Citizen (Dis)Empowerment in Urban Regeneration of Low-Income Neighbourhoods

Urban decline and restructuring struggles in low-income and minority neighbourhoods have generated great concern among citizens and governments in the Netherlands, and many other West European countries. Since the 1970s a number of urban renewal policies and practices have tried to respond to the effects of socio-economic and political shifts; large scale deindustrialization, decline and decentralisation of employment in major cities, housing provision and welfare changes, as well as the evolution towards a multicultural society. The approaches undertaken have generated different degrees of power to make decisions at the local level. They have affected the relationship between the state and citizens, and have recently implied greater involvement of the private sector in urban renewal processes.UrbanismArchitectur