Ewa Bergdahl, Swedish Museum of Natural History. The Industrial landscape of Norrköping. Economic Effects and Results of the Reuse.

Transcription

1 Ewa Bergdahl, Swedish Museum of Natural History The Industrial landscape of Norrköping. Economic Effects and Results of the Reuse.

2 Norrköping with about inhabitants today, is situated about 160 kilometers south of Stockholm on the eastern coast of Sweden. From the early 17 th century until 1970 Norrköping was one of Sweden s leading cotton textile production centers, given the city the nickname Sweden s Manchester. The history of Norrköping goes back to prehistoric and early medieval times. It became an important town already in 1618 when a weapon industry was established at the shore of the river Motala Ström and textile production of wool cloth for the Swedish army started. In the 18 th century it was the largest industrial town in Sweden and its port was more important than Stockholm s. During the late 19 th century and early 20 th century large scale of cotton spinning and waving factories were raised in the town using the power from the many rapids in the river. In a distance of 700 meters there is a fall height of seventeen meters. The textile factories were built in red bricks or with yellow plastered facades. Many of them had five or six floors and many huge windows in order to let the light in as much as possible for the workers. Some of them were designed as archetypes of modern industrial buildings and they had their own power station In the end of the 19 th century this central and large area of the town was a simmering kettle of noises and smells. There was constantly a deafening noise a whirring of transmission belts, the rattle of spinning machines and the rhythmic thump of power looms. Smoke billowed from the chimneys and morning, noon and night, the day was punctuated by the screeching of factory whistles. The dye plants along the river flushed used water into the river, so its color changed daily from red, to blue to green. The population grew fast. Mechanization of the production made it possible to employ women and even children with lower salaries than men. In 1886 children under the age of 12 was forbidden by law to work in industries in Sweden. But many women had no choice but to bring their children into the factories to stay there during their work-time. The needs for child-care were tremendous. Norrköping was the first town in Sweden were free nursery homes were established by philanthropists in order to support the women in work. In 1870 about 85% of the workers in the city were engaged in the textile industry and 50% of these were women. Working conditions were extremely hard with up to 76 hours of work

3 per week. The machines were dangerous and the air was polluted with dust and damp. With 600 looms in one room, not even shouting was possible. Like many other western European textile plants, the industries in Norrköping faced a bog crisis in the 1960 s and were forced either to move their production abroad or close down. In the beginning of the 1980 s the whole central area of the city, consisting of about 60 blocks of buildings, was abandoned accept for a paper mill, which was still running up to Many small wooden buildings were now gone and had been replaced by huge brick factories, which surrounded the river shores and prevented people to reach river. Every factory was fenced and places closed to the riversides. The whole area was a closed to ordinarily people. It was in very bad condition and it remained so for many years due to lack of planning and investments. The unemployment numbers in the city increased rapidly. In the 80ies some state authorities by the government were forced to move from Stockholm to Norrköping such as the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, The Migration Board and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. The first city inventory for physical planning was made in the early 1970 s. The inventory pointed out the industrial area in the centre of the city as one of five remarkable environments. The inventory also considered the economic aspects of historic preservation and adaptive reuse. National laws such as the Landmark Law and the Building Law made it now possible to protect certain blocks of building, though they were private own, from being demolished, but there were still no realistic plan of reusing them. Three main public sources for renovating were at hand during this time: 1) State lottery money granting maximum 20 % 2) National Heritage Board s funds 3) Labor market grants But private stakeholders were lacking and the costs for either destruction or reconstruction of the area seemed to be astronomic. The industrial landscape was among the politicians not yet seen as a potential source for urban regeneration, but rather as a major planning problem. The decisions were postponed. Meanwhile the

4 public opinion in the city began to change. The abandoned area was looked upon, as a shame and even something frightening, since it was an environment for illegal activities and a place were criminals were gathered. A turning point for a new way of looking upon the area was the reaction from citizens on the intention of the remaining paper mill to drain the river and divert the water underground to extract more hydroelectric energy for the production. When people became aware of the plans they protested loudly. The sight and the sound of streaming water was such a significant and symbolic experience of the city. The making of the industrial area into a public space became now more and more important for the authorities in the municipality. Since almost all of the former industrial properties were private owned, it became necessary for the authorities to convince the owners of the industrial landscape s potentials. As a first step the city bought a dye plant in the area and moved the city museum into it in Next step was to create a business cluster in one of the old textile plants. This was done in a joint venture with municipality and private business organization. Pronova Science Park opened in 1987 and is today housing 180 small companies and businesses with about 1000 employees the Museum of Work opened in the former cotton weaving plant today called the iron. The totally restored building became an illustrative example of reuse, which also inspired private investors and estate owners. Due to the high quality of restoration this building in 2003 was appointed to one of the most beautiful buildings in Sweden. The paper mill moved 1986 to a new establishment outside the city. The company was willing to give away their former industrial buildings to the local municipality and was thereby released from the obligation to clean up the area after leaving it. The paper mill company invited to an international architect competition to design a concert and congress hall in the former main production hall. Two big estate companies formed a development company in order to build on the site. The concert and congress hall required an investment of 63 millions EUR. The ownership of the development company was divided between the private companies (75%) and

