Authors:Yonn Dierwechter, Mark Pendras Pages: 162 - 165 Abstract: This thematic issue explores the role that revived emplacements of manufacturing and “blue-collar” work play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability, drawing on intriguing developments in different cities of different sizes in different Western societies—the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, and Australia. Rather than see industry as a “problem” for green city strategies, our point of departure considers what role manufacturing and “blue-collar” work can (and do) play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability. The articles included here deploy a range of research methodologies, albeit with a predominant emphasis on qualitative case studies, to raise key challenges for urban and regional industrial planning. This editorial provides some overarching context and commentary on the topic and specifically discusses three synoptic themes that emerged most prominently from the collection of articles: the difficulty (and importance) of identifying and illustrating the practical sustainability benefits of local manufacturing; the complexity of advancing “conspicuous production” in the urban context; and the need to broaden industrial politics and planning in order to better utilize existing industrial spaces and enhance the role of production in the city. These themes help to capture emerging trends and challenges in the field while providing foundations for future research. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7627 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Cordula Schwappach, Elke Beyer, Lech Suwala Pages: 166 - 185 Abstract: In spite of all efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, climate change has become a new reality that requires regional planning to provide effective solutions. This article focuses on commercial and industrial areas (Gewerbegebiete), which are important but often overlooked spaces, by means of examples in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. The article investigates whether and how regional planning can help these areas adapt to climate change. Three commercial and industrial areas in different spatial settings are examined, using an inventory of place-based measures, general standards, and regional networking of planning actors. This inventory is based on a backcasting analysis that compares normative future images of climate-adapted commercial and industrial areas with their current local situation. Spatially differentiated guidelines for the adaptation of commercial and industrial areas are then developed from a regional planning perspective by “climate-proofing” regional plans. These guidelines provide both place-based and general solutions for integrating and governing climate adaptation measures and standards into existing frameworks using a hands-on regional planning approach. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7100 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Carl Grodach, Liz Taylor, Declan Martin, Joe Hurley Pages: 186 - 197 Abstract: Zoning that supports urban manufacturing may offer new opportunities to promote sustainability benefits ranging from improved job accessibility to reduced waste and resource use. However, industrial uses in urban areas face displacement from competing and conflicting uses. While the process of industrial gentrification is well documented, little work has examined how planning strategies and regulations affect urban manufacturing and its potential contribution to sustainable economic development. Drawing on a review of planning documents and interviews with food and beverage manufacturers, we examine how planning regulates the sustainability potential of manufacturing enterprises in Melbourne, Australia. In doing so, we contribute a deeper understanding of the ways that zoning affects urban manufacturing and the obstacles, tensions, and trade-offs urban planners face in creating a more sustainable local manufacturing base. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7024 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Ottavia Cima, Ewa Wasilewska Pages: 198 - 210 Abstract: Environmental destruction, social inequalities, geopolitical vulnerability—the limits of the long-time praised paradigm of post-industrial cities and globalised value chains are becoming evident, while calls for (re)localising production in cities are getting increasingly vocal. However, the material implications—i.e., where and in which form manufacturing should concretely take place in cities and the consequences on urban space and relations—are rarely addressed in debates on (re)industrialisation. In this article, we engage with the concept of conspicuous production by combining research on mixed-use zones with sensory methodologies. We focus on the multisensory dimension of urban manufacturing to interrogate the spatial possibilities for production in a small town in Switzerland. Together with a group of graduate students, we apply sensory methods to explore how production shapes urban sensescapes and how these sensescapes affect our relation to production. Our exploratory endeavour provides ideas of how sensory methods can be integrated into urban planning research and practice: we suggest that these methods, which necessarily emphasise subjective experience, can constitute powerful tools if they take into attentive consideration the local political and economic context, including the norms and power relations that shape individual perception. Our study sparks critical questions about conspicuous production and mixed-use zoning and tentatively advances the concept of sensible production: a production that not only is perceptible and can actively be engaged with, but that also shows good sense, makes sense, and focuses on what we need rather than on appearance. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7272 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Jane Clossick, Mark Brearley Pages: 211 - 224 Abstract: Renewed enthusiasm surrounds the potential for urban industry and its contribution to the socioeconomic diversity of cities, despite concerns about the loss of industrial uses, land, and buildings in high-value, post-industrial cities. Yet, industry is often hidden and undervalued, and methodologies to change the culture around nurturing industry in cities have not been well explored. As a first step in moving this agenda forward, this article proposes effective ways to reveal industrial uses and to advocate for policy protections of the land they occupy. It examines how London Metropolitan University’s School of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) Cities action researchers applied their Audit, Reveal and Promote methodology to Southwark, a London borough with a high concentration of urban industry. There are key aspects to revealing industrial economies: collecting accurate data on the ground, showcasing local businesses, building stakeholder networks through mutual trust, and creating a space of possibilities between vertical hierarchical and grassroots power networks to enable stakeholders to participate in urban change. This article presents a methodology for cultural change towards valuing a mix of uses, including industry, to transform land development towards retention and densification of industry. