Five regeneration success stories from around the world that experts can learn from
22nd December, 2025
The most successful regeneration projects combine bold ideas, expert delivery and community buy-in.
In this article, Alexander Rose looks into five transformation regeneration initiatives to identify lessons which policy makers, and other regeneration practitioners can take forward in their own projects.
Eindhoven’s Brainport
The Dutch city of Eindhoven faced a crucible moment in the early 1990s when after decades of economic growth and prosperity, the electronics manufacturer Philips announced plans to make large scale redundancies, days after which a local truck manufacturer, DAF NV, went into administration. These announcements threatened over 35,000 jobs.
With the aim of turning adversity into opportunity, stakeholders from across academia, industry and the public sector were brought together by the local mayor to identify a solution to the city’s problems.
The solution they reached was Brainport – the creation of a novel ecosystem which is designed to spot, develop, patent and exploit innovations. At each stage academia, industry and the public sector work together to identify and deliver support (the ‘triple helix’ model).
Eindhoven’s economy is now highly successful with high numbers of well paid jobs. The square mile of Brainport contains over 6,000 high-tech companies, including ASML, Europe’s most valuable semiconductor company with a market capitalisation of €250bn, the lighting company Signify and the chipmaker NXP.
A culture of innovation has developed – Eindhoven is responsible for almost 500 patents per 100,000 inhabitants annually – one of the highest rates in the world. It has twice the average economic growth of the Netherlands. The narrative of the city has changed, so that people refer to it as Europe’s Silicon Valley.
There are multiple lessons that can be drawn from Brainport, including the benefits that can arise from bringing together different disciplines towards a single goal and the long term impact which can be achieved from directing meaningful investment into an ecosystem to nurture the development of sectors that offer high growth potential.
Denmark’s Enterprise Foundations
The notion of ‘Enterprise Foundations’ was originally created in Denmark in response to a succession crisis at Carlsberg, but has developed into a highly successful model adopted by household names such as LEGO (toys), Velux (windows), Novo Nordisk (pharmaceuticals) and Maersk (shipping and logistics).
Under this model, a business is part owned by a foundation, the role of which is to represent the interests of the community, encourage sustainable practices and, in many cases, the foundation will direct a share of any profits towards good causes.
Enterprise Foundations are considered to have highly motivated workforces, built around having a stake in the success of the business. As Enterprise foundations provide long-term ownership, they are seen to encourage stable and strategic investment over short term decision making. Linked to this Foundation-owned firms often invest heavily in research and development. This is especially visible in Denmark’s biotech and heavy-industry sectors, such as Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck.
Although these organisations comprise just 0.3% of the Danish business base, they punch above their weight, providing 9% of private sector employment, 26% of exports and 39% of R&D. As a result, Enterprise Foundations are credited with driving strong, socially responsible and productive economic activity.
Preston’s Community Wealth Model
In 2012, Preston City Council and the University of Central Lancashire launched a series of initiatives intended to generate better returns from their assets and spending power. These were inspired by similar measures undertaken in Mondragón (Spain) and Cleveland (USA) and were undertaken with the aim of generating greater community wealth.
The most high profile element involved several public authorities working together as anchor institutions to coordinate procurement processes directing spending, where possible, toward local suppliers to ensure the economic impact was felt within the region, as well as actively pushing for the adoption of a real living wage across these organisations. They also sought to encourage pension funds to support local projects and explored ways assets in the ownership of the public sector could be better used to support the revitalisation of the local area.
Although criticised by some, these changes to procurement processes were reported to have seen local spend increase from 5% to 18.2% in Preston within five years (and from 39% to 79.2% across Lancashire). Alongside lobbying for the adoption of the real working wage, the Preston Model was credited with a reduction in unemployment (which fell from 6.5% to 3.1% in Preston, during this time) and increasingly local prosperity. Six years after the initiative was launched, Preston was named ‘Most Improved City in the United Kingdom’.
The Preston Model demonstrates that public authorities can innovate themselves, generating greater returns from the funds, rights and assets in their control.
Bilbao’s renaissance
In the 1980s, Bilbao and Biscay suffered from the closure of many of its factories and shipyards, causing high unemployment (between 25% and 35% in some areas). In response a decision was made to harness culture as a driver of regeneration.
The revitalisation process began with a strategy that led to public investment in a series of emblematic projects such as the regeneration of the old port, industrial areas and obsolete transport facilities, leading up to the opening of the famous Guggenheim Museum in 1997.
The narrative around the region was transformed. Prior to this initiative Bilbao had a reputation as an industrial city, but these investments created the “Bilbao Effect” whereby the area was seen as a vibrant economic and cultural hub, which in turn helped to leverage additional investment into the region, including the redevelopment of the waterfronts at Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre.
Bilbao underlines the importance of having a clear strategy which promotes a positive narrative about the area.
Dublin’s transformation into a technology powerhouse
A cluster is a geographic concentration of businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions operating within a particular industry or sector. There are significant benefits which arise from creating a critical mass – including the ability to attract the best talent into a region, economies of scale which mean that specialist infrastructure can be created to support the sector and knowledge spill-over opportunities.
Given this, many areas are now recognising the benefits of clusters and directing public funding towards their development. One such example is Dublin, where the area around the Grand Canal has been transformed from industrial space into what is now termed Silicon Docks, home to major technology companies such as Google, Meta (Facebook), LinkedIn, Airbnb, Amazon, and Salesforce, but also major professional services businesses such as Accenture, PwC and William Fry.
The groundwork for the development of this cluster was put in place in the 1990s, when public funding was used to redevelop derelict docklands, alongside business friendly incentives such as a low corporate tax rate (12.5%) and R&D credits.
Once the major names showed an interest, steps were taken to encourage smaller start ups and suppliers. For example, the Digital Hub, an organisation set up by the Irish government in 2003, provides flexible office space and business support services to growing technology companies. It is also involved in providing digital related learning and training opportunities geared to the local community. The private sector now drives almost all the growth, with specialist investors based in the area in the hope of spotting the best opportunities.
Dublin’s transformation took many years, but once the groundwork had been put in momentum built up. Therefore regeneration professionals can learn from the step by step approach taken to create the right conditions for investment.
Conclusion
The best regeneration experts are constantly looking for new ideas and evaluating these to assess whether this might work within their region. From Eindhoven’s tech ecosystem to Bilbao’s cultural rebirth, each of these stories share common threads – innovation, collaboration and an emphasis upon effective delivery.
At Ward Hadaway, we help clients put their ideas into effect, using our experience of working on some of the UK’s most high profile regeneration projects.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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