URBACT: Transfer Network ALT/BAU

The seven participating cities jointly developed strategies to revitalise long vacant and unrenovated buildings. The basis for this was the successful work of the municipal project Agentur StadtWohnen Chemnitz in this area. The city of Chemnitz was recognised as a URBACT Good Practice in 2017.

While special attention was paid to the city's Wilhelminian-style neighbourhoods in Chemnitz, the problem areas in the partner cities lie in other areas. For example, the historic centre of Constanţa (Romania) is increasingly falling into disrepair, as ownership is often unclear and there is therefore little room for intervention. In Riga (Latvia), there are also major problems in the historically valuable old neighbourhoods. A large number of commercial premises and flats are vacant in the city centre of Rybnik (Poland), while the Belgian town of Seraing is characterised by derelict industrial plants of the steel industry and neglected residential quarters of steel workers. Vilafranca del Penedès (Spain) has a high proportion of vacant flats throughout the city and Turin (Italy) is feeling the negative effects of FIAT's production shutdown. Many of the former FIAT workers' housing estates are struggling with vacancy.

Further information:

Lead Partner: City of Chemnitz (Germany)

Lead expert:
Nils Scheffler, urban expert, Berlin

Project partners: City of Constanța (Romania);
City of Riga (Latvia);
City of Rybnik (Poland);
Eriges development company, Seraing (Belgium);
URBAN LAB, Turin (Italy);

City of Vilafranca del Penedès (Spain)

In the first phase of the project, suitable cities were sought throughout Europe for the network. This search was successfully completed in August 2018.

Representatives of the partner cities met in Chemnitz on 3 and 4 September. During this network meeting, the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency also presented its work and results as part of inspections and tours.

The second project phase ran from October 2018 to June 2021, during which time there was an intensive exchange between the partners, including working meetings in the individual cities. The kick-off meeting took place in Seraing in January 2019 and was attended by four representatives from Chemnitz.

From 7 to 8 March 2019, representatives from all network cities met in Vilafranca del Penedès to see for themselves the successful activities of the Spanish project "From vacant houses to social integration - housing refurbishment for social purposes".

Further face-to-face exchanges and working meetings in the twin cities of Rybnik and Turin were initially prevented by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. However, several online meetings enabled the partner cities to exchange views on various topics relating to the transfer process. For example, a virtual meeting was held to discuss financial and legal instruments that are suitable and available for reactivating vacant buildings and flats. Solutions for the use of GIS applications were presented in another webinar. A member of the Chemnitz local action group presented the "Brühlpioniere" in a webinar organised by URBACT, which focused on the opportunities cities have to support community housing models.

In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the URBACT programme was extended until June 2021.

This made it possible to organise a final meeting in Turin and to view the Turin results on site and exchange information with the partners about their successes. There was also an exchange with other good practice examples. For example, the meeting participants visited the Mirafiori Sud development area, which is affected by high vacancy rates in individual privately owned flats, and met with Tecla Zaia, the initiator of the good practice example "ALLOGGIAMI MIRAFIORO STUDENT HOUSING". At Allogiami, the vacant flats in the blocks are run as student flatshares in consultation with the owner. Allogiami also runs the on-site cultural centre with a co-working space, library and cultural activities for all generations.

In order to sensitise and inform the public in Chemnitz and the partner cities about the issue of unrenovated and vacant old buildings, a joint campaign was held in the network cities on 31 October 2019 to mark the International Day of Cities.10.2019, a joint campaign took place in the network cities, in which the tasks and objectives of the ALT/BAU network were presented to the public.

The network also celebrated the Day of Cities in 2020. In Chemnitz, the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency launched its new campaign "New life for old houses". In future, this campaign will use former and current agency properties to present the agency's successes and activities to the people of Chemnitz.

The new headquarters of the Turin-based ALT/BAU project organiser was opened in Turin on the same day. In the new rooms of the URBAN LAB TORINO, visitors can view the exhibition #Past#Now#Soon, which presents the urban development of Turin. A virtual exhibition was presented to the public in Constanta. In "Interwar Peninsula", outstanding examples of modernist architecture in Constanta can be seen. The network partners in Rybnik use a banner to present a building that will be the next project to be renovated by the Rybnik agency.

Parallel to the international exchange, local action groups were set up in all partner cities, which met at regular intervals, analysed the results of the international exchange process and made them usable for the local level. A corresponding group also met regularly in Chemnitz. The city of Chemnitz, the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency and the members of the local action group actively exchanged ideas on the topic of activating old buildings and the objectives and strategies for Chemnitz.

While the six partner cities were faced with the task of adapting and transferring the Chemnitz "good practice", one of the aims of the Chemnitz working group was to evaluate the work of the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency to date and identify opportunities for improvement. The results of the evaluation with recommendations for the agency's future activities can be found at the following link: stadt-wohnen-chemnitz.de

The agency now has the task of implementing the key areas of action identified by the working group.

In Seraing (Belgium), Rybnik (Poland), Vilafranca del Penedes (Spain) and Constanta (Romania), organisations modelled on the Chemnitz "Agentur StadtWohnen" have been set up to promote the reactivation of vacant buildings in the future.