The quest for synergy when developing the urban fringe: Strategies for linking neighbourhoods of growth and disadvantage

How can planning policies related to urban fringe development and disadvantaged neighbourhoods create synergy? This question is approached and answered by various research fields and explored on various urban-planning levels, displaying case-studies related to urban regeneration, post-industrial and suburban development and urban fringe literature. The present paper adds to these discussions by analysing two case-studies in Denmark in which local government pursue traditional urban-growth strategies in urban-fringe development - a post-industrial harbour and a large suburb, located just outside the traditional city core. However, the traditional approach to growth is in both cases confronted with the presence of close-by disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Stakeholders are engaged in the difficult quest of creating synergy for both development and disadvantage by means of public investments. The paper analyses this synergy by first describing the legislative, interventionist and financial context for urban-growth strategies deployed in the cases. On this background, the paper explores synergy potential related to policy as well as private-sector actors (local businesses, social housing organizations). Finally, the paper concludes, assessing whether the synergies of urban-fringe development have another character than more explicit ‘trickle-down’ strategies located in existing research of urban regeneration.