Regeneration Of The Aalborg Waterfront

- Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front -

Urban Planning and Management 7. Semester Group UPM03 January 2006

The Faculty of Engineering and Science Department of development and planning Theme: The complex city Title: Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Study: Urban Planning and Management Project period: 16. September 2005 - 5. January 2006 Project group: UPM0703 Supervisor: David Flynn Group members:

_________________________________________ Walid Darwish Mostafa

_________________________________________ Jacob Hylling Poulsen

_________________________________________ Isaac Kwamena Arthur

_________________________________________ Violeta Paniagua Gil

Number printed: 7 Number of pages: 125, 47 Appendices: 3

_________________________________________ María José Pérez Abellán

Urban Planning and Management The Complex City

Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Aalborg University Project Group 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... 1 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... 3 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................... 4 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 6 1.1. Background................................................................................................................ 6 1.2. Historical Development of Aalborg .......................................................................... 8 1.3. Research Rationale .................................................................................................... 9 1.4. Problem Formulation............................................................................................... 10 1.5. Structure and Research Methodology...................................................................... 11 1.5.1. Outline Structure of the Project ........................................................................ 11 1.5.2. Research Design ............................................................................................... 12 1.5.3. Theoretical Source of Material ......................................................................... 13 1.5.4. Empirical Information ...................................................................................... 13 1.6. Limitation of Work.................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................... 16 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 16 2.2. Concepts .................................................................................................................. 17 2.3. Different Scales and Strategies for Waterfront Redevelopment ............................. 18 2.3.1. Global Imperatives, Local Forces and Waterfront Redevelopment ................. 19 2.3.2. Redevelopment Strategies ................................................................................ 21 2.4. Urban Waterside Regeneration: “ the Water’s edge. The Space between Buildings and Water”...................................................................................................................... 22 2.5. Tourist Potentials in Relation to Harbour Front Redevelopment ....................... 25 2.5.1. Sustainable Tourism Development................................................................... 29 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAME WORK .................................................. 32 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 32 3.2. Keys for a Redevelopment Waterfront Plan in Aalborg City.................................. 32 3.3. Tourism Development in Theory ............................................................................ 35 CHAPTER FOUR: SITUATION ANALYSIS IN THE AALBORG CENTRAL HARBOUR FRONT .......................................................................................................... 38 4.1. General perception about Aalborg........................................................................... 39 4.1.1. City model ........................................................................................................ 39 4.1.2. Aalborg Municipal Authority’s strategy .......................................................... 40 4.2. Focus on Aalborg Waterfront .................................................................................. 47 4.3. Study Area ............................................................................................................... 49 4.3.1. The inner city - Actual situation ....................................................................... 49 4.3.2. Future situation: Aalborg Municipal Authority’s plans ................................... 52 CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF AALBORG MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY’S STRATEGIES FOR THE CENTRAL HARBOUR FRONT ............................................ 59 5.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 59 1

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Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Aalborg University Project Group 3

5.2. Urban Planning........................................................................................................ 60 5.2.1. Mixed Uses ....................................................................................................... 60 5.2.2. Accessibility ..................................................................................................... 75 5.2.3. Urban Design Analysis..................................................................................... 87 5.3. Economical Aspects ................................................................................................ 99 5.3.1. Economical Analysis ........................................................................................ 99 5.3.2. Tourism: Potential and Attraction to Waterfront Regeneration in Aalborg ... 106 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION..................................................................................... 121 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 123 APPENDIX A: PICTURES & MAP................................................................................ 126 APPENDIX A.1: PICTURES ...................................................................................... 126 APPENDIX A.2: MAP................................................................................................. 133 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEWS ........................................................................................ 135 APPENDIX B.1: INTERVIEW WITH RIE MALLING (Architect) FROM AALBORG MUNICIPALITY ...................... 135 APPENDIX B.2: INTERVIEW WITH PETER HERMANSEN FROM TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE ............... 147 APPENDIX B.3: INTERVIEW WITH NIELS ANDERSEN (Chairman) FROM “AALBORG CITY” ............. 152 APPENDIX B.4: INTERVIEW WITH BO VAGNBY (Professor) FROM AALBORG UNIVERSITY ........... 156 APPENDIX C: OTHER CASE STUDIES....................................................................... 165 APPENDIX C.1: BARCELONA- PORT VELL (SPAIN) .......................................... 165 APPENDIX C.2: MALMÖ (SWEDEN) ...................................................................... 168 APPENDIX C.3: BALTIMORE (USA)....................................................................... 170 APPENDIX C.4: NICE (FRANCE)............................................................................. 171

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ABSTRACT The Aalborg waterfront area in recent times has lost its vibrant and industrial status. In the quest to solve this problem, the municipal authorities have proposed a strategy to revitalise the Central Harbour Front. The revitalisation strategy includes linking the Central Harbour Front with the inner city in order to establish an optimum usage and also create a vibrant atmosphere of both places for its citizens. This project is focused on finding out if the proposed strategy can deliver the stated benefits for the city. It also aims to assess how the Central Harbour Front could be linked with central district and make it attractive to citizens and visitors, and also the economic potentials that can be obtained from the project. This assessment is centred on both theoretical and empirical approach. Series of expert interviews were also conducted to obtain empirical data for analysis. A critical analysis of the Municipal Authority’s plans was conducted in relation to mixed uses, urban design, traffic accessibility, economics and political concepts. The analysis showed the above concepts has the potential of making the central waterfront attractive and can create a vibrant resource for the city.

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The choice of topic for our project owed to the belief that, Aalborg has great potentials around the Limfjorden that have not been exploited to the optimum. The fact that most of the members of the groups are foreigners from different countries that are characterised with important development and urban planning around harbour areas, contributed to attract our attention to realise that Aalborg does not take advantage of these potentials. The benefits of these potentials could be realised culturally, environmental, social and economical sense for the whole city and the Northen part of Jutland. This project has become a challenge for all of us, not only because of doing it in English language, which is not our mother tongue, but also because of the complex process that we have to go through to get it done. To understand deeply the situation of the harbour front, we were supposed to study and to analyse its historical development, the current situation and the proposed future plan of the Aalborg Municipal Authority. We intended to study the waterfront on a bigger scale, to have a deeper insight of what is happening in the area. Later, we chose to focus only on the area called Central Water Front to analyse it on a smaller scale. This was also important for us to meet our project deadline and work within our available resources. Along this process, we sought for literature and theories that supported our ideas; we studied the current and future plans for the area, and conducted some interviews that let us know the opinion of different groups directly and indirectly concerned with development of the master plan. In this way, the working process has been developing from more general ideas about waterfront regeneration towards some more concrete aspects such as the mixed- uses of activities at the waterfront, the traffic accessibility or tourism attraction. Thus, we have outlined the potentials elements that the waterfront has, considering urban planning as a tool for improvement and regeneration in a more social and economic manner. This project would not have been possible without the collaboration of several people who answered our interviews, and helped us to look for information. We would like to express 4

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our deepest thanks to

Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Aalborg University Project Group 3

the Aalborg Municipality, which gave us some pieces of

information and maps about the future plans. Our appreciation goes to some of personnel of the Aalborg Municipality especially Helle Jakobsen, who gave us the opportunity to participate in the Aalborg Harbour Workshop, and to Rie Malling who patiently answered our questions on the future plan of the waterfront area. We are also really thankful to Peter Hermansen from the Tourist Office, to Niels Andersen from “Aalborg City”, and to Professor Bo Vagnby of Aalborg University. These people also gave us the opportunity to interview them. They gave us their respective opinions about the current plans for the waterfront and explained to us their point of view through some suggestions and alternatives for developing the Aalborg central harbour front. Finally our warmest thanks goes to our supervisor, David Flynn, for orienting us in our working process and encouraging us to continue in the correct way. At this juncture, it is important to know that we have used Harvard Method to make the references; it means that we have indicated the name of the authors, the year of the publication of the ideas and the number of pages where you can find them. At the end of the report a list of references includes more information about the sources used. There are also appendices with some additional information such as pictures, map of the future plan the waterfront, interviews, and other examples of successful waterfront regeneration plans in other cities.

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background Historical observations bare the fact that human civilisations have transformed the nature of societies from simple to complex over the years. These developments can be attributed to the growing and complex social, cultural, economic and environmental needs of people in society. From time to time, aspects of some physical fabric of communities become obsolete or outlive its usefulness; hence the need for redevelopment1 becomes relevant. Redevelopment of open spaces including harbour front areas has become important initiative for urban development not only to beautify the place but also to enhance socioeconomic development. In the case of Aalborg, the present state of its harbour front area has become a mainstream issue, which has necessitated a need for redevelopment. This is evident by the Aalborg Municipal Authority’s objective and aspirations to regenerate the harbour front and link it with the city. This is due to the municipal authority’s vision of the role of Aalborg as the city around the Limfjord, with the fjord being the central element [City of Aalborg Municipality, 2005, p.5]. Redevelopment of the area is expected to add vitality to its present infrastructure and also establish new ones as part of the municipality’s development. Geographically, the harbour front of Aalborg lies parallel along the banks of the Limfjord. Over the years, the harbour front has been a location for multifunctional activities and has benefited the inhabitants of the community and beyond in both social and economical contexts. Aalborg has long been traditionally industrial with the harbour front as major spatial area of operations. Specific activities at the harbour front are predominantly commercial and industrial, which have contributed to what Aalborg is today. Recent development however indicates a decline in the vibrant industrial activities in the harbour area. The place is currently depressed and thus facing neglect. Most industries that bore the hallmark of the city are out of operation; hence the area being under utilised and also unattractive to the local people. There are currently less social and economic 1

See definition of concepts in chapter 2, page 19.

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activities, uneasy pedestrian access to area, and also the risk of environmental pollution from the activities of some factories in the area. “The Fjord Catalogue, adopted in 1999, is a strategic master plan prepared by Aalborg City Municipality to govern the development of two waterfront areas near the city centre on the north and south banks of the Limfjord - which are owned by the Municipality and several private landowners. These former industrial areas are designated to become a multifunctional contemporary urban district”. [Porter, G. & Zidema, C. 2005. URL: Liveable Cities Case Report - Aalborg Harbour front, Version: 6 December 2005 URL: http://www.eurocities.org/liveablecities/IMG/doc/aalborg-case-06dec05__FINAL_.doc (Date accessed 20/12/2005)] Considering the spatial area for development, it implies the entire harbour front in Aalborg is quite a large area that needs revitalisation. However, in this study we are interested in the redevelopment of the Central Harbour Front, which has been under utilised in recent times and also the inability of the municipality to create a physical link or amalgamate it with the central district in terms of functions and activities.

Figure 1: Aerial Map and View of the Aalborg Central Harbour front Source:[http://www.aalborg.dk/Borgerportal/Serviceomraader/Byen/Havnefront/Aalborg+Centrale+Havnefr ont.htm & http://www.aalborg.dk/NR/rdonlyres/A4DAF3D1-3B01-40FA-A107484AB03B8340/2563/16aalborgslot.jpg Date accessed 29/12/2005]

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This idea has been drawn from the fact that in 1993, the Aalborg municipality in consultation with its citizens decided to embark on inner city revitalisation. This has resulted in a number of urban revitalisation projects in the municipality in present times. On the other hand, the Central Harbour Area happens to be close to the inner city and thus redeveloping this area to link both places together would bridge uniformity and also pull equal social and economic benefits for the community. It is also important for us choose this area for study regarding the proposed plans for regeneration by the Municipal Authority, which appears attractive and has the potential of being unified with the city centre in terms of their closeness to each other and also could generate social and economic benefits for the community.

1.2. Historical Development of Aalborg Aalborg is a 1000-year-old city that emerged during the Viking age. The town used to be identified with crafts production and tradesmen. The Limfjorden has always been important for Aalborg. The ocean, land, ships gave good possibilities for trade and sea transport in the past and present. The geometrical midpoint of the two territories Himmerland and Vendsyssel, gave Aalborg an important role, when people were crossing Limfjorden. These economic conditions have been in existence since the settlement and development of Aalborg. [Bender, 1987, p.15-17, 20-22] The area around Limfjorden was richly endowed with fish especially herring, and it was very important source of food for the people in Aalborg and also as export commodity. [Bender, 1987, p. 27] Aalborg has experienced big changes within the last 150 years. Population figures have multiplied, and also the scope and physical look of the city have undergone dramatic changes. Former social, economical and cultural conditions have been replaced with new development. Basically these changes have been caused by the industrial development in the town. [ibid. p.15 -17] The genesis of industrialisation in Aalborg from 1850 dramatically changed the town step by step; with new factories and buildings established. At the same time the population growth, as illustrated in table 1.below also show a drastic change. At the start of Aalborg’s

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industrialisation in 1850, there were 8000 inhabitants, and today the number is 15 times bigger with a population of about 121,000. 1801

1845

1880

1901

1921

1950

2005

6.000

8.000

14.000

32.000

61.000

104.000

121.000

Table 1. Approximate population in Aalborg [Bender, 1998, p. 26, 222] & [Porter, G. & Zidema, C. 2005. URL: Liveable Cities Case Report - Aalborg Harbour front, Version: 6 December 2005 URL: http://www.eurocities.org/liveablecities/IMG/doc/aalborgcase-06dec05__FINAL_.doc (Date accessed 20/12/2005)]

The results of the industrialisation can still be seen today in Aalborg. In the city of Aalborg, one finds industrial areas, some of which are still active, and others closed down. Some of the most important industries are Aalborg Portland Cement Factory, C.W. Obel Tobacco Factory, the alcohol industry, textiles industry, metal industry, shipyard industry, slaughterhouses, chemicals, building materials, cargo and freight. [Bender, 1998, p. 26222]. Many of these industries were located at the harbour front. There are some industries still in operation, while others have presently moved their production to other places leaving big empty areas in Aalborg and especially at the harbour front where many of them were located. Some empty spaces along the harbour front have been developed for residential and commercial purposes.

1.3. Research Rationale This study has been chosen for assessment of the actual situation at the Central Harbour Front and to formulate redevelopment measures to make it attractive to both local people and visitors. To utilise the wasting spatial area at the harbour front, highlight on certain revitalisation strategies that could give the area a new cultural, economic, social, and environmental outlook and function for the benefit of the community. In this regard, the functional outlook of the place is aimed at transforming the area from industrial manufacturing to a service provision hub. These redevelopment measures would be focused on establishment of mix infrastructure such as business recreational and amusement centres, easy pedestrian access, and improved physical environment. This is 9

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aimed at establishing an iconic stature, new socio-economic identity for Aalborg and attractive centre for the local population and visitors. In this case, the spatial outlook of the Central Harbour Front is expected to be elaborate in design, and have a new multifunctional usage.

1.4. Problem Formulation Considering the unattractive state of the Aalborg harbour front2, this project intends to analyse how this situation could be improved. In view of this aim, the problem formulation set for this project is: can regeneration of the Aalborg central harbour front generate attractive and vibrant resources for the city? In addressing this hypothesis we will assess the following: •

current Aalborg municipality plans to regenerating the central waterfront

•

how can the central waterfront be physically linked with existing city centre

•

the potentials for mixed uses of activities such as business, entertainment, sports, and tourism attraction in the area

•

how can an easy traffic access be established to link the harbours front with the city centre.

2

See pictures in Appendix A.1.

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1.5. Structure and Research Methodology 1.5.1. Outline Structure of the Project Chapter 1

1. Introduction: Background Research Rationale Problem Formulation Research Methodology

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

2. Literature Review: Definition of Concepts Different scales and strategies for Waterfront Redevelopment Urban Waterside Regeneration Tourism & Harbour front Redevelopment 3. Theoretical Framework: Keys for Waterfront Redevelopment plan in Aalborg Tourism Development in Theory 4. Situation Analysis of Aalborg Waterfront:

•

Chapter 5

5. Analysis of Aalborg Municipal Authority’s Strategies for the Central Harbour Front

Chapter 6

6. Conclusion

Chapter One: Introduction

This chapter presents an introduction, which spells out the background situation of the study area, historical development of Aalborg, problem formulation, structure and research methodology and limitations of the project. •

Chapter Two: Literature Review

This is a literature review mainly based on various secondary data on waterfront redevelopment, mixed uses, tourism and accessibility concepts. These concepts are applied from a critical dimension to show different theoretical perceptions.

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•

Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Aalborg University Project Group 3

Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework

It provides a theoretical framework on key strategies to waterfront redevelopment in Aalborg, mixed uses of activities, and tourism as a catalyst for development. Mixed uses and tourism concepts are viewed as incentive for attractions to achieve the goals of the city’s waterfront regeneration. •

Chapter Four: Situation Analysis of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front

This is an empirical section of the project that presents the situation analysis of the Aalborg central waterfront, the inner city, and municipal authorities’ general strategies for inner city and waterfront redevelopment. •

Chapter Five: Analysis of Aalborg Municipal Authority’s Strategies for the Central Harbour Front

This shows analysis of Aalborg Municipality’s redevelopment strategies for the central harbour front in relation to urban planning, and the strategies’ feasible potentials of attracting people to the waterfront and link with the city centre. Various suggestions are given based on themes analysed. •

Chapter Six: Conclusion

This is a conclusion of the entire project work

1.5.2. Research Design In view of the existing problem of the study area, we formulated a research question in order to assess the situation at stake. In the quest to work on the research question we first decided to apply a qualitative approach to this study. Then we went further to produce the literature review. Based on the concepts reviewed from the various literature sources, we collected relevant data related to the study in order to answer the research question. This was mainly data pertaining to situation analysis of the study area, and strategies developed by the Aalborg Municipal Authority to revitalise the central harbour front. The data was then presented to serve as a tool for analysis. The next stage after the data collection was analysis of strategies developed by the Aalborg Municipal Authority to revitalise the central harbour front. The analysis helped us to identify certain loopholes within the Municipality’s strategies and came out with certain concepts, which could be applied in order to make the study area more attractive and also be used as a vibrant resource. 12

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1.5.3. Theoretical Source of Material This project takes it main direction on waterfront front redevelopment and factors that would make it attractive to the city. These concepts therefore provide the roots for theoretical framework and analysis. In this regard, mixed uses of activities, traffic accessibility and tourism have been outlined as main measures for creating an attractive environment and linkage of the waterfront area with the inner city. The literature obtained for this project were from secondary sources such as textbooks, published articles from the library and internet websites including the official websites of Aalborg Municipality, and Aalborg Tourism Information Office.

1.5.4. Empirical Information The theoretical source of materials served as important tool for undertaken this project in terms of presentation of issues, definition and analyses. However, in order to have a good qualitative research and also concretise the various concepts and theories chosen for this project, we conducted an empirical survey. The survey took the form of expert interviews. The interviews conducted can be referenced in Appendix B. The profiles of these experts were professionals from the Aalborg Municipal Authority Office, Tourist Office, City Commercial Association (“Aalborg City”) and an academic from the Aalborg University. Due to very limited time frame at our disposal and the qualitative nature of this project, we chose a semi-structured interview instead of a questionnaire. INTERVIEW SUBJECTS 1.

Name: Rie Malling Organisation: Aalborg Municipal Authority Title: Architect

Rie Malling has been with the Municipality for the past 6 years, and also has been involved in the regeneration plans for the Aalborg waterfront since 2003. Her relevance to this study is to give us an insight of the designed strategies for the Waterfront regeneration by the municipal authority. The essence was basically to help in our analytical approach to the study. Malling responded to series of questions about the importance of the waterfront project for the city, its potentials of attracting people, the essence of the plans for the area, 13

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the problem of having existing industries close to the new plans, and the time schedule for the plans. Answers to all these questions can be found in the appendix B.1. of this study. 2.

Name : Peter Hermansen Organisation: Aalborg Tourist Information Office Title: Development Officer

Hermansen is responsible for information technology, technical visits, sports tourism, cruises, and development projects. He responded to questions on the importance of tourism, tourism potentials, the potential of current waterfront regenerations to attract tourist and also the potential of the waterfront area to attract tourist to the city of Aalborg. His responses were personal ideas; others were based on facts in the city and also from his professional point of view. Detailed questions and responses can be found in appendix B.2. of this study. 3.

Name : Niels Andersen Organisation: The Inner City Commerce Organisation - “Aalborg City” Title: Chairman

His association has 310 members the second largest in Denmark. Again he was former chairman of the Aalborg harbour front regeneration committee for 5 years. He responded to questions on his general opinion about the Municipal Authority’s plans for the waterfront redevelopment on commerce; his view about how redevelopment of waterfront will affect the inner city- mostly shops, restaurants, offices; the possibilities of bridging the city centre with the central waterfront area; how will any alteration of the Nyhavnsgaden3 affect economic aspect of the inner city and the harbour front. His responses to these questions were from personal views and others mostly based on factual issues from his organisation and the Municipal Authority’s policies and strategies. Details of this interview are in appendix B.3.

4.

Name : Bo Vagnby Organisation: Department of Urban Planning & Management, Aalborg University

3

The main street in front of Aalborg harbour front.

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Title: Assistant Professor The main reason for this interview was to balance our information from both academician’s point of view and that of other professionals to help us in our analysis from both practice and theory. Prof. Vagnby has been an academic for over 30 years, and also a practicing planner and consultant. He responded to the questions such his own impression about the strategies for redeveloping the central waterfront area in Aalborg; the possibility for the Municipal Authority to achieve the current strategies for waterfront regeneration; personal views for possible alternative waterfront redevelopment strategies; the relevance of the Music House project at the waterfront area; and effects of altering the original architecture design of the Music House in attracting people. Extracts of this interview can be found in Appendix B. 4.

1.6. Limitation of Work Problems encountered through out this project were mainly lack of literature on the Aalborg central harbour front, and differences among group members in terms of academic and cultural backgrounds. It was a difficult to obtain more pertinent literature on the study area. The absence of this problem could have helped us to analyse the situation of the study area in great depth. On the other hand, we managed to utilise significantly the few ones at our disposal. The differences in culture and academic backgrounds made it difficult to agree on some individual ideas for the project. It takes a lot of time and explanations to agree on some methodological approaches to the project, and also conflicting areas of interest. However, we managed to compromise at the end of it all to get the project done.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Introduction “Cities undergo constant change. They are never static, never finished, always adjusting to new circumstances” [Couch, C. et al. 2003, p. xv]. This explains the dynamics of cities and hence the reason for redevelopment or regeneration in order to meet the needs of present generation as well as the future in an urban context. This is more or less a global phenomenon with regards to the changing social, economic and cultural trends of societies. One of the causes to these dynamics in European cities within the last 30 years has been attributed to the fast radical restructuring of the economic base of cities from centres of manufacturing production to services and centres of consumption [ibid.]. This situation can be described as not different in the case of Aalborg, which has experienced a downward trend of manufacturing production activities to services production lately. This is also evident by the decline in manufacturing industrial activities at the city’s harbour front. The present decline of manufacturing industrial activities in the harbour area of Aalborg; and hence its central area calls for a redevelopment. That is to adjust the present nature of the place to a new development of ‘mixed uses’ of activities and to establish an attractive link with the inner city, and also to promote tourism. In this regard, the redevelopment of the harbour front in this study shall focus on establishment of physical structures for mixed uses that would serve a social, economic and cultural purpose. Based on these concepts, the essence of this chapter is to review from theoretical perspective the redevelopment of the Aalborg central harbour front. The review is based on various secondary sources that offer, similar and antithetical views on the subjects in question, and also our personal stands on the subjects. The subjects are as follows: •

Definition of concepts.

•

Different scales and strategies for waterfront redevelopment.

•

Urban waterside regeneration; “The water’s edge: the space between buildings and water”. 16

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•

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Tourism and harbour front redevelopment.

2.2. Concepts a)

Harbour Front / Waterfront

‘Harbour front’ and ‘waterfront’ are used interchangeably in this study as well as other literature sources at our disposal to mean the same thing. The reason has to do with the fact that a harbour front or waterfront is a spatial area close to water or sea. However, it can be distinguished that a spatial area close to water might not be close to a sea but a river. The encyclopaedia Britannica defines a harbour as any part of a body of water and the manmade structures surrounding it that sufficiently shelters a vessel from wind, waves, and currents, enabling safe anchorage or the discharge and loading of cargo and passengers.

[URL:

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9117293?query=definition%

20of% 20 harbour % 20front&ct (Date accessed 12/11/2005)] On this premise, one can infer from this definition that, the manmade structures on the water surroundings could be described as waterfront or harbour front. However these structures in the context of this study do not serve as shelter for ships among others as explained above, but rather structures that serve different purposes such as offices, cafes, restaurants, festival venues etc. In other words have a direct function for social and economic significance to people. b)

Mixed Uses

The term ‘mixed uses’ is used from theoretical point of view to a mean an application of multifunctional establishment and usage of physical structures in a spatial area. The area in question could be a city centre or waterfront area. With regards to waterfront redevelopment, the term mixed uses is applied as utilisation of the area for activities such as cultural centres, offices, shops, recreational and amusement centres. Several urban redevelopment programmes have been initiated based on mixed uses. Regeneration strategy of Duke Street/Bold street area, Liverpool in 1997 was based on mixed uses ‘creative industrial’ quarter. The same can be said of the first draft document in [1997,

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p.4] of the Cottonera, Malta waterfront regeneration programme4, which sought to apply mixed uses concept. c)

Redevelopment / Regeneration

The above terms are also used in this study to serve the same purpose. According to Couch, [2003, p. 2], regeneration concerns itself with regrowth of economic activity where it has been lost; the restoration of social function where there has been dysfunction, or social inclusion where there has been exclusion; and the restoration of environmental quality or ecological balance where it has been lost. In this regard, Couch affirms that urban regeneration is an aspect of the management and planning of existing urban areas rather than the planning and development of new urbanisation [ibid.]. This explains the concept of waterfront/ harbour front regeneration/ redevelopment as not establishing a new harbour front area but managing the existing area by injecting vitality in terms of functional usage.

2.3. Different Scales and Strategies for Waterfront Redevelopment The redevelopment of waterfronts is a highly complex task that involves professionals of many disciplines. The exchange of knowledge in an international network between contacts involved in waterfronts on different levels offers both individual support and information about the most important projects completed or underway.5 The history of urban waterfront developments can be understood from a modified version of the economic rent model [West, 1989]. The model was made based on the theory and empirical data that suggest land use is determined by the economic possibilities in each area.

See URL: www.mepa.org.mtplanningfactbkbriefscottonerra_waterfront.pdf.pdf (Date accessed

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12/11/2005) 5

See URL: www.waterfrontexpo.com/portal/philosophy.shtml (Date accessed14/11/2005)

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2.3.1. Global Imperatives, Local Forces and Waterfront Redevelopment Waterfront activities have traditionally been analysed within a least cost framework concerned with evaluation of economic and sometimes political forces as they bear upon particular port areas and in the waterfront redevelopment we can find different scales of redevelopment. A.- The International Scale The global event is of great significance to maritime transport and therefore to ports is widely accepted, but it is submitted that insufficient cognisance is taken of the sheer breadth of each events. The international trade cycle of boom and recessions and confirmed by product life cycle theory and international trade theory, goes some way to explaining the timing of port expansion. [Riley,R. & Louis, S., 1988, p.37] B.- The National Scale Whatever the strength of international constraints, national governments undoubtedly possess considerable room for manoeuvre. An example government in somewhere funds have been devoted to motorway building, and although there has been a general reduction in the friction of distance there has inevitably been spatial differential, with poorly served ports tending to lose economic imputes and gain surplus space [ibid.]. C.- The Local Scale It may appear that the scope for local initiatives may be attenuated, lending support for the belief that spatial government and corporate polices, together with wider societal changes, and developed between city management, local business interests [ibid.].

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Top – Down pressures.

