Scientific Bulletin of the „Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureş

Vol. 13 (XXX) no. 2, 2016

ISSN-L 1841-9267 (Print), ISSN 2285-438X (Online), ISSN 2286-3184 (CD-ROM)

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN THE SMART CITY

CONTEXT
Alexandra ARDELEANU1, Oana PAVĂL2
Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning
Academiei 18 – 20, Bucharest, Romania
1
[email protected]
2
[email protected]

Abstract
Since the concept of the smart city emerged until now we have gotten to clearly associate it
with technology - ICT (information and communication technologies) as the driving force
for urban transformation. The paper tries to explain the more broader, hollistic
significance of the term and to place industrial heritage reuse in its context: (how) can
industrial heritage reuse contribute to making a city smart(er)?

Keywords: smart city, postindustrial city, urban regeneration, industrial heritage

1. Introduction decision making urban key actors in order to attract

Since the concept of the smart city emerged until investments, tourists, workers, or in order to promote
now we have gotten to clearly associate it with different investments amongst communities.
technology - ICT (information and communication The bibliographical references around the topic of
technologies) as the driving force for urban smart cities revolves a lot around Hollands’ theories.
transformation.The paper tries to explain the more This author’s research gave birth to many directions
broader significance of the term and to place of analysis, but from his point of view, there was the
industrial heritage reuse in its context. The main intelligent city, that could become smart-er by
question we rise is: (how) can industrial heritage following a more neo-liberal pathway rather than a
reuse contribute to making a city smart(er)? neo-conservative one [3]. Throughout the vast work
of Komninos’s regarding intelligent cities [9], [10],
2. Materials and Methods four main components have been stated, those being:
- the application of a wide range of electronic
In order to better place the subject of the industrial
and digital technologies to communities and
heritage into the broad context of smart cities, we
cities
must first try to understand the broader meaning of
- the use of information technologies to
smart city concept, by reviewing the existing
transform life and work within a region
literature.We will then try to emphasizethe industrial
- the embedding of such ICTs into the city
heritage role in thesmart city development.
- the territorialization of such practices in a
way that brings ICTs and people together so
3. Smart City concept
as to enhance the innovation, learning,
Although the term "smart city", emerged in the knowledge and problem solving that the
1990's, has become increasingly popular in the past technologies offer. [3]
decade in internationalpolicies and academia, there is In order to talk about smart cities we must also
still an ambiguity around this concept. Reference [1] take into consideration the triple helix model:
gather in their paper 23 different and complementary university – industry – government. The dynamic
definitions of what a smart city is, from the scientific selection process taking place among institutions is
literature. Therefore, this paper does not aim to bring defined by the way that they interact with each other
a new definition for this context, but tries to present [13] - in the eastern regions, for example, a type of
the broader picture for its understanding. innovation in which traditional universities support
In the context of urban competition amongst the development of local infrastructures [11]. A very
cities, the concept of smart city represents a good example of such an approach would be Krakow
marketing tool. It may then be used with the various University of Technology, and so Krakow is a city
understandings, more or less holistic, by policy and that transparently reflects the triple helix model,

