City of Science in Luxembourg: Urban Redevelopment of a Steel Mill Areain Esch Sur Alzette in Luxembourg

The new City of Science in Belval, nearby the town of Esch Sur Alzette in Luxembourg, is one of the latest examples of urban redevelopment of a former industrial site to a knowledge-oriented function. Interestingly, part of the area is still used as an industrial site by one of the subsidiaries of the Luxembourgian-Dutch conglomerate ArcelorMittal, one of the main stakeholders in the region (before being a financial hub, Luxembourg was a well-established steel production centre).

The regenerated City of Science hosts the offices and educational facilities of the University of Luxembourg and several other buildings such as new national research facilities, banks, a shopping mall and several residential buildings as well as cultural spaces such as a museum adapted in the former furnaces of the steel mill, concert hall, etc. More information about the project can be found here: http://www.belval.lu/en/

The project is perhaps not the most advanced example of urban redevelopment of a former industrial area. However, it shows clearly the urban potentials of industrial sites located nearby urbanized areas. The City of Science in Luxembourg is an interesting exepirement of a mixed-use development in a former heavy-industry area. In a small scale, perhaps, a city of science could be imagined in a city like LuleĆ„, which, not without controversies, apires to transition its economy from a steel and iron ore manufacturing centre in to one of  the leading knowledge cities in the nordic arctic region (Pictures by A. Rizzo, 2015).