Alpine Industrial Landscapes Transformation - trAILs: Project Handbook

At first sight the Alps are often assumed to be a magnificent landscape, shaped by the forces of nature, used in suitable areas for agriculture and by tourists for various outdoor activities. Only the valleys seem to be partially characterized by settlements, commercial areas, motorways, railways and so on. This simplistic perception ignores the fact that the Alpine region is one of the largest industrial regions in central Europe, a very powerful landscape with a long history of exploitation of its natural resources, and heavy industrial activities. The Alps are a highly dynamic energy landscape, not only continually shaped by enormous geological energies, but also characterized by a high level of relief energy, which intensifies all natural processes, from climate to erosion dynamics. Industries in the Alps had to take these energetic landscape characteristics into account from early on when constructing technical infrastructure and utilizing the natural resources, especially the omnipresent power of water. It would be grossly negligent to underestimate these inherent energies in the process of brownfield transformation, especially since global climate change is currently boosting energy levels and in so doing is significantly stimulating the dynamics of change in the Alpine landscape.

trAILs is about the transformation of Alpine Industrial Landscapes, AILS, striving to take the aforementioned specifics of a unique landscape as well as the Alpine way of life into account. We would like to introduce sustainable planning strategies that can be used by local and regional actors in Alpine regions when converting former industrial locations into good working and living environments.