Workshop - Re-engineering the City: Approaches to Urban Regeneration in the Post-Industrial City

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Sponsored by ECA ECSSD (Sustainable Development Department)
and the LED Sub-Thematic Group at the Urban Anchor

Cities are dynamic places to live and work, encompassing both emerging challenges and new opportunities. Over time, to keep pace with markets and economic forces, many cities have had to reinvent themselves, transitioning from industrial to post-industrial economies, federally-driven to locally-driven economies, in each case striving to strike a balance between business and job retention on the one hand and attraction of new investment and new industries to keep pace with a global economy. This special session entitled “Re-engineering the City-Approaches to Urban Regeneration in the Post-Industrial City” explored how selected cities have managed these economic transitions – what tools they used and what approaches were successful – with the aim of highlighting lessons learned for cities in emerging market economies. Specific policies and experiences covering aspects of urban planning, asset management, and broader elements of local economic development have been profiled in the cases of Manchester, England; Washington, DC; and selected Eastern and Central European cities. The workshop culminated in a discussion around the role of the Bank in facilitating this transition in client countries both from a knowledge management and investment financing perspective.

Background information:

• Smarter and Stronger Cities: UK-US Experience.
• "City Regions: Emerging Lessons from England," DIRECTIONS in Urban Development, World Bank Urban Issues Note Series, October 2008.
• Speaker profiles.

Introduction & Workshop Opening
Wael Zakout, Sector Manager, ECSSD, World Bank

City-Regions: Taking a "Town First" Approach to Local Economic Development -- The Case of Manchester City-Region
Dermot Finch , Director, Centre for Cities, London

Urban Revitalization Strategies: Leveraging Federal Land to Expand the Economic Base -- The Case of Washington, D.C.
Valerie Santos-Young, Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Mayor's Office for Planning & Economic Development, Washington, D.C.

A Proposed Work Program for Urban Brownfield Redevelopment with a focus on Cities in Eastern Europe
Christine Kessides, Lead Urban Economist, ECSSD, World Bank

Concluding Comments & Wrap-Up
Stephen Karam, Sr. Urban Economist, Urban Anchor (FEU), World Bank