Following years of decline and offshoring, European cities are being confronted by a range of issues simultaneously: manufacturing jobs have shifted quickly to services and have created large gaps in the employment market, concepts such as circular economy are being taken seriously by cities and finally new technology is emerging allowing industry to be quieter and more discrete. The researchers aim to explore the future of urban based manufacturing in European cities in terms of technology, resources, place and application. Using a combination of strategic and action research, they want to identify what works in supporting a resilient and innovative industrial base, and to test those solutions in a real-world setting. The researchers will learn from experiences in London, Rotterdam and Brussels – each with a distinct industrial heritage.

Cities of making integrates three domains - space, governance and material technology, and is unique in that it combines multiple research methods to study the enabling factors for developing manufacturing as part of cities. The TU Delft team focuses on the spatial conditions and potentials for the establishment of different types of ‘making’ businesses through a triangulation of field work, GIS mapping, spatial statistics and policy analyses.