The global crisis and recession created a new situation for urban financing. Severe changes in economic and financial conditions extorted the revision of existing public policies. Under the worsening financial conditions, the traditional functioning of cities collapsed – writes MRI director Iván Tosics in the special issue of Urbanisme, focusing on the URBACT programme.
In the aftermath of the crisis, urban regeneration projects stopped, social welfare systems have been curtailed, and private market investments were postponed. Although the crisis started from the financial sector, it soon spread into a variety of other fields. These included housing and the political arena, among others. In this process, the problems of traditional policy approaches also became evident. Market failures in countries with weak public policies, and—in some countries with strong public policies—even public failures, i.e. inefficiencies and debatable orientations of existing public policies.
By the end of the 2000s, however, a growing need evolved for a new public policy and planning approach. This affected both the supply side — traditional methods proved; and the demand side—as citizens wanted to see changes and became increasingly mobilized.
Tosics’s full article is available in English and French on this link.