Workshop 4: Partners for change: regeneration
practices in European housing estates
Silvia Mugnano, Montserrat Pareja Eastaway, Rob Rowlands
1 Introduction
Partnerships have become an integral part of regeneration policies and practices across Europe. The role of these partnerships differs in the detail, but underpinning their existence is the need to involve a range of stakeholders to realise aspirations and to harness resources for these projects. This workshop examines the role of partnerships in practice in the regeneration of large-scale housing estates in Europe. This paper briefly outlines the theoretical perspectives that form the basis of our thinking. We present a utopian view of how this theory could look in practice, our “Estopia” and finally present some questions for discussion within the workshop.
1.1 Theoretical framework
The theoretical framework around our discussions of partnership are four-fold.
As our starting point we use the notion of collaborative planning to form a normative framework for our discussions. The collaborative planning framework is based on the idea of “place making”, i.e. the promotion of the social, economic and environmental well-being of diverse places and the development of institutional capacity to achieve this. Ideally, this is to be achieved through a collective, consensus-building decision-making process based on progression through argument and discussion.
The process of place making implies networking, partnerships and institutional capacity building, the objectives of which are to develop the institutional capacity for planning in the context of diversity, fragmentation and uncertainty. In concrete terms, Healey’s (1998) agenda incorporates at least the following dimensions:
· integration in policy making,
· collaboration in policy making;
· stakeholder involvement;
· local knowledge;
· building relational resources - constructing positive relations between government, citizens and business where information, knowledge, and understanding can flow.
Hall and Rowlands (2004) have suggested that this model remains normative and does not provide an description of what actually takes place in most partnerships. In particular it misses out the importance of power, the influence that this plays in building relationships between actors and its function in operating as a gatekeeper to involvement in the partnership.
On large housing estates the range of actors and potential stakeholders is large. These range from different tiers of government who have a stake in the infrastructure on the estates and a duty to provide services to their citizens, through private companies who have a role in delivering aspects of public services and/or regeneration (e.g. building contractors) to the residents. Power is distributed unevenly between actors. Certain actors are already known to each other and those outside of these networks can be disadvantaged by the uncertainty or mistrust of others. When all actors come to the bargaining table, rather than having a blank sheet of paper on which to develop a strategy for regeneration, often one or more stakeholders have made decisions about the likely shape and form of these policies prior to collaboration. The very fact that empowerment strategies exist, particularly aimed at residents, highlights that this is recognised by some actors with power (i.e. governments).
But not only is exclusion important to understand, but selective participation by some stakeholders is equally important. Partners do not have the same motives for involvement in the partnership. For example governments may want the involvement of the private sector in order to supplement public resources, yet without the assurance of profit private sector partners may be unwilling to give freely of their resources. The fact that contribution of time, financial and personnel resources is influenced by initial motivations and stakes in the estate will shape the partnership and the way in which is operates.
2 “Estopia – The “ideal world” for partnerships on large housing”
As we have demonstrated above, collaborative planning is a normative framework and ignores the influence of power which stakeholders have before they reach the table to negotiate a solution to the estate problems or begin “place making”. Yet it is important to begin with what the ideal world would look like for partnerships and identify what dimensions would exist. We therefore explore:
· who the partners in estate regeneration would be;
· how the partnership operates;
· who controls the partnership;
· how partnerships contribute to the delivery of policies for estate renewal.
2.1 Who are the partners in estate regeneration?
In the ideal world, the partners in regeneration would be all stake-holders who have any interest (social, economic, political and environmental) in the estate. The number of partners is potentially infinite with no barriers to prevent participation in decision making.
Motivations will be influenced by different factors, dependant upon the stakeholder’s interests in the estate. However the common motivations for participating in the partnership is twofold:
· Firstly, they want their interests to be part of the partnership agenda.
· Consequently they want their interests reflected in the priorities which are subsequently established.
Although all stake-holders will have their own set of interests, they will all share one common interest: the improvement of the estate.
