BACKGROUND AND EVOLUTION OF URBAN REVITALIZATION POLICY IN GERMANY

Abstract

The article is dedicated to establishing the preconditions and main stages of the urban revitalization policy evolution in Germany. It emphasizes that proper and stable legal regulation plays in this process an important role, as well as the institutional memory of federal governments, which have not changed radically the basic principles of revitalization policy but have improved them.

Under consideration was the expansion in the process of German policy evolution  of urban revitalization tools set from solving mainly housing problems (demolition, construction, modernization of housing stock) to providing various functionality and maximal urban space usefulness, implementation of "careful" revitalization, in particular by developing a unique identity of degraded areas with emphasis on  their historical and cultural heritage.

The paper determines that local public authorities are responsible for revitalization and its economic and social consequences in Germany, but the effectiveness of developed and implemented programs has been influenced by the widespread use of public participation tools (establishing close communication, implementing “soft” projects, etc.).

The latest trends in the field of urban revitalization are singled out, which concern the integrated complex actions, directed to restructuring degraded areas and their reorientation according to modern requirements (urban restructuring programs). Therefore, issues of sustainable development, in particular resource efficiency, are becoming increasingly important.

When developing the urban revitalization policy in Ukraine the paper proposes to take into account the issues of state support and involvement of the private sector in appropriate measures, legal regulation of activity (first of all, fixing of local governments responsibility and participation tools), implementation of integrated actions complex aimed at sustainable development of degraded urban areas, etc.