Post_production. architectural design and the landscape of de-industrialisation

Abstract

Industrial facilities have been dispersed across the American and European landscapes since the early Nineteenth century. Also, their activity encouraged the growth of a vast global network of logistical, mining, and agricultural infrastructures. Yet, since the late 1960s, a significant number of productive sectors have been gradually dismantled as a result of technical advancement, obsolescence, and changes in industrial regulations. The repurposing of “brownfields”, as abandoned industrial sites have been dubbed, became a topic of discussion in the architectural community. In the 1980s, this circumstance presented an amazing opportunity to modernise the layout of Western cities. Yet, contemporary critical views on the nature and effects of industrialism, societal transformations, and awareness of the environmental crisis at the turn of the Twentieth century call for refocusing the architectural discussion regarding brownfields. In this essay, case studies are examined and set against the backdrop of an expanding conversation in architecture regarding sustainability.