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through this University in particular. “The triple-helix no widespread definition of the smart city concept,
model allows us to recognise that cultural but that it is rather an optimistic, generally suitable
development, however liberal and potentially free, is one, for the city of the future.
not a spontaneous product of market economies, but a The research paper Smart Cities: ranking of
product of the policies, academic leadership, and European medium-sized citie, carried out by the
corporate strategies that need to be carefully Centre of Regional Science at the Vienna University
constructed as part of an urban regeneration of Technology, the Department of Geography at
program. [13]” But, the dynamic of the selection University of Ljubljana and the OTB Research
process is not biologically inherited, it is cultural Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies at
[12], and so it is dependent of factors such as learning the Delft University of Technologydefined six
or the development of other competencies [13]. different characteristics of the smart city in the
The smartness concept has only recently become section entitled “Defining smart city” [7]. These six
highly popular in Europe and this high popularity characteristics are:
came as a direct consequence of the fact that the 1. Smart economy – linked to entrepreneurship,
“smart city” became an expression of the EU research innovation, flexibility of the labor market,
funding mechanisms. The main engine for European ability to transform.
countries where the national research funding is not 2. Smart mobility – accessibility to a local and
high is The Seventh Framework Programme for supra-local scale, modern, sustainable, ICTs,
Research and Technological Development and it safe transport systems.
introduces the smart city in the Energy Policy. This 3. Smart governance – participatory decision
means that the Framework Programme would making, transparency, quality of political
facilitate the implementation of a SET Plan (Strategic strategies and public services.
Energy Technology) which provides some funding 4. Smart environment – lack of pollution,
schemes directly related to the “Smart Cities and attractive natural areas and sustainable
Communities Initiative” [15]. Given this EU funding management of the natural resources
direction we can easily say that complementary to the 5. Smart living – cultural and educational
great opportunity to attract funds for urban services that rise the quality of life, social
development there is also a high pressure for the cohesion, healthy environment and safe
governments to become more involved with the housing, etc.
private sector and to develop sustainable ways of 6. Smart people –a good level of qualification of
collaboration between the public, the academic and the human and social capital, creativity,
the private sector. public participation, tolerance.
There are three important mechanisms that
Vanolo [15] broadly presents in the paper
“Smartmentality: The Smart City as a Disciplinary
Strategy”, that are meant to govern the smart
mentality device. These three mechanisms are:
1. Urban Charts and Benchmarking Analysis –
this mechanism emphasizes the fact that the
city, first of all, is a collective actor and
proposes the use of classification techniques
with multiple statistical indicators.
2. Merging Public and Private in the Pursuit of
the Smart City – on one hand the smart cities
are mainly based on technical parameters that
cannot be understood by most people and on
the other hand the majority of the
technological issues are controlled and
developed by private companies. So, in order
for this mechanism to work the public –
private partnerships are implied.
3. The Responsibilisation of the City and the
Smart Citizen – there should be a moral
obligation of the citizens to behave in a Fig. 1: Characteristics and factors of a smart city [7]
certain way and adhere to the collective These characteristics and linked factors
project of building a smart city together. A contributes to the understanding of the multi-faced
very good example would be the lifestyle aspects of this concept, which is far from being
choices made towards a greener consumption limited to ICT-led urban development.
and towards ecological tourism. After it's high-peak, the theory according to which
Reference [8] brings forward the fact that there is the ICT owns the leading role in the development of a
smart city became less radical, showing that the ICT

44
represents a tool for different components of a smart Throughout the evolution of the smart city
city, contributing to the connectivity and networking concept we must keep in mind the previously
between communities, industries and information. mentioned component of urban integrated
(Townsend apud. Mardacany, 2014, p.3) regeneration, which can be achieved by recovering
Reference [8] states that "progressive smart cities and reuse of industrial areas, which are often situated
must seriously start with people and the human central, pericentral or near water elements. This has
capital side of the equation, rather than blindly become a common practice in the past decades
believing that IT itself can automatically transform amongst the competitive cities of the world (London,
and improve cities", while information and New York, Manchester, Barcelona, Amsterdam, etc),
communication technologies is a good instrument for whose former industrial areas, transformed into new
creating smart communities, enhancing their uses, contributes to the economic, social, cultural and
networking, education, participation, possibillities to environment development.
get involved and influence in urban environment Smart urban development has been proven to be
decision making processes and creating opportunities efficient in fighting urban sprawl (Bronstein apud.
for citizen, community based bottom-up smart Caragliuet all, 2011). Converting derelict industrial
initiatives. areas contributes to cities returning and valorising
Some authors may have an even more radical inside the inner city limits, through integrated
perspective on ICT- led and business-led models of a regeneration of existing built fabric.
smart city, like Mardacany, affirming that these are Starting from the characteristics and factors of a
"selling a dream that the ICT is capable of resolving smart city identified by [7] - presented in figure 1-,
all problems of a modern city: install a broadband figure 2 shows where adaptive reuse and industrial
fibre-optic socket in the cave and it will be converted regeneration can and contribute to creating a
into a modern house."(2014, p.12) smart(er)city.
The smart city discourse has common roots with
others, like intelligent city, knowledge city,
sustainable city, innovative city, creative city, all
oriented to an integrated urban development.
The paper “Smart Cities in Europe” [4] finds that
the presence of creative class, the level of education
and ITC use for public administration are key factors
for urban wealth.
"Creative city" represents a global movement in
the new economy models (service and knowledge-
based, after the industrial economy collapse),
promoting new approaches in urban planning. Florida
(2004) identifies the creativity as the engine for urban
development, through "creative class" (people
engaged in science, engineering, education, IT, arts,
design, media,education) and the 3 "T"s: -
technology, talent, tolerance. The ICTs play a
significant role in guiding the "creative cities" to
become "smart cities".

