Regeneration strategies for industrial & abandoned spaces near waterfronts

Abstract

This thesis critically examines the strategic regeneration of disused and deteriorating industrial sites situated along the Hooghly River within the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), proposing a comprehensive framework that merges spatial equity, adaptive heritage management, and inclusive urban development. Grounded in a multi-scalar analysis of Kolkata’s post-industrial waterfront, the study focuses on four key sites: Howrah’s Abandoned Coach Factory, Hooghly Dock in Salkia, the Silver Mint Complex in Burrabazar, and the Jorabagan warehouse cluster. These sites are reframed not as zones of decay, but as potential catalysts for civic, ecological, and economic renewal. The study uses a mixed-method approach by combining spatial analysis, stakeholder mapping, AHP-based prioritization, and field surveys were chosen to develop a “readiness-based” regeneration typology. This flexible tool guides policy, phasing, and participatory planning, emphasizing adaptive frameworks responsive to socio-economic and institutional realities. Central to the thesis is a five-pronged regeneration strategy that foregrounds adaptive reuse, community-responsive design, incremental implementation, and heritage-informed urban morphologies. Rather than treating derelict industrial sites as voids to be cleared, the study reinterprets them as urban archives, where memory, labour, and infrastructure intersect. It recognizes informal economies and residual structures not as obstacles, but as generative assets for regeneration. Drawing insight from international precedents, specifically the HafenCity transformation in Hamburg, the layered reuse along Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands, and Detroit’s emergent grassroots regeneration; this research situates Kolkata’s waterfront conditions within a broader global discourse on post-industrial urbanism. It further argues that sustainable regeneration in the global South must move beyond prescriptive, top-down models, embracing instead a grounded practice of negotiation, phased adaptability, and spatial justice. Ultimately, the thesis advocates for a paradigmatic shift: from rigid, top-down masterplans to context-sensitive and participatory urban regeneration models. Reclaiming and reimagining the post-industrial waterfront is not merely a spatial exercise but a socio-political imperative which enables cities to reconcile with their industrial pasts while shaping more resilient, inclusive, and equitable futures. Keywords: Urban regeneration, Adaptive reuse, Inclusive planning, Waterfront revitalization, Post-industrial landscapes