(A) Port sites situation

(B) Bottom up pressures

Figure 2. A framework for the analysis of waterfront redevelopment Source: [Hoyle, B. S. et al., 1988, p. 42]

This figure indicates schematically how site and situation are at the interface of position between two forces. A (Local scale) and B (National scale) because in the first one have differentiated between ports but in second one the former is proactive, is locally owned, and a good working relationships exit between local actors. The local scale is an exemplification of the power if bottom up forces is difficult if the aim is to present a representative cross section of their influence. The power of international and national forces in initiating change, more particularly in generating redundant port space and in creating the possibility of redevelopment, is not in dispute. At the local scale it is very important to link between local socio-economic and political influences, local actors and site situation parameters. However, it does demonstrate the analytical benefits to be derived from merging the (top down) and (bottom up) influences to create a more balanced holistic framework and it is argued the wider application of this approach will greatly increase our understanding of waterfront revitalisation processes worldwide. [Riley, R. & Louis, S., 1988, p.42-45-46]

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2.3.2. Redevelopment Strategies Schemes of waterfront redevelopment seldom become fully implemented as they were first envisaged. As circumstances change, the emphases within the scheme become modified to meet the new conditions. The first strategy that is crystallising most clearly is perhaps the most obvious option, site conversion for light industry, warehousing and other storage that will typically be unrelated to port activity. Once the site is cleared, physical conversion to alternative industrial uses is likely to be technically straightforward [Hoyle, B.S. et al. 1988, p.237]. It is unlikely that planning will impede the transition from refining to other industrial or commercial uses. The main concept in this strategy, at protect the environment in the waterfront. In the second strategy, the landscape is a main concept, if valued landscapes are involved where creative park boundary bisects the site, commercial exploitation could be presumed undesirable. But is not conversion to low density, informal recreation a viable option in such cases particularly if sites or parts of sites are released to public authorities for development [ibid. p.238-241]. About different policy impact in waterfront redevelopment is that urban development ensues from a process of conflict resolution and waterfront is a very explicit and he found problem when he wanted to do redevelopment to waterfront [Craig, S. & Fagence, M., 1995 , p. xv]. Conflicts between government agencies, social versus commercial objectives, and conservation versus redevelopment approaches. A universal problem is that friction when past uses of land and water persist in juxtaposition to the newcomers. Although some juxtaposing is often favoured and is becoming more accepted by newcomers traditional uses may remain sufficiently active to raise concern about both competition and negative. This kind of conflict is dealt with in the second strategy that we have mentioned before. This strategy is more focused in specific issues, such as landscape design, different uses 21

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that should be combined and at the same time try to protect this area from different kinds of pollution. But, which of these issues should be the most important one to consider when a redevelopment waterfront plan has been implemented?

2.4. Urban Waterside Regeneration: “ the Water’s edge. The Space between Buildings and Water” Historically docks areas have been advantageous places where the commercial and transport activity has favoured the development of the city, and the arrival of new cultural flows. There are so many cities and towns that are based on water, and they have grown up around ports or river crossing, in which sides they have focused commerce, industry and transport. Because of it, this kind of cities has been often economically and cultural leaders. Nowadays, some of them have had a fast decline of the traditional industry located in the harbour area, but they continue having large areas of waterfront that could turn to great urban spaces if they are redeveloped. This can be demonstrated by several examples of cities, such as Barcelona, Malmö6 or Rotterdam, where the regenerated waterfronts have become one of the liveliest districts of the cities. So, the role of planners is to try to increase the value of the harbour area and to revitalise it in the correct way. When a redevelopment plan is carried out, different experts do not always agree among themselves on what are the most important aspects of the urban space to emphasize. Some ideas are exposed in this literature review. Firstly, from a general point of view, Falk (1984) devotes himself to identify the most important problems in a redevelopment plan and the methodology that, in his opinion, should be followed. The main important problems in a redevelopment plan are, according to Falk (1984) as in White, K.N. et al, 1993 p. 24: 1. Provide infrastructures 6

See Appendix C

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2. Arrange finance. 3. Find time to reach agreement between the different groups of people that are affected by the new plan. “The successful regeneration follows a process called Balanced Incremental Development, which satisfies three fundamental principles: -

Social justice, which is the idea that the existing community should not lose out as a result of development, but should secure some benefit in terms of their most pressing needs.

-

Natural balance, the idea that development should be appropriate to the context and not harmful to the environment, so that a sustainable place is created.

-

Minimization of waste, the idea that existing resources should be fully used where possible.” [ibid].

From a more specific point of view and more focused in the waterfront, according to Owen (1993), the water’s edge, that is defined like “the space between buildings and water”, [ibid., p.15], has had different treatment according to the relationship between buildings and water, based on different widths of space, uses or heights of buildings. All these variables are important and determinants for the quality of space that we can get in the water’s edge. In Owens’s opinion, currently, dock areas are being redeveloped with an emphasis on the land uses rather than the use of water. So, the first step to know which uses could be developed in the water’s edge is to distinguish that there is a wide variety of waterfront forms, [ibid., p. 16] and after that, we will realize that the use of this variety of forms can actually be commercially beneficial and can create greater quality of urban spaces. This variety of forms differs mainly in the substantial space between buildings and water. The palette of main forms is the one that it is possible to observe in Figure 3:

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Figure 3. Examples of types of water/ building interface and ground line analysis of each. Source:[White, K.N. et al, 1993 , p. 17]

On the other hand, from an engineering point of view, Curll (1993) as in White, K.N. et al. [1993, p.129] considers to be “essential ingredients for any waterside developmentproject should be 'clean', 'alive' and 'accessible'” . Logically, a clean place will be more attractive than other one that is not. But, cleanliness in a waterfront includes not only the good quality of water, but also the land environment. Currently, in many countries they are imposing increasingly stiff regulations over shore 24

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side discharges, and the redevelopment plans of the water’s edge also supports the high quality of the land environment. Ecologically, a clean environment will support an ‘alive’ ecosystem. But, according to Curll (1993), ‘alive’ for the waterfront also means an active place with ship traffic and active cargo handling, tourism, offices, public activities, even small investments as binocular stands or tanks of live lobsters. However, unless access is provided the effort for turning the waterfront an attractive place will be for nought. “For people, accessible means being able to get the waterfront and walk along it. (...) Good access is often a function of attention paid to engineering detail ”. [ibid., p. 141]. Finally, another important item to consider in the urban waterside regeneration is the design of the environment, especially if we are interested in promoting new economic activities and investments like tourism. The relevance of the design in the waterfront plans is clear. There are several examples of this importance in cities like Barcelona, London, Genoa or Malmö7, where new and modern buildings, and new designed- walkways along the water’s edge have been built. These do not only give to the city a high quality lifestyle, but also make the place more attractive, especially for tourism. We should not forget that tourism is one of the activities that can attract greater incomes, especially if we consider the potential of the water’s edge cities.

2.5. Tourist Potentials in Relation to Harbour Front Redevelopment Waterfront developments in most cities of the world are in no doubt considered as important aspects of urban development considering their benefits in terms of social and economic gains including tourism. In Aalborg, redeveloping its harbour front could serve as a potential attraction for tourist considering the transformation of the harbour’s industrial manufacturing activities to the establishment of mixed uses of services at the place. “The sights, the sound, the smell and the feeling of water have an attracting effect 7

See Appendix C

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on most people and contribute to the fact that utilisation of waterfronts stands as an attractive strategy” [Vagnby, B., 2005, p.8]. The development strategy in urban planning, in the context of waterfront or harbour front redevelopment have a potential of attracting tourist to experience such developments, improve local economies through business and also the social life of people. This has been the case in most cities and thus has been adopted in some waterfront redevelopment strategies. One of the objectives to redevelop the Cottonera waterfront, Malta, was to transform the area into a thriving cultural, commercial and recreational area for tourist and locals.8 This strategy gives an indication that tourist attraction serves as a clue to bring about developmental growth to the area, and hence show the benefits that could be borne from redevelopment of the area. In this regard tourism attractions serve as a source of economic gains due revenues that would be accrued from tourist. Karma, K. K. [1997, p.11], describes the economic significance of tourism as being able to generate added value, employment and foreign exchange. The above emphasis is obvious in the sense that, various developmental infrastructure put in place can bring about added value to the area in question; established organisations and activities shall be manned by people, and that is employment; foreign visitors who come to these places would bring foreign exchange which has the potential of helping the nation in its international trade. The benefits of foreign exchange are much advantageous to developing economies that depends largely on foreign exchange mostly for their import trade. Other urban redevelopment projects have become tourism attractions in areas such as inner city, inner harbour redevelopment. Many of such redevelopment projects have been established to improve physical image of cities, and have become popular tourist destinations. Cities such as Liverpool, Baltimore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Barcelona have had experiences of harbour redevelopments [Duursma, J., 2001, pp.11-12] that 8

See “Development brief for the Regeneration of the Cottonera Waterfront, First Draft, 1997. URL: www.mepa.org.mtplanning factbkbriefsCottonera_Waterfront.pdf. Date Accessed 12/11/2005)

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currently serve as tourism destination. Some waterfront redevelopments projects have been

established

with

tourism

focus.

“Recent

waterfront

developments

and

redevelopments schemes in the West Indies have been largely associated with tourism” [Craig-Smith, S. J., & Fagence, M. (eds.) 1995, p. 93]. These redevelopments have been done in Jamaica’s Montego Bay Freeport and St. Lucia’s Pointe Seraphine [ibid.] and become beneficial to these communities. Harbour front redevelopments have become necessary in communities after the decline of industrial activities in inner harbour areas [ibid. pp.16-23]. In the case of Baltimore, it was realised in a survey between 1977-1981 that after its inner waterfront redevelopment; approximately one-half of all visitors to the waterside (52%) were tourist, and approximately one-half of all visitors (48%) were day trippers [ibid. pp.21]. These statistics gives a positive indication of how tourism has a relation or role to play in the redevelopment of harbour front areas. Harbour front redevelopment is therefore not all about adding vitality to the spatial area but also a means to attract visitors. The main important factor to tourism in this context is by establishing interesting activities at the harbour front that would attract people to the place. Some structures established at the Baltimore harbour project include a hotel, market pavilion, pedestrian bridge and aquarium. These mixed uses of activities could also be put up in Aalborg to make its current unattractive waterfront vibrant. That is when a new face of development or skyline in harbour front area is established to attract both local people and beyond to experience. The Waterfront EXPO 2004 document, [p.10], also makes a claim about the potential of tourism attractions to waterfront areas. The document states “nowadays, waterfront developments keeping tourism in mind are crucial for the success of the waterfront business”. This is based on the premise that development of waterfronts tends to attract visitors to the areas to spend money, get a satisfaction worth the monies spent, and also the opportunity for the area to accrue revenue for sustainable development and economic growth. It has a wide range of multiplier effects for communities to benefit within space and time. However, in general terms waterfronts or harbour fronts redevelopments are considered with the aim of improving urban image of a place. [Craig-Smith, S. J. & 27

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Fagence, M. (eds.) 1995, p.97]. That is of great importance by providing new or revitalising infrastructures to meet the needs of the local people. It therefore considers social needs such as housing, shops and recreation. The environmental needs such as environmental pollution among others are also taken in to considering. Tourism can therefore be described as activity that attracts people to specific locations, exhibits the cultural significance of a place and also a catalyst for economic development with regards to its “potential to create employment, generate income for the local economy, and provide opportunities for the growth of small business” [ibid.p.63]. On the other hand, one may question the profile of people attracted to tourist a destination. In the case of Aalborg, is it the affluent or people from all social classes? That is from upper, middle and lower classes of the people. The most important is for these people to have the purchasing power for the services offered at the destination. Karma, K.K., [1997, p.11] claims, “tourism is no longer the privilege of a few, it has become an accepted and expected part of the lifestyles of a large and increasing number of people”. This claim is for the reason that different factors such as increased leisure, high incomes, extending mobility among others have been combined. These factors tend give all people of all social classes the opportunity to take an expedition to tourism destinations. In the light of this, the Central Harbour Front redevelopment project in Aalborg has the above potentials to attract tourist. That is by viewing at the various structures that are supposed to be established at the area, their social, cultural and economic significance, and also an opportunity for people of all social classes to visit. The only problem might be when the services provided at various areas attract only the affluent that might limit others and cause cost of living to rise. Though tourism has all those benefits described above, it has equally negative effects to host environment and its people as well as visitors. Sharma, S.P. [2004, p.33] emphasises on the negative effects of tourism; that is the possibility of having direct environmental impacts on the water quality, air and noise levels. These problems are very essential with regards to tourism in Aalborg. They question the possibility of getting the water at the harbour polluted during redevelopment processes or by tourist; the possibility of noise and

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water pollution from high influx of tourist and transport to the waterfront area and the city in general. Apart from the environmental problems, there is also that of social problems. For instance the Baltimore waterfront regeneration received criticism of creating a social problem in the city. The gains of tourism prosperity led to the problem of increased cost of living and the pressure of massive gentrification faced by the existing working class population. [Chunsong,

W.,

2003,

p.3.

URL:

www.planningsummerschool.

orgpapersyear20032003B017AU.pdf. pdf Date accessed 12/11/2005]. These problems are important for consideration in Aalborg’s waterfront tourism initiative. From a critical point of view, there is also the question of whether all waterfront redevelopment in general has an automatic attraction to tourist. In this regard, is there any possibility of automatic attraction of tourist to Aalborg? The possibility of tourist attraction shall definitely depend of how the city brands it self both locally and abroad to attract tourist. These challenges could be analysed in subsequent chapters to ascertain viability of tourist attraction to the waterfront in Aalborg. However, the success of tourism could be achieved through sustainable tourism development. That is when it has been planned and managed properly in a sustainable manner.

2.5.1. Sustainable Tourism Development Harbour front redevelopment is known to encompass housing, recreation, entertainment centres, transport, offices, shops, and hotels among others that have become tourism attractions. However, in tourism context, the continuous existence of vibrant activities at the harbour front will depend on sustainable tourism development. The WTO, Guide for the Local Authorities on Sustainable Tourism Development, 1999; stipulates that sustainable tourism development meets the needs of the present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future. This implies a complementary plan of action for meeting the present needs of present tourist and also working towards the needs of future tourist. This calls for maintaining all tourism-led development structures for the both present and future activities. In this case the social, economic and environmental concerns of tourism should be considered to make the place 29

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always attractive. In this regard, the tourism potentials and activities that emerge from the harbour front redevelopment in Aalborg should be conducted on a sustainable tourism approach. That is taking cognisance of present and future tourist needs. “Sustainable tourism is a positive approach intended to reduce tensions and friction created by complex interactions between the tourism industry, the visitors, the environment and the communities which are host to holiday-makers” [Karma, K. K., 1997, p.103]. This implies that various interactions between visitors, the environment, and the community in the name of tourism is taken care of to prevent any negative externality on each other in both the present and future. This aims at sustaining all components of the industry. One of the key elements that would help uphold sustainable tourism development in the area of harbour front redevelopment is the integration of local residents in the programme. It is important that residents feel part of the process involved in this venture. [Dalager, C. 1997, p.113]. Local residents’ involvement in tourism planning initiative is considered to be important in both theory and practice. That is by not giving all attention to the economic gains from the project but also focusing on the social and environmental concerns of local residents. Considering the problems of environmental sanitation, heavy traffic, noise, water and pollution, it is essential to consider community participation in decision-making. Through that local people can decide with policy makers to design good strategies in the interest of the community. There is also the question of whether the locals even like the presence of tourist? This makes the involvement of locals in the planning stage important. According to Kelly, M.E., [1998], “most planners are aware of the global magnitude of tourism as an economic activity, but few recognise the urgency that exists in the world of the 1990's and beyond to bring planning processes-public participation”. The use of public participation in this case can be referred to as involving local residents in sustainable tourism planning since the local or central government mostly does these initiatives.

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In order to achieve successful tourism development in a sustainable manner with the concern of local residents, Kelly again emphasis that “to accomplish this, planners need a conceptual framework of tourism from which they can develop successful tourism strategies; those which balance tourist demand with local human, cultural and natural resources; those which respect the private lives of local residents. These strategies would meet the needs of tourists without compromising local residents; in other words, inject a quality of sustainability in the design”. As tourist needs are being met, it is important to meet that of the local people, through that utilisation of facilities in the area. The development should not be targeted only on visitors’ alone and also expected profits of developers. The needs of the local people in the area must be given a high premium in order to establish a balancing effect for all stakeholders. That is the local people, tourist and developers. When such attitude or approach is adopted in the tourism focus of the Aalborg harbour front redevelopment programme, it will go a long way in contributing positively to the development of the area. This has the potential of making the area vibrant and attractive to both local residents and visitors, also to perpetuate activities at the place.

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CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAME WORK 3.1. Introduction Theoretical construction with regards to waterfront redevelopment is prudent not only for the subject in question but also catalyst for future research in this field. This chapter is an attempt to explain in theory the earlier conceptualisation of the keys to waterfront redevelopment in Aalborg; global scales and strategies of waterfront redevelopment; and its social and economic gains from the perspective of tourism attractions to the area.

3.2. Keys for a Redevelopment Waterfront Plan in Aalborg City Historically dock areas have been economically advantageous due to their provision for commercial trade and cultural exchange to the city. These areas have been characterized for different trades and forms developed. These factors have been reflected in the shape and size of the waterfront, in the different building structures, and of course, in the different ways to treat the water’s edge. If we observe different types of water- building interface in the literature review, Figure 39 “Examples of types of water/ building interface and ground line analysis of each” [White, K .N. et al. 1993, p. 17], we can see that the waterfront part of Aalborg is like the form called “Set Back Building”. Maybe, “Set Back Building” is the most common form between building and water that has ever been used. It has a historical and current perception. “It comes in many shapes and forms with the spaces in-between building and water ranging from narrow passage way along the dock edge to the provision of a quay so broad that the presence of the water is all but forgotten” [ibid. p. 18] The modern cargo handling containers demand this last form of quay. It means a large space where logistics operation can be carried out. The open wharf system developed for 9

See Figure 3 in chapter 2, page 25 “Examples of types of water/ building interface and groundline analysis of each” [White, K .N. et al. 1993, p. 17],

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bulkier trades required not only building storage but also, sometimes, to build railways siding for loaded and empty trucks. This form of urban structure can be accommodated to a variety of uses, not only industrial one. But also some urban public spaces can take advantage of this wide quay space, developing open spaces, leisure areas and attractive housing and waterfronts. And this idea should be specially considered when a redeveloped harbour area plan in Aalborg is been implemented. This water’s edge form allows land side access and uses within and around the structures, although with some restrictions. Obviously there are forms of development in spite of the inconvenience, the value of the waterfront is perceived. According to Owen (1993), it seems likely over and above the physical disadvantages; there are other factors that can improve its value such as its proximity to the city centre, access to the water, even an emotional response of being at the water’s edge,... It seems to be confirmed by the high prices of properties that are immediately adjacent to the waterfront, or at least, have a good view of it. The large value difference between properties that have water view or not, makes planners consider this item seriously, but always being aware of maximizing the quality of space and environment that are being created. If a variety of forms of water’s edge space are used, then the property frontage can quickly come to have a length up to the double of the actual one, as long as retaining reasonable views of the water for all properties [White, K .N. et al. 1993, p. 19], so a variety of different waterside spaces can be used to increase the overall value of the development. In Owen´s opinion (1993) these developments experience often stop at the edge of water with a road or pedestrian route occupying the edge of the dock. Perhaps in the new plans we could consider the water body as a part of the redevelopment plan; this is to create an appropriate and high quality spaces. And in recent times, the modern engineering constructions can help us to carry out this consideration. Currently, this could be possible if it is made considering a variety of forms of water’s edge that could increase the wealth of the area by the mixture of uses and structures, even 33

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though considering not only the part of the waterfront, but also the water body as a part of the plan. In this way the waterside redevelopment can be possible turning dead areas into lively and sustainable places. Planning is necessary to deal with problems, especially when the uses of the place will change, but the action plan should also be prevailed by rules and steps from a general scale to a specific one. The different scales of redevelopment play a big role in development system, because the large scale redevelopment was only practical solution to very serious local problems [S, Craig & M, Fagence, 1995 , p. 34]. In the case of Aalborg, whose waterfront is unattractive, large scale improvement could be a chance for successful redevelopment. Waterfronts should celebrate the water by offering a diversity of cultural, commercial and housing uses. Those that require access to water should have priority. Housing neighbourhoods should be mixed both functionally and socially. New waterfronts should be conceived as an integral part of the existing city and contribute to its vitality. Water is a part of the urban landscape and should be utilised for specific functions such as waterborne transport, entertainment and culture [See URL: www.waterfrontexpo.com/portal/philosophy.shtml (Date accessed14/11/2005)].

Waterfronts need to be redeveloped step by step so the entire city can benefit from their potential. They are a challenge for more than one generation and need a variety of characters both in architecture, public space and art. Public administration must give impulses on a political level to ensure that the objectives are realised independently of economic cycles or short-term interests. Waterfronts should be both physically and visually accessible for locals and tourists of all ages and income. Public spaces should be constructed in high quality to allow intensive use [ibid.]. Cities should benefit from sustainable waterfront development not only in ecological and economical terms but also socially. The community should be informed and involved in 34

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discussions continuously from the beginning of any urban plan, in this way it is made in many countries as Denmark as it has been demostrated in some plans from Aalborg´s Municipality like the regeneration of public spaces in small communities.10 Finally, according to the literature review and this theoretical part, we should emphasize that the keys for a high quality waterfront plan here in Aalborg, are to get an attractive, vibrant (through the mixture of uses with activities all the day), and accessible waterfront, but this must be achieved without forgetting the social and economical perspective of the project. So maybe, it is possible to get the aim to create diversity and wealth in the area through the cooperation of the public and private sectors. The public sector is usually more worried about the social effects; meanwhile the private sector is interested in the economical aspects and the profits that it can obtain. Because of this, an integrated approach between both would help to create an attractive area in the waterfront and, for instance, to promote tourism. Tourism is one of the most interesting activities for both, the public and private sectors. While the public sector would be in charge of public spaces, the private sector could promote other leisure activities in the waterfront, creating diversity and wealth, as it was mentioned before.

3.3. Tourism Development in Theory Various theoretical perspectives on tourism do highlight on the industry as a catalyst for economic development and also a source of community branding. According to Abram, S. et al. (eds.) [1997, p.71], “the potential contribution of tourism to regeneration of depressed urban areas has been increasingly emphasised”. Tourism opportunities exploited from regeneration therefore becomes beneficial to both national and local economies. Tourism activities within an urban area or other have a latent function of attracting people to tourism destinations including waterfronts. Tourism attractions to waterfront areas in theory are also arguably an avenue for social activities such as recreation, amusement and largely the experience of culture. The above emphases are being considered on the grounds that structures put in place in the context waterfront redevelopment serves complementary functions. It implies that redevelopment activities at the waterfront area serves a socio-cultural function, bring 10

In an interaction with Bo Vagnby during a lecture in the course Urban Development and Liveability in Cities. 2005

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about visitors attraction, creates jobs and investment for both local and in some cases foreign industries, thus in the nut shell becoming a catalyst for development for the host area. These are apparently viewed from a positive dimension. From a negative dimension as explained in the literature review, tourism is not only a catalyst for economic development but also has the tendency to create environmental, social and economic problems and hence calls for sustainable tourism development. In view of that if tourism is to be given a priority in the redevelopment of the Aalborg harbour front, the negative side of tourism should be given a premium. These negative factors are to be taken into consideration and hence establish the necessary measure to make the tourism industry sustainable in the municipality. Taking an inference from the definition of sustainable development in the Brundtland Commission, 1997, which states “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising on the ability of the future…” It is therefore necessary to meet the needs of present tourist without compromising the needs of the future tourist as emphasised in the literature review. In this regard, the absence of a good comprehensive and sustainable tourism management might become catastrophic for the area in question. That is the environmental degradation or pollution that could be crated as a result of tourism activities and the social and economic problems that is also associated with tourism. Such negative developments rather become a disincentive for the community. It is therefore a task for all stakeholders (community authorities, citizens, organisations, opinion leaders, etc) within a community to consider these negative aspects of tourism in planning and regeneration. The Municipal Authority and other stakeholders in Aalborg for instance have the above task to consider if its waterfront redevelopment will thrive in the tourism industry. Mixed uses of activities as an attractive tool for tourism are worth for consideration from a theoretical perspective in urban waterfront redevelopment. The obvious reason is that, establishing mixed uses of activities in the context of regeneration serves as the main function to attract people and specifically tourist to the area. In other words, the absence of such regeneration structures gives no cause for vibrant attraction to the area. In this regard visitors will not have one activity to concentrate on but different activities. A single activity at a waterfront area could be very attractive but having more could be 36

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better. Mixed uses has become part of town planning philosophy and also from the early days of the modern town planning movement [Grant, J., 2004. p. 2]. The adoptions of mixed- use functions in urban waterfront regeneration tend to become legitimate initiative and hence should be pursued to serve a good purpose. At the end of it all, the host society benefits from such initiatives and also visitors get their monies worth for their visits.

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CHAPTER FOUR: SITUATION ANALYSIS IN THE AALBORG CENTRAL HARBOUR FRONT After a detailed study of the literature review and theoretical chapter, we can begin with to describe and define the current situation in Aalborg waterfront. Once revised for why and for what we want to revitalize the waterfront and studying in details the theoretical strategies for it, we should realize a study about the present situation in the project area. If we talk about attracting tourists to a new redeveloped harbour, we should assume that tourism is defined like the activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environments for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited..Consequently, we should know what kinds of values are located in the Aalborg waterfront and Aalborg Municipal Authority purpose for the area. We could for instance notice that a cultural landscape tends to become an attracting mechanism for visitors; this is especially when these cultural landscapes give an incomparable image to the area. Western cities such as New York, London, Barcelona and Copenhagen among others are well known tourism destinations characterised with interesting attractions, some of them include waterfront developments. Moreover, if we talk about solving local population’s needs we should detect the values of the waterfront e.g. close connection to the city centre, access to the water11 or the possibility to practise many recreational activities. At the end, we should be capable to relate all these advantages with the needs of residents. As a result, we should find out a good composition of activities (mixed uses) that allow us to create an attractive focus for abroad visitors and citizens from Aalborg. Hereby, we should make a study about the actual situation in the Aalborg waterfront to know the current situation and so we can compare Aalborg Municipal Authority’s Plans with our expectations. We have divided this chapter in three different parts: the first is a general perception about Aalborg Municipality where we explain the Aalborg Municipal Authority’s perspectives about Aalborg Municipality, Aalborg City and the most 11

See Literature Review. Chapter 2, p. 26-27

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important strategies that have been developed. In the second part, we focus on Aalborg Waterfront; in this point we explain the major plans for revitalising the waterfront. In the third part we explain the plans for the central harbour front.

4.1. General perception about Aalborg 4.1.1. City model The city development in Aalborg Municipality is based on a concentrated city model with Aalborg and Nørresundby central city as a strong focus for public, commercial and recreational meetings. So in this area we can find several of activities that have originated the city growth and its development, with transportation, housing, businesses,.etc. As a result of the city model and development the inner city has become a strong and exciting area with many different activities. The central harbour front is also part of the inner city and has today become an unattractive area with inadequate infrastructure and only a few activities. This city model presents some goals that could be useful to develop new strategies at the central harbour front: •

Limit use of virginal ground.

•

Uses existing systems and infrastructure.

•

Gives short distances.

•

Marks the contrast between city and country.

Figure 4. The concentrated city model for Aalborg. Source. [Aalborg Municipal Authority, 2005]

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We can notice in Figure 4 that the major focal point in the city model is the inner city, with a high density, and many activities. As longer we get away from the inner city the density and number of activities will decrease. Accordingly, Aalborg Municipal Authority wishes to unify the waterfront and the city core, and so to take advantage to the nearness of both. They would notice it often would be a good idea to localize it in the inner city which gives easy accessibility for a large number of inhabitants and visitors.

4.1.2. Aalborg Municipal Authority’s strategy Aalborg shall be a dynamic city and focus at sustainable city development. New areas for redevelopment shall be avoided if they generate a negative impact, but Aalborg Municipality shall also promote new areas for redevelopment that can create an interesting and amazing focus in the city. The areas for city redevelopment will be categorized as high priority prospective areas12, Prospective areas13 or gradually areas for redevelopment14. The harbour areas in Aalborg and Nørresundby are categorized as high priority areas for city redevelopment [Porter, G. & Zidema, C., 2005.. Liveable Cities Case

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Version:

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URL:

http://www.eurocities.org/liveablecities/IMG/doc/aalborg-case-06dec05_FINAL_.doc Date accessed 12/12/2005]. The principal idea is to create connections and coherence between city areas and the harbour fronts. The areas for redevelopment at Aalborg and Nørresundby harbour fronts shall be considered as one big area for city redevelopment. The general goals and visions for city redevelopment and development from Aalborg Municipal Authority are the following: •

City development must meet the demands of a modern knowledge society (a city for the future).

•

City growth shall happen primarily by reuse of old city areas.

12

Areas where redevelopment is important as soon as possible. Areas where redevelopment is interesting in a long time horizon. 14 Areas where redevelopment will happen step by step. 13

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New city area shall only be used when it is necessary to create a harmonious development.