4. The smart postindustrial city - industriaal

heritage reuse in smart city context
Fig. 2: industrial heritage reuse contribution to a smart(er)
When the de-industrialisation emerged, the city
economy of the cities had to take a turn from the
industry based economy to a an economy of services One of the best examples of industrial heritage
and information, in order to find new means of attract regenaration in smart city planning is represented by
capital and investors. In this context, cities become Barcelona's new 22@Barcelona project - District of
competitive with each other and urban regeneration Innovation, where 200 ha of industrial areas from
programmes begin to take place, in order to promote Poblenou became a high-tech zone. This area wast
new urban landscapes, attractive for investments and part of a top-down design approach through an
tourism, with new cultural and social character. integrated smart city plan. This top-down approach
Former, derelict industrial heritage played a major not only lacked community initiatives, but was also
role in the process -factories, mills, plants, docks and criticized, but even so, the citizens came to enjoy all
other decommissioned industrial sites have been the end-user ICT inclusive services. This is
transformed into profitable areas for the economy and considered to be the most important urban
community – in housing, services, culture, regeneration project, in Barcelona, and also one of the
entertainment, education, business etc. most innovative in Europe, so far [14].

45
 Some of the projects developed in order to [6] Florida,R., (2004), The Rise of the Creative
improve the innovation sector of the smart(er)-to-be Class: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators, New
city are: the Media and ICT Center, The Nord York: Basic Books
Technology Park, the technology transfer center, the [7] Giffinger, R., Fertner, C., Kramar, H., Kalasek,
business incubator, the smart energy and building R. (2007) Smart cities: ranking of European
efficiency center, a TIC Cluster. All of the above medium-sized cities- final report, Centre of
have integrated and re-used the industrial heritage of Regional Science, Vienna UT, October 2007
the Poblenou area but one of the mist interesting such [8] Hollands, R.G. (2008), Will the Real Smart City
project is considered to be `Ca l’Alier Innovation Please Stand Up? Intelligent, Progressive, or
Centre. `Ca l’Alier is an old factory that once turned Entrepreneurial?, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 303-320
into an innovation center is to bebe shared by two [9] Kominos, N.(2008), Intelligent Cities and
multinational giants, CISCO and Schneider Electric, Globalization of Innovation Networks, London,
both providing the funding for the renovation of the Taylor&Francis
factory. [17] [10] Kominos, N.(2002), Intelligent Cities:
The building preserves its industrial aesthetics Innovation, Knowledge Systems, and Digital
while respecting all the sustainable construction Spaces, London, Spon Press
criteria, thus being a self-sufficient building. [11] Lengyel, B., Leydesdorff, L., Regional
Innovation Systems in Hungary: The Failing
5. Conclusions Synergy at the National Level, Regional
Studies, Vol. 45, No. 5, pp. 677-693
The more integrative holistic understanding of
[12] Lewotin, R. (2000), The Triple Helix: Gene,
what asmart city represents allowed us to outline in
Organisms, and Environment, Cambridge
this article that industrial heritage can becomean asset
MA/London, Harvard University Press
in a smart city.
[13] Leydesdorff, L., Deakin, M. (2011), The Triple
Helix Model of Smart Cities: A Neo-
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