The Cities of Making project aimed to initiate and inform debate about the future of manufacturing in European cities. It provides insight into the past, present and potential future roles of manufacturing in the cities of Brussels, London and Rotterdam. The outputs of the project are intended primarily for an audience of policy makers and practitioners, and will be of particular interest to those in the fields of manufacturing and industry, spatial planning and urban design, environmental sustainability, and economic development. It may also be of interest to those involved in citizen engagement within those fields. This archive contains data collected during the UK portion of the Cities of Making research project. It includes transcripts of interviews with multiple key stakeholders, information gathered from workshops, and information on various manufacturing sites located in the region around London and the South East of England. Case study sites studied in detail are within the London boroughs of Hackney and Haringey, and also the Old Oak Common / Park Royal Development (OPDC) site. Geo spatial information is provided gathered from site visits and desk based research.Cities of Making explores opportunities for strengthening urban based manufacturing in European cities following years of decline and offshoring. Using a combination of strategic and action research, our ambition was to identify 'what works' in supporting a resilient and innovative industrial base, and to test those solutions in a real world setting. We took three areas as case study areas, London, Rotterdam and Brussels - each with a distinct industrial heritage. Within each city, the project partners conducted separate but parallel lines of inquiry, encompassing a city diagnosis, and an in-depth academic study. The project generated a comprehensive website, www.citiesofmaking.com, a book, Foundries for the Future, and a set of 50 'pattern' cards that can be used by relevant stakeholders to help develop transition plans to enable urban manufacturing.
This project used a mixed-method approach to obtain primary data and to analyse both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained through questionnaires to key relevant stakeholders, i.e. companies’ owners, directors or staff. Secondary data was obtained from literature review, online databases, site visits to industrial focus areas, and aerial imaging. The analysis of primary and secondary data was conducted through a number of specialised tools such as network analysis, spatial analysis, material flow analysis (MFA), and strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis. Additional methodological information can be found in the project book and in the cities reports both available from the main project website (www.citiesofmaking.com) and uploaded in the data archive.
