Urban Improvement Districts in Germany: New legal instruments for joint proprietor activities in area development

Abstract

This paper is based on findings from an ongoing research project at HafenCity University (HCU) Hamburg on Business and Neighbourhood Improvement Districts (BID and NID) in Germany, generically called Urban Improvement Districts (UIDs). The City of Hamburg introduced the first legislation in Europe allowing the transfer of the proprietor-led BID model and its mechanisms of joint financing and implementing activities in the public realm to residential areas at the end of 2007. A pilot project in the housing estate of Hamburg Steilshoop is testing this new legal instrument in practice. The author describes the introduction of the UID concept in Germany and the specific attributes of the German model. The transition of the BID concept from the longstanding privatist tradition in the US to the formerly strong welfare state in Germany requires careful adaptation to make the instrument fit for purpose under different cultural, legal and fiscal circumstances. The transfer of the mechanisms from commercial districts and business-oriented tasks to residential areas demands even more adjustments. The paper specifies both the risks and the potentials of the new legal instruments for urban development and area regeneration in Germany. Owing to the so far meagre practical experience with the new legal instruments in Germany, the findings are based less on empirical evidence and more on desk research and results from debates on this new private-led urban regeneration policy with urban planners and practitioners, representatives from the real-estate sector and scholars from different disciplines.