MANUFACTURING CHANGE

Abstract

Historically, many industrial centers were developed on our urban waterfronts, for ease of transportation and manufacturing. Due to ever-evolving economic drivers, technological advancements, and a heightened concern for industrial pollution, many of these former industrial waterfront hubs have since fallen into abandonment. Even though many of these abandoned sites have ceased functional operation for decades, they continue to disrupt the social and environmental ecosystems they sit in. Waterfront brownfields contribute to heightened runoff, contaminated soil, water contamination, while also negatively impacting the health and socioeconomic wellbeing of the marginalized communities surrounding them, restricting the public from the waterfront. Now, with climate change continuing to create additional pressures on these coastline communities, intervention will be necessary to reutilize these abandoned manufacturing sites. This thesis explores the revitalization of waterfront brownfields, utilizing adaptive reuse and ecological remediation to restitch these abandoned manufacturing sites into a wider urban fabric. The reinvigoration of abandoned waterfront sites, with thoughtful utilization of adaptive reuse and environmental restoration would help create more resilient communities that can both relate to the regional environment and reconnect to a historic industrial identity. The successful reutilization of these brownfields could provide a new blueprint for smarter urban waterfront redevelopment that promotes a better habitat for the public and natural species.