Regenerating Sudbury's socio-urban landscape through adaptive reuse

Abstract

A common issue faced by de-industrializing cities worldwide is the abundance of obsolete industrial buildings. These are often part of derelict zones that aggravate the urban challenges of unsafe neighbourhoods, socioeconomic segregation, and environmental degradation. By reviving these defunct buildings through carefully attuned strategies of adaptive reuse, there is an opportunity to address the needs of diverse users within the local community by sustainably regenerating the built environment in physical, ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic terms. Through the adaptive reuse of the derelict Northern Brewery complex in downtown Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) into a brewpub and mixed income housing development, this thesis project offers a critical response to the city’s high rates of homelessness and lack of affordable housing as well as its insufficient amount of public green space, while reconnecting citizens to the site’s history and serving as a catalyst for further redevelopment projects.