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intervention strategies for renovation of social housing estates

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Theoretical background Chapter 2<br />

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />

Most <strong>of</strong> the buildings were completed after the 1950. The majority was built between the<br />

1960s and the 1970s. This was possible thanks to the new building techniques that allowed<br />

fast realization at lower costs <strong>of</strong> especially large <strong>housing</strong> <strong>estates</strong> 1 . Due to the necessity to<br />

produce large number <strong>of</strong> dwellings in a short period, many countries experimented with new<br />

building methods and non-traditional building materials (Andeweg et al, 2007). During the<br />

1960s, the construction <strong>of</strong> high-rise 2 flats predominated in many European cities, culminating<br />

in a high-rise boom that in most <strong>of</strong> the Western countries lasted <strong>for</strong> no more than 10 years<br />

(Wassenberg, 2004).<br />

Since the demand <strong>for</strong> <strong>housing</strong> necessitated the rapid production <strong>of</strong> large numbers <strong>of</strong><br />

dwellings, the emphasis was put on quantity, instead on quality. Dwellings in multifamily<br />

blocks were supplied with minimum but sufficient equipments. Consequently, the current<br />

European <strong>housing</strong> stock originating from that period is, according to today’s standards,<br />

insufficient on both technical and functional per<strong>for</strong>mances. After about sixty years, the<br />

quality <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> these buildings has decreased and the standard <strong>of</strong> what was considered as<br />

functional quality at the time, has changed significantly (Andeweg et al, 2007). There<strong>for</strong>e,<br />

technical and functional quality <strong>of</strong> the existing stock needs to be adapted to the current<br />

<strong>housing</strong> standards.<br />

The idea behind the plan <strong>of</strong> these neighbourhoods was the concept <strong>of</strong> idealistic <strong>housing</strong><br />

characterized by spacious and well lightened dwellings in multifamily blocks in wide green<br />

areas. Notions <strong>of</strong> rational, efficient, healthy and functional buildings found their way right in<br />

the layout <strong>of</strong> large-scale neighbourhoods (Wassenberg, 2004). The separation <strong>of</strong> residential,<br />

employment and transports was a key concept (Turkington et al, 2004 and Hall et al, 2005 in<br />

Van Beckhoven et al, 2005). The neighbourhoods were defined as independent areas<br />

furnished with educational, commercial and business facilities, <strong>of</strong>ten located per estate.<br />

However, it happened that these additional functions were realized after the completion <strong>of</strong><br />

the states. With the ideas <strong>of</strong> the 1930s and the techniques <strong>of</strong> the 1960s, many new areas<br />

were developed. These were to be modern alternative <strong>for</strong> the stuffy and narrow tenement in<br />

the inner cities (Wassenberg, 2004).<br />

The building lots areas were <strong>of</strong>ten located on the edge <strong>of</strong> the city, occupying free land. The<br />

neighbourhoods were realized following strict urban developments plan that did not allow<br />

freedom in the design and imposed repetition.<br />

It seems that a great influence to the development <strong>of</strong> this idealistic neighborhoods has been<br />

given by the thoughts <strong>of</strong> Le Corbusier who, right in this period, introduced his well-known<br />

Ville-Radieuse concept as the solution to the European <strong>housing</strong> problem at the third<br />

‘Congress International d’Architecture Moderne’ (CIAM, 1930) (van Beckhoven et al, 2005).<br />

Nowadays, the large <strong>housing</strong> <strong>estates</strong> represent an important part <strong>of</strong> the cities all over<br />

Europe. It has been estimated that in Central and Eastern Europe, excluding the <strong>for</strong>mer<br />

URSS, about 34 million people live in large prefabricated <strong>estates</strong> (Van Kempen et al, 2006).<br />

In most <strong>of</strong> the European cities, many people do not have many choices in the urban <strong>housing</strong><br />

market because other parts <strong>of</strong> the market itself are too expensive or unattractive and these<br />

<strong>estates</strong> have an important function in the urban, and regional, <strong>housing</strong> markets (Van<br />

Kempen et al, 2006). In addition to the mentioned problems related to the building quality,<br />

many <strong>estates</strong> also suffer from negative image, a stigma (Wassenberg, 2004), and are <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

viewed as major problematic areas within the cities.<br />

1 In this study I will refer to large <strong>housing</strong> <strong>estates</strong> according to the definition <strong>of</strong> the RESTATE project. Large <strong>housing</strong><br />

<strong>estates</strong> refer to a group <strong>of</strong> building that is recognized as a distinct and discrete geographical area. They are also <strong>estates</strong><br />

2 In this study I will refer to high-rise according to the definition proposed by the PRC, Bouwcentrum International The<br />

Netherlands, 2005. ‘High-rise dwellings’ are residential buildings consists <strong>of</strong> multiple <strong>housing</strong> units and have more than<br />

4.PRC Bouwcentrum International The Netherlands (2005) Sustainable Refurbishment <strong>of</strong> High-Rise Residential Buildings<br />

and Restructuring <strong>of</strong> Surrounding Areas, report <strong>for</strong> European <strong>housing</strong> ministers’ conference held in Prague, Czech<br />

republic,14 - 15 march 2005<br />

2. B

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