Naomi Carmon

Three generations of urban renewal policies: analysis and policy implications

Abstract This paper, based on 20 years of research and teaching related to urban renewal policies and programs, analyzes the history of planned intervention for the regeneration of distressed residential areas. It divides it into three “generations”, each with unique policy components, related to the social, economic and political characteristics of its period in history, with different major players, methods of action and outcomes. All three generations can be identified in the US, the UK and several other European countries, although not always precisely in the same form and at the same time. Analysis of three case studies in Israeli neighborhoods is used in this paper to point at typical results and the main lessons that can be taken from each of the three generations. Finally, a set of proposed policies, based on lessons learned from the preceding generations and projects, is presented. This set is likely to achieve better results with respect to both people (the residents) and places (the neighborhoods) than those obtained from earlier efforts at regeneration.

Water-sensitive Urban Planning: Protecting Groundwater

Sustainable development requires the promulgation of guidelines for urban planning which consider the effects of the built environment on water resources. In this context, our paper focuses on the effects of urban development on the quantity and quality of rainwater which infiltrates into the soil on its way to recharge the aquifer. The paper includes: identification of the state of knowledge regarding the effect of urban development on runoff and infiltration; a case study-estimation of the effect of certain patterns of urban development in an Israeli neighbourhood,together with an option for mitigating them by relatively simple and inexpensive means; presentation of the components of urban planning which influence runoff and infiltration; and proposals for continuing research in this area which has been relatively neglected until recently.

Neighborhood Rehabilitation Without Relocation or Gentrification

Abstract Project Renewal, Israels program for social and physical rehabilitation of distressed neighborhoods, is based on lessons from American experience with neighborhood programs in general and with the Model Cities program in particular. A five-year evaluation found that the project has helped to improve living conditions of residents and to prevent deterioration in its target areas, but that those improvements were not enough to overcome the low social and economic status of the neighborhoods and their populations. The major factors that led to the qualified success of Project Renewal were extensive political support, selection of “appropriate” neighborhoods, the opening of some middle class opportunities to lower income populations, and a strategy of public-individual partnership.

Neighborhood Regeneration: The State of the Art

In this article, I present a historical overview of neighborhood regeneration programs, concentrating on the United States and the United Kingdom while also presenting programs in other Western countries and in Israel. The overview is based on a series of evaluation studies as well as an extensive literature survey. Three generations of neighborhood remedies identified in all these countries are critically analyzed. The analysis includes a model case of the second generation and a new typology of the third. Based on theoretical understanding of urban processes and the lessons drawn from past experience, the article concludes with constructive proposals for a new generation of neighborhood renewal policies. While former policies benefited either people or areas, the proposals discussed here were developed to promote both and thus, where appropriately implemented, to halt the cycle of distress in neighborhoods.

Improving Housing by Conventional Versus Self-help Methods: Evidence From Israel

The study compares the two major processes of improving housing conditions for moderate- and low-income households in Israel: the institutional solution - relocating eligible households in new public housing; and the spontaneous self-help solution - households who purchase their housing units from a housing management company, improve and enlarge them on their own initiative and with their own resources, with or without the assistance of a publicly subsidised loan. It was found that the self-help improvements produced better housing conditions, better relationships with neighbours and more satisfaction with housing. They increased the individual motivation to work, and also had a positive aggregate impact in preventing neighbourhood decay and encouraging urban renewal. These results were achieved at a low cost to the public treasury as compared to the institutional solution.

Integrated evaluation: A synthesis of approaches to the evaluation of broad-aim social programs

Abstract Integrated evaluation is intended to serve decision makers who are responsible for broad-aim social programs by providing information based on evaluation which can aid both ongoing decisions and long-term strategic decisions. It integrates elements of diverse evaluation traditions in a complementary manner: monitoring—in order to inform what has been done by the program; implementation analysis—in order to understand how decisions are being made and carried out; economic evaluation—including both cost-effectiveness and assessment of distributional effects; and goal achievement evaluation—in order to present the program outcomes from the point of view of the various parties who produced the program and/or were affected by it. The article presents these four components of integrated evaluation and discusses its advantages as well as its difficulties and pitfalls.

The Phoenix Strategy for Updating Housing Stock: Preventing Neighborhood Deterioration and Promoting Sustainable Development

Abstract The Phoenix Strategy is a way to encourage and facilitate significant user-controlled improvements in existing housing, improvements that make old houses more like new ones. The strategy is based on an analysis of relevant experience in several countries, most notably Israel, and relies on public facilitation and private management and financing. It has worked well in low- to high-density residential areas with moderate- and middle-income households. It has benefitted the residents, the neighborhoods, and the public treasury, and contributed to environmental goals. This article suggests how the Phoenix Strategy may be used as a powerful tool to prevent or halt neighborhood deterioration and to promote sustainable urban development.

Responsive Public Housing An Alternative for Low-Income Families

A series of studies in public housing neighborhoods in Israel explored a widespread phenomenon of user-initiated expansion of small units. The residents of these neighborhoods were working-class families of below average income, who usually function as passive users in the services of the welfare state, including housing services. However, when these people gain control over their housing, when physical conditions enable it, when the social environment encourages self-improvement, and when the administrative institutions do not inhibit it, a considerable portion of them turn into active, participating users, contributing to their own welfare as well as to that of the public in general. The results are significant amelioration in both objective dimension (maintenance) and subjective dimension (satisfaction), which leads to alleviation instead of deterioration of housing conditions and elevation of neighborhood status.

Poverty and Culture: Empirical Evidence and Implications for Public Policy

Oscar Lewiss theory of the “culture of poverty” was investigated by interviewing a population of poor young Israelis and their parents. Both the model—that is, the claim that poverty traits and norms in the four spheres of life (individual, familial, communal, and societal) appear simultaneously—and the cultural explanation of the continuity of poverty were rejected. Instead, the situational explanation is supported, according to which the poor are part of the general culture, but adaptation to their situation makes them adopt some other norms that they tend to relinquish when their situation improves. Some implications for social policy are discussed, especially the rejection of the argument that governmental assistance to the poor is dangerous because it leads to dependence, or—because of rising expectations—leads them to rebel.

User-controlled Housing: Desirability and Feasibility

User-controlled housing is defined as a process in which the residents—not only professionals and developers—make significant decisions regarding the design and the construction or renovation of their homes. This paper argues that it is relevant to and should be commonly used in formal systems of housing in the developed countries. It draws support for its arguments from empirical evidence, primarily from Israel and the Netherlands. Much of the evidence is related to housing upgrading by moderate-income and middle-income households, which was found to be highly desirable from individual and public points of view. The paper recommends to decision-makers and planners to facilitate user-controlled housing and to make it an ordinary part of developing new neighbourhoods and renovating old ones.