From Derelict Industrial Areas towards Multifunctional Landscapes and Urban Renaissance

The emergence of knowledge-based economy and knowledge intensive business service has transformed the urban landscape during the past decades. As a response to this processes several industrial landscapes becoming obsolete, threatening to end their original productive, social and economic roles and facing the communities of which they are an integral part, with serious environmental and socio-economic problems. The need for greater environmental protection, the appearance of several derelict areas, the decreased availability of new lands for development and the increasing public awareness for derelict land reclamation provide great challenges not only for landscape professionals but also for urban planners, natural resource mangers and policy makers. It is widely recognized that the reclamation of post-industrial landscapes plays an important role in city's development, not only economically but also environmentally. In Portugal those projects has been developed in association with major events like Expo 98 and Euro Cup 2004 - using state and European Community funds to carry out the urban regeneration programs. To exemplify the importance of the reclamation of derelict industrial areas, this paper presents two projects realized in Portugal during the last decade (Park-Expo 98 and Braga Stadium-Euro 2004) and compares with the Brownfield reclamation project of the river Arade valley. The relevance of this reclamation project both culturally and environmentally is discussed and demonstrated by the realization of a strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis. The significance of Brownfield reclamation projects and sustainable urban planning is examined. Furthermore, the present work demonstrates that industrial landscapes should be viewed as a resource and its recovery as an opportunity to develop new multi-functional landscapes.