Self-renovating neighbourhoods: Unlocking resources for the new regeneration

Abstract

The old regeneration is dead, or should be. New regeneration will be driven by local people as agents of neighbourhood change, connected through solidarity networks, with the state and markets as enablers. It will focus on the fine grain of the lived neighbourhood, abjuring all silos and proactively weaving new fabrics of ownership and responsibility for the built and social environment. Inspired by stories of ‘accidental’ renewal arising from the clear self-interest of groups of local people, this paper introduces the self-renovating neighbourhood. It defines regeneration as the unleashing of trapped resources to nurture transformational local change, and makes a call to action to unlock people, land and buildings, and common bond equity capital to rebuild Britain from the ground up.