What is urban manufacturing?
Many western cities have shifted their focus from producing things, to focusing on housing and environments for services jobs. This begs the questions - what things should cities still make?
Read moreAbout the Cities of Making
Cities of Making is exploring the what (technology and resources), the where (spatial conditions) and how (the governance and application) of urban based manufacturing in European cities.
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In the Making: Brussels Atlas
The relation between the production of goods and the city has radically changed over the last century, leading to a strong disconnection that exiled manufacturing activities to marginal places, out of sight. In recent years, such confinement and its negative consequences congestion, energy waste, pollution, employment unbalance has gained attention worldwide. Critical discussions and a…
Who benefits from productive activities? Analysis of the case of Cureghem
Space for SMEs in the city has been a hot topic in Brussels circles concerned with urban and economic transformation for several years now. Several analyses show that the situation in the Brussels Capital Region is worrying: SMEs are leaving the city. VUB researchers Alexandre Orban and Fabio Vanin, in…
Case study report: The Maker-Mile in East London
This case study focuses on making and manufacturing in the London inner city area of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, known as the ‘Maker-Mile’. It illustrates how manufacturing and making has historically and dynamically become embedded into a mainly residential-commercial part of London, with makers being distributed across the area as…
CoM policy recommendations
Based on the Cities of Making patterns, we have developed twelve action areas. There is no key priority or starting point. Some cities may already address some of these recommendations, however may not have noticed other opportunities. For policy makers interested in manufacturing, dive in where you think it will…
Workshop: NDSM
This workshop will present a tool designed to facilitate urban manufacturing, developed in the (JPI) Cities of Making project (www.citiesofmaking) based on the book ‘Foundries of the Future’. The tool is based on three years of research and development focused on Brussels, London and Rotterdam/The Hague. The result is a…
Case study report: London Borough of Haringey
Haringey is representative of small, low-density, inner-city industrial zones which are embedded into their neighbourhoods. With the growth of demand for housing and the increasing of land prices, sites like those found in Haringey are under serious threat from gentrification. The totality of the companies analysed in the Borough of…
Case study report: Old Oak and Park Royal (OPDC)
This report looks into the state of the businesses, what is made and particularly the kinds of resources and technology used in the manufacturing process on one of Europe’s largest industrial estates, at a time where it is confronted by the demand for space within London. According to the Park…
Profiles: Wood in Molenbeek – Brussels
Wood in Molenbeek is partly a social project within a disadvantaged neighbourhood and partly a university action research project to explore the capacity to re-use wood, a very common waste stream.…
Profiles: Gillis Printing – Brussels
Gillis is one of a few remnant printers that remains in Brussels’ inner-city neighbourhood of Cureghem. The company has seen radical change of both the neighbourhood and clients. It is now at a critical moment, will the owner end the business and cash in on the recent increase in land…