The actual strategy, which Aalborg Municipal Authority is working to implement, tries to combine different aspects like: •

“Life and diversity. Activities, sports and festivals.

•

New architecture and reuse of industrial buildings.

•

New housing, supplementary alternatives to inhabitants” [Aalborg Municipal Authority, 2005].

A.- Sustainable Mobility Aalborg Municipal Authority has tried to base its transport policy on principles of sustainable mobility. So, the Aalborg Municipal Authority’s objective is to reduce most of the traffic problems like: accidents, visual intrusion, and noisy nuisance, emissions of pollutants or energy consumption. Thus Action Plan was created in 1998-1999, reiterating Aalborg's obligation to solve the environmental problems caused by traffic. The main issues in the plan are: ƒ

To combine the need for mobility and the desire to minimise the environmental traffic impact.

ƒ

To reduce energy consumption and emissions.

ƒ

To reduce the number of dwellings affected by traffic noise. [City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005, p.6]

In February 2005 a new Action Plan for Traffic and Environment was finalised; this plan includes aims based on the Aalborg Commitments15. During the last 10 years, the City of Aalborg has participated in several European projects to become a more sustainable city (Jupiter 1993-1996, Quo Vadis 1994-1995, Jupiter-2 1997-1999, ALTEReco 1999-2002, Viking 2000-2003 and Vivaldi 2002-2005). Some of them could be useful for our theme in this project, like: Jupiter-2 or ALTEReco.

15

Aalborg Commitments is a local management strategy based on sustainable development. It includes strategies of selecting appropriate priorities of local situations and needs, and also consider the global impact of the city´s activities in development.

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Jupiter-2: This project began in 1996 and was completed at the end of 1999. The most important questions developed were: 1.- (BICYCLE LANES). The principal purpose in this project was to develop a net for bicycles. Consequently, many bicycle lanes were established in important roads like Jyllandsgade or Prinsensgade. We can look at the figure below, and distinguish how bicycle lanes were designed and integrated in the street. So, this plan improved the cycle access and contributed to a sustainable mobility.

Figure 5: shows before and after bicycle lanes has been built in Jyllandsgade. [City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005, p.6]

2.- (CAR TRAFFIC RESTRAINT). The reconstruction of Østerågade (the most important traffic road in the city centre) started at the beginning of 1998. From this moment, Østerågade was restricted to public transport, bicycles and pedestrians; so, there has been a clear reduction in emissions and energy use in this area in some years.

Figure 6 shows how car traffic in Østerågade has been restricted before the plan and after. [City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005, p.7]

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ALTEReco: “The ALTEReco project in Aalborg aimed to sustain the growth of the central business area by establishing an environmentally-friendly city centre and thereby attracting citizens.” [City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005, P.8] The central business district (CBD) and some residential areas in the surroundings have been the focal point in this project. We can discover that in the CBD mostly of the streets have serious environmental problems. In this case, the main focuses in this project were all the interchanges between train, buses, cars and non-motorized traffic that were done. The map of ALTEReco project area was presented like this one:

Figure 7 shows the map of the ALTEReco project area. [City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005, p.8]

We can distinguish the blue boundary in Figure 7, which delimits the most important pedestrian area in Aalborg (Central Business District). This zone has become an important focus to attract inhabitants, companies and visitors to Aalborg. B.- Architectural Policy Aalborg The principal issue of this policy is to protect and support qualities of all the urban areas and landscapes in Aalborg. “In future, competition will increase between major cities – both locally and globally. The aim of the Architectural Policy is to highlight and support that which is unique in the city itself and within the municipality of Aalborg as a whole.” [Arkitektur Forum in Aalborg, 2004, p.3]. The most important goals, which this particular policy talks about are: (i) Aalborg’s identity, (ii) Landscape, (iii) Urban spaces, (iv)Traffic spaces, (v) The dense city, (vi) The open city, and (vii) Architectural quality. In each one of them, the most significant values 43

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that can be found in the waterfront about different perspectives are defined and studied. We propose to revise some of them: I. Aalborg’s identity: Characteristic and value today We can show several assessments that are located in Aalborg and can be useful to define new attractive areas in the waterfront: •

Fjord landscape: Aalborg has a special location on the banks of the Limfjorden where the fjord meets the city and countryside.

•

Medieval structure: The city centre’s medieval structure allows observing a city with deep historical heredity.

•

Harbour environment: Actually, Aalborg does not present a good image of its waterfront. For instance we can find mixed uses between industrial areas, marina or waterfront dwellings. It is necessary to remove this unpleasant image, and to create an attractive place for the benefit of this area.

•

Elements creating identity: Aalborgtårnet (an observation tower), the Viking settlement, the Congress and Culture Centre, Museum in Contemporary Art, Aalborg Theatre, the Symphony Orchestra and Jomfru Ane Gade are all some examples of references to spiritual and cultural life in North Jutland.

I.1. Aalborg’s identity: guidelines •

Aalborg shall make use of the attractiveness and quality of life consequential from its proximity to the water.

•

Aalborg shall express itself as a city rich in innovative energy and tolerant urban environments.

•

“On both sides of the Limfjord the harbour fronts shall reflect the energy of the city centre and be laid out with public accessible urban spaces enabling municipal recreational functions for local citizens, as well as facilitating cultural development and various cultural institutions.” [Arkitektur Forum in Aalborg, 2004, p.4]

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II. Landscape: Characteristic and value today We could enumerate more than a few environmental values that are located in Aalborg and could be helpful to define new recreational areas in the waterfront: •

Limfjord: Aalborg possesses exceptional topographical possibilities in the distinctive character of the landscape.

•

Stream delta: Traces of the original stream delta can still be found in the urban landscape. Østerådalen and its interface with the city boundary are particular qualities in this area.

•

Hills: The profile of the hills, which looks like islands in the horizontal landscape, gives emphasis to the environmental importance of the landscape for development.

II.2. Landscape: guidelines •

Accessibility to the fjord shall be improved.

•

Focus shall be concentrated on the interface between built-areas and surrounding countryside –the interaction between rural and urban areas.

•

Landscape concept shall be improved and applied everywhere so that nature becomes a visible element. This also applies in the densely built-up areas of the city where green areas can offer healthy benefits. [Arkitektur Forum in Aalborg, 2004, p. 6 &7]

III. Urban spaces: Characteristic and value today In the same way, we could pay attention on some urban spaces around of the central harbour front like: •

The bridges: We can find a view over the water featuring ships and associated

activities and to have a nice view of the city and the surrounding landscape. •

Diverse activities: The city’s public spaces are used for different kinds of

activities related to consumption, social and cultural incentive, and other ones like shopping, games, exhibitions, concerts, or the like. •

Green areas: Vegetation and topography are used in some cases as a

fundamental element in the configuration of the city’s recreational and active urban spaces.

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III.1. Urban spaces: guidelines ƒ

Urban spaces shall be drawn up and will focus on a series of visual, functional, recreational, cultural and social aspects.

ƒ

Pay special attention in multifunctional urban spaces with great potential for provisional use and spontaneous activities such as harbour bathing facilities, or a skating rink.

ƒ

The strategy shall be related to the new commercial areas as a new type of public meeting area.

ƒ

Materials, surfacing and urban furniture in public spaces shall be used and contribute to improve the visual environment [Arkitektur Forum in Aalborg, 2004, p. 8 & 9].

IV. Traffic spaces: Characteristic and value today We find out an enumeration of the most important traffic spaces in the city. We are going to study them to know how the actual traffic situation in Aalborg is: •

Vesterbro: An attractive street, which includes a stretch over the bridge that links Nørresundby and Aalborg.

•

Boulevarden: Another nice-looking street that has great spatial qualities and contains many beautiful details and materials.It has been renovated in 2005.

•

The narrow mediaeval streets: Some narrow streets have been well-preserved since they possess an event full charm.

•

The bridges: The bridges make up a powerful image of Aalborg and Nørresundby. At the same time, we can see an important bottleneck (special traffic conditions) caused by the natural barrier when people are crossing the Limfjorden.

•

Cars: The motorway network, in particular, creates big barriers in the urban landscape.

IV.1. Traffic spaces: guidelines ƒ

The infrastructure must be adapted to the city and the landscape.

ƒ

The challenge lies in creating cohesion between infrastructure, urban and rural spaces. [Arkitektur Forum in Aalborg, 2004, p. 10 &11]

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4.2. Focus on Aalborg Waterfront As we know now, the general strategies that have been developed in Aalborg Municipality, we can centre our study to the harbour front. Some activities that can still be observed today are: Some of the activities that still can be observed today are: 1. Commercial port; where products of the various industries along the waterfront are transported to destinations within the country and abroad. 2. Industrial activities; shipyard; cement factory; fertilizer production; grain and feed factories; and machine industry. In recent times regenerating the harbour front has become a prominent issue. A number of industries that represented the principal firms of the city are no longer in operation. This effect calls for revitalization of the area. The strategic plan adopted by the Municipal authorities of Aalborg has objective linking the city with harbour front, where the Limfjorden becomes the central point. That is to improve and build certain structures that would inject vitality to the area. This one would tend to increase economic activities, and provide a social recreational environment. The municipal authorities also aspire at establishing these developments in a more environmental friendly perspective, so as to reduce considerably elements of pollution such as noise, dust and smell. Nowadays, a part of the Harbour front is used by business enterprises that operate there. A change of uses in the waterfront may be the objective for urban regeneration in the long term but in this moment, industrial activity continues in its site. As a result, this one has consequences for the environmental quality (mainly dust, smell and noise). In this moment, it is necessary to define the existing circumstances in the waterfront. If we try to explain the present situation in the Aalborg Harbour front, we could make a distinction between different areas or focus where the Aalborg Municipal Authority is planning currently, new redevelopment and development for the water's edge. If we look at figure 8, we can notice that we have focused on the south side of the Limfjorden in four different zones. Our case area is the Central Harbour Front, and we 47

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focus on it in the next third part of this fourth chapter. Now, we explain what it is happening actually with the surroundings closer to the central waterfront like Marina Fjordpark, The Spirit factory and Østre Havn.

Marina Fjord park

The Spirit factory

Central Harbour Front

Østre Havn

Figure 8 illustrates some harbour areas in Aalborg City [Aalborg Kommune, 2005. URL: http://www.aalborg.dk/]

We identify what is happening in each area illustrated in Figure 8: A. Marina Fjordpark: We can find in this area a mixture between residential apartments, a youth hostel, sailing club, marina and campsite. It also has some environmental problems like noise from transport and repairing of boats near the sailing club and from a small shipyard. B. Vestre Havnepromenade (The Spirit factory): Municipality of Aalborg bought the land for redevelopment, and sold it in separate parts to developers. As a result of that nowadays, there is a bigger concentration of activities, a canal and a city garden. C. The Central Harbour Front: This is our study area so it is interesting to know which plans are being proposed from the Aalborg Municipal Authority to develop this area. We are going to present information about these plans: Jomfru Ane Parken, Slotspladsen, Utzonparken, The House of Music and Karolinelundskilen. All of them will be explained in the next subchapter. 48

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D. Østre Havn / former shipyard site, (East Harbour): Situated in the middle of an industrial zone, Aalborg Municipal Authority desires to regenerate this industrialized area. Various environmental problems are located here such as noise, dust and smell from the grain and feed enterprises, a floating dock, a fibreglass yard, a machinery factory and from a paint factory [[Porter, G. & Zidema, C., 2005 p.4.. Liveable Cities Case

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front,

Version:

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URL:http://www.eurocities.org/liveablecities/IMG/doc/aalborg-case06dec05_FINAL_.doc Date accessed 12/12/2005]. The general goals for the area are to keep the current companies, but also if the conditions are good to move them to another locality. If the companies are moved it would be necessary to reuse all these empty areas with urban uses.

4.3. Study Area It is important to stand out that we have chosen the central harbour front because firstly, it is really near to the down town; secondly, it has more possibilities to link with the city core, and the most important issue and thirdly, because this area will become a special focus to attract inhabitants and visitors.

4.3.1. The inner city - Actual situation At this moment, we need to know more about the concrete situation of the waterfront and the neighbouring areas. Concerning our purposes, we should do a study of the present situation in the inner city. We are looking for some links to connect the central harbour front with the city core. We regard it as really important to know what kind of activities or places we can find on the surroundings of the central harbour front. Accordingly, we have decided to do a study of the most significant areas that could be considered like potential focuses to link the inner city with the central harbour front. We think these four areas are important because firstly, they are really close to the central harbour front; secondly, they are related on different land uses, and finally, they attract local population. So, we distinguish four zones where we can find social, historical, cultural, and recreational activities.

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5 Figure 9: General map of Aalborg . Inner City.[ Aalborg Kommune, 2005. URL: http://www.aalborg.dk/Borgerportal/ Serviceomraader/ Byen/ Havnefront/ default.htm (Date accessed 14/11/2005)]

Zone 1: 1. Entertainment (Jomfru Ane Gade): Aalborg is a festive city that never sleeps; this is the reason why it is called “The Little Paris of the North”. Aalborg has more than 300 restaurants, pubs, bar, cafes; many of them are located in the attractive street called Jomfru Ane Gade, and the side ways called Ved Stranden and Borgergade also contains an important part of them. [www.visitaalborg.com, 2005 Date accessed12/12/2005].

Figure 10 illustrates Jomfru Ane Gade [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.control.auc.dk/~dthi02/Aalborg/Jomfru%2520 Ane%2520Gade%252001.jpg&imgrefurl. (Date accessed 12/12/2005)]

2. Commerce and business (Shopping area and Central Business District): In the centre of the city there are a wide variety of streets to shop and walk in such as Bispensgade, Nytorv or Algade. At the same time, we can find the Central Business District (CBD), where mostly offices are located in. All of them together present the most active area in the inner city. We shall remark that this is the major focal point where we shall find the links to connect the central harbour front and the city core. 50

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Figure 11 illustrates Nytorv and Bispensgade http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.control.auc.dk/~dthi02/Aalborg/Jomfru%2520A ne%2520Gade%252001.jpg&imgrefurl. ( Date accessed 12/12/2005)]

Zone 2: 1. Historical part (Aalborghus Castle and medieval streets): Aalborghus Castle is a very central historical point in Aalborg built by King Christian III in 1539-55 as a residence for the local governor. Near by Aalborghus Castle you also find Østerågade a very central and historical street in Aalborg, with some of the oldest houses in the city. Østerågade has always been a central area in Aalborg because of the stream “Østerå” that mouth in to Limfjorden, today Østerå has been moved and mouth in to Limfjorden in Karolinelundskilen. [www.visitaalborg.com Date of accessed 10/12/2005]

Figure 12 shows Aalborghus castle [http://users.cybercity.dk/~ida2730/historie/aalboslot.htm (Date accessed 12/12/2005) ]

Zone 3: 1. Cultural part (the community centre): A central cultural institution in Aalborg inner city is the community centre “Medborgerhuset”. It contains the city Municipality hall, lecture and meeting rooms, a 51

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local historical archive, and the central public library "Det Nordjyske Landsbibliotek". “Medborgerhuset” is located in Rendsburggade in the inner city [www.njl.dk Date accesed 12/12/2005]. The location as the most central public library in Aalborg makes it a very important public library in Northern Jutland. Zone 4: 1. Recreational area. Tivoliland is placed in Karolinelundskilen and it is the biggest amusement park in Aalborg Municipality and the second biggest in the Northern Jutland. The recreational area contains some amusement facilities, a restaurant and a garden. Tivoliland has in December 2005 been sold to a new owner named Torben Pedersen, a man that has experience of running “Bakken” an amusement park in Copenhagen. He has new visions for Tivoliland at first case he has decided to change the name back to the original name Karolinelund. Until year 1972 Tivoliland was named Karolinelund and from year 2006 it will become the name again. The visions for Karolinelund is to make it popular to local residents, by creating new amusements, more live music, more restaurants, longer opening hours and other initiatives. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 F] Once finalizing the case area, it is also interesting to describe the actual situation about “Limfjordsbroen”, the Limfjord´s Bridge. Actually, it connects Aalborg with Nørresundby. Today mostly of the car users use the Limfjordstunnel, but the Limfjordsbroen is still very important for the traffic and especially for the bus traffic. [www.highways.dk Date of accessed 12/12/2005]

4.3.2. Future situation: Aalborg Municipal Authority’s plans In this moment, we will explain the Aalborg Municipal Authority’s future urban strategy for the central harbour front. It is necessary, because it will become the plan that shall be implemented at the central harbour front in real life. The Aalborg Technical Department have decided to divide the central waterfront in five different areas:

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Area 1

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Area 2

Area 3

Area 5 Area 4

Figure 14: Municipality’s plan [www.aalborg.dk/havnefront Date accessed 26/11/2005]

Area 1: Jomfru Ane Parken (Entertainment) Area 2: Slotspladsen (Historical) Area 3: Utzon’s Parken (Cultural) Area 4: Music House and Nordkraft (Cultural) Area 5: Karolinelundskilen (Recreational)

[Malling (See Appendix B )] Area 1: Jomfru Ane Parken (Entertainment area). Jomfru Ane Parken is the western part of the central harbour front. The general plans for the area are to create an attractive city area that directs to a wide target group with a variation of activities and places to relax. Therefore the Aalborg Municipal Authority wants to establish a promenade along the whole water front with shops, restaurants, recreational, workshops and offices. One suggestion is to build a swimming pool; another suggestion is the possibility to create a guest harbour directly east from the Limfjords Bridge.16 [Municipalityplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 Date accessed 12/12/2005]

16

See Appendix B. Interview from the Aalborg Municipality.

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Figure 15: The illustration is a sketch of a possible building in Jomfru Ane Parken. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004]

Area 2: Slotspladsen (Historical area). Slotspladsen is the area in front of Aalborghus castle, it will be organized as a green character for recreational functions. The visions are to create a palace square between the building Toldboden and Fjordgade with basins that historical references back to middle age. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 12/12/2005] Area 3: Utzon Parken (Cultural area). A centre about the world famous architect Jørn Utzon will be build next to Slotspladsen; it is expected to become a tourist attraction in Aalborg where Jørn Utzon was born. The centre will contain all Jørn Utzon’s drawings and can be interesting for tourists and students. The price is expected to be 40 million DKK and it is expected to be financed by EU and different foundations [Nordjyske Stiftstidende A, 2005 & Nordjyske Stiftstidende B, 2005]

Figure 16 shows a sketch of the Utzon House. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende A, 2005]

Area 3: Kvægtorvet and other existing buildings. Today the area lies with singular houses named Strøybergs Palæ and Slotshotellet (The castle hotel) and kvægtorvet (The cattle market). Aalborg Municipal Authority believes that Strøybergs Palæ is a character full building. The Municipal Authority also think that Slotshotellet in someway defaces with its architecture and choice of materials. The area in front of those buildings is in the master plan named “Palæparken”, and can be used for new buildings like residential, or more hotels. 54

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The outside area in front of Strøybergs Palæ og Slotshotellet, “Palæparken”, should have a public accessible park area. [Kommuneplan tillæg1.56, 2004 & www. aalborg.dk/ havnefront, 2005 Date accessed 12/12/2005 ] The cattle market was build in 1885; today it is unused and needs conservation and its conservation started at 9. November 2005. Aalborg Municipal Authority sold the cattle market to a rich man, Troels Holch Poulsen, under the premise that it would be conserved. The conservation is expected to take one year and after that it is expected that the building will be used for a restaurant, a shop and a market hall. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende C, 2005]

Figure 17 shows a sketch of the conserved Cattle Market. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende C, 2005]

Area 4: The Music House (Cultural area) Musikkens Hus (The House of Music) will be build between Palæparken and Karolinelundskilen. There was an architecture contest about the house of music and the winner project drawn by Coop Himmelb(l)au was published in 2003. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004]. The House of Music is a cooperative project between Aalborg Municipal Authority, Aalborg University, and the County of Northern Jutland, with visions of creation a landmark of the transformation of Aalborg from a city with heavy industries to a contemporary, culturally diverse and vibrant city, and it will add to the strategy of making Aalborg an attractive place in which to live and work. The centre shall become in active focus for meetings between students, musicians and visitors. It shall contain a concert hall, facilities for Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, educational facilities for a music academy and an education in architecture and design. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 & www.musikkenshus.dk]

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The costs was in year 2003 expected to be 460 million DKK, today the expected price is 575 million DKK the main part will be paid by the state (National Government) (300 million DKK), Aalborg Municipal Authority (60 million DKK), County of Northern Jutland (32 million DKK), European Union (28 million DKK), different foundations, and other contributors. The architectural plans have been changed three times because the price exceeded the 460 million DKK, in June 2006 the Music House Foundation17 expect a new price of a tender. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 & www. musikkenshus.dk & Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 D, E]

Figure 18: shows the three different sketches of the House of Music. Picture 1 shows the first sketch from February 2003, picture 2 shows the second sketch from February 2004 and picture 3 shows the third and newest sketch from December 2005 [www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 & Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 D, E]

Area 4: Nordkraft (Cultural area). The most of Nordkraft (a former power plant) is today demolished. The area shall function as a green passage between grain- and feed companies and the house of music and among other things 17

The Music House Foundation has been the main responsible for plans of The Music House until the 15. of December 2005, where Aalborg Municipal Authority has overtaken the main responsibility for the plans. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 D & www.musikkenshus.dk]

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contain parking places for the house of music (Karolinelundskilen). The halls on the south side of Nyhavnsgade are expected kept for new cultural functions such as sports, theatre and concerts. A specific planning will treat the redevelopment of this area and the architecture drawings will we finished in January 2006. [Malling, 2005 (See appendix B) & Municipalityplan tillæg 1.56,

2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 Date accessed 16/12/2005]

Area 5: Karolinelundskilen (Recreational area) Karolinelundskilen shall contain parking and a green area (involving the small river). The name refers to the wish of creating a green connection from Tivoliland/Karolinelund to Limfjorden. In long term perspective this place will become the only place at the central harbour front with parking places, expect of a small number of parking places close to the house of music.

[Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 Date accessed 17/12/2005]

Figure

19

shows

the

first

sketch

of

Karolinelundskilen.

Source:

[www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 . Date accessed 17/12/2005]

Considering the Aalborg Municipality Plan as shown in the five areas on figure 14, roads and parking are very essential elements that are associated with them. Between the central harbour front and the inner city there is an important traffic road called Nyhavnsgade/Slotspladsen/Strandvejen that connects the areas to the rest of the city. The road is a four lane road and creates in someway a barrier between the inner city and the harbour front. Aalborg Municipal Authority wants to rebuild the road to a 2 lane road with cycle paths. Along the whole central harbour front they also want to build a promenade only for pedestrians and bicycles. [Municipalityplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005 Date accessed 26/11/2005]. Aalborg Municipal Authority want a different area at harbour front, today there is a lot of parking places, in the future plans they plan to build a parking house in Karolinelundskilen 57

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instead and rebuild the Metax parking house from 600 to 800 parking places. [Malling (int.), 2005 & Andersen (int.), 2005)] In the area near the central harbour front you also find parking houses At Føtex (everyday shop), Salling (department store) and Palads (near Jomfru Ane Gade). After the rebuilding of the Metax parking house it becomes the biggest parking house in Aalborg. [www.aalborg-trafikinfo.dk]

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CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF AALBORG MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY’S STRATEGIES FOR THE CENTRAL HARBOUR FRONT 5.1. Introduction The analysis of this project, the literature review and the theoretical part, is focused on two main issues, firstly the urban planning and secondly, the economical aspect of redevelopment plan for the Central Harbour Front in Aalborg. The initial analysis is taken from an urban planning point of view. We are going to pay special attention on aspects such as mixed uses, accessibility and urban design which are the three main points on urban planning. These issues are related to each other. Effect on each of them will have consequences on the other. In this way, to make the waterfront to attractive people, there should be different implemented activities and services. At the same time, both public and private spaces, should be developed in a nice way, paying special attention on the design. So, if the waterfront is developed in a nice-looking way, the citizens will like to go there. On the other hand, if the accessibility to this area in the city is not improved, there will be always a ‘barrier effect’ and the integration of the waterfront in the inner city will be not successful. Secondly, we are going to analyse the economical aspect; this point of view is also related to urban planning, because if a new urban plan is designed, different kinds of activities and services will be created to attract people. If the redevelopment plan is successful, there will be great effects for the city, especially in the economic aspects. Accordingly, one of the most important economic activities that would take advantage of the new plan at the waterfront is the tourism; it could increase in great manner being profitable for the city. Hence, we are also going to focus our analysis on tourism results if the Municipality’s plans are implemented.

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5.2. Urban Planning 5.2.1. Mixed Uses Regarding our literature review, the theoretical chapter and also our objectives for this project, we have decided to focus this part of the analysis on a new development of “mixed uses” of activities to be established in the central waterfront. These “mixed uses” are also aimed to create an attractive link between the central harbour front and the inner city. Thus, the redevelopment of the harbour front in this study shall pay attention on the evaluation of mixed uses that would serve as support for social and cultural activities. Firstly, we should define the meaning of mixed uses. Therefore, we can use this term, “mixed uses”, if we want to mean “an application of multifunctional establishment and usage of physical structures in a spatial area”18, as described in the literature review. In our case, the term mixed uses is applied as utilisation of the area for activities such as offices, shops, cultural centres, recreational areas, historical and amusement centres. The competition among potential uses, which are frequently incompatible like industry, business, entertainment, residence or recreation, is one of the major difficulties of waterfront planning. According to Vagnby, B. [2005. p.8-9], we could distinguish three different kinds of land uses: 1. Water-dependent use: total dependence on the waterfront (marinas, ferry terminals and ship building). 2. Water-connected use: it has a less dependence on the waterfront than the first use, but it is benefited for its nearness to the water (meeting places, aquaria, restaurants). 3. Water-attracted use: it has greater attraction power and value because of the waterfront facilities (like hotels and owner-occupied residences). A planner could ask himself or herself how much mixed uses are appropriate to be established in the whole area. There should be a balance between them, while avoiding adverse effects among themselves. We are going to identify three different methodologies for mixed uses; according to Grant, [2004, p.9]: 18

See Literarure Review. Chapter 2, page24

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1.-Increasing intensity of land uses. 2.-Increasing diversity of uses. 3.-Integrating formerly segregated uses; (for instance, allowing light industry in residential areas). Currently, we can identify different uses in the whole central harbour front but not too many, hence we should focus our study on increasing its diversity of land uses and integration them better. Waterfront needs a new and attractive multifunctional space to revitalise itself. Consequently, we have decided to implement these last two methodologies. A.- Why do we need to implement mixed uses in the Aalborg Waterfront? Reading the previous chapters, we have verified that the Central Harbour Front needs a new redesign of its land uses if we want to build up a new space to attract people from a large range of ages. So, it is necessary (i) to implement a wide variety of activities and (ii) to create a lively atmosphere around the central waterfront to revitalize this area and subsequently having multiples choices to visit the harbour. On the other hand, if we focus this question on economical point of view, we can argue that the creation of clustering activities is a point of departure for successful economic strategies since we are encouraging innovation, cooperation and competition between networks, thus we could have a sustainable local economic development. B.- Strategies that we can apply. When planners are looking forward to design a new scheme of land uses, the first step they should discuss is which uses could be developed in the water’s edge and after that, they should decide the best choice to implement them and to create great quality of urban spaces. The knowledge from the literature review and theoretical chapter, which we can apply here, are different strategies to implement diverse land uses. As a result, we shall distinguish between: (i) Physical conversion from industrial uses to commercial and recreational uses. The main concept is to protect the environment in the waterfront. (ii) The landscape is the most important concept. Different uses should be combined and, at the same time, try to protect this area from different kinds of pollution. 61

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The planner’s role is trying to increase the value of the harbour area revitalizing it in the correct way; thus, we should combine both protecting the environment and promoting a landscape design in our analysis. This one is an aspect (landscape design) that we are going to approach later. Consequently, we are trying to apply Falk’s19 theory and his process called Balanced Incremental Development. These satisfies three fundamental principles: firstly, social justice (to resolve population’s needs); secondly, natural balance (to create a sustainable place) and thirdly, minimization of waste (to reuse existing resources). So, it is important to notice that we could propose: (i) preserve and rehabilitate historical and industrial buildings (sustainable place and reusing existing resources), (ii) find a balance between tourism’s needs and local population’s needs and try to combine them (social justice and sustainable place). Thus, we think that these ones are the two tools that we need to implement in our study. C.- Analyses of current land uses at the Aalborg waterfront Traditionally, the centre of the city has been the main location for shops and offices, together with some institutional land uses such as the city hall, libraries and museums. Thus, we are talking about central business district (CBD) that is city’s nucleus of commercial land uses with a densely concentrations of shops, offices, stores and nonresidential buildings. At the same time, we can find the focal point of most transportation routes such as bus stations and railway terminals, and also hotels around of this CBD. Also, mixed land uses like small factories and workshops, apartment buildings, and old residential neighbourhoods are located in the surroundings. This zone is an area in transition, because of its mixture of growth, changed, and declined land uses. So, it is important to study how land uses could be within the future or long term. Some land uses could be changing all the time or could be depressed in few years. If we try to design a Multiple Nuclei model20, we can obtain the following image: 19

See Literature Review. Chapter 2, p.24 Multiple-nuclei model of urban land use: when cities reach a certain size, the traditional downtown is no longer sufficient to serve the commercial needs of the whole city, and so additional nodes of shops and 20

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Fig 20.Multiple Nuclei Model

Central business district

Heavy manufacturing

Wholesale light manufacturing

Outlying business district

Low-income residential

Residential suburb

Medium-income residential

Industrial suburb

High-income residential

The implementation of this model is to show the CBD’s location and where the general land uses are located. This scheme is based in the concept of functional clustering. “Some activities are attracted to another, while others repel one another”. [Lecture 7, Localisation and the development of cities and regions, p.455]. Looking at the above image, it is interesting to notice that the Central Business District as described in chapter 4, is located next to the Limfjord and it is supposed to include the Central Harbour Front. It is important to remark the area for medium income residential (red area), which is around of the CBD. Mostly urban land users want to maximize utility. The utility of a specific location refers to its usefulness to population. In general, utility will be a function of accessibility, which we are studying in another subchapter. For instance, commercial land users want to be accessible to markets and workers; residents want to be accessible to jobs, services, and friends; public institutions want to be accessible to their clients … and so on. Thus, we offices emerge in outlying districts. Functional groupings of related activities of other kinds-manufacturing, wholesaling, etc-also tend to develop, creating multiple nuclei of economic activities around which the city is organized. [Lecture 7, Localisation and the development of cities and regions, p.455]

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should notice that the point of maximum accessibility is the city centre. In our case, the inner city and also the central waterfront are the points of greatest accessibility in Aalborg, and this means the area is really active. If we observe again the image, we can distinguish other different land uses like wholesale light manufacturing, high and low-income residential, outlying business district or heavy manufacturing. It is important to detect that the heavy manufacturing is located in the eastern part of the city. Firstly, it was placed in the central harbour front, but along the years it has had to move to another place because the intensive social activity in the waterfront was incompatible with industrial activity. Actually, it is great to know that we can only find few industrial buildings in the central harbour, but also it is important to notice that we should propose some plans to avoid this annoying situation. We can perceive that the first strategy that we wanted to implement is currently being developed. Furthermore, we present a detailed map of actual mixed uses in the central harbour front and in the inner city:

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Figure 21 shows the actual land uses in the Central harbour front. Source: designed by authers.

