Facilitating the Human Scale: A Response to Urban Intensification

Over the last half century, globalization has catalysed a new wave of urban expansion. Implications of this growth will further intensify the complexities of the urban metropolis, where transecting transit networks, communication infrastructures, production and consumption undergird a multifaceted set of economic and social processes. A recent paradigm shift over the last half-century has seen change in terms of the city being viewed in formal terms to being considered for its dynamic ways. This shift has not only seen the traditional hierarchical urban condition questioned, but reflects the amorphous trends in urban growth. The main intention of the research is to develop a model framework for re-appropriating established industrial infrastructural components to facilitate the human scale in the face of an intensifying urban realm.  The work of James Corner, Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Charles Waldheim, Alex Wall and Richard Weller are critically engaged to inform this thesis’ theoretical framework. This research explores the viability of these theoretical imperatives in addressing issues typically associated with urban intensification, specifically the spatial, cultural and sociological implications of urban encroachment into the industrial precinct.  Overall the research suggests the act of leveraging phenomenological qualities inherent to industry landscapes can play a fundamental role in appropriating the human scale within this contextually indifferent typology.