5 the city (25%). When the concert hall opened up in 1994, the city bought all shares and became the owner. The hall is today a crucial icon in Norrköping. In the beginning of the 90 s the University of Linköping (the neighbor city) was growing. A new campus needed to be established. The estate owners of one of the old factories offered the university suitable premises and Campus Norrköping opened up This establishment was the next turning point for the city and from now on the former industrial area became more and more in focus for new activities. Restaurants and cafés opened up and student s hostels and halls were housed in former industrial plants. Since then the number of students has been doubled from to The estate values were now rising and needs of an official master plan for the area grow. A new plan was laid down in It expresses the municipality s future intentions for the area - from now on officially called the industrial landscape. The most important statements in the plan are to keep streaming water intact and give people access to it by building bridges and sidewalks along the shores. To preserve the volumes of the buildings, the big scale and the density of the area. To create all kind of meeting points for people and keep the cars outside the area and to restrict commercial activities to restaurants and cafeterias in order to avoid big shopping galleries to move in. A crucial fact of success in balancing the economic claims contra the historical values was the establishing of a City Heritage Committee with delegates from the City, the National and the County Heritage Boards and developers and estate owners. The purpose of this committee was to create possibilities for stakeholders with different opinions to meet and to discuss planned changes in before. The committee was not a resolving institution, but a preparatory one with the task to find compromises between restoration and renovation in the area. The committee has met regular from 2003 and it is still in use today. It became a model for private-public governance in city planning processes in Sweden. In summing up I will point at four distinct phases in the regeneration of the industrial landscape in Norrköping:

6 1) In the period of , surveying and inventories were made and the Industrial landscape was defined as a major planning problem. 2) During the next period public spaces and sidewalks were created. The importance of public access to the area was stressed. Some of the buildings also came under the protection of a new legislation. 3) During the third period three emblematic reuse projects were carried out; Museum of Work, Louis de Geer hall and the University Campus. 4) And from 1998 and up to today the fringes of the Industrial landscape have started to be redeveloped with private owned housing. In the transformation process there are also four crucial concepts, which have to be related to: 1. The former industrial area had to be loaded with values. Establishing museums and culture institutions in the industrial buildings was a way of given the area new status. The whole industrial concept representing not only the physical environment but also technology, know-how, infrastructure and ideology, became a historical environment. But in a global perspective, when a large numbers of countries in the world are standing on the threshold of industrial development, this is a purely western European outlook of industrialization. 2. It is also important to create god conditions for new business companies to establish in the area. The combination of museums and modern enterprises is not obvious. Most entrepreneurs are unwilling to be connected to the past and prefer to look forward and prepare for the future. The City Heritage Committee made it possible to understand how the past can serve the future and in what ways the past has to be preserved and documented. 3. To create a sustainable economic and social development educational institutions are crucial as they are strong symbols of the future. The establishing of the university in Norrköping was important in many ways. A higher educational level was reached and young people and intellectuals influenced the city. 4. Last but not least in order to make the industrial landscape vital and vibrating of life, it is necessary to plan for new housings and apartments where people can move in. Placing housings inside the industrial landscape will

7 reshape it too much (parking plots, play-yards etc). By placing the residential areas outside the industrial landscape on the fringes, it will not loose its character and historical look. The interior part of the Industrial Landscape is marked for offices, museums, education and entertainment. Reusing industrial landscapes for new purposes is not only a question of economy. It is also a question of identity and trademark of the city. As many other cities in Europe Norrköping wants to increase the numbers of visitors in order to strengthen the economy. As an former industrial city it has few touristic flagships, but the Industrial Landscape has became one of the highlights in the city, due to artistic installations, light shows and spectacular events but also due to peoples interest of the regeneration process of the area. Tourism is as a phenomenon though history more linked to modernism than tradition and history. The attraction of the industrial landscape in Norrköping lies maybe more in the result of the transformation process, which is linked to the future more than to history. The university campus creates an inspiring academic environment, which has influenced business branches and contributed to a number of small enterprises and modern business companies. Today in 2010 the market price of estates and properties in the areas are much higher than in other parts of the city. The industrial landscape has become popular and loved and is now a hot area for business, studies, work and living. Though the Industrial Landscape of Norrköping has great historical values and is one of the most amazing industrial heritage sites in Sweden today, Norrköping never applied to UNESCO s world heritage list. One of the reasons is, that Sweden already has 14 listed sites and in relation to our number of inhabitants it is difficult to claim for more.