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We are going to analyse which land uses we can be found in the inner city and in the waterfront, and which ones should be implemented to revitalise the area according to local population’s needs. We are going to achieve our analysis following this scheme: • Recognition the whole land uses. We have done a study about all the different activities that are located in both the central waterfront and the inner city, because one of our objectives for this project is to link inner city and central harbour front. So, we think that it is necessary to make an analysis of both of them. • Evaluation of target group. We are going to define what kind of people could be attracted to these different land uses. • Evaluation of the location. We are going to establish, in this last part, all the knowledge and strategies that we have decided to implement. I. Recognition land uses Historical land use: We are talking about the Aalborghus Slot and the medieval streets in the historical city. We know that preservation of historical features is one important advantage of the town centre planning. We can use it as an urban renewal tool; preservation and rehabilitation could be profitable by the fact that most city centres enclose a diversity of interesting architectural constructions, which attracts the attention of most people. If we study preservation concept, we can divide it into three categories: (i) restoration and renovation of single houses, (ii) elaboration of preservation plans for entire housing or neighbourhoods and (iii) transformation and reuse of buildings or building facilities for new purposes [Vagnby, B. 2005, p.5]. Perhaps, the most used category is the third one and also it is the most useful since we could recover an old and historical building and at the same time, we could promote up to date activities inside. Gardens and parks (green land use): We can mention, for instance, Tivoliland and Østre Anlæg Park. They are located in the eastern part of the central harbour front. We think that they are not enough for whole the inner city and central waterfront since they only attract population from south-east part of the city. Maybe, it would be necessary to have more green areas in the central waterfront, if we want (i) to create a sustainable environment and (ii) to implement our second strategy. Trying to link these two parks with

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both inner city and central harbour front among green paths could be an interesting solution to solve the landscape design. Shopping area: We mentioned in the fourth chapter that an important number of pedestrian streets are supporting the shopping activity. All the shops are concentrated in the inner city and whole of them present a good quality image to attract local population and other commercial activities. This zone is enclosed into the central business district that we referred before, and it means that this one is the most active place in the inner city during whole the week. It is important to pay special attention on this area, because nowadays, it is the major focal point where people have social and economic meetings. Thus, our principal objective shall be to link the central waterfront with the CDB. Offices area: The development of trade life along the pedestrian streets attracts many customers and visitors to the town centre. The banks especially have become aware of this development, and have all established branches within a few years at the vicinities of best shopping centres. It is difficult to predict what could happen with offices, shopping and recreational areas. Currently, they encircle the most important social and economical activity in the inner city. Event area (recreational area): Jomfru Ane Gade is the part of the inner city where we can find the night activity. Mostly bars, cafés and restaurants are located in this area. This zone in the central business district also include shopping areas, but in this case recreation is the most dominant activity at night. It could be a good idea to change the role of this route to attract more activities at all periods of the day. Perhaps, it is not only mixed uses but other activies because the popular nature of the area could accomodate these changes. Sport land use: We find this kind of land use in the western part of the city, close to the waterfront. Football

stadium, and

swimming bath support an important number of

sporting activities. These are not located too close to both the inner city and the central harbour front, so we should consider if it could be possible to build a new sport area in our study zone to be more accessible to sport persons. Cultural land use: In the inner city we can find a public library, a congress centre, conference halls and so on. These cultural facilities attract participants and visitors from a 67

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large hinterland. We can notice that actually, in the central harbour front and in downtown, there are not many cultural places like these ones. In our opinion, the fourth largest city in Denmark should have more cultural places and activities to offer to the local citizens and tourists. Parking land use: The Metax House21 , the largest parking area in the city that can accomodate about 600 vehicles can be localised behind of Aalborghus Slot. We can find other ones around the inner city (parking house). It is necessary to have a good distribution of parking areas since we have already stated that the most active place in Aalborg is the inner city. A large population usually walk on the pedestrian streets and nice boulevards, but also sometimes they need to travel on cars. It is essential to have parking facilities. This aspect is going to be explained in detail from an accessibility point of view later in this chapter. Industrial land use: We commented before that most industrial buildings are located in the eastern part of the waterfront, but there is a small industrial area in the central waterfront. We decided, at the beginning of this project, not to include this area in our study zone because it meant that we had to do another study project about the effects, if we decided to remove this industrial building. Actually, we are not working on it, but we should considerer that we have an industrial area next to the central harbour front. At the same time, this area encloses the cattle market. Actually, it is a disused industrial building, so we could propose to reuse it for different activity. This one will depend of the other kind of activities that could be offered in the area. The Nordkraft is also a building on the waterfront. It was a power plant but has been partly demolished. II. Evaluation of target group Young people: The principal focuses where we can find young people are whole of sport buildings, sport infrastructures, event area and shopping zone. Perhaps they use gardens, parks and green areas but only if the weather allows it. Thus, we should consider if it is a good idea to implement a new design for green areas to attract people although the weather conditions shall be good, or if it is not a good idea to create more green spaces. 21

See the Interview in Appendix B.3.

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Middle-aged people: Usually prefer quite spaces like gardens or walking in nice streets and boulevards. They also used green areas and shopping streets. They can also go to the event area but habitually, they prefer going to culture centres like theatres and cinemas or restaurants. Their economical level is in general higher than young people’s level, so they can afford to visit not public spaces. We have already talked about the few cultural places that currently, we can find in Aalborg, so maybe it could be possible to implement new cultural or educational areas in the central harbour front. Senior citizens: Nowadays, they like walking and spending time in quite and pleasant spaces, but also to visit historical and cultural places where they can learn and enjoy at the same time. They often prefer spaces without noise and pollution, where everybody is talking and walking; thus, we need to implement more open spaces and cultural places that are not located near to industrial land uses, but also we should consider the principal assumption: the Danish weather. III. Evaluation of the location If we try to divide the whole of land uses accordingly with Vagnby, we have: Water-dependent use: Actually we cannot find any activity in the central harbour front that depends totally to the water. We can observe the Marina in the western part in the waterfront, maybe we can incorporate it in our purposes to attract people, but this area is not included in our study zone. Water-connected use: Currently, we can find some restaurants in western part in the central waterfront, but there are any attractive meeting places to visit. Water-attracted use: Some hotels are located in the waterfront, but actually the values and facilities that the waterfront offers are not too much, so there are not many hotels and other activities that use water attraction to locate. Perhaps the problem is the climate, because we know that this port it is cold and dark in winter.

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D.- Analyses about the future land uses accordingly with the Municipality´s plan. Once knowing the diverse Aalborg Municipality’s plans to develop the central harbour front, we can start the analysis whole of uses of land that have been purposed by planners. Firstly, we would like present a general map of the waterfront, where we have localized the general uses that we shall find in a few years in Aalborg. We have divided the whole area in 3 different land uses: Entertainment (Red and Green: sport, green areas and open spaces), historical (Yellow) and cultural (Blue); but they are localized in four different zones.

Figure 22: Shows the 4 different general land uses in the Municipality’s plan. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by authors.

In this way, the Municipality is going to follow the methodologies to mix uses that Grant suggests [2004, p.9]: (i) increasing intensity of land uses, (ii) increasing diversity of uses and (iii) integrating formerly segregated uses. They shall try to cover whole of central harbour front placing different kinds of activities that can support local’s needs. Perhaps, the most important municipal goal is to find a perfect diversity of uses. We can look the Municipality’s plans in the following picture:

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Figure 23: Shows the 4 different general land uses in the Municipality’s plan. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: Map designed by authors.

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We are going to achieve this analysis following the same scheme that we have used to analyse the current land uses map: • Recognition the whole land uses. We have done a study about all the different activities that shall be located in the central waterfront. We are going to describe whole of these land uses, but in this point, we do not do any valuation. • Evaluation of target group. • Evaluation of the location. Combination with current land uses. I. Recognition the whole land uses Historical land use: It is going to be focused on attracting tourists. Its localisation in the middle of the central waterfront becomes it in a strategic nodal point for pedestrian and vehicular accesses. Municipality’s intention is to create a new symbol in Aalborg city; the castle, Aalborghus Slot, represents Aalborg’s identity and its history. It is located next to the Music House, another future icon for the city. This implementation of land uses increases the value of both historical use and cultural use. Gardens and parks (green land use) - Planners have designed some new green areas: (i) In the western area (Jomfru Ane Parken), we can find a garden/park that is going to be the connection between sport area and a new shipyard. (ii) Around the castle and in the Utzon Parken, we shall find some green spaces to walk and nice corridors to cross the middle central waterfront. (iii) Karolinelundskilen where we could find a new recreational area added to a green path that shall link with the Tivoliland area (Karolinelund). Landscape concept shall be improved and applied everywhere so that nature becomes a visible element. In this way, a green corridor has been created across the waterfront, so all the different uses shall link among green spaces. We can observe it in the last image. Event area (recreational area): It is known that an original recreational area shall build in the eastern part, Jomfru Ane Parken. Its nearness with Jomfru Ane Gade, the most active street at night, could be its best strategy to attract local population. New restaurants and small shops shall be implemented. In the eastern part, we could find another entertainment22 area, Karolinelundskilen. The location of these two areas in opposed sides 22

We use recreational and entertainment land use with the same meaning.

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of the central harbour front could be a fine idea to avoid attract local people to only one focus. Housing: A new housing for students will be implemented next to Utzonparken, between two cultural buildings, Music House and Utzon’s house. Actually, there is not a residential area in the waterfront, so this one could be a new strategy to revitalize the harbour front. Cultural land use: We can find two different icons: (i) Utzonparken where we could visit Utzon’s house and at the same time we can enjoy in a new green area around of it. (ii) Music House that will become in one of the most important symbols in Aalborg city. Parking land use: We have read in previous chapters and in the interview from the Municipality that a new big parking area shall be built inside of Karolinelundskilen. It will be a barrier between the Music House and the small industrial zone, which is located in the eastern part. II. Evaluation of target group Young people: Jomfru Ane Parken and Karolinelundskilen will be the principal focuses where we can find young people. Sport buildings and infrastructures and other recreational areas shall help to redesign a definitive harbour that it can link with the inner city to attract young population. Student apartments and the new University in the Music House will foment a juvenile use of whole central harbour front. Middle-aged people: Jomfru Ane Parken, Utzon’s house and Music House and also Karolinelundskilen shall be design to catch the attention of middle aged people among others. Senior Citizens: We could say that they can visit the same areas than middle-aged people. Perhaps, they are not going to visit the event area and accordingly, Jomfru Ane Parken, although the last one will include a quite area to walk and enjoy with the nature.

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III. Evaluation of the location. Combination with current land uses Our principal objective in this project (problem formulation) has been to create a link between the central harbour area and the inner city. We are going to compare the current situation with future situation in the CDB in Aalborg; could be easier to present the results in the following chart:

LAND USES

INNER CITY

CENTRAL HARBOUR FRONT

Historical use

Medieval streets

Aalborghus Slot,

Green use

Tivoliland, Ostre Anlaeg

Jomfru Ane Parken, Aalborghus Slot

Park

Utzon Parken, Karolinelundskilen,

Recreational

Jomfru Ane Gade, shopping area Jomfru Ane Parken,

use

Tivoliland,

Karolinelundskilen,”Cattle market” In the eastern part

Sport use Offices use

Central business district

Housing use

Around Central business district Utzon Parken

Cultural use

Library

Music House

Parking use

Metax house

Karolinelundskilen

Table 2. Implementation of land uses in Inner City and Central Harbour Front. Source: Table designed by authors.

Now, we are trying to find some links between the actual land uses and whole the new land uses that the Municipality presents. If we look the table, we can observe that Sport land use and Offices land use do not have complementation among the inner city and the central harbour front. In this case, it does not mean that the new plans do not resolve population’s requirements with a sport and offices point of view. Sometimes we have to decide where the best location for some land uses is. If we would have two different sport uses located in the waterfront and in the inner city, the population would have to choose between them. So, we could be dividing the attraction in these areas and subsequently, decreasing the profits. We should remember the inner city and the central waterfront are expected to become a really active place. Thus, it is necessary to offer more parking areas for vehicles and to 74

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easy traffic. The Metax house and Karolinelundskilen’s parking are located closer, so it would be necessary to localize another one at the extreme, preferably near Jomfru Ane Parken. The rest of land uses could have a fine link between themselves if at the same time; we propose good quality access to combine these different activities. In general, we could say that we have found almost all of our expectations in these new plans for implementation in Aalborg. That is increasing intensity and diversity of land uses; to solve population’s needs, to create a sustainable place and to reuse existing resources.

5.2.2. Accessibility Based on the Literature Review and Theoretical Chapter, we find out that many experts consider, directly or indirectly, the accessibility one of the greatest issues to study and to analyse at urbanism development. Some experts, like Curll (1993), thinks directly on ‘accessibility’ as one of the three keys words that are related to any waterside redevelopment project, (‘clean’, ‘alive’ and ‘accessible’) [White, K. N. et al. 1993 p.129]. But in many others’ opinions we could understand the importance of this characteristic for the waterfront redevelopment, although it is in an indirect way. Thus, Falk N. [White, K. N. et al. 1993, p.24] talks about the necessity of providing infrastructures, and of course, one of the main function of these infrastructures will be to improve the access; on the other hand, if we think on the mixed uses as the main important issue [White, K. N. et al. 1993 p.16], not only to redevelop the waterfront but also to attract economic activities, especially tourism, we should realize that if it is not easy to access to these activities, it will be very difficult to encourage people to go there, and therefore, to be successful in creating a liveable place. Finally, we also should keep in mind that from our problem formulation point of view, to make the waterfront more accessible is one of the most important strategies in order to integrate this with the inner city, and it means many profits for both, local residents and visitors. 75

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But, how could we define ‘accessibility’? And, what should we consider to make the Aalborg´s waterfront accessible? Is it referred only to motor traffic or does it also include pedestrian mobility? “Accessibility is sometimes used as a ‘miracle’ word to explain the necessity for transport infrastructure (investments) in political debates on all governmental levels” [Rietveld P. & Bruinsma F.1998 p. 6]. Sometimes when we referred to infrastructures we confused it referring only to motor traffic access, and most of the time we forget that the pedestrian access is the most directly access that we should consider. In this regard, we also have to appreciate that “for people, accessible means being able to get the waterfront and walk along it.” [White K. N. et al. 1993, p.141]. So “accessibility can be defined as the potential of opportunities for interaction. It is based on both, the network features and the spatial distribution of activities” [Rietveld P. & Bruinsma F.1998 p. 352]. Considering these definitions, we would combine both meanings from motor traffic and pedestrian point of view, because both ways comprise of the network that link the waterfront and the city. Based on a dictionary definition, ‘accessibility’ is understood as the ability to approach to something23. And according to the encyclopaedia Britannica ‘accessible’ means that is capable of being reached, used or seen24. On this premise, we would like to understand that the harbour front might be “accessible”, so we will be focused on the meaning as the facility to approach from the city centre to the waterfront, and even, from any part of the city. After this, the analysis of the pedestrian and traffic accessibility is going to be developed. This part of the chapter tries to compare and to evaluate the different ideas of people who are affected or are implied in the redevelopment of harbour front plan. These opinions have been known through the interviews25 that the group carried out, because according to 23

[URL: http://m-w.com/dictionary/accessibility. Data accessed 09/ 12/ 2005] [URL: http://www.britannica.com/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=accessible&query=accessible. Data accessed 09/ 12/ 2005] 25 See interviews in Appendix B. 24

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the literature review, when an urban plan is implemented, it is important to know the opinion of the groups of people implied, in order to reach an agreement and the integration of local residents’, visitors’ and developers’ expectations. A.- Motor traffic Access Nowadays, the main traffic road access to the Central Harbour Front is the four lanes road called Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen. But, meanwhile it connects the area to the rest of the city, it is at the same time, in someway, a barrier between the inner city and the harbour front. Historically, it has been the road that allowed the access to most of the industries that were located in the waterfront, and because of that, it has become an industrial transport road reflected on its lanes’ width, (four lanes), and on its narrow pavements for pedestrians. Moreover, today it is one of the most important ways to cross the city from the east to the west part or vice versa, although there are others like Jyllandsgade or Østre Alle, and of course, it also leads the traffic to Nørresundby through the Limfjordsbroen. But the traffic access from the city centre is more difficult, due to the main points to access to this road are through Karolinelundsvej in the east and Vestrerbro in the west. Some connections to the inner city like Østerågade have the traffic restricted to public transport and bicycles. Currently, one of the main goals of the Municipality´s redevelopment plan for the waterfront is to redesign this road and turn it from four lanes road into two lanes road, turning it from “an industrial road” into “a city road”. The works on this road are expected to star in March, 2006. The Municipality expects in this way to link the inner city and the harbour front, and to minimise the environmental impact of the traffic, reducing energy consumption, noise, dust and smell. But actually, this solution only would improve the pedestrian access to the waterfront, because the traffic access will be maintained (focused on Karolinelundsvej and Vestrerbro), even it could get worse the traffic problem. So, this goal is quite polemic, because it seems that not all the groups implied and affected by the new plan are in agreement with this new road design. All the groups of people who are implied in the process of making a redevelopment plan, (the Municipality, experts from the University, Aalborg City Association,...), agree that the ideal solution to the traffic problem would be to build a tunnel under the current road 77

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Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen, so it could be separated the pedestrian from vehicles. According to Bo Vagnby, [2005, p.3], this is one of the most useful means to attract pedestrians to a determined area like the waterfront, because in this way people would feel safety and would like to sit or walk on the extensions of pavements, enjoying the urban life. But on the other hand, all these associations and experts also understand that this solution, in addition to have a really difficult technical aspects and have risk of pollution problems in the fiord during the building process, it is extremely expensive compared with other solutions like changing the number of lanes or even building a pedestrian bridge. In these solutions it is more difficult to get the integration of the waterfront and the inner city because the road on surface acts as a barrier, but if it is planned carefully, they would get similar effects related to the accessibility and the Municipality could save also some money to invest in other issues. The new road design from the Municipality could be considered as the easiest way to improve the pedestrian access to the waterfront, because currently it is quite dangerous to cross the road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen due to the few traffic lights that are and the high speed that cars are allowed to use. Also the lack of interesting activities in the waterfront made it not attractive to citizens to cross this road. But maybe, this solution only would transfer the traffic problem to another part of the city, or even to create other new problems. Firstly, the new two lanes- road design decreases the capacity of the road. So, according to the Aalborg City’s sources of the traffic counting in this road, there will be capacity only for 7,000 vehicles instead of the 20,000 ones that currently are driven through it. Moreover, we should consider that the new activities in the Municipality´s plan will hopefully attract more people, so it means that the amount of vehicles would be increase too. If traffic was forced to use other roads as Karolinelundsvej and Jyllandsgade that are already quite influenced by heavy traffic transport, (trucks and industrial transport), it would also create traffic jams in these parts of the city. But the main reason because of the Aalborg City Association, the Tourist Office and Bo Vagnby, (an expert from Aalborg University), do not like the change of Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen road is because it would have negative effects in the economic activity of the city centre and waterfront. Since the road had less capacity, it made more 78

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difficult to get to the shops, restaurants and other activities at downtown and waterfront, becoming an extremely congested place, hence, unattractive. This could encourage people to go other places to go shopping, for instance, to the shopping centre locates in Skalborg at the south of the city where there are less traffic jams and parking is also easier. The problems related to parking are one of the main disadvantages that Bo Vagnby and the "Aalborg City" indicate against the new road design. Currently, great part of the waterfront is occupied by parking places, and these are going to be removed in the future, because there also other parking houses at downtown. The big problem is that in the new redevelopment plan, the Municipality would like to collect most of the parking places in the east part of the waterfront, in the park that is going to be called Karolinelundskilen. They have chosen this place, because it will be used as a barrier, between the feed factory and the new cultural area of the city, and simultaneously it will provide enough parking places for the Music House and the future Tivoli. Aalborg City and Bo Vagnby are afraid that consumers could consider this parking place quite far from the city centre, where the shops are located, and they would decide to go to other places. In addition, Bo Vagnby considers that in this way, the park will never become a recreational area. Usually, Aalborg Municipality is not too interested on building new parking houses at downtown, because they do not earn too much money on it, so they have started to think on making some collaborations with private investors. So maybe this is the way to try to solve this problem, because it is not logical to try to attract more people to waterfront through new cultural events, shops and restaurants and, at the same time, decrease the capacity of the road that access to it, and decrease the parking places closer to downtown. An alternative that has been studied is to reduce only Slotspladsen and Strandvejen to two lanes, because they are the parts of the road that are closer to city centre and the historic part. Thus, it could be improved the pedestrian accessibility that is the main reason for the Municipality to reduce this road into two lanes, and it would encourage citizens to go to the new leisure activities that are planned to develop at the harbour front. But this solution is not accepted either by “Aalborg City” because it would create a bottleneck effect, and therefore, traffic problems that could be annoying for citizens. In this way, it seems that Aalborg Municipality is pretty sure that there will not be any problem about traffic and parking areas with the new plan that it is proposed for the 79

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waterfront, although most of the associations and experts implied on it disagree completely. Besides, it seems that the Municipal Authority does not consider the possibility of being unsuccessful with the new plan and turn the current road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen into a congested place. But on the other hand, this possibility would be probable because the reduction of the road’s capacity while currently it is one of the most used ways to cross the city. Hence, if the Municipality does not want to change the plan and wants to be successful in it not creating more traffic problems, it should be careful and deal directly with the traffic, improving the public transport or other alternatives traffic routes. Our proposal to solve this traffic access problem is just to integrate the road as a downtown street but maintaining the four lanes. It means to improve the “pedestrian permeability” providing more traffic lights and traffic crossing, creating wider pavements and bicycles lanes, decreasing the speed of the cars or avoiding the industrial transport. B.- Pedestrian Access Nowadays the pedestrian access to the waterfront is quite restricted and it owes to the difficulty to cross the road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen that acts as a barrier between this area and the inner city. Besides, according to the Local Tourist Board most of population does not find attractive to approach to this area because currently there are not interesting activities or services, even they consider it as a symbol of the past time of the city that has gone26. Perhaps, this lack of interest is due to they are not conscious of the potential that it would have, and the profits that it could report to the city when it will be revitalized.

26

See Interview to Peter Hermansen from Aalborg Tourist Information Office in the Appendix B.

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Figure 25 shows the main pedestrian accesses proposed by the Aalborg Municipality Plan. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by the authors

The Aalborg´s Municipality has tried to show the potential of the waterfront having meeting with different local associations to imply them in the regeneration of the waterfront, to let them know the ideas for the plan and asking their opinion. Besides, it has a website where it shows the plans for regenerating the waterfront, although sometimes these are not completely finished. However, the local authority has not made a really big effort to make the population know all these plans, since they are not completely finished. The work to implement these plans has just started in the waterfront, and it will need a long time to be finished all the infrastructures and services designed. As it will be explained later in this chapter27, sometimes the Municipal Authorities prefer not to allow population to know everything about the future plans because they can be changed for different reasons: political influences, economical problems,… The current plan from the Municipality seeks chiefly to turn the waterfront into a lively area that would become a part of the inner city. “Most city planners agree that a more pedestrian- friendly shaping of the town centre will improve the traffic conditions, contribute to improvement of the environment and development of the trade. The greatest benefit from an improvement of the conditions of the pedestrians is, however, that the town centre gets a more attractive image.” [Bo Vagnby, 2005, p.2] 27

So in this way, the

See part called “Political Influence” in part 5.3.

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Municipality tries to get more people to the harbour front, and it will improve the pedestrian access by the transformation of the four lanes road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen into two lanes road, as it has already been analysed. But there is a political resistance from the city and the business community that think that the redesign of the road instead of improving the pedestrian accessibility will get worse access to the inner city and in consequence to the waterfront. Maybe, currently, the most important access to the waterfront is through Østerågade. This street was already transformed in 1998, so only public transport, bicycles and pedestrian can circulate through it. It is considered the main pedestrian access, since it connects the most commercials streets of the city, the historical part and the waterfront. Moreover, it will connect the east part of the Central Harbour Front, that is aim to local people due to the recreational activities, with the west part, (the historical and cultural one), that is aim to both local people and visitors. Even, it is planned to improve this street with some new fountains and pavements to encourage the citizens to approach to the waterfront. But the new revitalized plan will improve other pedestrian accesses to the waterfront. These would connect the harbour front with the most commercial streets of the city like: Bispensgade, Algade/ Bredegade/ Nøorregade and Nytorv. The Municipality proposes two different ways to approach from Østerågade to the new Music House, which would be considered as the new icon of the city: -

Through the commercial streets as Algade/ Bredegade/ Nøorregade and Nytorv where is possible to go shopping and for a walk at the same time. This option is quite important, especially in a country like Denmark where usually the weather is cold and windy, and sometimes is better no walk along the water’s edge. And because of this, it is important to make the links mentioned before as nice as possible, so in an indirectly way, they would encourage people to go to the waterfront. Of course, there will be also accesses along these commercial streets to the Utzonparken or the new architecture university.

