Planning Urban Manufacturing, Industrial Building Typologies, and Built Environments: Lessons From Inner London

Abstract

Despite concerns about the loss of industry, industrial land, and buildings in high-value post-industrial cities, there is concurrently a renewed enthusiasm around the potential of “new” urban manufacturing and its contribution to the socio-economic diversity of cities. Yet, little is known about how planning policy can best support the retention and growth of urban manufacturing. To advance this agenda, this article proposes that we need a better understanding of industrial building typologies and resultant urban form. Using concepts developed by Julienne Hanson to analyse residential morphologies undergoing transformation under modernism, we apply these concepts to investigate the industrial, mixed-use contexts in two areas of London with concentrations of urban manufacturing—Hackney Mare Street and Old Kent Road. The research presented examines how both areas have evolved historically to produce distinctive urban tissues and a range of industrial building typologies. The article reveals that, despite territorial similarities in the late 19th century, the mixed land uses and smaller plot sizes of Hackney Mare Street have allowed for a more resilient development pattern, whereas the greater separation of land uses, large plot sizes, and inward-facing development in the Old Kent Road has facilitated its reimagination for large-scale regeneration. We conclude that greater attention needs to be paid to the relationship between urban manufacturing and built urban form if policies that aim to protect or support the revival of manufacturing in cities are to avoid negative unintended consequences.

RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION IN GENTRIFYING URBAN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS: The Experience of Cultural Manufacturers in San Francisco and Melbourne

“…More often, though, businesses moved between buildings within the Eastern Neighborhoods or Melbourne's northern suburbs. Older industrial neighbourhoods FIGURE 2 Subdivided interior of transitional space with mobile fixtures, Brunswick (photo by Declan Martin, December 2020) have historically provided a diversity of industrial buildings that allowed businesses to grow or contract in place (Chapple, 2014;Ferm et al, 2021). However, in recent decades, interview participants noted a dramatic shift.…”

“…This type of production lends itself to a central location in established industrial districts with ready access to production networks, clients and social infrastructure (Curran, 2010; Gibson et al ., 2017; Wolf‐Powers et al ., 2017; Martin and Grodach, 2022). In contrast to greenfield industrial precincts, older industrial districts comprise a mix of building types suitable for shared production spaces and smaller workshops (Ferm et al ., 2021). Paradoxically, the factors that rendered these spaces obsolete for large manufacturers—small floor plates, multiple stories, large windows—create conducive work environments for newer forms of production (Wolf‐Powers, 2015).…”

Auditing, Revealing and Promoting Industry in the London Borough of Southwark

“…The activities within are concealed within "urban depth" (Clossick, 2017) and render OKR industrial activity relatively invisible and therefore easy to dismiss. According to Ferm et al (2021), who compared OKR to the more resilient development pattern enabled by the mixed land use and small plot size of Hackney's Mare Street, the land uses of OKR can be better separated, and large plots can be developed, characteristics which have contributed to its large-scale redevelopment of industrial space.…”

“…Revealing counteracts the typological problem of "inward-looking" industrial urban form, which hides what is within. Local industrial economies tend to be undervalued, as they are situated in "urban depth" (Clossick, 2017), and in the OKR in particular there are often inward-looking industrial estates that are not integrated with their surrounding urban fabric (Ferm et al, 2021). Physically concealed from view, ways must be sought to make them visible.…”

Hyper-Competitive Industrial Markets: Implications for Urban Planning and the Manufacturing Renaissance

“…This suggests that new mixed-use environments are likely to accommodate a narrow segment of manufacturing activities. And, as Ferm et al (2021) argue, there needs to be a recognition of the diversity of types of buildings and accommodation required to support a broader manufacturing ecosystem.…”