Infusion : urban and domestic transformation

Abstract

The turn of the Century in this country brought with it the introduction and ensuing growth of water-born trade markets, facilitating the establishment of a series of metropolitan hubs scattered along the coastline. The subsequent hundred years has seen a major increase in population within these areas accompanied by an economic shift away from maritime trade. Older ports have been abandoned, leaving behind antiquated urban infrastructure. The subsequent dismantling of these vast waterfront industrial areas has provided an opportunity for the reconfiguration of these spaces and the implementation of new urban and landscape strategies. Through a recycling of the existing fabric and introduction of new uses, many cities have revitalized their industrial wastelands and integrated these areas within the existing urban fabric. Other coastal cities have merely overlooked these neglected districts and focused development in their periphery, transforming these former economic focal point into physical and typological barriers.