-

Through waterfront, thinking on it as a long area where it is possible to walk along, next to the water, with the beautiful view of the Limfjorden, the Music House, and 82

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across attractive places as Slotspladse or Utzonparken. Aalborg City and Tourist Office agree that the main characteristics to make this boulevard nice should be the design focused on the light, the sense of warmth and security. On the other hand, Bo Vagnby thinks that it will be quite difficult to get this qualities due to the cold weather, and because in his opinion, the Music House will be a too high building that will dominate the waterfront, even making difficult the view of the water from different points of the city. Perhaps, one issue that the Municipality´s plan does not consider too much is the access to the new Slotsparken from Nytorv street. Currently, between this park and the commercial street there are some shops and buildings that cause that the Aalborghus Slot, a historical building that could be one of landmarks of the city, is not too visible, and therefore, not attractive for most of the citizens of Aalborg. But this building should be remarkable in the Municipality´s plan as part of the identity of the city. Of course, this broad access from inner city to the waterside would cost a lot of money, and could mean some problems with some entrepreneurs and Nytorv street.

Figure 26 shows a proposed of a broad access from

inner

vity

to

the

waterside.

The

background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by the authors

The last access to link the city and the waterfront is located in the east part of the Central Harbour Front. This access would join the new area with a future “green ring” around the whole town that the Municipality is studying to develop. So in this way, the new recreational area, Karolinelundskilen, and the future Tivoli would be linked. A new owner has recently acquired the Tivoli, and it is expected that in the future it will extend its range of activities and its schedule, therefore, increasing its attraction. In any case, Aalborg City and Bo Vagnby actually consider that this pedestrian access would not be the most useful because they do not believe that the 83

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new park called Karolinelundskilen would become really attractive, because it is really close to the feed factory and there will be too many parking places, although they admit that the idea of opening again the canal in this part of the city is a really attractive. Finally, it should be remarkable to indicate that all of these pedestrian accesses to the waterfront will be done through traffic lights and pedestrian crossing that there will be in the new two lanes road. Some organizations, as Aalborg City or the Tourism Office, and local experts as Vo Bagnby do not believe that this would be the best solution. They think that the motor traffic problem would get worse, so they would prefer to maintain the current four lanes road and to create the pedestrian access through small bridges that would cross this road making the pedestrian and motor traffic flows kept separated. According to "Aalborg City’s" opinion is thought that the pedestrian access could be supported enough if they were built two bridges across the road. Of course, they support that these bridges should be nice, with elevators for old or handicapped people, benches, or even with a small café. This association, “Aalborg City”, supports that the minimum price of each bridge would be 1 million DKK, but it could increase depending on the bridges` design. Bo Vagnby and Tourist Office agree this idea, but having the premise that these bridges should be attractive, especial and stand out. Aalborg City supports that the argument against the building of these bridges is the prices, although in their opinion they would be cheaper than the change of the current road into two lanes road. However, the alternative of building two bridges could have several disadvantages, for instance, only two bridges is not enough for supporting pedestrian access to the Central Water Front through the whole road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen. Even building one or two more bridges would not solve the problem, and of course it could increase the budget of the new plan. Moreover, if the pedestrian accesses were limited to some bridges, it would join the pedestrian flows and not provide the wished accessibility through whole waterfront. Some more disadvantages that could be indicated in this alternative are, for instance, that it is not too attractive to have a café just above a four lanes road, because the motor traffic 84

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is smelly, noisy and dusty. Besides, the physical room is limited to build all of this: cafés and wide access to the bridges. Finally, these bridges could also obstruct the waterfront view. C.- Summary As it has been analysed, we are aware of the difficulty to combine the main two goals related to the accessibility to the waterfront in the new plan for revitalizing this area: improve the pedestrian access, but at the same time, not getting worse the motor traffic problem. In this way, and after attending different opinions, it could be considered that turning the four lanes road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen into two lanes would create more traffic problems and would decrease the accessibility to the waterfront and to downtown, having negative effects especially in some economic activities. But, on the other hand, the alternative related to building bridges for the pedestrian accesses to the Harbour Water Front, it does not seem either to be the best solution because it limits the pedestrian access instead of improve it. So maybe, other solutions should be considered, for instance, to maintain the four lanes road, but at the same time, to improve the pedestrian access. This could be done decreasing the speed that is allowed in this road, leading the “heavy traffic” through other roads around the inner city, increasing the number of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, providing wide pavements for pedestrians and bicycles lanes. In many cities of Europe, similar street transformations have been made, for example, in Nice28 there is a six lane road at the waterfront and people do not mind to cross it to go to the water’s edge, because it is attractive and the pedestrian accesses have been improved. In this way, if the four lanes road Nyhavnsgade/ Slotspladsen/ Strandvejen were improved appropriately, it would be perceived like one more street at downtown instead as a road, and it could create the complete integration of the waterfront in the inner city.

28

See Appendix C

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In this way, it could be possible to get a suistainable solution not getting worse any kind of access, pedestrian or by car. There should be provided more traffic lights and traffic crossing, wider pavements and bicycles lanes, avoid trucks and fast traffic. And, of course, the points where the two flows of traffic cross each other, like the traffic crossing should be designed carefully to make pedestrian feel safety and the traffic lights should be coordinated to make the motor traffic fluid.

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5.2.3. Urban Design Analysis Regarding our literature review, theoretical chapter and our objective for this project, we have decided to focus on urban design analysis in part of the study. “Urban design is the art of making places for people. This explains the dynamics of urban design in cities, and its very concerns are the connections between people and places, movement and urban form to processes for ensuring successful towns and cities. Urban design is a key to create sustainable developments and the conditions for a flourishing economic life and social progress. Good design can help to create lively places with distinctive character streets, and public spaces that are safe accessibility, pleasant to use human in scale and places that inspire because of the imagination and sensitivity of their design.” [Commission for Architecture2000, p. Xv] . The waterfront defines the identity, vitality and image of the people more than any other urban places. It is a major tourist destination, working port, recreational area, cultural asset and event venue. In this part we try to analysis the proposed redevelopment from “Aalborg Municipality” We chooses to work with subject, because when we first study the site and the relationship between it and different issue. Secondly we study the Aalborg plan to analysis the communities and different activity from urban design point of view. Thirdly we study gateways, landmark to give a visual outlook for our site. The subjects are as follows: 1. The site. 2. Aalborg Municipality plans redevelopment. 3. The gateway sites, Landmarks & Buffer zoning. 4. Paths & Connections. 5. A Visual perception to waterfront.

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Figure 27shows the waterfront site on the Aalborg city [Debat om havnefront from Aalborg kommune 2004]

A.- The site The waterfront site is offers one of the best development sites in the city of Aalborg. It is located 2 kilometres off city centre, the site provides a dramatic setting overlooking to water. The Aalborg Municipality commissioned and subsequently adopted a proposed for the planning and redevelopment of the area, in an effort to control, coordinate and unifies development the area. According with subchapter about mixes uses, we can divide the future plan central harbour front plan to 4 different land uses.29 B.- The Aalborg Municipality Plan Redevelopment The Aalborg Municipality tries to do construct between different uses, public spaces and the Inner city. We think, this point it is very important to mixed uses in this area, because the waterfront in any city, it is important part to do redevelop. 1. Sport area and public space. 29

See chapter 5 .1 .Mixed uses.

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2. Historical part. 3. Education and culture part. 4. Buffer zoning area and park. Impact and significance of the site at Aalborg waterfront to both local communities has been traditional to all concerned in its redevelopment for a long time. We try to explain the concept of redevelopment plan of the Municipality. The Aalborg Municipality has designed the plan into four different parts; sport, historical, culture and green area but the Municipality want to do: •

Create a comprehensive and viable regeneration plan which will help the Aalborg waterfront role as a major waterfront city in the Northern part in Denmark.

•

Promote a sufficient quantum of development to create high density urban living and working environment which makes the waterfront more attract people to come and life.

•

Ensure that the redevelopment of Aalborg waterfront is fully integrated different types of life socially as well as physically, with the neighbouring communities in the inner city and, in the process, help to contribute regeneration

•

The proposal of using this method for the central harbour area has been developed in response to specific and real practical issues (public spaces, historical and commercial) to achieve a realistic and fully development proposal in this part of the city. 30

We accepted this, because the urban concept in redevelopment is a key to creating sustainable developments and the conditions for a flourishing economic life and for social progress. And we think this is a good design because this can help to create lively places and public spaces. [Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment 2000, p. 8].

30

In relation to this concept, Hermansen said in the interview “the harbour swimming pool is a great idea; it becomes popular during the summer especially for the young people and tourist. The green area is a positive idea to have it close to the castle; however, the castle is not one of the impressive buildings in Denmark”.

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C.- The Gateways, Landmark and buffer Zoning I. Gateway definition “The gateways are entrance to the site from different direction and we can find two kinds from gateways. Main gateways they have a direct vision to site and another kind is a secondary gateways” [www.charlottesville.org, Date accessed 07/12/05].. The first impressions gained by visitors and local people as they approach the town centre are fundamental to them developing a positive sense of place. The quality of routes approach and the presence of attractive ‘gateways’ and ‘edges’ are important aspects in meeting the expectations of those arriving at the town centre. The proposed development at the gateways site has several clear urban designs objectives: •

To create a landmark space and building at the entrance to the overall development.

•

To establish a strong and clear urban edge along the western side to the inner of the

city. •

To create western part with deep pf the city thought gateway development area, facilitating and encouraging connection with local communities.

Finally, the gateways is very important to the waterfront, because it as link between inside waterfront and outside with the different parts of the city. The Aalborg Municipality uses a lot of gateways to attract people to the waterfront. II. Landmark space:Recognition land uses “Landmarks are another type of point-reference. They are usually a rather simply defined physical object: building, sign, store, or mountain. Their use involves the singling out of one element from a host of possibilities. Some landmarks are distant ones, typically seen from many angles and distances, over the tops of smaller elements, and used as radial references. They may be within the city or at such a distance that for all practical purposes they symbolize a constant direction. Such are isolated towers, golden domes, and great hills” [www.charlottesville.org, 2005].

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Landmark is feature buildings creating architectural reference points to assist in creating a cognitive map. The landmark in our case is the Slotspladsen, because it is a historical part of old Aalborg. The area in front of Aalborghus castle and Slotspladsen will be organised as a green character for recreational functions. [Kommuneplan tillæg 1.56, 2004 & www.aalborg.dk/havnefront, 2005].31 Because the visions are to create a palace square between Toldboden and Fjordgade with basins of historical references back to middle age, very big building, high and wide, the buildings have dominate the waterfront and give a relationships between another development in the area. III. Buffer Zoning and Parking Area “A "Buffer Zone" is the most fundamental form of land use control. Its purpose is to accommodate shoreline fluctuations caused by storm erosion and swell wave rebuilding, but it has severe shortcomings as a means of addressing high rates of coastal recession. On receding coastlines, history has shown that many developments sited behind buffer zones have been subject to major social, economic and political problems” [Garvin, A. & Berens, G., 1998, p. xv]. The Aalborg Municipality used buffer zone area, because the municipality wants to give less impact from dust and environment effects, which is coming from industry area. It is a good idea to use the buffer zone and design more green and recreation areas in this part eastern part.

31

See chapter 4,p.52 91

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Figure 28 shows the gateways, landmark and buffer zone in waterfront. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by the authors.

The main gateway

The landmark

Buffer zoning

D.- Paths & Connections Paths are the channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, and railroads. For many people, these are the predominant elements in their image. People observe the city while moving through it, and along these paths the other environmental elements are arranged and related. The Aalborg Municipality has planned a two round idea defining one for pedestrian and cycle uses, and another for paths, walking and light traffic areas.

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Figure 29 shows different types of paths and roads on the waterfront. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by the authors.

Walking area

Light traffic and

Traffic road

Bicycle In general the walk and public space is a main vehicular road distributor. The opportunity has therefore been taken to route the vehicles to the central development of waterfront, allowing a free connection between the walk, road and park. I think the municipality needs to do this: •

It provides the opportunity to create a clear access for pedestrian and cyclist from the gateways to the harbour front.

•

To build more parking areas at the eastern part and recreation uses in harbour front.32

E.- Visual Perception “Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it as the perception known as sight or naked eye vision. Vision has a specific

sensory

system,

the

visual

system”.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Visual_perception 2005. (Date accessed:7/12/2005)]. In this point, I should explain the image perception in Aalborg waterfront, through urban design development. The subjects are as follows: 32

See chapter 5.1. Accessibility.

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•

Building high light (sky line).

•

Image perception.

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I. Building high “A high-rise building is distinguished from other tall man-made structures by the following guidelines: 1. It must be divided into multiple levels of at least 2 meters height; 2. If it has fewer than 12 such internal levels, then the highest undivided portion must not exceed 50% of the total height. Indistinct divisions of levels such as stairways shall not be considered floors for purposes of eligibility in this definition” [www.emporis.com/en/ab/ds/sg/ra/bu/de/hi/ 2005. (Date accessed: 7/12/2005)]. In the harbour front the highest building is supposed to be the House of music, it is very high building from 32 to 42 meter and the wide is 100 to 120 meter, and wider than any other building in this site, but we think it is not a good view. This is because if we look from the front of the House of Music to the city, we cannot see all other views. The building is very high and wide. The above figure explains the relationship between high buildings and waterfront view from the city centre. This building is very high and its relationship to adjacent the character of urban space [Garvin, A & Berens, G 1998 p.84]. The proposed heights for buildings within the waterfront have been carefully considered to help develop a system in this area. But we do not find it at the entire central of waterfront. On the other hand, we do not find another building in the area with the same high. These buildings will strengthen clearly, urban edges and civic spaces, and articulate the skyline. We think if Aalborg Municipality should put up a high building at the waterfront, it may discourage people from coming to there because they like to see an open view from the inner city to the sea direction. However, our aim is to attract people to waterfront if the Municipality do these develop. If we design this area we need to keep and see the panorama (open view) from the city to waterfront. We know the waterfront need to do 94

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some open space, urban plaza and steps, we want to play with landscape art. .” [Marcus, C and Francis, C.1998 p. xv] II. Building and social benefits A large proportion of the elderly live alone. Living near parks where they can take walk is critical for the maintenance of health, and sitting to look at the view is an important asset to an keep open view at the waterfront to keep a social felling in people [Marcus, C and Francis, C.1998 p. 212] III. Image perception Models of scene understanding reveal how boundary contour, junction, and surface texture elements are combined by the visual system into the patterns which we perceive when looking at a scene. An area exhibits a fairly homogeneous visual quality. Types that are present in the case study area include recreational, industrial, institutional, military, historical, and open space [www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/sfobb/appendixD.html. Date Accessed 07/12/2005].

Figure 30. Different Activities at WaterfrFigure 30ont URL: www.portclinton.com/finalreport.pdf (Date Accessed 09/12/05)

This figure is a design to shows a different activity of waterfront and urban design which the Municipality would like to develop for social and culture activities. [City of Port Orange, Florida 12 URL: www.portclinton.com/finalreport.pd.( Date Accessed 09/12/05)] 95

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The image perception to waterfront in Aalborg city Once urban design issues and redevelopment opportunities are identified, a group of representative key elements to the study area are documented. These key elements are identified by photographs on the figure below entitled “highlight important features for consideration in the urban design analysis”. These photographs depict the actual situation of the central harbour front. The areas concerned are as follows: 1- The bridge Ljmfjord 2- The parking area 3- The castle 4- The First hotel 5- The Nord Kraft 6- The Industry area

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Figure 31: Image perception of the waterfront. The background map from Aalborg Municipality. Source: scheme designed by the authors.

F.- Summary 97

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At the regional scale, there are limits that prevent sprawling development from occurring. On the western part of harbour front, conservation of efforts of an environmental corridor separated this part of industrial area by buffer zone. And try to keep the cost line from a dense

barrier

of

the

development.

[City

of

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Orange,

Florida

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URL:www.portclinton. com/ finalreport.pdf Date Accessed 09/12/05]. The main point in analysis is led to the identification throughout the waterfront. The uniform and shape building heights throughout the waterfront create a sense of place as visitors know when they can enter and exits the limits of the waterfront. The path used like public space and throughout the waterfront has been designed to accommodate activity along the waterfront public area, historical area, education area and green area. The public space has been designed to connect the waterfront with the inner city, and the waterfront redevelopment that has been designed from Aalborg Municipality will serves as the centre of activity and commerce for the entire harbour front of Aalborg.

Figure 32. Designed proposed to attract people to the waterfront. [City of Port Orange, Florida 12 URL:www.portclinton. com/ finalreport.pdf Date Accessed 09/12/05].

The park and open space the Municipality are used as link between water and green area, because the open space and parks deals with different elements of the district’s and seating area for improving parks and places for people to recreate and interact with the city’s natural landscape. This system used by the Municipality for waterfront redevelopment in the city.

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The conclusion drawn from the urban design analysis led to the identification of the conditions that make the site special to the Aalborg Municipality : 1. Historical, economical, public space, education and culture centre of waterfront in the city. 2. The location of the waterfront allows a central focus that can provide the community with an identity. 3. The waterfront redevelopment is an important potential public space, education, culture and economic generator for revitalization.

5.3. Economical Aspects 5.3.1. Economical Analysis This part of the analysis focus on the economical aspects of the planning at the Aalborg central harbour front. In every aspect of planning economy is very important, with out any economical resources no planning. At the same time planning always will be limited by the economical resources to realize the plan. In this analysis we analyse the general purpose of the plan to discover who there will benefit from this redevelopment at the central harbour front in Aalborg. Afterwards we analyze the different results we possible will get when redeveloping the central harbour front depending on if we are using private or public investors and the risks that should be considered with these two different types of investors. We also take a look at the political power and agitators in planning and how it possible could influence the plans. Finally we end with a detailed analysis of the tourist potential of the central harbour front. A.- General Purpose Before looking at the economics it is necessary to define the general purpose of the central harbour front how are the plans and who are involved. How is the relation to the master plan? Aalborg Municipality are not satisfied with the central harbour front today, because the area today only is used for parking, actually the areas could be very attractive if they are 99

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used for other purposes. So the area at the central harbour front posers a big land value but a small utilized value, parking business in Aalborg is not a business with the biggest profit, the area could give a better benefit used for other things. [Malling (int), 2005] Rie Malling also believes it is very important to attract new citizen so that Aalborg not will loose in competition with bigger cities as Aarhus and Copenhagen. She sees the whole redevelopment of the central harbour front as an important thing to attract new people, but also to create jobs and make the town more beautiful. Actually she mentions the area is the most important area for Aalborg to develop at the moment. [Malling (int), 2005] “This is a public area there are a lot of other areas along the harbour front but they are private. So in these areas there will be developed firms and maybe offices. But this is a public area, so here you can develop life, new activities, and new places for the whole Aalborg and the whole region, so because of it, it is the most important area” [Malling (int), 2005]. In general you can say that the main purpose is to make an attractive area as a common good, the whole city can benefit from, at the same time our four interview persons mentions what they do not want, all of them agree that the area that has been redeveloped between the two bridges is a great example of what they not want. [Malling (int.), Hermansen (int.), Vagnby (int.) & Andersen (int.)]

Figure 33: show Vestre Havne Promenade in the area between the two bridges [www.digifoto-nord.dk, (Date accessed 03/01/2006)] and [www.tk-development.dk, (Date accessed 03/01/2006)]

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B.- Differences between public and private investors If we go back to where we ended in last paragraph it was interesting to notice how all our interview persons wanted something else then the areas between the bridges. So we will now take a look at the differences. The area between the bridges is mainly new buildings offices, housing and a few shops, many of the buildings are actually very attractive and high quality but even then the citizens do not like the area. [www.aalborg.dk/havnefront] The reason is simple people do not like the area because the density of the area is high, there only is one green area and because you only find a few public accessible activities. There are a lot of activities behind the private walls but only a few activities outside people can access. This kind of planning benefits the people that work or live in the area, but not people passing trough the area. When we are talking about the central harbour front we should notice it is the most central harbour area in Aalborg and maybe also the most visible harbour area in Aalborg, its position near the inner city with e.g. shops and restaurants makes it an area many people pass by and maybe they park there when they visit the inner city. This means it is important to make it an area all citizens can benefit from and not only the people who life or work in the area. So our interview persons finds it import the area is public accessible, beautiful, nice and with many activities. It also raises the question how should people access the area? Some people prefer going by car, others use public transport and some go by bicycle or as pedestrians. When Rie Malling is talking accessibility she mostly focuses on pedestrian access because currently the Municipalty is really worried about the improvement of the pedestrian access, that it is one of the main goal of its plan. When Niels Andersen is talking about accessibility he mostly worried about car traffic, because it is usually the main transport used by customers that go to downtown33 [Malling (int.), Andersen (int.)]. These visions for the central harbour front make it necessary to be carefully with the plans for the area and find a good relation between public and private investors. When financing the area with public resources it will in someway be all citizens in the municipality that 33

This question is discussed in the traffic analysis in chapter 5.2.2

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pay for the investment trough taxes. This kind of investment creates a public demand of getting a result many people will benefit from and not wasting to much money. When using private investors there is a risk that only a hard bounded group of people will benefit. This creates a demand that private investment also should be in public interest. An office or residential building for instance could be very interesting for a private investor but for the majority of the citizen it would not be interesting. The opposite example could be a bar or restaurant everybody eat and drink so if they can afford to buy food and drink at the restaurant it could be in their interest. If we are looking at the masterplan for the central harbour front we see that the main part of the investment seems to be public, only a few investments are planned to be private. The private investments are the new building in Jomfru Ane Parken with shops and restaurants, Rosdahls and Isbryderen Elbjørn (restaurants) and in someway also the youth residence and the cattle marked34. The shops and the restaurants will be 100 percent private investment. The youth residence will be paid by a non profit private foundation named Bikuben Foundation here the purpose is not directly profit but the building is still a private investment. The situation about the cattle marked is very different than the others here a rich man bought the building very cheep under the promise that he would renovate the building. It is very expensive to renovate the building so maybe he will never get his investment back; it is more a kind of gift [Vagnby (int.), 2005]. The rest of the planned building is actually mainly public investments. Aalborg Municipality is the biggest public investor at the harbour front and has decided to spend 200 million DKK during the next 4-5 years. [Malling (int.), 2005] At the same time Aalborg Municipality contributes with ground and running costs at many of the planned buildings. Another big public investor is the state (National Government) that contributes 300 million DKK specificly in The House of Music. Also the Northern County contributes with 32 million and the European Union with 28 million directly to The House of Music. It is also possible that the EU will contribute to the Utzon House. Other investors are different foundations e.g. Realdania Foundation, the common goal for these kinds of foundations is to create things for the common good35. [www.musikkenshus.dk] 34

A description of these areas can be seen in Chapter 4.3, p.50 The Realdania Foundation is an organisation where everybody with real property can become members and; the general purpose for the foundation is to create property for the common good. [http://www.realdania.dk/AboutRealdania.aspx, Accessed 03/01-2005]

35

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When using these public investors, there is a risk that they will redefine their willingness to pay, this could make it necessary to find new investors or that the others investors contribute with bigger amounts. We will use The House of Music as an example. In The House of Music project, the estimated amount was 460 million DKK in February 2003 paid by many different investors. As a big project, it also has a long time plan it takes many years from idea to realisation and investors can change their mind in the period. In December 2003 it was discovered that the first plans were around 200 million DKK it was too expensive so Coop Himmelb(l)au changed the plans and came with the second suggestion in February 2004, this project was criticised as being completely different from the first. In June 2005 the result of the first tender was known, and it showed that it would cost around 100 million DKK more than the budget. So the Music House Foundation decided to ask the investors for more money. The budget was now 575 million DKK and at the same time they decided to let Coop Himmelb(l)au draw the third sketch. 15th of December 2005 the third sketch was ready and before The House of Music can be finished its second tender we will have June 2006 and more than three years have gone since the first sketch and budget, it is unknown if the budget can be kept this time. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 D] The general price level in society is increasing every year so it is unknown if the project can be realised with 575 million DKK, perhaps the price will be higher, but how much and who is going to pay? The answer is still unknown, but if the price was higher, Aalborg Municipal Authority has promised that they would conttribute with a two digit number of million DKK, some foundations and private contributors have also promised to increase their contribution. [Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 E] It is difficult to argue that a project there has been fundamentally changed three times still is the same (see the Figure 18 in chapter 4.3, page 57), some contributors might possible argue that it not is the same project they agreed to support and might refuse to contribute with more money and maybe, even refuse to support the project.

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C.- Political influence In these kind of planning with many public investors, they also will be under big political influence many of the public investors is a part of the political system, different political opinions can change the projects radically if the political conviction is changing. Politicians needs to be re-elected each four years in Denmark and if the political opinion among the electors is changing politicians might possible feel they need to change their mind in their hunt for votes. There is many examples of this situation an actual example is at the Aalborg central harbour front there is a debate about the road Nyhavnsgade last year 18 out of 31 city council members voted yes to reduce the road from 4 lanes to 2 lanes. After this decision different agitator tried to influence this decision and they have in someway succeeded before the election in November 2005 some politicians changed their mind and in the new city council 11 prefer 2 lanes, 10 prefer 4 lanes and 10 have not decided yet. [Andersen (int.), 2005] One of the most visible agitators in this debate is the “Aalborg City” that is using traffic and economical arguments trying to convince the city council that they made a wrong decision. The advantages and disadvantages of the different alternatives are explained in the traffic analysis in chapter 5.2.2. Also the media and press has a big influence in the book rationality and power written by professor Bent Flyvbjerg it is discovered that the only local newspaper Aalborg Stiftstidende36 tries to influence the plans in a specific case with some plans about two roads in Aalborg, the newspaper published a very critical article about the plans of closing the two roads for car traffic and the newspapers opinion was very close related to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s opinion. [Flyvbjerg, 1991, P.105-107] “As for the Aalborg Stiftstidende a systematic review of more than a decade of the Newspapers coverage of the Aalborg Project reveals a distinctive congruence between one the one hand the newspapers views and the timing of their publication and on the other

36

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hand the chambers views and the timing of their being made public”.[Flyvbjerg, 1991, P. 107] I this project we do not search if this also has been the fact about the central harbour front, but we notice that Nordjyske Stiftstidende still is the only regional newspaper in Northern Jutland and that the company behind “Nordjyske Medier” also owns an other regional newspaper, two regional radio stations, a TV channel and some smaller weekly papers and other regional and local medias [medie.nordjyske.dk]. Expect for the press and media owned by Nordjyske Medier there only is a radio station “DR Nordjylland” and a television channel “TV2 Nord” with regional media coverage in Northern Jutland. [www.dr.dk/nord & www.tv2nord.dk] So Nordjyske Medier still has full control at the regional press and some control with the regional media, which gives them a big responsibility and influence, also with the plans for the central harbour front. Their coverage of plans in Aalborg Municipality will definitely influence many people’s opinions. If we go back to our actual example with the road Nyhavnsgade this plan could possible be changed after the debate in the public and Medias. The rational arguments might possible speak for the plans but the debate can add more political point of views to the debate, for instance about accessibility: Should be pedestrian accessibility more important than the car traffic accessibility? Different people might have different opinion about that. The answer will not be given in this economical analysis but we will give our own opinion to improve both in the traffic analysis in chapter 5.2.2. D.- Summary In this economical analysis we discover that the economical purpose for the central harbour front mainly is to create common good, the central harbour front will not directly generate profit but will give Aalborg some common good the City, Municipality and the Northern part of Jutland will benefit from. These plans make the redevelopment very dependent of public investment it could be a possibility to let more private investors invest in the area. Investments in e.g. restaurants, bars, shops and amusement could be good private investments also for the common good. The House of Music is the most dominant economical project at the central harbour front, the size of the investment makes it a very 105

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ambitious project. At the same time it is scaring that only the music house foundation has known about the plans37, it is good to know that Aalborg Municipal Authority now are main responsible for the project, but there is still a risk of making a planning disaster when we the exact price of the project still is unknown. Today most of the plans are depending on political good will, politicians need to do their economical priorities, which can cause a risk to the plans. If the master plan for central harbour front still should be feasible as one plan, it could be necessary to start most of the projects in a short time horizon. Otherwise there is a risk that politicians will make other priorities.

5.3.2. Tourism: Potential and Attraction to Waterfront Regeneration in Aalborg The latter chapter of this study in retrospect shows plans initiated by the Aalborg Municipal Authority to regenerate the central waterfront area in Aalborg. The plans are categorised into culture, historic, economic and social functions in order to make the area attractive These plans are not only designed as an urban planning measure to revitalise the unattractive central waterfront, but also a general strategy for the city’s redevelopment. Regeneration of the entire waterfront area is regarded as priority for the Aalborg Municipal Authority. This could be inferred from the Municipal Authority’s plan of linking the waterfront area with the central district in order to have an optimum utilisation of this spatial area in the context of making it attractive to people. The idea is laudable because it does not only inject vibrant life into the city but a source of promoting and preserving the identity and heritage of Aalborg. The historical significance of every society needs to be preserved for both present and future generations of people. The plans for regeneration of the Aalborg central waterfront can be described as taking a dimension of adaptive reuse. That is where the spatial area is not left to decay but rather reusing for a worthy cause; in order to meet social, economic and cultural needs of the citizens. In effect, having a regenerated area close to the city provides a face-lift for the cultural heritage of the city and again a source of visitors’ attraction. This becomes remarkable for the city’s image, citizens, the north Denmark region and the entire nation.

