The revitalization of post-industrial cities lies both in landscape and in culture. It is paramount that the core of the city does not lose its potency as industry moves to suburbs and leaves gaps in the urban fabric in the way of abandoned buildings and open space because it detracts from the quality of city life and destroys and contaminates land. Horizontal urban sprawl is detrimental to a city’s vitality because it results in lack of activity, to mitigate this, brownfield sites must be remediated and built upon again to reconnect people and the cityscape. The physical changes in the evolution of a city parallel the dynamism of city life in regards to technology, culture and academia. In the past these abandoned spaces have become large-scale urban parks, such as the Millennium Park in Chicago. A smaller scale example is Highline Park, constructed on a former industrial site in New York. However it is critical that these smaller scale sites are revitalized as more than just as outdoor spaces. In addition to restoring the landscape and soil quality, culture also needs to be brought back to give the postindustrial city identity again. This can be achieved by designing the landscape and architecture using a holistic natural and cultural system, engaging water, topography and post-industrial contaminants.
This is relevant today because of impending stagnation of cities today. Cities are the fast paced centuries of culture and academia. In the 19th and 20th centuries technology revolutionized work, life and how goods are made available to customers across the country. In the 20th century manufacturing technologies migrated out of the city due to a variety of social and economic factors leaving gaps. As programs leave the city they must be replaced by something new and different because people look to the city as a node for surrounding ideas. Without this cities lose their responsiveness to people and civic life around them.
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