The Governance Of Economic Resilience: 20 Years Of Urban Adaptation Projects In Brussels

This paper is an empirical investigation on how cities use urban renovation projects to adapt to structural economic change. We use methodological triangulation with case study evidence from Brussels to investigate causal links between the governance and the implementation of a large ongoing urban renovation programme that started in 1993. Having classified all investments in our database according to a list of urban adaptation tools, we are able to document how the governance of the programme influenced a) the allocation of funds to different adaptation tools; b) the content of intangible investments; c) the link between tangible and intangible investments. We conclude that urban renovation in Brussels is similar to policies in other cities in that it invested substantial resources both at the top and the bottom of adaptation governance, but that a disconnection between bottom-up and top-down strategies risks foregoing potential complementarities and synergies.