No actors are insignificant in the partnership. Indeed all actors are equally significant and are equally involved in partnership. All actors contribute to the partnership throughout the process bringing with them their own resources. Far from being a hindrance to the process, the different approaches, perspectives and ideas which each partner brings with them are valuable additions to the partnership and offer options and opportunities for solutions.
Within the process, every partner contributes freely the resources that they possess, be that financial resources, personnel or experiences. Actors play a key role in the partnership process through the facilitatation of the resources that they contribute to provide collective benefit for the regeneration of the estate.
Leadership is not manifested as a power game, rather it is a facilitatory role. It can be either shared by all actors simultaneously or assumed in succession by each partner on a rotating basis. In either case, the leaders ensure inclusion of all partners and are constantly accountable to the partnership.
2.2 How does the partnership work?
The partnership works through:
· a shared understanding of the problems;
· a common vision of the future;
· a consensus of opinion about the future strategy;
· an agreement of the action which should be taken.
All interests work together to reach this common, shared goal. Government, voluntary sector, private sector and community/resident interests are combined to reach a mutually beneficial outcome for all parties. There is common recognition of the problem and a shared desire to solve them in a mutually beneficial manner.
For the partnership to work effectively, there needs to be:
· Perfect knowledge of the problem and its context – partners must all be able to identify and agree what the problems are on the estate and understand what contextual elements have caused them and will influence any attempt to remedy them.
· Representativeness - the partnership will be representative because all stakeholders will be participant in its processes and decision making.
· Accountability
· Shared vision – this is the common goal to be achieved. This will be the first step in the partnership and will form the foundation for its processes.
· Freely shared resources
· Collective ownership – the partnership is not the preserve of one organisation. Although one partner may instigate the creation of the partnership, once formed all partners will have an equal stake in its ownership.
· Funding – Funding will be available for the partnership. Such funding will not be infinite and so the partners will have to make priorities for expenditure decisions. However, the funding does not have any restrictions over its use and can therefore be used to meet commonly agreed priorities.
· Easy communication between partners – all partners can communicate freely and readily between each other to ensure that information exchange is maximised.
2.3 Who controls the process of partnership?
Within the partnership there is an equally distribution of power. No one partner has greater power over other partners which can be used to control the process. Accountability is guaranteed: All partners are represented, each can speak openly within the partnership and the leadership of the partnership is entrusted with ensuring open dialogue.
Within the partnership representatives are accountable to their respective constituencies. Individual partners will have different interests but these interests are served by their shared interests.
Resources are freely given and collectively managed.
2.4 How do partnerships contribute to the delivery of policies for estate renewal?
In Estopia, partnership working is the most efficient and effective means of delivering regeneration. Through genuine joint working, all stakeholders have a common conception of the problem, have identified all of the possible resources which can be committed to the project and can proceed without duplication of effort or resource. Efficient use of resources enables more to be achieved for every unit of resource inputted and the likely outcome of the process is the successful regeneration of the estate which benefits all stakholders.
3 Discussion
But is this a reality? Is there a prospect that the normative model can be turned into a practical solution for large scale housing estates? The remainder of the workshop draws on this “Estopia” and asks a number of questions around it to establish the realities of regeneration partnerships across Europe.
Who are the partners in estate regeneration?
· Who wants to be involved in regeneration partnerships? Why?
· Which are the most significant actors?
· When (over the partnership process) do these actors play a key role?
How does the partnership work?
· Which are the key elements for success?
· How are combined public and private interests under the partnership format?
· Which variables (belonging to the context where partnerships are implemented) directly affect their success or failure?
· Which type of resources are involved in the process? (i.e social, economic, technical, ...).
Who controls the process of partnership? (i.e. the community, the government, the private sector?)
· What is the relationship between partners and control?
· Is it possible to deal with multiple interests in the partnership process?
· Is accountability taken into account?
· Who controls the resources?
How do partnerships contribute to the delivery of policies for estate renewal?
How do they shape the outcomes of renewal?
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