37

14. December 2005 the Music House Foundation decided to hand over the plans to Aalborg Municipality and let them be main responsible for the further project. [www.nordjyske.dk]

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The distinctness of these plans when established has the tendency of adding value to the physical fabric or ignites a new identity for the city and also could be a potential destination for tourist to see these redevelopments. Attractive places in general terms have long been associated with tourism, and this includes waterfront areas. Implementation of the waterfront regeneration plans in the city would also imply an important transformation of a traditional industrial manufacturing sector to a service providing industry. This could be explained as following a global or western European trend of social and economic change, wherein most industrial waterfronts have been redeveloped into service oriented industrial waterfronts [Craig-Smith, S.J. & Fagence, M., 1995, p.8]. Redevelopment in relation to tourism could also add to a new focus of attention to tourism in the city. This is evident by the current “era of increased leisure, recreational participation, and increased environmental and heritage concern, many of the world’s major waterside city areas have been redeveloped with conservation, recreation and tourism in mind”[ ibid.]. In this view, the Aalborg Municipality can always take cue from these factors in order to benefit from its waterfront regeneration through tourism. Major cities within western countries have made attempts to widen the scope of their tourism industry since the late 20th century, due to the increasing desires for product varieties that has resulted in a perception of tourism as a growth industry to replace economic activities at places that has been on the decline [Dalager, C., 1997, p.96]. Tourism industry in this sense has gained the recognition as important economic tool for development of cities and countries in general. Tourism potentials and attractions are expected in this study to emerge significantly out of the implementation of the central waterfront area project, contribute to the Municipal Authority’s dream of linking the city centre with the waterfront area, and also contribute to the sustainable development of the area. However, it is imperative to critically assess the current Municipality’s plan in order to ascertain the importance, potentials and attractions of tourism to the central waterfront, and the city of Aalborg.

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A.- Importance of tourism to the city of Aalborg A general review of the Aalborg Municipal Authority’s plans to regenerate the central waterfront does not express any elaborate interest or incorporate tourism despite the industry’s38 potential economic benefits. The proposed Music House and Utzonparken projects are mentioned to be tourist attractions in the Municipality’s plans for the central waterfront area, but little emphasis has been given to the entire area in terms of tourism importance. This tends to question whether tourism in general is of importance to the city of Aalborg and hence if any significant economic prospects could be obtained from the waterfront area. In general terms, “the positive side of tourism has been well-documented” [Kamra, K.K., 1997, p.15] and it becomes interesting for one to question why much attention or interest is not given to it with regards to the waterfront regeneration in Aalborg. In an economic sense, the monies spent by tourists can enhance an area by generating wealth and acting as a catalyst for employment, enterprise and infrastructure development [ibid.]. The second chapter of this study shows how waterfront redevelopment projects in places such as Baltimore, Liverpool and Barcelona have gained significant benefits from tourism. Such redevelopment projects have helped to shape the image of these cities and brought about economic gains. Tourism is therefore an important industry to the economies of these cities. According to the Maryland Department of Economic and Employment Development report (1989), as in Craig-Smith, S.J & Fagence, M., [1995, p. 21]; by the late 1980s direct, expenditure on tourism had increased to more than US$ 414 million and exerted a total economic impact on the city worth US$ 1.2 billion. This achievement has been possible through the waterfront regeneration of Baltimore. Tourism is hence a lucrative business that can benefit communities with established waterfront regeneration. It is therefore imperative for Aalborg to take a cue from such developments as a cue for its waterfront redevelopment. Judging from the waterfront regeneration success stories of Baltimore, Barcelona and Liverpool, it could be concluded that implementation of the current plans for Aalborg

38

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might achieve the same results. This depends on how the municipality attaches serious importance to tourism in its redevelopment project for the waterfront. To investigate how tourism could be seen as an important industry and benefit from waterfront regeneration in the city of Aalborg, it is necessary to assess the views of Peter Hermansen for our analysis. Hermansen, a Development Officer with the Aalborg Tourist Information Office was chosen as a subject for interview, and thus offered us very useful information. In his response to the question “what is the importance of tourism to the city of Aalborg”. He said “tourism is important to the City of Aalborg and more importantly the region of north Denmark”. He substantiated this point with the fact that “Aalborg is the main city in the north Denmark region and does have a lot of visitors. The city attracts approximately 450,000 visitors each year. They are made up of bed night and one day visitors. These visitors lodge in summer quarters, hotels and others in holiday apartments”. The weather condition also has an influence on tourist attraction. That is during the summer season or when the weather is not too cold. Hermansen thus confirms “there are more attractions to the city when there is a good weather condition and also people visit the city centre for shopping”. This information sounds impressive regarding the size and population of the city. It also shows that the city has significant tourism activities to offer, and also infrastructure for both visiting and prospective tourist. However, Hermansen stated that despite the importance of tourism to the city of Aalborg, it is not a primary sector or the number one business sector. This implies Aalborg does not depend largely on tourism. He emphasised that “we have a large university, we have traditional companies, and we have a lot of hotels, restaurants, conference centres etc”. This statement might indicate why tourism is not given premium focus in the current plans for waterfront regeneration in Aalborg.

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It is therefore not worth questioning whether the university and companies39 have a significant economic contribution to the city because the answer becomes truism or obvious. Judging from the annual visitors attracted to Aalborg, it might be low when compared with some popular tourism destinations in Europe such as Tenerife, Malaga, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Munich, and Berlin among others. According to Cabrini, L., [2004, p.4] annual overnight tourist in Barcelona in 1990 was 4 million and this figure doubled in 2001 to almost 8 million.40 The 1992 Olympic games held in Barcelona have contributed enormously to this growth in tourist arrivals to the city, but its infrastructure such as the waterfront area could also be considered as an attracting point for tourist and hence increase visitor numbers. Aalborg’s annual tourist arrivals figures given by Hermansen is remarkable compared to certain areas of the world. For instance, the entire national tourist destinations to Ghana attract less than 500, 000 people annually despite the nation’s numerous tourism sites. International tourist arrivals to Ghana in the year 2002 were 482,643 people. [Ghana Tourist Board 2004, p.4] This shows although Aalborg is not attracting a lot of visitors compared to some cities in Europe, its tourist arrival figures are respectable in comparison with a nation like Ghana, which depends heavily on tourism. The above differences in tourist arrivals between the city of Aalborg and the nation of Ghana give a clear indication of the industry’s importance in the city. Though tourism is not the city’s economic backbone, but it obviously may contribute to the economic growth of the city with regards to monies spent by tourists, and also various tourism-led jobs. This cements Hermansen’s view of how important tourism is to the city. It becomes very ironic from this point where the Municipality shows virtually no interest in the waterfront redevelopment plans. However, when the waterfront regeneration project 39

The university is seen to play multiple roles in the sense that monies spent by students as cost of living contributes to the city’s economy, and also students impact their technical skills in some companies of the city, while the university embark on research activities to the benefit of these companies. At end of the day, there are sustainable economic benefits for both the university and the city’s economy. The companies provide services, pay taxes to the government and employ people in the community. These functions perhaps have more economic significance to the community than tourism. 40 See http://www.world-tourism.org/regional/europe/PDF/SPEECHES/2004/Austria16-19June2004.pdf (Date Accessed 06/12/2005)

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is established, it could be used to beef up the importance of tourism to the city and hence raise the potential level of the place if it intends to make some of these infrastructures as the city’s skyline. It should be noted that tourism in present day and from a global perspective is a catalyst for development as explained in the literature review. In this regard, tourism should be given much importance to the city and its waterfront area to help increase the economic growth of the city. Sources of economic activities to boost the socio-economic growth of a city are unlimited in present day of globalisation. There are so many areas or services that can be improved to help achieve socio-economic growth of a city. Tourism in this regard could be a source for Aalborg with regards to its importance to the city. This would become obvious when those iconic plans designed by the municipal authorities have been implemented and given an enormous branding from a national and international perspective. I. Tourism Potentials of the Central Waterfront Regeneration in Aalborg In general, the city of Aalborg is a potential source for tourism and this is evident by the current statistics of annual number of visitor, and its infrastructure. Even though less emphasis is placed on tourism regarding the current Municipality Authority’s plans for regenerating the central waterfront, the plans have latent potential for tourism in the city. Tourism is a business potential for the community of Aalborg. Business and leisure can be considered as viable aspects of tourism that could be combined and taken advantage of with regards to the Aalborg central waterfront regeneration project. Sharma [2004, p.38] describes business tourism to constitute elements of incentive travel, conference tourism and business travel. Leisure tourism also constitutes for example “visiting a museum” [Swarbrooke, J. & Horner, S., 2001. p.10]. These two aspects are distinct or parallel to each other but sometimes they do overlap. For instance both leisure and business tourist could be housed in the same hotel, or travel from the same airport. However, business tourists pay more for the use of the same hotels at airports used by the leisure traveller. This is because business travellers often demand special or extra services than leisure travellers [ibid]. 111

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“The spending power of the business tourist is considerably higher than that of the leisure tourist”. [Sharma, S.P. 2004, p.38]. In view of that, if the city of Aalborg depends more on leisure tourist it might not yield more capital as compared to business tourist. However, both sources are viable except that one has more advantage than the other, but it would be better in the case of Aalborg to explore both ventures in it waterfront regeneration project. Visitors should not be encouraged to go only on sight seeing but also institute other activities to attract business travellers into the city. With reference to Business Tourist Partnership (2003)41 report, “investments in business tourism facilities lead to the regeneration of urban and inner city areas”. Having the current plans for the waterfront already, some opportunities could be drawn from its implementation through business tourism. Though the Music House and Utzonparken buildings for instance are not meant for conferences and exhibitions, they could still be used as venues for some business conferences or exhibitions that would be beneficial to the city in economic sense. At the end of the day, the city would benefit economically from the monies spent by these business persons in the city. Hermansen also describes the potential of Aalborg as “quite positive” from a “global scale”. This is taken from the position of people in the Western world, and some developing countries who have ample free time, earn high income, and having access to cheap airline fares that enable them travel around. This implies that restrictions to travel in this context are minimal and therefore people can easily visit tourist destinations including that of Aalborg. With regards to the profile of nationals that come into the city as visitors, Hermansen states they are “largely from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark”. Looking at this profile, the foreigners are all neighbours of Denmark and therefore would have the psychological home feeling here in Aalborg and therefore have the desire visit. Visitors have transport varieties such as the low fare airlines, ferries, trains, cars and buses to travel into the city with. Therefore accessibility is easy for visitors to come into the

41

See [http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/Tony%20Rogers.pdf Date accessed 02/01/2006]

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city. There is also good internal transport system which visitors can easily use to access the waterfront. However, Hermansen identifies some weaknesses that limit Aalborg’s tourism potentials. This weakness in his opinion can affect the potential of visitors to the waterfront. We tend to share the same opinion because if tourism should thrive in the city, then something should be done about these problems. The first is the cold weather condition in Aalborg and the waterfront area. This is however, a natural phenomenon and thus in the words of Hermansen, “nothing can be done about it”. The situation gives other European cities with less cold weather conditions an advantage over Aalborg. On the contrary most of the proposed activities for the central waterfront are in-door. For instance, the Music House, Jomfru Ane Parken, and Utzonparken are places people could visit and enjoy some warmth as well. In this case, the coldness will not affect the plans so much. The second weakness, which is a bit serious, is the airport authorities in Aalborg being more “interested in organising chartered flights to other destinations including New York”. The air transport situation may be a disadvantage to tourism in the city. However, a school of thought might not see the problem described by Hermansen as a disincentive to tourism in the city. This is because the city does not depend heavily tourism and also the number of tourist arrivals to the city may not merit special attention from the airport authorities as of now. Visitors are not coming into the city in millions where the airport authorities could be compelled to organise special tourist flights. The available supply will certainly depend on demand when it is profitable in this sense. In this regard, when the need arises for a high demand for such services to be offered by the airport authorities, they might response to the call. As stated earlier this might be possible so long as it will be a profitable venture to the airport authority. It will therefore be necessary for one to criticise when the airport authority still hold on to their policy in the wake of high influx of tourist which might be disincentive to the city’s development. 113

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Judging from the fact that most visitors come from neighbouring countries, the airline issue in Aalborg will not affect the city’s tourism potentials significantly because it is not the only source of transport, and thus visitors could patronise other sources. Tourism would always be part of human social activities because the “driving forces behind the development of tourism were curiosity about the world to satisfy human desire for knowledge and needs and to escape the stress of urban life” [Sharma, S. P., 2004. p.151]. Though the airline issue at the Aalborg remains an operational policy for the airport authorities, the situation might change when the city begins to attract more tourists, which the waterfront redevelopment could be a potential source. II. Tourism Attractions to Waterfront Regeneration in Aalborg Tourism attractions to the central waterfront with regards to plans for the area look very impressive in both theory and practice. This is due to the multi-functional or mix-uses of activities that have been proposed. It also provides the city to present a blend of historic properties with modern ones. This implies to the historic fabric of the inner city and also the new multi-functional activities at the waterfront front. This gives the potential tourist variety of things to experience in the city. More so, the idea of linking the place to the central district makes it more attractive. Visitors who come to the central district are likely to be attracted to the waterfront out of curiosity; the branding and good public relations given to the area might be fruitful in attracting people. On the contrary it is a bit murky to point out if these plans will achieve its intended purpose. That is whether the citizens will be attracted to the sorts of activities meant for the place and also visitors from other parts of the country and abroad. Such threats become less when those activities are managed properly and made interesting to all. Looking at the multi functional nature of the plan citizens will not be bored with a particular activity. The entertainment, sports and leisure activities for instance serve as an

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attraction for the youth of the city, and definitely it will also serve a similar purpose for visitors who come from outside Aalborg. Tourism as said before is all about attractions and uniqueness of places. Sharma, S.P. [2004, p.40] states, “one of the prerequisites for attracting tourist to an area is the beauty of the natural environment”. The present environment at the waterfront is not beautiful enough to make it attractive. Now, looking at the current plans it is supposed to make the area beautiful but it all depends on when they have been established, and how special it will be for people. Hermansen in his view sees the waterfront area as unattractive to tourist and with regards to its current state and also some aspects of the current plans for regeneration. He takes duo dimensional stand on his point. The first is about the citizens. He thinks the first priority for regenerating the area should be for the citizens of Aalborg. This is important and therefore no question about that. However, when one thinks about the economic progress of the city, then tourism should be part of one’s thoughts of generating revenue to help improve and provide social needs of citizens. Demark and Aalborg per se is not a poor or developing community but it necessary to progress further not only for today but the future as well. There has to be more avenues for job creation; and tourism should be one of such opportunities in Aalborg. In our opinion, citizens’ interest should always be first with urban regeneration activities. On the other hand tourism development should be given a good attention to attract people; and utilise their presence for economic development. If the city of Aalborg should thrive economically its citizens will be the best beneficiaries. As citizens interest are being considered, it will be prudent as well to look at tourism benefits as one of the avenues that could help in the sustainable provision of social and economin need to the socity. The second aspect of Hermansen’s problem with the plans not making the area attractive is the Music House. The original plans for the Music House are known to have caught the eye of many people in the city. For mainly financial reasons, some features of the original

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design have been altered creating a lot of miss feelings among the citizens of Aalborg including Hermansen. From Hermansen’s professional point of view as a tourist development officer, he thinks “taking off some of the exciting architectural features end up with a building not as a potential of being a symbol for the city”. He is of the view that waterfront areas should have “special architectural features that instantly creates intriguing feeling in people”. He gives the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain as one of such special architectural piece that stands as a skyline in the city. Beauty and spectacular architectural features of buildings is paramount for attracting visitors with regards to the above point of view. Hermansen did clarify on this point: “as a tourist you don’t go behind the façade, you get a glimpse of the destination you are visiting. That glimpse is powerful enough; you like to go there again. It is important that we have an attractive harbour front for instance”. We tend to share this view holistically in the sense that, it is not only activities in the building that attracts people but the spectacular nature of the architecture contributes significantly to draw people. That is both local residents of the city and beyond. It is all about the sights and sound of the place that shows it value. Most skylines at waterfronts areas have such spectacular buildings that attract people. For instance, the Turning Torso in Malmo, Sweden is a spectacular architectural piece at the western waterfront of the city, which started attracting many visitors even before completion. The International Finance Centre (IFC) building in Hong Kong is located at a waterfront; it is the tallest building in the province, and the sixth tallest building in the world. There is so much significance to this building and thus it is considered as one of 18 buildings involved in the Hong Kong Tourism Commission's Victoria Harbour lighting plan.42 The Aalborg central waterfront needs a similar skyline to ignite the image of the place and the city as a whole and also attract people. One the contrary, having such tall buildings as the Turning Torso and IFC building, will contradict the uniformity of structures in the city in terms of height and width. With 42

See http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100614 (Date accessed 20/12/2005)

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regards to urban design concepts analysed earlier in this chapter, there is case against the proposed height and width for the Music House, which is seen to obstruct the panoramic view between the city centre and the waterfront. Ironically, the height of the Music House is far below that of the Turning Torso and IFC buildings. Despite these contradictions the need for a spectacular building is very much important not only for its function but also to attract people to see the place. The best solution is make sure the design creates a panoramic view between the city centre and the waterfront, but since the Music House plan has been done already its establishment might not be much of a problem as perceived now. The building will not be too imposing compared with that of other cities, which stands over 60 metres and above. The alterations to the original plan of the Aalborg Music House are known to have been due to lack of finance, because the Municipality cannot fund the original project. This calls for private sector funding. If the municipality can attract substantial private investment to co-finance the project with regards to the original design, then it will serve a good purpose. It will also help in making the area attractive. As private sector gets involve in the funding of such project, it may encourage good working relationship between these entrepreneurs and the public sector. It also creates and opportunity for more city branding and hence help in boosting the business climate of the area. Other items on the Aalborg Municipality’s plans for the waterfront regeneration look satisfactory again due to their multi-functional nature, which Hermansen also sees as an attractive for tourism. However, he thinks there is one thing missing on the regeneration plans for the area, which is the Limfjord Bridge. He describes the bridge as “ugly and not illuminating” to attract visitors. He recommended that the bridge should be “redecorated, futuristic, stainless steel and with lights”. He also criticised the bridge for not having a good functional connection with Nørresundby, the other part of the city. He substantiates this with the Millennium Bridge in London that links with the Tate Gallery, St. Paul’s Cathedral and also illuminates over the River Thames. He again sounded philosophical by saying having lights around the Limfjord Bridge bring warmth to the area, and that architecture must work with light. In this regard, the light brings sense of security for people who visit the area; it also welcomes the creation of

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many fine buildings, restaurants, cultural centres, and swimming pools. Such developments welcome people in both summer and winter seasons. These criticisms and recommendations from Hermansen are very positive and objective. One may argue that they are individual’s opinion, but they are facts. These factors are all missing in the plans and needs remedy in order to create a tourist environment. For instance the lightening of the Limfjord Bridge is very important not only for tourist alone but for the citizens of Aalborg. Community development and redevelopment should have security concern for all people. Lights do not only give one a good vision but also a protective tool for people at night. The lights may also contribute to having a good nightlife in the waterfront area, making it a “24 hour” attractive environment. This will contribute to make the area and the city in general lively. A personal observation of the city shows less movement of people and activities at night. Having an illuminating bridge, coupled with the establishment of the planned activities at the waterfront will bring some warmth at night to the city. This would not improve social life at night alone but also generate economic revenues due the influx of people to the waterfront. B.- Sustainable Tourism Development of the Central Waterfront Area The Aalborg Kommune has this statement on its website; “our vision is to preserve and enhance the distinctive character of the City and District, making it an outstanding place in which to live and work and to visit, where everyone enjoys a range of quality and efficient services in a progressive community”.43 In this regard the proposed regeneration of the central waterfront which forms part of the city’s distinctive character and also as a potential tourist site must be preserved in order to make it outstanding for regular usage. Part of the Alborg Municipality’s statement above includes making the city an outstanding place to visit. This implies the existing infrastructure of the city must be preserved and regenerated if necessary in order to attract visitors to the municipality.

43 See http://www.aalborg.dk/NR/rdonlyres/9E1A41DF-3BA8-469F-B690

4A92A04E36C6/2674/Aalborginfigures2005.pdf

(Date accessed 15/12/2005

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The general strategy for city redevelopment of Aalborg has been made clear to concentrate on sustainable development. In this strategy, the Aalborg Municipal Authority intends to avoid any new areas of redevelopment that generate negative development. 44 In this regard, areas of redevelopment must function efficiently in order not create waste in community development. It can be inferred from the above strategy that the sustainability of waterfront regeneration and tourism should be of prime importance. Generally, existence of the waterfront should be perpetual with regards its value as the city’s heritage. Maintaining the waterfront area in terms of its infrastructure means sustainability in both time and space. On the other hand, if the redevelopment of the Aalborg central harbour front should become a popular tourist attraction as perceived in this study, the sustainability of the place must be a must for the community in order to have perpetual functioning area. In both theory and practice, when many tourists visit a place, there is a probability of damaging the natural state of the place. Such a situation will tend to destroy the essence of creating that area. In the case of Aalborg, the rationale for regenerating the central harbour front has not been categorically stated for tourism. However, should tourist visit the place in large numbers, the onus still lies on all stakeholders45 to protect the environment and all other facilities associated with the place. The environment is very important in the context of sustainable tourism. The level of carrying capacity must be in check in order not having too much stress on the physical environment of the waterfront. Agreeing with, Sharma, S. P. [2004. p. 41] there has to be sustainable development indicators that can help to determine if tourism development is damaging the natural environment or not. He gives examples of such indicators as quality of air, quality of water surface, noise pollution and the natural landscape The current plans for the waterfront area does not throw light on this issue of sustainable tourism, even though it refers of some assets in the area as tourist attraction. Sustainable 44 45

See Chapter 4, p of this study. This implies the Municipal Authority and tourism related organisations at the waterfront area.

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tourism should therefore be a priority in the case of Aalborg in order to have a thriving tourism industry. These indicators needs to be targeted at central waterfront area should the place becomes a popular tourist destination. The landscape for the designated green area and water itself should be given much attention regarding these indicators. In retrospect, the importance, potentials, and attractiveness of the tourism with regards to regeneration of the central waterfront have been laid bare and assessed. The plans initiated by the Aalborg Municipality are good in with regards to tourism, although it has not been aimed to address tourism development. This is due to the various sets of activities designed for the area. The plans, with regards to its tourism potentials have a tendency of creating a positive social and economic growth of the city, preserving the heritage and promoting the city’s image and possible source of helping to unify the central district the central waterfront. Tourism activities can also help in sustaining the existence of the proposed properties planned for the central waterfront. However, if the city would like to have an attractive skyline as proposed in the plans of the municipality, then the initial design for the Music House should be maintained. On the other hand tourism at the waterfront should not be a one sided development but be complemented with sustainable development. More so, apart from those technical factors such as easy human and vehicular access, which has a tendency of attracting people to the waterfront, the city’s Authority should intensify its branding and promotional strategies for the central waterfront to attract both local people and visitors in order to obtain optimum usage of the place and hence make economic gains. At the end of it all tourism can be regarded as a vibrant resource for the central harbour front of Aalborg.

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CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION Considering the unattractive state of the Aalborg central harbour front, analysis of this study indicates regeneration of the area is possible and has the potential of generating attractive and vibrant resources for the city. The results of this anlysis has been drawned from the current Alborg Municipality plans for regenerating the central waterfront as well as other empirical and theorectical information at our disposal. The current Aalborg municipality plans for regenerating the central waterfront provides a framework of instituting different service activities as a replacement of the old unattractive industrial infrastucture. The plan also provides a platform for linking the central waterfront with the city centre. We examined the potentials of the Aalborg Municipality plans to attract people to the waterfront and establish a link with the inner city. We found out that the strategies are not monotonous, but rather multifunctional. It has the tendency of attrracting local residents and visitors, both young and old to both the waterfront and city centre. More so, the plans create an avenue to increase intensity of uses for both waterfront and city centre, diversity of land uses, reuse of existing resources, and sustainable development to meet local population needs. The plans provides attractive landmarks, identity, and gateways between the waterfront and inner city, and also improve social life within an urban area. We believe the city centre and the central waterfront can be better linked by the establishment of mixed uses of activities. The potentials for mixed uses of activities such as business, entertainment, sports, and tourism attraction in the area has the tendency of making both places vibrant. The locational proximity of both places, and variety of activities tend to increase the potential of linking both places. Easy traffic access can also be established to link the harbour front with the city centre. This is possible by converting the waterfront road from an “industrial” to a “city” road. Here, the traffic lights are increased on the roads to reduce speed of cars to enhance easy pedestrian access from the city centre to the central waterfront. However the improvement of the pedestrian access does not imply a reduction in the easy flow of vehicular traffic. 121

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Having additional parking areas around the city centre and waterfront also enhances the link between these areas.

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REFERENCES Books 1. Aalborg Municipal Authority, 2005. Master Plan, 2. City Spaces: Urban Structure. Course in localisation and the development of cities and regions. UPM7 2005. 3. Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment 2000.By Design, Urban design in the Planning System: Towards Better Practice Thomas Telford Publishing, London. 4. Craig-Smith, S. J. & Fagence, M. (eds.) 1995. Recreation as a Catalyst for Urban

Waterfront

Redevelopment:

An

International

Survey.

Praeger

Publishers, Westport, Connecticut, and London 5. City of Aalborg Technical Department, 2005 . Sustainable Mobility: What has happened in Aalborg during the last 10 years. 6. Dalager, C., 1997. Urban Tourism: An Analysis of its Role within Regeneration of Inner City Areas (MA Thesis Work in English and International Relations). Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies. Aalborg University 7. Duursma, J., 2001. De Boompjes Four Visions on a Waterfront, Uitgeverij 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, Holland. 8. Ghana Tourist Board, 2004. Statistical Handbook on Tourism, Prepared by Research, Statistical Information Department. 2003 Edition. Ghana. 9. Grant. J, 2004. Encouraging mixed use in practice. School of Planning, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Ns, Canada 10. Hoyle, B.S. et al. 1988. Revitalizing the waterfront. International dimensions of Dockland Redevelopment. London, England. 11. Hoyle, B. 1996. City ports, coastal zones and regional change. International Perspectives on Planning and Management. Chichester, Wet West Sussex, England. Editorial Wiley. 12. White, K. N., Bellinger, E. G., et al 1993, Urban Waterside Regeneration, problems and prospects, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference. 13. Karma, K. K., 1997. Tourism: Theory, Planning and Practice, Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi.

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14. Rietveld P. & Bruinsma F., 1998. Is Transport Infrastructure Effective? Springer Publishers. Germany. 15. Sharma, S.P., 2004. Tourism Education: Principles, Theories and Practices, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi 16. Vagnby, B., 2005, Town Centre Redevelopment Strategies: A Retrospective View of Danish Experience. Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University.

Newspapers sources 1. Nordjyske A, 2005, Utzon en ny attraktion for Aalborg, 19/08/2005 2. Nordjyske B, 2005, Opbakning til Utzoncenter, Jesper Ramsing, 3/10/2005 3. Nordjyske C, 2005, Kvægtorv, Jesper Schouenberg, 9/11/2005 4. Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 F Tilbage til Karolinelund, Anders Sønderup, 9/12 /2005 5. Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 D Nordjylland redder Musikkens Hus, Ritzau, 15/12/2005 6. Nordjyske Stiftstidende, 2005 E Langt forspil, Teil & Tino, 15/12/2005

Internet sources 1. Chunsong, W., 2003, Waterfront Regeneration, Cardiff University.: URL www.planningsummerschool.orgpapersyear20032003B017AU.pdf.pdf (Date accessed 12/11/2005) 2. Kelly, M.E., 1998. Tourism Planning: What to Consider in Tourism Plan Making, Revolutionary Ideas in Planning – Proceedings of the 1998 National Planning

Conference.

