Industrial urban landscapes. The dismissed canal areas of B5 in the Netherlands as case study

Industrial sites used to be located outside of the dense urban fabric. Nowadays, they are dismissed and the growth of the contemporary city has enclosed them in the old urban fabric. These sites have become ‘available’ places for perspective development. In general, abandoned industrial areas are regarded as ordinary and valueless places, neglected places within the mental map of the city. On the contrary, they are extremely important reminders of our industrial past, significant layers of our history to be safeguarded and to work with for the development of the contemporary city. They are a challenge for designers, in that these have to unveil the peculiarities of the sites, to understand the unique features of the factories remnants and to provide an appropriate interpretation. This paper focuses on the transformation of the industrial canal landscape circuit of B5 (BrabantStad) that connects five cities in The Netherlands. It will show the results of a research carried out for the first time on this subject. Along the canal circuit, dated 1800, are valuable industrial sites that risk the fragmentation and standardization, thus erasing local identity and memory. The former canal zone of Eindhoven will be presented as a case specific. The research was developed at the Eindhoven University of Technology with the collaboration of local Municipalities, heritage institutions and the North-Brabant Province that funded the research. The investigation aimed at studying the stratified layers of the industrial canal areas and at proposing quality scenarios where the old and new can harmoniously coexist.