Industrial canal waterfronts in The Netherlands: transforming the canal zones of B5

Industrial Canal Waterfronts in The Netherlands provides a comprehensive presentation of the characteristics and challenges of five interconnected and dismissed industrial canal zones located in the Dutch Brabant cities of Eindhoven, Breda, Tilburg, s’-Hertogenbosch and Helmond (B5). Through the investigation of these canal areas the book explores research issues aimed at a wider debate on the contemporary meaning of industrial waterways and the distinctiveness of their waterfronts in the transforming city. The book debates issues concerning the appropriateness of design interventions which play a crucial role in reconnecting the city to their water edge, and how to unveil the peculiarities of these sites. Moreover, the book increases design awareness and the importance of heritage values in interventions on former industrial buildings, thus promoting critical thinking about collaborative and integrative exchanges between research and design, profession and education. The existing ‘fluid network’ formed by the B5 industrial canals is regarded as a formidable challenge to respond to inevitable changes in the urban and architectural setting of our cities and to recognize the peculiarities of canal zones in their configuration of an ‘industrial canal town’.