This research represents a design-oriented study regarding the realisation of Albertslund Municipality’s desired transformation of Hersted Industrial Park (HIP) which entails a shift of use. However, the municipality do not own any land plots in the industrial area and the existing real estate owners, lead to a heterogeneous network with various conflicts and controversies, complicating the intended redevelopment.
Based on our research, we argue that the contextual initiatives of the local authorities for transforming an area, end up being void declarations of intent without realising that transformation. In that sense, to facilitate the redevelopment, Albertslund Municipality applies a conventional top-down approach, focusing on mobilisation of actors through a masterplan in the area of Hersted Industrial Park (HIP). However, our findings conclude that the constrictive and rigid nature of a masterplan, when applied in the existing complexity found in contexts, such as (HIP), creates more uncertainty in the actors of the network (real estate owners and developers) by limiting the inclusion of the interests of those actors, which makes actors to reinforce the ‘lock-in’ of their initial positions towards change in the area.
Our approach to the study case is built upon the use of Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) and Participatory Design, which highlights various conflicts of interest, perspectives and positions of the related actors, revealing their matters of concern and how they act. Based on that, we suggest a conceptual framework with the use of Negotiation Spaces at its core, in order to mobilise actors (real estate owners and developers) to become supportive of the redevelopment of the area of Hersted Industrial Park (HIP). That conceptual framework relies on an understanding of the tensions, controversies and matters of concern of the different actors, representing with that an alternative way for local authorities to approach the facilitation of change in areas where they do not own any land and they have to deal with a complex network of real estate owners, containing controversies and conflicts of interest.
By exploring the matters of concern (MoC) of relevant actors within the area intended to be redeveloped and exploiting MoC as drivers for change, local authorities can facilitate the engagement of relevant actors in a more iterative process to gradually transform the area ‘step by step’, easing the realisation of the desired redevelopment. We thereby, shift the focus point in
strategic planning to embrace supportive actors and use them to redevelop in minor scale, ‘contagiously’ infecting others with a ‘redevelopment fever’ in the context of Hersted Industrial Park (HIP).
Within this specific case-study, we take stand on a strategically located land plot, owned by a supportive actor towards the intended transformation. In there, we take the first steps towards the transformation of HIP through negotiation spaces, exploring how that specific land plot can generate the agency to mobilise other actors (real estate owners and developers) to further redevelop other land plots. We additionally propose a set of negotiation themes, relevant for further redevelopment negotiation spaces between the relevant actors. However, we stress that those themes are a mere outline, as other settings or land plots will have distinctive matters of concern and actors related, which might result on a different set of negotiation themes.
From a holistic perspective, the importance of the new conceptual framework generated in this research lays on the affordance of ﰀredeveloping built environmentﰁ, as a possible solution to some of the challenges that humans will face in the near future. In that sense, due to the expected increase of global population, if we continue the current trends of human development, there will be a further claim of natural environment to be transformed into built environment. In order to limit further negative impact of the expansion of human built environment in the natural environment, we need to look towards areas such as brown and grey fields, and revitalise them. Within this research we will thereby, investigate how to facilitate the realisation of the redevelopment of Hersted Industrial Park, a grey and brown field located in Albertslund, Denmark.