District centre regeneration – a European perspective

The regeneration of district centres is an issue of practical relevance for European cities that want to improve liveability and encourage urban living. Yet, this subject is often eclipsed by the more prominent aspects of inner city renewal and is relatively undocumented in the literature. This paper seeks to give an overview on the subject of district centres and strategies against their decline, based on experiences from the Interreg Project ‘Managing district centres in North West Europe’ (Mandie). In the first part, centre types and morphological categories are proposed that help to identify local weaknesses and strengths. In the second part, approaches to district centre management are distinguished and the question is raised of how professionals may qualify for this task. Finally, three principles for successful district centre regeneration are illustrated. It becomes clear that district centre regeneration is a multi-faceted endeavour which remains indispensible for the much desired urban renaissance of cities.