AICP

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URL:http://www.asu.edu/caed/proceedings98/Kelly/kelly.html (Date accessed 2/11/2005) 3. Porter, G. & Zidema, C. 2005. Liveable Cities Case Report - Aalborg Harbour front, Version: 6 December 2005 URL: http://www.eurocities.org/liveablecities/IMG/doc/aalborg-case06dec05__FINAL_.doc 124

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4. Waterfront Expo, 2004. The waterfront philosophy, and the Global Forum for waterfront Development-Conference and Exhibition Handbook. Media Generation Events Ltd,

URL:

http://waterfrontexpo.com/portal/2004amsterdam/docs/wex2004prog.pdf www.waterfrontexpo.com/portal/philosophy.shtml (Date accessed 18/10/2005). 5. http://www.aalborg.dk/engelsk/information+about+aalborg/sustainable+mobilit y.htm 6. http://www.aalborg.dk/engelsk/information+about+aalborg/sdstrategy.htm 7. http://www.aalborg.dk/kommuneplan/hovedstruktur/103_byudvikling_byomdannelse.htm 8. http://www.detmusiskehus.dk 9. Development brief for the Regeneration of the Cottonera Waterfront, First Draft, 1997. URL: www.mepa.org.mtplanning factbkbriefsCottonera_Waterfront.pdf. (Date Accessed 12/11/2005) 10. Kommuneplantillæg 1.56, 2004, Aalborg Kommune, Found 1-11-2005 on http://www.aalborg.dk/images/teknisk/B&M/PDF/PlanVis/stadark/komplan/Til laeg1_56.pdf#pagemode=none&nameddest=1.3.C1 11. www.waterfront-net.org/europa/index.htm. (Date Accessed 19/ 12/ 2005) 12. www.apb.es/es/PORT/Port_Vell (Date Acessed 18/ 11/ 2005) 13. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niza (Date Acessed 30/ 12/ 2005) 14. www.cafedelasciudades.com.ar/politica_21.htm (Date Acessed 18/ 11/ 2005) 15. http://www.ciao.es/Niza__Opinion_779578 (Date Acessed 30/ 12/ 2005) 16. http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t1148.html (Date Acessed 30/ 12/ 2005) 17. http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/557book/d370.innerharbor.html (Date Acessed 31/ 12/ 2005) 18. http://www.hernandezrabal.com/europa/francia/provence/nice.htm (Date Acessed 30/ 12/ 2005). 19.www.malmo.se/servicemeny/cityofmalmo.4.33aee30d103b8f15916800021923. html (Date Acessed 18/ 11/ 2005)

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APPENDIX A: PICTURES & MAP APPENDIX A.1: PICTURES The Limfjords Bridge

Rosdahls restaurant from the waterfront

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The restaurant Isbryderen Elbjörn

Parking area at the waterfront in Jomfru Ane Parken

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Parking places in waterfront area

Slotspladsen Street

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The Aalborghus Castle

Nyhavnsgade Street, and the Metax parking house

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Metax parking house

Utzonparken area, infront of the hotel

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Utzonparken area

The Music House area

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Nord Kraft

Nyhavnsgade Street

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APPENDIX A.2. The map shows Aalborg Municipal Authority’s plans for the central harbour front in Aalborg City. [www.aalborg.dk/havnefront]

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APPENDIX B: INTERVIEWS APPENDIX B.1: INTERVIEW WITH RIE MALLING (Architect) FROM AALBORG MUNICIPALITY QUESTION: My name is Jacob. I am the person who made the appointment for the interview. We are working on a project about the Central Harbour Front and our initial purpose is to study a new redevelopment in the area and to unify the waterfront with the Aalborg City. So, this is the reason because we would like to know some details about the future plans that the Municipality is designing. Also, we are interested in some specific themes like urban design, the integration with the inner city, the traffic and the tourism. ANSWER: Those are your main goals? Q: Yes, they are. These are the most important issues that we want to discuss. I think that we should start with the questions. A: Yes. Q: First, we would like to know what is the general purpose for the regeneration in the Central Waterfront.? A: I am not quite sure about understanding the question, so I have to ask you what the question is: the main idea or the reason why we are regenerating all? Q: We think both, it could be great. A: You can say that this area was historically a farmer- industrial area, but nowadays, the industry has moved out town to the eastern harbour. So, now we have three old industrial areas in the waterfront, but today they are only used to park. When you have to develop a town, you have to create attractions, to make the town attractive for new citizens, and I think that is the main problem for Aalborg right now: we have to try to attract new citizens. 135

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It can be difficult in competition with Aarhus or Copenhagen because we are a small town and we are far away from them, and the transport system is not very well developed and so on. So, I think it might be a way to attract new citizens and new places to work, and to make the town more beautiful, of course, but that is a design question. Q: What about the importance of this project? How much is it important for the city? A: I think it is very important. I think it is the most important area (Central Harbour Front) right now, to develop. The City Municipality has decided to use 200 million DKK during the next 4-5 years to develop all the waterfront, the different townscapes, parks, and places, and activities areas, and of course, the road Nyhavnsgade. But it is also very important for the cityscape to make it transferring into another different design. Q: So this Central Harbour Front is one of the most important areas here, in Aalborg? A: Yes, it is the most important, right now. Q: Why do you think this is the most important area and not, for example, other areas in Aalborg? A: Because this is a public area. There are a lot of other areas along the whole of the Harbour Front, but those are private. So, these are developed firms and maybe offices. But the Central Harbour Front is a public area, so here, you can develop life, and new activities and new places for whole of Aalborg and whole of the region, so because of it, it is the most important area. Q: What is the Aalborg Municipality’s position to attract people to the waterfront?. A: Opinion? Or what do you mean about position? Q: It means how do you want to attract people to the harbour front? and what kind of people would you like to attract?

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A: This is a quite big area and it is going to be integrated in the whole city. So the guests here shall be all kind of citizens: young people, old people and children. But, of course, there will be different places. We have made in this plan places for activities and active events, but also places where you can be very quite and where there will be no activities. There will be changes between “activities” and “no activities places”. First, we have analysed the city. Where do we have different activities in the city currently? We can find: Jomfru Ane Gade that is the “event city”, and here, Aalborghus Slot that is the historical part of the city. And here (in the middle of the waterfront), there will be the new Music House and Nordkraft; this will be the cultural city. And then, you have something between them, where the new Utzon Centre is going to be built. You can notice how this long area has been divided in different places. And how are they going to be connected with the city? You could read a lot about Nyhavnsgade in the papers and newspapers. This is one of the main goals; it is to make the road into two lanes, instead of four lanes. I think it is very important to make the redesign of the city, to make another road that is not going to use for industrial transport. We look for a road to be integrated in the city. And of course, it will be possible to cross the city at all. Today it is not possible, it is too dangerous, and this is the reason because it is very important to change the road. But you can discuss if there will be some problems to get the cars into the town. I do not think it is, because the traffic-driven will find another ways. It is only the traffic that wants to go into the town I think it is run enough. And, of course, there are other different places. For instance, this place that is Østerågade, we are also trying to regenerate this place. This is very important for Aalborg, because it is as an historical element, and we try to connect the inner city and the harbour front with these elements. Toldboden is very central and very important place. So it is very important to have these connections between the “event city”, Jomfru Ane Gade, to this area (Østerågade). In this area, we are working with the pedestrian area to connect the inner city and the Music House. And as well, in Fjordgade there will be a very important connected line between the city and Utzonparken.

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It is quite important to think on the waterfront as a long area where you can walk along, but at the same time it is very important to have others connections with the inner city. The purpose here is to make it for pedestrian, and cycling and rollers, but not for cars at all. You could not park at the harbour front when all these plans are developing. The car parks will be collected in a parking house here (east part- Karolinelundskilen), and of course, you have the park houses in town. And we are going to make parking here (western part) as well. Q: So, we can think that it is only one area but with some more specific and interested sub-areas. A: Yes, of course, it is one big area connected with Nyhavnsgade and the Harbour promenade but the activities will change, so that is why we are going to make different kind of roles and cityscapes. Q: But are you going to link all this three different areas in the waterfront with a pedestrian access? A: Yes, this is the Harbour promenade and it is only for pedestrians. Q: So, if we talk about the target group, have you been thinking on any special group or just people in general? A: Of course, here (western part) we have planned to make an area with activities that could be, for instance, ice skating in winter time, or others different sports, so because of it, most people will be young people here. Here (western part) we are planning a swimming pool. And it will attract different people, maybe small children in the morning and young people in the afternoon; so, during the day there will be different groups and then, we are planning a “little garden”, with flowers and it is going to be more quite to stay for people who are 50 years old. Actually, you can see this group of people here, at Rosdahls, right now.

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There will be another house where there will be restaurants and different small shops and I think it is going to attract more middle- aged people. I think you have to see the area during a day, because then the groups can change, so that is why we are trying to think how a day will be here in the harbour and who will visit it at all. Slotspladsen is the historical place. It is going to be a big, beautiful and green place, where sometimes there will be a lot of people, and sometimes nobody. The historical building (Castle) here, can just tell us the story about the city. The Music House there will be for student and young people. It depends on the audience; so maybe, middle-aged people too. It will be a mixture. Nordkraft, for young people, but it depends, because there will be many different theatres and many different activities, so it depends how they will be organised. I think this could be both for young and middle-aged people as well. I see this area (eastern area), as a place where you could do wild things and this other (western area) is quieter. This is a big room where you can make crazy things, maybe without organisation. Maybe here, (western area), you have organisations in different houses so you can make bigger arrangements. This is just when you walk in town, to Jomfru Ane Gade; you can play tennis, running or in the way home just to take a brake there. Q: You have not mentioned old people. Is there any particular reason? A: When I say middle-aged, I am thinking on old people, because of course old people can go there with their grandchildren. Q: But, if you look where all these people come from, if they could be tourist or local people, people from the municipality or from the north part of Denmark. Where do you think that most of the people will come from? A: Maybe these activities will attract people from whole region (Music House and eastern area). Maybe this area (Jomfru Ane Parken) is more for local people, because you will go there because you know it and you can make an appointment with friends and you will go there to play football, or tennis, or have a swim. Maybe, there will be differences with Utzon Centre whose guests are going to be for whole region and whole country. 139

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Q: We have talked about the general purpose, but if we think in the social-economic benefits in more detail, what do you think about the benefits that the Aalborg Municipality will have in this area? A: That is a difficult question. Really I do not know, but I am quite sure that it will have a benefit. But it is really difficult to guess what is going to be the benefit, because who earns the money? Is it the town or are the shops that pay taxes? It is very difficult to answer that question. But I am sure that more activity will make more money. Q: About linking the city centre and the waterfront, you have mentioned Nyhavnsgade you want to turn the road into a two lanes road. But are there any other things that the Municipality wants to do to link the inner city and the harbour front? A: Yes, actually this is what I was trying to explain. We have joint others activities and so there is going to be a specific link between the town and these areas. It is going to be a link with new surfaces and fountains and so, to make it possible to walk from the inner city to the harbour or the opposite around. Q: Maybe the historical part and this part (the Music House area) will be the most important part for the tourist people, for example. The reason is because for local people is more important to go to the place where they are going to play sports or other things. So, I suppose it should be quite easy to go from the city centre to the Music House, but is it going to be any especial link? Is the Municipality interested in creating an easy connection?. How are they going to do this link easier going on foot? A: Actually, it is really easy coming from the town going there (east part). For instance, through a boulevard where you can walk or you can walk through the city also. Q: But are they going to try to make this path more attractive? A: Yes this is going to be new surfaces. All this area will be new. Q: So are they going to try that people go through the waterfront or the inner city? 140

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A: I think it will depend on the weather, because some days are very windy, so you could choose other ways. The most directly way is this one (through Østerågade) because you can see the water and how the Music House is next to it, and then you walk. Q: About this road, Nyhavnsgade, there have been some debates about this, about making this road into a two lanes road. What it is the reason because you are turning it into a two lanes road and what do you think about the arguments that support it should be a four lanes road? Do you think that it is possible to make the two lanes road and to solve the traffic problems? A: Yes, it is possible … but the discussion has failed, that is a pity; because you only read and you only heard the bad story about it, because there is nothing in the harbour front right now. People cannot imagine what it is going to be, and how it can be in the future. We can imagine it because we are working on it, but if you go and ask Mr Johnson and Mrs Nelson, they cannot imagine. They can only see the pictures that they have in their head right now, that the area here is only parking areas, and why is that attractive? So what have we missed? I think that to make information and communication about the real reasons why you have to do these things if you want to develop a town, because without changing from the four lanes to two lanes you can not make these things. For instance, in this area (Jomfru Ane Parken) there will be nothing…and this area (Slotspladsen) there will also be nothing. So you have to do it, if you want something. So, it is very important when you are walking into this area and I think we have failed there, because we have not told any information about the harbour front in the future. Because you know that it is the part of city with all shops, and they have been very much against it. But they should really make a big effort because they will have new customers, but you have to tell the good story about it, telling the best story about it. Q: I think that if you change the road and you turn into two lanes, you have to move the heavy trucks; you have to change this traffic from Nyhavnsgade and maybe, you can remove to another road. I mean, if you want a more accessible road to cross and you want to change it into only two lanes you have to move the heavy tracks traffic to another road, isn’t it? 141

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A: Yes, but I am not sure what you mean as “the heavy traffic”. Do you mean the transport for the industry? Because there is not much industry in the other area (western part) and into the town. You have the heavy industry in the Eastern part and it is out of the town. But this road (Nyhavnsgade) is also built for picking up people in the city, so the traffic can move from here (Nyhavnsgade) and go down (through Hadsundvej). Q: Yes, about the Music House and the plans to establish its location, what are the reasons to choose the location for the Music House? A: Specially, this one (in the Eastern part of the waterfront) instead of others. Q: Yes. This one (in the Eastern part of the waterfront) is closer to the industry. What is the reason? A: Because of different reasons. There was a discussion three years ago, about if also it would be possible to place it in another part of the Limfjord. Actually, I think the arguments are that this is not just only the Music House, it is also the University and it is very important that the University was in the town; it was one of the main arguments. And other argument was also that we needed to make a balance in town, not placing every things in the same place but also to make the possibility to develop them in different areas in the town. Q: But you do not explain any problems about the location that is closer to the industry, like it is dusty, smelly ...and so on. A: Yes, but there is a buffer between them and that would be except for this industrial area…It is disgusting a lot, but there was a very long discussion about it. I think that you have to do it, although there is a political decision that allows the industry to stay here as long as they want. Q: Is it too expensive to move them? or what is the reason? A: They do not want to do it. 142

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Q: It is a private company so the Municipality cannot do anything. Maybe can they encourage them to move to another place? A: No. I think there is a big material authority in the city house and they do not want to do anything to carry it now. I think that maybe in not too many years there will not be any industrial area at the inner city. Q: Yes, I think that we have found a lot of answers for the most of the questions, so now we just would like to get a little update of the different areas because we have not seen a lot of them. We could see some in the web page but most of them were not updated. So, it could be nice if you give us a little update of the different areas. A: Of course! In this area, (Jomfru Ane Parken), one of the first things that we want to do it is to start to build this road (Strandvejen), at least it will start in March in 2006. This is the first part of the plan that we want to build, (Jomfru Ane Parken). And the parks are going to be built in 2006 / 2007. If you see here it is the same plan (Jomfru Ane Parken Plan), but this is not updated (swimming pool). We do not know the financial plan of the swimming pool, we do not know yet. We are going to make an area with sports activities. Q: We could understand that the existing buildings in this area that stay here (Eastern part of Jomfru Ane Parken )and Toldboden, it would be throw down, is that correct? A: Yes. Q: What about the update? It is going to stay here, ok…it is a bad of quality of building or … because it is a restaurant or ...? A: I think it is because it is already a restaurant, this already started this area, and this shipyard is also important for the area. But there are many buildings in line so you could not see the water. There were demand to make green areas, to make public areas and not to make too many buildings.

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Q: So, the plan is to build some restaurants here (western part), mostly restaurants or we will find also some shops? A: Yes, also small shops. Q: Yes, so they could be shops and restaurants? A: Yes, but we do not know exactly, because part of this area is a private investment; so, we do not know exactly what is going to be, but that is a detail ...if you see the plan you can see what they can make here, like small restaurants and shops. Yes, this area (Slotspladsen), the pier is not going to be built, and in this whole area look like this (Castle)….and here (Utzonparken), it looks totally different right now, but I have not got any updated sketches that I could give you. Have you seen drawings from Utzonparken? Q: Yes, we have seen one or two from the newspapers, but there was just only one drawing. A: Because I am not sure if I can give you it, because we are still working on it. So, if you want the new one you will have to ask by phone (Municipality) if they would give you some drawings. We have not finished the discussion about this area (Utzonparken) yet; maybe when we finish to talk about this I will had a model and I could let you see it. Music House, we do not know about this, exactly about the plans and when it is going to go built, but hopefully it will be built. Q: Who is working on that? The Foundation of the Music House? A: Yes, the Foundation and maybe some politicians. I do not know. Q: So, we have notice that they do not show many sketches in the public and so. A: We have not seen anything.

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Q: We have just seen a small sketch, this is the last one…and so it is getting smaller and smaller. A: Yes, but I do not know, I have not seen anything before…But, I have read in the newspapers that the fourteenth of December and then they will tell us about the future of it… I think in Nordkraft, there are seven architectural firms working on ideas and how to make these designs. The delivery date is in January, in the middle of January, so it is very exciting. Q: So, you also do not know much updates of this area, now. A: No, I know what they could put in… I do not know … Q: Yes, but how do the sketches look like and so on? A: No, I do not. Q: And then, I think that we need to talk about the last area, Karolinelundskilen. A: The idea was to make a big, we can call, industrial park with a big room and basin called Kulhavnen. Kulhavnen was used for the Nordkraft area. I think what we are going to do now, because otherwise it could be very expensive; it is to make a park and a big parking. And then, you have to develop waste this parking house… According to Malling in the interview, the problem with parking houses is that it generates less income. Plans are underway to have collaborations between the Municipality and private investors to make these parking areas. This could be done now or soon. This idea also involves making connections with the green way around the whole town and the Tivoliland, Kildeparken, Godsbanearealerne. It is hence a green connection from the town to the waterfront.

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And this is Østerågade. Formally here, this is actually now, under the road here in Karolinelundskilen, and we would like to open it again. It is expensive and it is difficult because there are a lot of pipes under the road here, and it is very difficult to get through, but we are still working with the water element, and the water idea. So you can say what the idea is, because there are a lot of water here (waterfront, but it is very different the water from here (Kulhavnen) and the water from here (fiord). There is a lot stream in this water, so if you want to make, maybe, some sports there are facilities, like canoeing what you have to do it in more close basins, because there is too stream here. Q: And then, I think, in the area here, behind the Utzon Houses, there are a hotel and Administration buildings, and they plant to leave these two buildings stay in the area. A: Yes. Q: And do they allow building more apartments for the hotel? A: No, they are not interested on it. I am just working on this plan and maybe we will put some possibilities to build another house here (Utzonparken). There is private owner here (Cattle Market), there is also a private owner here, in Jomfru Ane Parken and they are not very interested in it. Q: No, but are they allowed building more hotels? A: No, actually there are a lot of hotels in Aalborg, it said that maybe we have one or two many hotels, so they are not interested in it at all. Q: What is the time schedule for the whole plans? A: For the whole area 2008/2009. This is 2006, (Jomfru Ane Parken), this (Slotspladsen) is in 2007, this is maybe in 2007 (Utzonparken), this is (Music House) in 2008, I think this is 2007 (Nyhavnsgade) as well, because it was planning to build it and finish it in 2007. And this one will be (Karolinelundskilen) in 2008/2009, maybe. Q: I think it is very few time. 146

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A: Yes, it is quite tough. It is too much time. Q: So, we do not have any more questions. So we have to say you thank you very much.

APPENDIX B.2: INTERVIEW WITH PETER HERMANSEN FROM TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE QUESTION: What is the importance of tourism to the city of Aalborg? ANSWER: Of cause I am bound to say yes but actually it is very important to Aalborg and more important to the region of North Denmark. The region of north Denmark is the largest tourist region in Scandinavia. Summer cultures, it is also beach resorts. It is very popular. These resorts in the old days were fishing areas. The only way of life was either farming or fisherman. Later industry, tourism grew rapidly also. In the region tourism is major growth sector that are being focused on. For Aalborg, it is the main town or city in the region. We do have a lot of visitors. The city attracts approximately 450,000 (bed night) visitors each year. We have 1 day visitors; we call them bed nights. Some stay in summer quarters, others stay in holiday apartments. There are bed night visitors. There are more attractions when there is a good weather condition. On rainy days, some people visit the city centre for shopping and see the attractions of the city. For the city of Aalborg tourism is not a primary sector. We have large university, we have traditional companies, and we have a lot of hotels, restaurants, conference centres etc. They live not from hotels, traditional businesses but also from tourist. It is quite important but not the number1 business sector. Q: What are the tourism potentials for city of Aalborg? A: Well, they are quite positive if you look at tourism on a global scale, it is this sector that is growing the most. In the western world, we work less and less; more and more-free 147

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time and we earn more money. When you look at my parent’s generation, when they were my age they would go on a week’s holiday in Denmark. Now I have 6wks of holidays and can afford to go abroad for an entire 6wks but I can take 2 or 3 days holiday during a year and can do some short break holidays as well. That is a trend we see growing in Europe US, and of cause a lot of developing countries. They do better and better, and tourism is growing in both parts of the world as well. So from that point of view, the potential is quite good and on a more sort of subtle level you can say that tourist in Aalborg, largely come from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. People from Sweden and Norway normally come by ferry to Denmark. We have a lot of traffic from people coming to north Denmark and it’s very popular for Swedes and Norwegians to come to Denmark because they feel it is a developed country. We also see a change in the way people travel. We don’t go as much by train, cars, and ferries. The air traffic market is growing a lot. We have a lot of low cost airlines available to offer cheap tickets to travellers to travel to the areas such as France and Spain that would cost as much as you could go by train or ferry to Denmark. The Scandinavian would like to jump on the plane and go to France or Spain where it is warmer than Denmark. The potential is there, we do see some growth but in Aalborg there is some weakness. The low cost airlines would like to fly in to Aalborg but the local airport has a different strategy. It would rather be interested in organising chartered flights to destinations like New York. Q: Is the present central harbour front a tourism potential to Aalborg? i. Do you think the proposed redevelopment of the central harbour front has the potential of attracting more tourists? ii. If yes: What are the potentials? iii. If no: what are the possible solutions to make it attractive to tourist? A: You mean the central harbour front? Well, not really. We have a hotel, few restaurants. They are some tourist and locals coming there. But the harbour front as it is today is a symbol of time gone past in the city. Industrial harbour, not well coming, it is cold but you 148

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cannot do much about, the layout and services are virtually none existence. So it is not something we are proud of and the local people are also not proud of the place. I know that is why they are trying to plan and revitalise the place From tourism point of view, the office tries to market the city. For tourist when we pick a destination we often do that by beautiful view, through brochure, programs, TV, etc. Let us take a Spanish example the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is so beautiful. Bilbao from tourism point of view, it second to none in European history. The city has not changed much but the museum is there and you see it everywhere all over southern Bilbao, and it is a great city. As a tourist you don’t go behind the façade, you get a glimpse of the destination you are visiting. That glimpse is powerful enough you like to go there again. It is important that we have an attractive harbour front for instance. Q: What are your impressions about the proposed central waterfront redevelopment plans by the Aalborg municipality? Are these plans capable of making the area more attractive for tourism? A: It is hard to say especially when you are doing something like that in the city of Aalborg you have to think of cause, the citizens. They come first. We’ve been involved and our director is involved in an advisory committee but when you do it, your prime focus should be on the citizens. But whether this would make a huge difference to help in the potential of attracting visitors to Aalborg, that the tourist board thinks as a great area is hard to say. I think one of the important things is the music house. It is important. I know they do not stick to the original plans but they are cutting the budget. What they did was taking off some of the most exciting architectural features. If you do that, you risk ending up with a building not as a potential of being a symbol for the city. I’m not going to compare the first time, original design to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao because it is not that category. The Bilbao museum is a fine example of a special architecture that instantly people feel intrigued by it. It is very exciting; it is a brilliant opportunity. If we end up with architecture with the same style like the university or Aalborg congress or cultural centre, it is rather not have the music house .It is important that they do something special,

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something unique. As for the housing, well I have not much about that as long as they do it at the left side of the bridge. The harbour swimming pool is a great idea; it becomes popular during the summer especially for the young people and tourist. The green area is a positive idea to have it close to the castle; however, the castle is not one of the impressive buildings in Denmark. Of cause it is a historical building and it is important to open it up. It is a bit squeezed as it is today. The Utzonparken project is also a good idea. Utzon is popular in Denmark; this city is his birthplace, and also being the mastermind of the Sydney opera house. However, Utzon is not too popular among foreigners in Denmark. However, there is one thing missing on the harbour front and that is the Limfjord Bridge. It is very ugly. It is important to have lights at the whole area. With that you work with architectural light. You turn it to a safe area because it dark and we want to attract people not only in summer but also in winter. With the water, when you are in Ghana, Egypt the water could be warm but we don’t have it like that in Denmark. When you have the winter chills, the wind, when you have the darkness you can build as many fine buildings, restaurants, cultural centres, swimming pools when it is welcoming. It is not welcoming when there is no light, when it is cold you cannot do nothing, but architectural light can create life, a sense of warmth, and sense of fear and security. It is important in the whole layout that you work in, you can make surprising light when you walk there. The option of lights that you could create should not be another Tivoli atmosphere but an intelligent area. The bridge is ugly and from its construction in 1932 though it has gone through many paintings over the years. When it was first created the then Prime Minister of Denmark said during its inauguration he gave a speech and said “ I would like to congratulate the city of Aalborg for making a bridge like this but I just don’t know what a hell u want with a bridge like this because of Nørresundby. Is the end of the world? There is nothing there” there is nothing there to connect with that part of the city. It has to be illuminating. For instance the most cities have illuminating bridges. Not to compare Aalborg with London. The Millennium Bridge in London is an example of such bridges. It has link with the Tate 150

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Museum, St. Paul’s cathedral and illuminated over the Thames. The Limfjord Bridge should be redecorated, futuristic, stainless steel and with light. We have discussed that with the technical department not our idea, the idea has been there already to give the bridge a good look but the issue is cost. It cost 4million Euros to do that but the bridge is ugly in the day and scary at night. There has to something special close to nature. An example of such can be referred to the regenerating one of the poor areas in Paris to an exclusive museum deconstructive stairs. They wanted people to feel secure so they had lights everywhere. The lights, plants are all illumination. They have different music, the music also changes people feel safe, and crime is virtually zero. You need to create something special, untraditional, especially when you have the nature against you. The water, the cold, etc. Q: What does the central waterfront area need to attract tourist from your point of view? And what should be the plans to attract tourists in an urban area? What is your opinion about the industry being next to those planned area. A: Standing on the bridge is not a beautiful view, but the harbour front is currently not beautiful but an industrial skyline. There are no pretty buildings. The presence of the feed factory is a problem and the city Mayor would like to have this industry move to the new harbour 5km east of the city. Moving the factory out is however, costly. The Director of the company has assured the Mayor that the company is ever prepared to move out when it is asked but not to the East of Aalborg but to South East Asia. It a lot of money, they pay a lot of taxes, a lot of people working there, a lot of money to the city it is important for the city. It does not do much good to the harbour but its there and I don’t think the presence of the factory is really a problem. If they can just agree on doing something there it would be a long step further than we are today. Q: You said citizens should be taking into consideration in the redevelopment of the harbour front. Would the citizens welcome the presence of more tourists in the city? A: I do not think we will see any two-figure growth rates in tourism for even when it is built Aalborg. It is not something you should do for tourist; you want an attractive city, for

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the companies attracting students, not tourist of cause tourism is important but not the primary factor. Q: Would you suggest a path to create a pedestrian access for the waterfront from the city? A: What we preferred was a tunnel, so you have a road on one side and the tunnel on the other side but that was too costly. They would stick to 4 lanes because that would cause traffic chaos when they have 2 Lanes. What may be done is to have some little bridges to connect the area together. It is still important to connect the historical part of the city with the cultural area. Q: Would the bridge be important for the city to connect the city centre with the waterfront? A: It depends on how you build those bridges; that is when you make them attractive, Having 2 lanes might create traffic chaos. Perhaps have a small bridge to link the area together. There should be a traditional bridge but attractive, special, or one that stands out. Q: So, we do not have more questions. Thank you very much for your time.

