Staging the industrial past. Current experiential strategies between Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Copenhagen

Abstract

The article investigates the current rampant trend consisting in the regeneration of former disused industrial areas according to a sought-after "mixité" character made of culture, temporality, ephemeral, flexibility. The preliminary mapping of phenomena under way in the transformation of the city in crisis, between Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Copenhagen, brings out the role of the local community in triggering a process of value in the institutional absence of planning that is no longer able to promote it and handle it. This leads to places of / in transition that host functions of a predominantly cultural nature, promoted by a new type of "2.0" actors such as start-ups, creative industries, young entrepreneurs and cultural operators.
The abandoned former industrial area aims to transform itself, therefore, into an urban centrality through gradual self-triggering actions, planned in compliance with medium-long-term time schedules. This policy, supported by adequate urban planning tools, contributes to the reactivation of the latent potential of the disused space resource, while awaiting structural projects that are aimed at permanent regenerating interventions.