of conceptual and methodological problems that impinge on all evaluations of regeneration policies have constrained the required evidence base. This paper evaluates the impact of publicly funded physical improvements of run-down industrial sites in the Netherlands and seeks to address several of these challenges; namely, selecting appropriate comparison areas, attributing change to specific interventions, access to small-scale, longitudinal data and selecting outcomes congruent with policy goals and rationales. Pooled data from various sources provide us with information on regeneration initiatives and other site characteristics for more than half of all sites in the country. Propensity score matching enables us to systematically compare economic outcomes related to regeneration policy goals between sites that have been subjected to regeneration and those that have not. The results of this study suggest that physical regeneration of industrial sites has a negligible effect on economic outcomes that are related to the most commonly articulated policy goals: the increase of employment, of firm numbers, of property values and of the intensity of land use on these sites. These findings add to a small but growing body of work that investigates the economic impact of regeneration programmes that fund physical investments on commercial and industrial areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Huub Ploegmakers & Pascal Beckers, 2015. "Evaluating urban regeneration: An assessment of the effectiveness of physical regeneration initiatives on run-down industrial sites in the Netherlands," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(12), pages 2151-2169, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:12:p:2151-2169
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098014542134
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fang He & Wendong Wu & Taozhi Zhuang & Yuan Yi, 2019. "Exploring the Diverse Expectations of Stakeholders in Industrial Land Redevelopment Projects in China: The Case of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-27, August.

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