Some older districts or neighborhoods have structural and/or functional deficiencies and need to be renovated. The following characteristics are often typical of these areas:

• An accumulation of buildings with a high need for refurbishment or modernization,
• vacant buildings,
• unused properties and conflicts of use,
• a lack of or neglected public green spaces and play areas,
• Deficits in the residential environment,
• deficits in traffic management and a lack of parking space,
• Conflicts in the social sphere,
• residents' lack of identification with their neighborhood and
• a negative image of the neighborhood.

In order to tackle these problems, planners have various instruments and funding options at their disposal in accordance with the provisions of the German Building Code (BauGB; Sections 136 ff.) and the Lower Saxony Urban Development Funding Directive (R- StBauF 2022).

Various renovation projects and funding programs are currently being implemented in Wolfsburg:

• In the "Handwerkerviertel" area, the federal-state funding program "Growth and Sustainable Renewal" (until 2019: "Stadtumbau West") has been the basis of the redevelopment since 2015.
• The redevelopment in the "Die Höfe" area has been carried out under the "Lebendige Zentren" funding program since 2015 (until 2019: "Städtebaulicher Denkmalschutz").
• "Detmerode" is not a classic redevelopment area: this district with its buildings worth preserving, most of which date back to the 1960s, is to be protected by an urban conservation statute (Sections 172 ff. BauGB). The conservation statute is currently in the process of being drawn up.
• The Westhagen urban redevelopment project has successfully participated in the federal-state program "Districts with special development needs - Socially Integrative City" for 23 years. The final documentation has been published; preparations are currently underway for the collection of the compensation amounts.