A brewery in a foundry, a winery in a strip mall: adaptive reuse by food enterprises

Abstract

As a result of deindustrialization, many urban neighborhoods in the US continue to face challenges posed by underutilized and abandoned properties. The adaptive reuse of these sites for food production is one way of addressing these challenges. This article presents six such cases, in the form of farming and artisanal food production, in post-industrial sites in New York City, Newark, New Jersey, and two cities in Ohio—Dayton and Springfield. We focus on three aspects of adaptive reuse for food production: the building used, the building’s location, and the enterprise’s development process. In closing, we consider the influence these enterprises may have on the surrounding neighborhood and the city at large.