Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine areal differentiation of urban reconfiguration effected by urban renewal policies through a case study of Munich, Germany. This study focuses on the constitutional process of the policies and urban renewal by investigating physical and socioeconomic changes in the urban area of Munich.
Since the 1970s, the municipal government of Munich has introduced large-scale urban renewal policies and has allocated money to improve existing old buildings. It has implemented urban renewal projects for improving the old urbanized areas in the inner city.
An investigation of the level of urban renewal activities measured based on the pattern of the number of constructed and demolished buildings indicates that urban renewal in urban areas of Munich varies spatially. There are several core urban renewal sites between 2km and 4km from the urban center, where urban renewal projects were concentrated. These core areas are also located in areas such as near the Munich central station, where some public developments have been carried out. The changes in land use reveal that new residential units, which mainly target new German residents, continually increased in the core areas of urban renewal. Land use change also took place in the core areas where many office buildings were constructed by private capital investment within and near the areas of urban renewal projects. An analysis of demographic change shows that the number of young or middle-aged Germans between 18 and 64 years old remained the same or increased slightly in the core urban renewal areas, while foreigners decreased in the same areas. Such areas have very active building renewal processes. The continual upgrading of buildings and social groups are strongly related to each other. These changes occurred through both the direct and indirect effects of urban renewal projects.
The results of this study show that urban renewal can be achieved by combining urban policies such as urban renewal projects and redevelopments through private capital investment. Renewal projects such as reconstruction and renovation of old buildings help maintain a well-cared-for physical, social, and economic environment in an old urbanized area and they also stimulate private capital investment to relocate businesses or commercial facilities. This also implies that urban renewal can be accomplished in a small number of selected urban areas. This means that urban renewal can operate in small targeted areas near the urban center within the framework of urban policies. This process can be called “selective urban renewal.”
