From Employment Land to Makers Society

Contributors, Densities, Essay, Formats, Julia Spirig, Middle Density, Politics and economics, Territory and mobility, Topics, Urban Paradigms.

Alternative Domesticity, Cities, Co-Habitation, Collective identity, Community, Design strategies, Diversity, Effective zoning, Essay, Industry, Land management, Mixed use, Production, Regeneration, Residential, Soft mobility, Sustainable, Urban environment, Urban fabric, Urban governance, Urban policies, Well-being.

In the last two decades, much effort has been made in our cities to make them more desirable with the aim of introducing mixed uses. The city centers are protected and preserved for their historical value and their importance in collective memory. At the same time, a lot of care and protection is also given to residential areas in order to meet the demands created by an ever-increasing number of residents. In a totally different approach, we are left with industrial areas continuing to be developed according to autonomous policy rooted in private ownership, mainly driven by economic priorities. The lack of rules and long-term strategies make these areas a realm of highly profitable independent interventions, regardless of their impact on residents’ wellbeing and the potential for new forms of diverse neighborhoods. The result is a process lacking urban integration and missing opportunities. To reverse this tendency, we need to cease considering centrally located employment land (be it infrastructures related to industry, transportation or logistics) as at odds with residential neighborhoods.