Designing 'community' : the significance of place and urban design in public housing renewal

Abstract

In the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, public and social housing providers are embarking on large-scale estate renewal projects (ERPs). These projects are often presented as an urban panacea - intended to solve an urban 'wicked problem' - namely the tenant and asset management challenges that have left many estates as 'homes of last resort' in recent decades. In Australia, these renewal projects are realised by deploying mechanisms within the planning system to increase dwelling density on-site, changing the tenure profiles to increase the 'social mix', and the introduction of private market housing into formerly public housing estates. The built form of these estates undergoes massive change, with new construction replacing existing dwellings. After renewal, the estate is barely recognisable as the same neighbourhood. This study uncovers the significance of 'place' and 'urban design' for residents and built environment professionals in estate redevelopments by approaching these concepts from three directions: experience, discourse and spatial form. This approach (after Lefebvre, 1991) is recruited to induce the multiplicities of place and present the lived experience of residents during the process of public housing renewal. The research questions are initially addressed through an introduction to the context of public housing renewal. This is followed by a review of sociological literature on the multiple concepts of place; particularly the ways that place is constructed by various actors. The study is further informed by a literature review that traces community out of sociology and into urban planning. The contributions of early planners, the disparate design schools of Radburn and New Urbanism (both of which are intended to foster community in public housing neighbourhoods) and the social goals of ERPs are discussed. Guided by the literature, the research questions are addressed from the findings of the empirical component of the study; comprising interviews, photographic surveys and discourse analysis in three New South Wales case studies. A central finding is that while place and community are contested concepts between various actors, urban design often is an outcome of influence, rather than an influence of outcome. At the confluence of these issues lies the question of how ERPs can be undertaken in a manner that enhances, rather than undermine, the conception of place for communities. Such an outcome can be demonstrated as having significant benefits for policy makers, built environment professionals and community members alike. The conclusion chapter of the thesis makes a series of recommendations for responding to the finding that protecting a community's 'lived space' is central to ensure and ERPs success, addressing the deficit in built environment professional's knowledge and skills relevant to the undertaking of a just ERP. ACCESS RESTRICTED TO ABSTRACT ONLY UNTIL 09/12/2017

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English