Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of Bottom-Up Spatial Planning in Shrinking Cities: A Case Study in The Netherlands

Abstract

In current research, the social return to citizens initiatives is important but often under-evaluated. Within this work, we collected the information that has emerged from measuring the social value of regenerative projects in shrinking cities. We used a case study of the regenerative project Gebrookerbos, a socio-spatial regeneration project in the shrinking city of Heerlen, the Netherlands. To assess the project’s monetary and immaterial aspects, a social cost–benefit analysis (SCBA) was used to understand the complexities of the costs and benefits associated with citizens in regeneration projects in a shrinking area. Drawing from the literature on urban shrinkage, citizen involvement, and social cost–benefit analyses, a theoretical framework was proposed. The case study included primary (i.e., interviews) and secondary (i.e., document analysis) data to identify the social value of the Gebrookerbos project, with results suggesting that the project has been meaningful to diverse stakeholders. Based on experiences with the SCBA of Gebrookerbos, one finding was the complexity of measuring citizens’ initiatives in terms of social return due to their process, organisation, and goals, in combination with the dynamics of shrinking cities. We discuss why research on social return to citizens’ initiatives is important and with this study we draw attention to the tendencies, opportunities, and future potential of citizens’ initiatives, which contribute to vacant open spaces and quality of life in shrinking cities.

The Shrinking City as a Testing Ground for Urban Degrowth Practices

“…Due to a lack of public funds and interest from market parties, the municipality decided to follow a very different approach at the micro-level of the individual vacant sites in the district. Contrary to the usual approach to area (re)development with masterplans including well-defined goals and time horizons of 20-30 years, an open-ended bottom-up process was started as part of the Gebrookerbos project (see also Louali et al, 2022;Matoga, 2022). In this project, an independent intermediary or "broker" was appointed to coach residents of Heerlen-Noord who had ideas about new purposes for vacant sites in their neighborhood.…”

“…The large majority of the ideas that are realized aim at the development of social and/or ecological values. An overall societal cost-benefit analysis of the Gebrookerbos initiatives conducted by Louali et al (2022), showed that for the municipality the financial balance in terms of expenses (mainly time invested by municipal and project employees) and cost savings (mainly tasks conducted by citizen-volunteers) was negative. The Schurenbergerpark is no exception in this respect.…”

Assessment of Public Services Distribution in African Urban Areas: a Cost-Benefit Analysis Based on Bid Rents from Spatial Interaction Models

“…There is some recent work on the Cost Benefit Analysis of Public Services in urban areas. How they evolve in shrinking cities (Louali et al, 2022); in sprawling cities (Lityński, 2022), and in the design and management of smart cities (Egin & Treleaven, 2019;Turečková & Nevina, 2020).…”

The Eternal Struggle for the City: In Search of an Alternative Framework for Citizen Participation in Urban Regeneration Projects in Shrinking Cities

“…In this respect, citizen participation is seen as a crucial and undisputable factor for legitimizing regeneration projects and ensuring their successful implementation. Likewise, it is widely accepted that the regeneration of shrinking cities calls for new governance agreements between (local) governments and societal partners [11][12][13][14]. Involving residents in transformation of an area is not only seen as desirable but is also legislated by the Dutch government [15]: citizen participation is required if a regeneration project is to be initiated and conducted.…”