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.6994 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Mark Pendras, Adam Nolan, Ashleigh Williams Pages: 225 - 235 Abstract: For decades, urban development strategies that privilege narrowly defined “creative” sectors, and anachronistic zoning policies have been the norm in US cities, bringing persistent displacement pressures to manufacturing businesses. However, as cities have faced mounting concerns over inequality, affordability, and diversity, recent scholarship has begun to revisit the importance of urban industry, identifying key contributions that industrial enterprises make to cities. The challenge is finding the right strategies that can preserve, enhance, and potentially expand existing urban industrial space. This article takes up that challenge in three ways: (a) by calling attention to long-standing industrial planning norms that have simultaneously disadvantaged communities of color and undermined awareness of and support for urban manufacturing, (b) by exploring “innovations” that depart from those norms by prioritizing “inclusion” and “visibility” in their planning efforts, and (c) by taking an expansive approach to “planning” that seeks lessons from beyond the formal planning establishment. Drawing from emerging scholarship, research and policy reports, program documents, and interviews with key participants, this article gathers lessons from two industrial planning examples—in San Francisco, CA and Buffalo, NY—that help reveal existing barriers to industrial retention, help reimagine the role and place of manufacturing in the city, and ultimately help to foster more inclusive urban development in the US. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7255 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Kerstin Meyer Pages: 236 - 248 Abstract: Advancements in technology and architecture enable mixed-use development while normative settings like the European Commission’s New Leipzig Charter support the concept of a productive city. Nonetheless, small urban manufacturers (SUMs) including crafts still face displacement due to property prices, conflicts with housing, planning laws, and building regulations. Urban planning and economic development emphasise the importance of identifying and redeveloping suitable sites for urban manufacturing companies. Largely unanswered, however, is whether the next generation of manufacturers (apprentices) want mixed-use locations within the city or space sharing, and if so, under which conditions. Based on two written surveys, this article examines the location requirements of SUMs in Germany and the willingness of apprentices in the Ruhr area to embrace mixed-use buildings and shared spaces. The study focuses on three craft groups: store crafts, workshop crafts, and construction site crafts. The results show that SUMs in Germany and manufacturing apprentices in the Ruhr prioritise car- and security-related infrastructure, as well as low real-estate costs. Store crafts specifically seek affordable and well-connected ground-floor locations. Construction site crafts prioritise (un)loading facilities for trucks on industrial land over sustainable transport infrastructure, and they differ significantly from the other craft groups in terms of mixed-use preferences. However, all craft groups express openness to mixed-use locations with offices and additional workshops and shared spaces like garages, canteens, and showrooms. The article suggests that commercial courtyards could effectively meet the requirements and desires of apprentices and urban planners alike. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7040 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Greg Hearn, Marcus Foth, Diego Camelo-Herrera, Glenda Amayo Caldwell Pages: 249 - 262 Abstract: As Brisbane prepares for the 2032 climate-positive Olympics, traditional industrial precincts in the city are rapidly transforming. With a population of 2.5 M Brisbane has grown by 20% every decade since 1950, and sustainability-driven urbanism is an imperative. Here we document the history and future of Holland Street in Northgate, an inner-city industrial suburb, in the context of local, state, and national urban revitalisation and policymaking. Two globally distinctive tenants, (a) the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub and (b) bespoke public art manufacturer and foundry Urban Art Projects, face the twin challenges of embracing green manufacturing and the re-invention of blue-collar work. Digital transformations such as an energy-efficient automated foundry and the integration of cobots in custom manufacturing are advancing the goals of green manufacturing, blue-collar upskilling, and reshoring. An open innovation network creates knowledge spillovers to other industrial precincts in the city. The article discusses local urban planning innovation that is informed by publicly and privately funded R&D, underwritten by state-level government, and a consortium of universities and industry partners. The overall goal is to sketch the nascent planning elements for a locale that is tailored to accommodate the reinvention of urban manufacturing. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7138 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
Authors:Jessica Ferm Pages: 263 - 274 Abstract: After several decades of deindustrialisation in the so-called advanced economies, we are seeing a renewed enthusiasm for urban manufacturing in cities, and the integration of production into the city fabric. Yet, small-scale industrial accommodation has long been susceptible to displacement by higher-value land uses—particularly residential and prime office—which directly undermines such aspirations. This article focuses on the case of London and, through a review of planning policy and planning documents, market data, and participant observation in both public and private sector networks, provides evidence for and explores the impacts of a hyper-competitive industrial market that has emerged as an outcome of ongoing limited supply and growing demand in the sector. Although it signals a reversal of displacement dynamics between industrial and residential uses, potentially slowing the loss of industrial land supply, it is also leading to a narrowing of demand and competition within the industrial market that leads to intra-industrial gentrification and threatens smaller manufacturers. The article reveals tensions and limitations in planning approaches that seek to manage industrial land supply and create a diversity of workspace accommodation, as well as a gap between popular policy narratives of industrious cities and manufacturing renaissance, and the coherence of policies to support them. The article concludes with a discussion of future research that could advance policy and other interventions to support manufacturing in cities, to further sustainability and social inclusion agendas. PubDate: 2023-11-21 DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.7114 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 4 (2023)
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