ABSTRACT
Introduction Urban renewal is a good example of recycling. The greatest concentrations of human and economic resources are found in our cities, making these important areas to begin with in the task of regeneration. Many elements must be considered to effectively integrate the social, economic, cultural, ecological and physical dimensions of renewal. How to do this, and at what scale, needs to be considered for many differing conditions and circumstances. This chapter describes two recent urban renewal schemes in Kolding, a progressive provincial town with a population of 45,000, in south Jutland, Denmark. While Kolding has had a housing renewal programme for many years, in 1992, as part of its emergent debate on Green Ideas for Kolding (Fisker, 1995), the Municipality changed priorities in its renewal policy. Rather than continue the limited programme of upgrading selected housing blocks in an area, it chose to develop and test new environmentally sound investments in a more integrated way. It did this first with an entire block at Fredensgade and Hollrendervej. This project is outlined here as the first case study. The nearby Solgarden block, a later scheme which is near completion, is the second case study.