APPENDIX B.3: INTERVIEW WITH NIELS ANDERSEN (Chairman) FROM “AALBORG CITY” Niels Andersen has been chairman for the Harbour Front Committee in the last 5 years and now he is chairman for the inner City Commerce Organisation “Aalborg City”, with 310 members, the second largest in Denmark. Aalborg City has also made its own suggestions for the plans in the harbour front. QUESTION: What is your general opinion about the Municipal Authority’s plans for the waterfront redevelopment on commerce?

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ANSWER: When we are talking about the Harbour front is important to split into the already revitalized area between the two bridges: the area between the Limfjordsbroen and until the House of Music. This area should be opened like a green area and sea views to the Limfjord. The renewal of the street Boulevarden is also important for Aalborg City, which is just now finalised. Aalborg City supports the plans for the harbour front. Aalborg Municipality liked to change the road from 4 to 2 lanes. 18 members voted “yes” and 11 members voted “no”. Actually, there is new Municipality Municipality and 10 of them prefer 4 lanes and 10 members do not know yet. We know that we need to convince these 10 people that do not know to do. Today there are 20.000 cars in Nyhavnsgade; after the change, there will only be capacity for 7.000 cars in Nyhavnsgade. The rest of the cars (13.000) should use other roads, but 7.000 cars are not enough for Aalborg City, because the 13.000 cars are forced to use other roads as Karolinelundsvej Æ Jyllandsgade. The problem is that Jyllandsgade is already influenced by heavy traffic. Where should people park when they go fore shopping? Q: The cars should go by KarolinelundsvejÆ Sønderbro Æ Østre Alle. That is the plan; otherwise they can park in a new parking house in Karolinelundskilen or in the Metax house. A: In the Metax house there will be 52 new shops and the Metax parking house will be expanded from 600 to 800 parking places, so the traffic will increase and the road capacity will decrease. It is possible to park in a new parking house in Karolinelundskilen, but not many people like to do that and walk the 800 meter to go to the city centre. For instance, if you buy a television, it is hard to carry it 800 meters. They want to park in the central part of the inner city, so we are forced to have a four lane road to support this traffic. Q: When we are talking about four lanes is only for Nyhavnsgade or also the followings roads: Slotspladsen and Strandvejen?

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A: Aalborg City wishes a four-lane road the whole way trough. We told Aalborg Municipality that this size was good; all of us wanted to keep the four lanes. Then, the Municipality said that it was not possible because of the Cattle market and the bicycle path. We argued that there was not any problem because the bicycle trail could just be at the other side of the cattle marked. So that problem was solved. Q: It could also be a possibility only to reduce Slotspladsen and Strandvejen until two lanes, so there would be no problems for people enters into the city centre, only for the traffic through the area. A: That’s right, but it is not our plans for the moment, but we do not know what the compromise will be. We believe that four lanes are necessary to give people access to the inner city and the Central Harbour Front. It is proved by some people from the traffic department at Aalborg University that changing the road to two lanes will cause that people drove to the Metax parking house on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So, they were forced to wait 15 minutes when they went for shopping. But, population do not want to do that. Then you can say that people just go by Østre Alle and Vesterbro when they go for parking, but at Vesterbro we also have heavy traffic. If you put all these activities in this area, it needs accessibility to come in and come out. It will really cause problems, so if the Aalborg Municipality implements this idea (making this road into two lanes road), it will mean that they will shoot their own foot. We have other areas in the inner city without cars, like Algade, Bispensgade, Nytorv and the newly renewed Boulevarden, so we have nice areas without cars. Q: What is the reason because of the Municipality wants this change? Is it because of the current road creates a barrier, so not too many people will use these areas? A: That’s not true. You can avoid that by making some traffic light and pedestrian crossing. I have been in Nice three times and they have a six lane road at the water front; it is a big city and a big road and it is working fine. Try to go there and take a look!! Q: Other argument is that turning it into two lanes road will generate more space fore activities at the harbour front. 154

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A: Yes, but that is not much space only 3 or 4 meters; if you go there and take a look today, you will see there is not enough space. About crossing of the road we also have a suggestion of building two bridges across the road. The bridges will also have elevators for old or handicapped people and a nice café at the top, and benches where people can sit enjoying the view. Q: How much will it cost? A: The minimum price for each bridge will be 1 million. DKK, but it could also be more expensive depending how you want these bridges look. But comparing to changing the road it could be cheaper; renovating the current road will maybe cost 20 million DKK, and the changing the road to two lanes might cost 65 million DKK. We could for instance spend this difference in the House of Music instead. Q: That is enough about the traffic situation. What is our general opinion about the general plans for the central harbour front? A: I have been in the group that has worked with the plans. I think that it is a good plan, it would really give us a nice and beautiful harbour front. It is really important to make a really beautiful promenade along the whole harbour front with the same kind of light and so on. In the western part, there will be small cafes and view to Limfjord. I really like the plans but please, let me get the House of Music, if not we will just have wasted 22 or 28 million. It is better if the Central Harbour Front has more opened areas than closed. All these opened spaces could be built like parking areas places, but eventually could be also used for outdoor concerts. Q: Are there any plans to link the city centre with the harbour area? A: Yes, we have just suggested that Nytorv will be renewed from Østerågade to the Metax parking house; especially Nørregade could be an interesting walking street when we got to the Music House. I believe that we should make a flat parking place instead of a parking house at Karolinelundskilen, many people do not like to park in a parking house. We would like green areas and parking places but we also know that we cannot get everything, 155

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so we are satisfied with the current number of parking places. Today the situation is different. Miss. Petersen has her own car and she wants to use it. Previously, it was a two-lanes road, and it was decided to make a four-lanes road. Actually, they want to make a 2-lanes road again, but the number of cars has been doubled. Q: The plans at the central harbour front only seem to contain a little commerce (e.g. shops, restaurants). Is it enough? A: Yes, it is enough; it is a good idea to collect commerce, culture and so on in specific areas. There are fine plans for Jomfru Ane Parken and good ideas about the restaurants Elbjørn and Rosdahls. We need to get people to the city that is all that we need. Q: That is all. We do not have more questions. Thank you very much.

APPENDIX B.4: INTERVIEW WITH BO VAGNBY (Professor) FROM AALBORG UNIVERSITY A: I think that before starting we have to look firstly how the plans are, if they are fine or they need an improvement. And if they do, why? Q: That is our first question. A: I thought that you are going to determine what you think that a good plan is? Or do you want to reserve your professional opinion? Q: We are doing some researches about it to find different opinions about this plan. A: Have you found your own opinion about this plan? Q: In some way ‘yes’, and in some way ‘no’, because the meaning of this process is to find out what these plans are about and why to make these plans. So it is easier for us to 156

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get our own opinion listening to the planners in this project with their own opinion about this first.... A: That can be O.K. But also it can be risky because at the end of this semester you should have been able to have your own opinion. Otherwise, it is going to be too easy for the person to give you a specific direction. I will give you this kind of general advice that you have also to find your independent professionally opinion because. Who has a very different opinion and maybe very critical opinion? Q: Yes, but the interview in this process is also a way to get information. A: It is only, that I think that as a part of your training and education, you should definitively develop the ability to make your own professional opinion. Q: Of course, we have some opinions about this. We have had an interview with a person from Aalborg Municipality, because it is easier for us to understand the plans, and because most of the information is in Danish, so it is quite difficult for us. A: Who have you seen to discuss about this in the Municipality? Q: An architect that has a well knowledge about the plans, because she is involved on them. We have also talked to someone from the Tourist Association and to someone from Aalborg City. A: What are your specific expectations to me? Is that a planning view or is it a planning theoretical view, or is it about the process? Q: Mainly, we would like to know your opinion about the actual plans that the Municipality is developing. A: But does it regard to their functions, or what? Q: Maybe it is referred about their functions, their design and the process that they are carrying out. Here you can see most of the strategies that they want to develop (Master 157

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plan from Aalborg Municipality). You could find something that is not correct in your opinion, or on the other hand something that was nice. A: So design, the function, the context, and the process. Then, you have to guide me. Q: So as you know, here in this part (western part of the waterfront), they are trying to build a place for practicing sports and a swimming pool. This is a focus for local people specially, because it is next to the city centre. (Middle part of the waterfront) This is the historical part and here, there is the Music House. Between of them, there is a museum, in Utzonparken. There is also a park here (eastern part), where they also want to build a parking area because they are trying to use it as a barrier between the feed factory and the Music House. A: I think that the plan is large for whole of the Central Harbour Front. I think that after many, many years of discussions, after many proposals as results of different competitions and after many years of public debate, among people living in Aalborg and among people having an opinion about the future of the harbour front, I think that the result was materialised last year, 2004. I think that after all, these proposals reflect very well many of the ideas that have appeared overtime. I think this is the result of a communicative process between the planners, the decisions makers and also ant the actors giving their opinion about the future of Harbour Front. There have been many different opinions about this theme and all of them have received a lot of attention in the recent local elections. The Aalborg Municipality’s idea allows seeing behind the Central Harbour Front an entertainment and recreational part near Jomfru Ane Gade. This is a logical purpose to attract a lot of tourists and local people. Also, there will have a more representative cultural part along the castle. I think it is quite good. And I think that is going to be a mixture between cultural facilities and functions and some public functions as well. The House of Music and the Museum in honour of Utzon is quite a good idea. The details seen from this proposal are fairly regard scale and also regard how it can actually be complemented the Music House and Utzon Parken. The last part to the east is to combine the buffer zone and the industrial area. It is a potential recreational area. But also the local 158

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plan draws a parking area. This is the most controversial and problematic contribution, because its location near to the entertainment area shall not allow developing an attractive recreational area in Karolinelundskilen. Also, they try to design a green space with a small harbour or basin in this area. Actually, Aarhus has been quite successfully in open some of its rivers and some of its streams; there was a competition in the Municipality to develop the Central Harbour Port and opening the streams was proposed. I think it is a good idea, because, probably it is the only place in Aalborg where still the water is fluid. Several times these streams have been covered so, that idea could be a great plan. Q: When we are talking about this plan and this strategy, do you think that is possible for the Aalborg Municipality to achieve this plan? B: The problem is found in everywhere. But, probably it especially is in Aalborg because of it is relatively small city, 200.000 people. It is very easy for local, critical and professional opinion and people from the University to read the newspaper and look a fantastic presentation and to create a public opinion. My personal view regards to produce a good plan in Aalborg is that politicians think about the population’s needs. If you read a critical letter or if you arrange a meeting with 2, 3, 4 people and you listen series of things that they would like to have in the city, in that moment you are participating in a public debate. If we attack in this part maybe it could be designed different and innovative ideas. That is funny situation but I would say that they have to participate in public debates in Aalborg for quite many years and so we could compare, for instance, with Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense. I would say that in not many time, we could see that the Municipality or planner find consensual solutions. Sometimes the best architectural result or the best functional result or whatever is not enough; and I think that we need an automatic debate to find the best solution. That is an observation to start working. Recently, maybe it is too easy to manipulate the politician’s opinion through public opinion. Sometimes it is not necessary give the best professional solution; it is more important to solve the citizens’ needs. Q: Do you have any alternative for this strategy about the waterfront? 159

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A: Yes, I think that the large plan and in this context it is better a public investment, public functions or public infrastructures. So, we need an important public investment. Here, we have a park around the Castle, a lot of green area spaces, Utzon’s Parken, (middle harbour front), ..., all of them are public investment. The Music House is 100% public investment; it is a contribution from Aalborg University, School of music, and local authorities like Northern of Jutland. 40 million DKK could come from private firm, but there are only 2 private foundations, because the money they have processed is supposed to make impossible to design a better architecture appearance of building. So, we can call it like public or semi-public money. Q: Yes, I think that the Cattle Market is a private investment. And here (western part) we can find some hotels that are also private investments but that is all. A: Yes, the private investment here (Cattle Market) is the best investment at waterfront. It is not really a private investment. The owner is a clever business man, and he is doing a kind of culture contribution in the city because he bought it for one million DKK and now he is renovating for 32 million DKK. We don’t know yet when it is going to be operative. Firstly, the Municipality wanted to demolish the Cattle Market, but a benevolent and heritage enthusiastic man (rich and high status person who helps the new artists) was interested to redevelop it and reuse as a cultural centre. He is also a kind of a public figure who is interested to make profit on this venture, but for sheer interest in the property. So, this is a part of all this business. Q: do you agree with the fact that mostly of the investment is public? A: Yes, I think so. If you go through waterfront and sit down in a public space and think who has built this and which kind of investment it has received; you can find that it could be a closed or an opened space. You can wonder yourself what kind of people is able to go into there, because if it has been built with private investments, perhaps only few people is able to visit it. In brief, if we want the best recreational and entertainment areas with the best equipments and infrastructures also, we need a stronger investments. Sometimes, these investments have to be privatised in order to generate more income from them. This 160

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is due to the belief that private investment yields more money than public owned. The authorities can build better parks, hotels, parking areas...and so on. Q: In generally you agree with this plan, but do you have any agreement or opinion that you would want to say or any specific area you want to concert in? A: I have a kind of objection about the House of Music; I exposed an objection last year to local plan with my colleges at University. I don’t like the architecture and I think the building is going to dominate the surrounded in the harbour waterfront, because it is very high construction, around 32 to 42 meters long, and this plan does not sure full contact with closer buildings. Façade is almost 120 m long, and if you stand in the city and regard the water, you cannot see it because you shall pay your attention in this building since its width shall be around 30 and 40 meters and its height shall be approximately 120 meters. So, in that way, I think that the new Music House is going to dominate the whole city. Q: What is your opinion about the design or the criteria in order to build the Music House? A: You can make icons in many ways, and the Music House I think is one of these powerful icons because the building will dominate the most of the area. I think from the architectural point of view, this construction is going to break the see sight of the landscape. However, when they present the project on 14th of this month, we will know all the details about it at last. I think that who have designed the building, have wanted to create a spectacular, awe inspiring building, in order to citizens identify city with it, but most of them have forgotten that the main issue in a new building is that this must integrate itself in the environment of the area and the rest of the constructions. In this way, all of them will be useful for the community. I am sure this plan obeys to the fact that the Music House is a first class building, because in other situation, others constructions do not need so fine architectural design or luxurious façade. Q: Do you think Music House should keep the local laws about construction, avoiding differences among buildings?

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A: No, I think they should be kept. It is certain that there are lots of opinions about this issue; there are many people who have put their personal ambitions on it but if I had to accept completing this building. I think it would be a good point to divide it in 2 steadies and should be developed with the proposal to make a fantastic plan, but it is not possible to make a fantastic house with this account of money. It is a pity, because it is the biggest public investment in the building in the city. Q: The architecture plan for the music house has been changed many times. What are its effects on attracting people to the waterfront area and the Aalborg city in your point of view? A: I think the original plans must be kept from the beginning to the end, and the result will be a building harmonic and functional that can satisfy the needs of the community. If the construction has been changing, the causes have been the different interests of the groups that had to develop the initial project: local and central Government, educative community and other institutions, and the decreasing amount of money along the months. I hope the actual design was successful in order to attract people. Q: What do you think about the location of the Music House in the central waterfront? Is it placed here (in the waterfront) because it is the only public space in the city? Or is it placed in the harbour, because during the last years, it has been considered the most important place to develop in port cities? A: I think actually is quite good idea to locate in the harbour front, because the water and its properties attract local and tourists people. Maybe nowadays it is not important in Aalborg, but in others places in Europe or U.S, Turkey or definitely also in Denmark the waterfronts are really attractive for the population. The location near the water is very attractive; there are many reasons for that: water is always closer to green areas, parks or gardens, paths to walk... and so on. So, I think that for these reasons is quite ok. Secondly, we can also find the Power Station in this place, but after they started to develop the plans for Music House, it was decided to recycle and reuse this station like a recreational or cultural area. I think this location in the eastern part in the waterfront is going to contribute for an urban regeneration in this part of Aalborg. So it could be a good idea to find some

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kind of synergy between the Music House and the others buildings that are located in the surroundings to create an interesting area. Q: We know that the Music House is located next to a factory (Nordkraft). And also we know that the planners have included a parking area between the Music House and this industrial area to create a barrier among them. Do you think that is a good idea to locate here the House of Music in this situation? Do you think that is enough this parking area to separate these different land uses? A: Actually the Environment Regulation says that you can locate a buffer zone between a civic functional area and an industrial functional area if they are going to be a problem. In this case, we are talking about parking spaces but we can talk about different uses that can offer some facilities if you locate them in these areas. In the other hand you should also notice that in whole the cities the concept about the harbour front is changing and also, all the business districts are changing their location all the time. Actually, urban planners have to recognize the opportunities in the city and to define new strategies to foment a city development. We find a different kind of development 20 or 30 years ago, because the principal objective for people in Aalborg was to maintain the jobs and they did not think about the development in the waterfront. Actually, we have a worried situation. The politicians only think about their next elections, so they want a hurry urban solution for the following years. So, the planners should think that an urban plan is going to be lively during 10, 20 or 25 years. Q: The architecture from the Municipality told us that this parking area would be enough to disconnect the Music House with the industrial area. But we think that it is not enough to do that. We know that to remove this factory is really expensive, but maybe they could have planned others land uses for this space. A: No, this area is not enough. We have already said that it is going to be a parking area. The reason for that is the future change in Nyhavnsgade Street. They are going to return it into two lanes road, so they need a parking space to locate all the cars that cannot enter to the downtown. I think that we shall find a very big functional problem with the traffic. But this question has been a political question; it is not an urban question.

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We are talking about regeneration plans. It is important to mention the Central Business District in Aalborg, C.B.D. We can find another important competitor, Skalborg, where you can shop and do others activities because it offers some facilities that we cannot find in the inner city, like a lot of free parking. Q: Do you think that if they return the road into two lanes, this one will create more functional problems? A: Yes, I think so. Probably it will be easier to cross it but we move the traffic problem to another road. It is important to do a traffic study to know how one road is working. You need to know what its capacity is, what kind of vehicular traffic it has because it is not the same to have cars, public transport, bicycles or tracks. In this case, we have to notice that we are removing tracks and a lot of cars to other roads that are also collapsed. Maybe, this is not the solution. Q: Now it is difficult to cross the road. We know that some bridges have been proposed. But we think that is enough if we create good access to cross the road. A: Actually, we have a plan with different purposes and different interests (Municipality, Aalborg City, population). Aalborg Organization of shops and industry (Aalborg City) does not want to change the road from 4 lines to 2 lines, so they propose to build a bridge over the road for creating a better access; but of course, Aalborg City does not want to spend a lot of money on it. I think that we can find others alternatives like to design a new boulevard alongside the harbour front. You can find this in different places, especially in the South of Europe. I think that is a good solution because they have a good weather and sun. But in Denmark we have not good weather. The weather in Aalborg is cold and windy, so it is not attractive if you want to walk and spend a lot of time in the waterfront. We need to improve the solution for this problem.

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APPENDIX C: OTHER CASE STUDIES Through this project it has been mentioned different examples of redevelopment plans and urban strategies that have been implemented in different cities around the world and that have been useful for us as examples and comparative case studies. In this appendix we try to show some general concepts that have been useful for us in a few of the case studies that we have used. The different case studies are not really deeply because it could be another different project, and because we have mentioned so many several examples, that we have chosen the most significant.

APPENDIX C.1: BARCELONA- PORT VELL (SPAIN) Barcelona is the second most important city in Spain. Its metropolitan population is 4 million people. Since the 19th century it has been always an example of modern urbanism strategies, especially when it was created an important urban development widening by Cerdá. Nowadays it is a cosmopolitan city which is known internationally for its wonderful architecture, charming streets and modern landscape. The

city

has

not

always

considered the powerful item of being a coast city, but through 20th century it got conscious of its great potential. Currently, the central city is extended along 12.7 km. of coast, (6km. are occupied by the commercial port and the rest

are

beaches) [www.waterfront-

net.org/europa/index.htm46]. Figure. Port Vell. Source: [www. apb.es/es/PORT/Port_Vell. Date accessed 18/ 11/ 2005]

46

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Through the 90´s several modifications of the coast and the port were implemented, especially at the beginning of the decade due to the Celebration of the Olympic Games in 1992. It meant the origin of a great urbanism change for the city that also experimented a fast international projection. The city became also aware of the importance and potential of its harbour front and since that tries to live “looking at the sea”. This urban transformation was reflected by the reform of old equipments in the harbour front and the installation of new ones as a shopping centre, leisure services, a new big sporting port and a new maritime walk that serve as integration elements between the city and the water body. Currently, one of the most important areas in Barcelona’s Waterfront, that has changed more, is Port Vell. It has an area of nearly 55.6 hectares. It is the oldest area of Barcelona’s waterfront, and in 1995 it was an obsolete commercial district, even considered as “a grimy working seaport” [www.waterfront-net.org/europa/index.htm]. So the council decided to redevelop it turning into a new port district integrated in the city structure becoming a recreational, commercial, and entertainment centre. It has not only great public opened spaces, but also has cultural, sports supplies, business centres and leisure areas, like: museums, an aquarium, an 3D cinema, shops, pubs, ... All of these are in a modern and cosmopolitan environment. This is an ideal place because it is next to the sea, and really closed to the city centre. “Among its landmarks is its timber wharf, (…) that serves as a long waterfront promenade lined by restaurants and terraces. [www.waterfront-net.org/europa/index.htm.] This area has become a vibrant place for citizens, tourist, and firms, by day and night, especially for young people. Each year, more than 16 millions people visited it, and any

event

that

is

celebrated

around

it

is

successful.

[www.

apb.es/es/PORT/Port_Vell47]

47

See URL: www. apb.es/es/PORT/Port_Vell. (Date accessed18/11/2005)

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Figure La Ramble Del Mar, pedestrian connection between Port Vell aand the inner city Source: [www.cafedelasciudades.com.ar/politica_21.htm Date accessed 18/ 11/ 2005]

After the Olympic Games the city has tried to improve continuously; in this way, in 2004 it was organized an important cultural event, “FORUM 2004”. The aims of it were not only promoting internationally the image of the city but also getting investment for the redevelopment of another parts of the harbour area. We should notice that the “urban model of Barcelona”, can not be completely applied for other cities. Each city is different and has its own circumstances. But also we can realize that today, Barcelona is known as a desirable city so we should try to find out what has turned it in this way Figure

Forum

2004

Source:

[www.cafedelasciudades.com.ar/politica_21.htm Date accessed 18/ 11/ 2005]

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Some “clues” of the successful urban strategies carried out in Barcelona could be, according to: www.cafedelasciudades.com.ar/politica_21.htm48 and www.waterfrontnet.org/europa/index.htm. -

The mixed uses of the projects. It means that behind an urban plan it is

looked for not only the improving of the environment, but also attracting new investment and new firms, decrease the unemployment, ... -

The high quality of the urban design. It tries to turn Barcelona in a

“different place”, giving it cultural and modern symbolic attributes. This gets a social recognition with respect to the set of the city. -

The link between the city and the waterfront by ensuring the pedestrian

access, maintaining the traffic flow along an important coastal road. -

Another strategic element, and really important is the international

promotion of the city. It has been promoted, at international level, the urban design and architecture, the citizen animation, the leisure and cultural supply. All of these have made of Barcelona a city of conferences, fairs and congresses, and, of course, one of the most important tourist points in Spain and Europe.

APPENDIX C.2: MALMÖ (SWEDEN) Malmö, is the third more important city in Sweden. It is the link between Denmark and south Sweden, since it was built the Øresund Bridge. This city has changed in a really short period of time, transforming from an industrial city to an attractive business environment, a cultural centre and a sustainable city. The city has approximately 270,000 residents, and in the last few years has developed an important university, has changed the old industry by high technology, logistics and digital media firms. The cooperation between university and firms has created a new attracting point for entrepreneurs, creative development and investment. The infrastructures and the

48

URL: See www.cafedelasciudades.com.ar/politica_21.htm. (Date accessed18/11/2005)

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communicated

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location

of

the

city

are

also

helping.

[www.malmo.se/servicemeny/cityofmalmo.4.33aee30d103b8f15916800021923.html49 ] Malmö is becoming an attractive business and creative centre, and this is shown in its urban plans and in its constructions that are built at record speed. The waterfront of the city is been transformed quite fast and it is being developed as a new district called Västra Hamnen. In this Malmö harbour area there was a shipyard area that closed up, and now in its location is built a new business centre and some buildings of the university. Thanks to this new strategy the city is more conscious of the potential of its harbour area, so Västra Hamnen district is becoming a place aimed to a wide target group of people like students, business people, some residents and even tourists. “The area of the new urban plan covers about 140 hectares, and currently has several projects which are at the planning and construction stages” [www.malmo.se/servicemeny/cityofmalmo/ westernharbour.4.33aee3 0d103b8f15916800024235.html]. Figure Turning Torso Building. Source:[ http://www.malmo.se/servicemeny/cityofmalmo.4.33aee30d103b8f15916800021923.html. Data accessed: 18/ 11/ 2005]

For instance, one of the projects that have been finished some months ago is the spectacular “Turning Torso” building that it, it is not only a business centre and a residential building, but also it is an important tourist attraction. In this way the Malmö waterfront is becoming a mixture of the city, the business centre and the outdoor life. This could be a good example of how a city should take advantages of its location, its university and try to become a singular place, combining economic, social and landscape items.

49

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APPENDIX C.3: BALTIMORE (USA) Baltimore

is

a

city

in

the

eastern

coast

of

US.

According

to

www.planningsummerschool.orgpapersyear20032003B01Fau.pdf.pdf, it is considered with New York and Boston, as one of the model cities of waterfront regeneration.. Historically, Baltimore has been a seaside commercial district that suffered economic problems due to the Second World War. These problems caused even that the population moved to other cities as New York or Boston. In 1954, a group of entrepreneurs concerned over the disinvestment in the city decided to create a group to try to solve the economical problems together and to try to attract some investments again to the city. In this way, they created a Committee for Downtown including members from utilities, banks and other property owners. [http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/557book/d370.innerharbor.html (Date accesses. 30/ 12/ 2005)] This Committee realised that downtown revitalisation was a priority and the best way to try to attract new investments to the city. So in this way, "Baltimore has been seen as the earliest example of urban renewal, especially the area of the inner city” [www.planningsummerschool.orgpapersyear20032003B01Fau.pdf.pdf] The Baltimore revitalisation process was divided into threes stages: “The fist project stage (Charles Centre) may be characterised as ´assistant development´, the second (Inner Harbour) as ´directed development´, and final one (market centre) as ´collaborative development´” [ibid]. The successful revitalization of the Inner Harbour Front caused the renaissance of the city. And it demonstrated how involving public and private organisations on urban regeneration is possible to come to an agreement and to be successful, although the process is not easy due to the different ideas and expectations.

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APPENDIX C.4: NICE (FRANCE) Nice is a city in the Mediterranean coast of France. Its metropolitan population is around 1 million people, but it is widely increased during the summer time. Its main source of revenue is tourism, especially luxury one that comes from the north of Europe and from United States. This city is aware of the importance of the waterfront for its image and for attracting people. On the contrary of what could have been expected, next to the waterfront there is a six lane road and just close to the pedestrian promenade called “Promenade des Anglais” that is the most attractive avenue of the city. This avenue is nearly 6 km. long and 40 m. width

and

allows

the

car

access

to

the

coast

along

all

its

length.

[www.hernandezrabal.com/europa/francia/provence/nice.htm (Date accessed: 30/ 12/ 2005 )]

Figure

Promenade

du

Anglais.

[Source:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niza (Date accessed: 30/ 12/ 2005)]

In spite of the six lanes road, people is attracted to go to the waterfront because of the nearness of the water, the nice environment created by great palms, old buildings, restaurants and hotels. [ibid.]. In this way it is demonstrated that it is possible to make the waterfront attractive although there is a four or six lanes road next to it. The important issue is to make nice urban design and establish multifunctional land uses that will produce the attractive environment to people. Also it is very important to do an appropriate urban plan that allows coexisting pedestrian and motor traffic because these traffics should be separated and coordinated at the same time. It means that they should flow without any danger for the users but when 171

Urban Planning and Management The Complex City

Regeneration of the Aalborg Central Harbour Front Aalborg University Project Group 3

they interact should be coordinated to avoid these dangers. This is possible to get with appropriate traffic crossing, traffic lights, pedestrian pavements or the adequate speed for vehicles.

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