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This paper mainly focuses on the determinants of housing and estate satisfaction in post-Second World War housing estates. Multi-level linear regression models were applied to estimate the impacts of individual, dwelling and estate characteristics on resident satisfaction levels, using a unique dataset from 25 post-Second World War estates in nine European countries. It is concluded that satisfaction with the dwelling is higher for the elderly and residents with higher incomes, and in situations where the dwelling has been renovated and is sufficiently large. The presence of children and a longer duration of stay have negative impacts, and renters are generally more negative than owners. Estate satisfaction is highest among immigrant households or when the dwelling is renovated, and among lower educated inhabitants. Individual characteristics and opinions on the estate are more important than estate characteristics in explaining estate satisfaction. The overall conclusion is that attempts to improve post-Second World War areas may result in new areas, but does not necessarily improve the overall satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participation of residents in improving their neighborhood, and especially variations in participation between places, has been the topic of research in various articles published in the last few years. What is still missing in these studies is an international comparative perspective, since national differences might be expected to account for at least part of the variation in participation. This article, therefore, includes an analysis of national differences. We assess how much relevance these national differences have in comparison with the influence of individual and neighborhood characteristics. Using multivariate modeling procedures, we address the following questions: To what extent can differences in participation be ascribed to neighborhood level variations (share of unemployed, share of ethnic minorities, share of owner-occupied housing, average experience of problems, share of residents active in a social organization)? And to what extent do national context variables (democratic history, empowerment policy) account for these differences? The findings suggest that both neighborhood and national context variables have explanatory power. The article provides an important starting point for a closer study of the role of national level factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look on the status, developments and problems of the housing estates in Europe in 31 post-Second World War. Problems faces by the urban areas built in the 50 or 60 years before the Second World War; Change in the focus of urban policies in European cities to post-Second World War areas; Overview of the initial findings of the European Commission project Restructuring Large-scale Housing Estates in European Cities (RESTATE).

The Big Cities Policy is currently the major urban policy in the Netherlands. Prepared unhurriedly in 1994, it picked up steam at the end of the 1990s when the new Minister for Big Cities Policy asked the cities to prepare their plans to spend the money made available for this policy. Now it is in full swing and the first results, both positive and negative, can already be seen. This paper reports an evaluation of the implementation of the Big Cities Policy in Den Haag, the third largest city in the Netherlands. The focus of the evaluation is urban governance, a key term in urban policies in Europe. We will first focus on certain urban governance issues that have been raised with respect to urban policies in Europe in general. Then an introduction to the background and aims of the Dutch Big Cities Policy is given. A brief introduction to Den Haag precedes the main part of the paper, the evaluation. We concentrate specifically on governance aspects. The paper concludes with some general lessons derived from the evaluation11This paper is based on a research project within the European Fifth Framework. The UGIS programme (urban governance, social inclusion and sustainability) focuses on the relationships between urban policies, urban governance, and social cohesion.. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]