DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF BROWNFIELDS AROUND EUROPE: CASE STUDIES AND PROJECTS

Abandoned industrial areas are becoming more and more frequent in Europe. Due to new technologies and to less workers needed in industries, plants are closing or relocating leaving abandoned places. With the problematic of lacking free lands and the need of new buildings for the still growing population, it is crucial to renovate those sites. Mainly because they are part of the heritage of the cities and are landmark buildings. But also, because the reuse of some elements of the buildings may reduce the costs. Renovation of buildings being a topic included in the European Green Deal, it is starting to become something more recurrent. For this thesis, it was first defined what an abandoned industrial area is, what role it plays in Europe and what strategies have been put in place to reuse those sites. Then, an analysis of 22 case studies around Europe was carried out. Six projects in France, five in Switzerland, four in the United Kingdom, one in Belgium, two in Germany and four in Italy. For each of them, there is a description of the project and the history of the building and/or area is outlined with the related key dates. Moreover, the budget and surface area were important information to find in order to make a comparison and to use this information for the project part. Research by books and by websites was performed leading to the presented overview of different case studies around Europe. Then, two sites were selected to do a feasibility study. Urban and economic analyses were carried out in order to see if those areas could be interesting for investors.