# Digital Information Tools for Urban Regeneration: Capital's Approach in Theory and Practice
## 4 Case Study: A Digital Tool in Riga  
Latvia shows problems with lack of cooperation in terms of urban regeneration and inefficient use of available digital information systems. There is a variety of urban environment data available online, however the content is very fragmented and target groups appear to be different. So, the city of Riga offers digital data on land-use, landownership, infrastructure development, public participation, and other issues, however data is spread across various platforms and often demands access request. Different platforms are created and lead by different actors, who don't cooperate and share knowledge. Certain amount of urban environment data is provided by various activity groups, NGOs and private organisations and makes the system even more fragmented. Place-making activities are becoming increasingly popular in Latvia and so involvement of NGOs is crucial while developing urban regeneration scenarios. The historic centre of Riga represents buildings of various centuries, with the oldest dating back to the end of the 15 th century. For that reason, the maintenance of these building often appears a serious problem. Greater attention is usually paid to the maintenance of cultural monuments; Still, the buildings on the background and auxiliary buildings are facing challenges, as their aesthetic and technical condition often requires improvement. To monitor the technical and visual condition of the buildings and evaluate their impact on the quality of public open space of the city as well as to help the interested parties in their management, the Riga City Council in 2015 developed a digital platform [[http://grausti.riga.lv/](http://grausti.riga.lv/)]([http://grausti.riga.lv/](http://grausti.riga.lv/)) with the support of the EU URBACT III project REFILL. Within five years of operation the platform has proved to work as effective tool to control the public involvement in the city management processes and supervise the quality of the environment. The digital platform is focused at rising collaboration of community in the process of identifying and rearranging degraded buildings. The main goals to achieve are:  
* to promote exchange of experience and ideas for the re-arrangement of degraded territories and degraded structures
* to share experience on the temporary use of empty buildings as an effective tool to prevent the emergence of slums and revitalize the degraded urban areas
* to create a sustainable platform of collaboration between Riga and other European cities [28]. The digital platform widely welcomes public activity in identifying the problematic properties. Since the opening of the platform in 2015 the number of re-arranged properties has significantly risen. If between the years of 2011 and 2014 there were fixed 70 re-arranged objects in average, only in the year of 2015 their number jumped to 141. Overall, at present, June 2020, 1209 facilities have been identified as problematic. Out of this number, 617 facilities are declared as environmentally degrading, 191 are appointed for further supervision, and 401 require further evaluation. Approximately 260 problematic sites are located in the territory of the historical centre of Riga, and about 230 in its protection zone [29]. To decide on the issues related to the identified problematic facilities, a special committee has been created. This committee was established at Property Department of the Riga City Council and it consists of 25 people: architects, officials and administrators of various municipal institutions in Riga and representatives from the non-governmental organizations. One of the main tasks is to organize and ensure the maintenance of the real estate, which is characterised with unsatisfactory technical condition or is badly influencing urban landscape. These measures may include demolition and other coercive measures if necessary. In 2019 the committee held 15 meetings.