Implementation of the joint programme of the German federal government and the Länder: "Districts With Special Development Needs - the Socially Integrative City." - Experiences and Prospects
Fundamental socioeconomic change has aggravated social inequality in cities and towns. More and more neighbourhoods are becoming the focus of negative trends. For almost 20 years evidence has been mounting that traditional urban development support is not able to solve the complex problems in disadvantaged urban districts. The joint federal-Land programme, "Districts With Special Development Needs - the Socially Integrative City", was launched in 1999 as an addition to conventional urban development aid. Socially Integrative City is based on an administrative accord between the federal government and Germany's Länder.
After consultation with Land authorities, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing (BMVBW) delegated several aspects of the initial programme implementation phase, ending in February 2003, to the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu). The agency handled information, consulting and communication services. This activity was not financed by Socially Integrative City. The funds came from the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) Experimental Housing and Urban Development (ExWoSt) scheme. Difu assistance comprises four core elements: erecting a nationwide Socially Integrative City network; establishing onsite programme support (PvO) in 16 model districts, one chosen by each Land; conducting good-practice analyses; and preparing a Socially Integrative City evaluation.
In late 2002 the BBR, at the behest of the BMVBW, awarded a contract to provide an expertise, "Interim Evaluation of the Federal-Land Socially Integrative City Programme" to the Urban Research Institute (IfS). Findings will be available by the middle of 2004. They will furnish input for further implementation of the programme. Results of Difu support are a fundamental source for the interim assessment.
Currently there are 331 "urban districts with special development needs" in 229 cities and towns. (November 2003) The districts aided in 1999, 2000 and 2001 had a total of about 1.74 million residents. Western German Länder accounted for 1.34 million and the territory of the former East Germany 0.4 million. However, there is considerable evidence that many more urban districts have comparable development requirements but could not yet be targeted by the programme.
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German Institute of Urban Affairs |
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German Institute of Urban Affairs |
An initial evaluation of programme implementation was tabled in May 2002 at the Socially Integrative City - Unity, Security, Future congress. (1) Delegates reached a broad consensus that the programme was on the right track, that important stimuli for stabilizing living conditions in the underprivileged sections of town had been emitted, that the first steps toward construction of a framework of civic involvement had been taken and that this new commitment needed to be consolidated. Everyone also agreed that a society which claims to promote solidarity and social equality must do everything in its power to foster integrative, activating programmes and provide onsite support.
The second Difu survey (2) has provided statements and appraisals by municipal government officials who are responsible for implementing Socially Integrative City (as of October 2002). Responses included widely varying opinions - sometimes contradictory judgements - e.g. stark contrasts between the quantitative poll results and the more qualitative findings of concomitant research in the model districts.
(1) Cf. Heidede Becker, Thomas Franke, Rolf-Peter Löhr and Verena Rösner, "Socially Integrative City Programme -
An Encouraging Three-Year Appraisal", Berlin 2002, occasional papers, German Institute of Urban Affairs.
(2) The population of this survey - 222 districts - is 90 percent of all areas supported by the 1999, 2000 and 2001 programmes.
Translated from: Soziale Stadt - Strategien für die Soziale Stadt, Erfahrungen und Perspektiven – Umsetzung des Bund-Länder-Programms „Stadtteile mit besonderem Entwicklungsbedarf – die soziale Stadt", Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik 2003
