The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy

This paper seeks to find poetry in recreating, if not beauty, then aesthetic dimension in waste itself, to find perfection in imperfection itself. The underline hypothesis stems from questions such as what is the relationship between the automotive industry and the building industry? What if there e...

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Main Author: Ahmed K. Ali
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universitat Politècnica de València 2024-11-01
Series:Anuari d’Arquitectura i Societat
Subjects:
Online Access:https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/ANUARI/article/view/22120
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author Ahmed K. Ali
author_facet Ahmed K. Ali
author_sort Ahmed K. Ali
collection DOAJ
description This paper seeks to find poetry in recreating, if not beauty, then aesthetic dimension in waste itself, to find perfection in imperfection itself. The underline hypothesis stems from questions such as what is the relationship between the automotive industry and the building industry? What if there exists a knowledge transfer mechanism between the two. What if the know-how of automakers be applied to the building industry? Beyond adaptive reuse of existing buildings and abandoned structures, the image of the city of Detroit as the model of industrialized American city could be reshaped by the knowledge of its memory. This manuscript provides a speculative approach to revitalize one of the most famous examples of an American industrial city. The approach attempts to highlight the importance of activating multi-industry pollination known as industrial symbiosis (IS) specifically between the automotive industry and the building industry using the city of Detroit as a case study. Ideas to test the vitality of this approach were explored and tested in a graduate architectural design studio where students were challenged with transforming the automotive industry by-products, waste streams, and flows into building products and façade systems.
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spelling doaj-art-7b2995faa6fb4460b2e2783496b348fc2025-08-20T02:48:51ZcatUniversitat Politècnica de ValènciaAnuari d’Arquitectura i Societat2792-75982792-76012024-11-014547510.4995/anuari.2024.2212021310The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economyAhmed K. Alihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9513-7389This paper seeks to find poetry in recreating, if not beauty, then aesthetic dimension in waste itself, to find perfection in imperfection itself. The underline hypothesis stems from questions such as what is the relationship between the automotive industry and the building industry? What if there exists a knowledge transfer mechanism between the two. What if the know-how of automakers be applied to the building industry? Beyond adaptive reuse of existing buildings and abandoned structures, the image of the city of Detroit as the model of industrialized American city could be reshaped by the knowledge of its memory. This manuscript provides a speculative approach to revitalize one of the most famous examples of an American industrial city. The approach attempts to highlight the importance of activating multi-industry pollination known as industrial symbiosis (IS) specifically between the automotive industry and the building industry using the city of Detroit as a case study. Ideas to test the vitality of this approach were explored and tested in a graduate architectural design studio where students were challenged with transforming the automotive industry by-products, waste streams, and flows into building products and façade systems.https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/ANUARI/article/view/22120circular economydetroitarchitecture of wasteoffalresource reuse
spellingShingle Ahmed K. Ali
The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
Anuari d’Arquitectura i Societat
circular economy
detroit
architecture of waste
offal
resource reuse
title The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
title_full The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
title_fullStr The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
title_full_unstemmed The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
title_short The fertility of urban ruins: Obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
title_sort fertility of urban ruins obsolete industrial cities as ecosystem holders to activate circular economy
topic circular economy
detroit
architecture of waste
offal
resource reuse
url https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/ANUARI/article/view/22120
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