Page 28 - Beyond Decommissioning

Introduction 9

Achieving significant savings in infrastructure investment, due to the use of underutilized
l
existing infrastructure
Stimulating economic growth
l
Increasing land availability and reducing pressure to develop greenfield sites (this is asso-
l
ciated with the current shortage of “virgin” industrial sites, and the desire of preserving them
for recreational or other nonindustrial purposes)
l Giving preference to the development of new industry at sites that were previously used
industrially. This includes economic advantages for redevelopment of “brownfield” sites
over “greenfield” sites. And in general, less stringent environmental regulations apply to
“brownfield” than to “greenfield” sites (see Chapter 5.5 for a comprehensive discussion
on these points)
l Fulfilling requirements to reduce waste volumes for disposal. As the site is redeveloped there
will be less pressure to demolish old buildings, which can instead be reused as such or with
some adaptations
l Appreciating that old buildings have a superior status for new businesses and attract people.
Certain types of businesses enjoy a unique prestige when situated in older buildings. In par-
ticular, businesses such as bookshops, ethnic restaurants, antique stores, and “niche” shops
flourish in old buildings. The strange layouts, the vestiges of former uses, the unusual cor-
ners, all of these strike imagination. Similarly, banks prefer to have old facades, even when
situated in modern buildings as this conveys a reassuring sense of stability
l Finally, being aware that the preservation of historic buildings is a one-way process. Once a
piece of history is demolished, it is gone forever (Rocchi, 2015)
The impact that ruins have on cities, regions, and in general, environment is undeni-
able. While historical (classical) ruins are respected as valuable heritage, the contem-
porary ruins discussed in Camocini and Nosova (2017) cause a different reaction from
the local communities and the general public. They are often felt as negative elements
that disfigure the environment, which bring about a tendency toward avoidance and
various problems, for example, security, ownership disregard, maintenance, and
demolition costs, and the expanding depreciation of surrounding districts. The other
important issue is the lack of a general legislative framework about the growing
spreading of contemporary ruins on a local, regional, or nation-wide scale, and the
need for updated regulations.
However, the incompleteness of ruins triggers creativity induced by the dialog
between an incomplete reality and the unlimited imagination of the viewer. “This
is how a building survives in the limbo between two temporal requirements: not
yet distant past, as in the case of a historical ruin, and no longer present, as a contem-
porary human habitat. Its future is unclear and mysterious. This appeal lies largely in
the concept of gradual decadence, slow abandonment, the inexorable flow of time.
The sight of ruins evokes different feelings; nostalgia for an impossible return to
the past and the discovery of an inaccessible past tend to attract a perverse type of
tourism. Intervention strategies include actions based on an approach which is similar
to that of the restoration of historical buildings, resulting as a chance to complete,
preserve, reconvert, or demolish. The decision may be to demolish the residual testi-
monies and recreate a new urban fabric without any restrictions, or choose to preserve
the ruin, building a new relationship between past and future” (Camocini and
Nosova, 2017).