Urban Development and Transformation of Post-industrial Areas of Gothenburg – Case of Frihamnen and Ringön

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden, capital of Vastra Gotaland County Region. It is situated on the west coast of Sweden with the port area located along the Gota Alv River. Due to economic restructuring, waterfront redevelopment emerges as an attractive option to boost economic growth of the city. The aim of this paper is to shed light on conditions of the transformation process of two neighboring areas: Frihamnen and Ringon. Publicly initiated and privately executed waterfront redevelopment in Gothenburg transforms industrial grounds into residential and service oriented areas in Eriksberg, Lindholmen and Frihamnen. The collaborative process of a "developer dialogue" crafts a redevelopment in a consistent way with taking into consideration city’s long-term planning strategy, specific needs and opportunities of the neighbourhoods, but also market and financial realities of development community. Another example is a slow and spontaneous transformation of post-industrial areas in Ringon, where still active small industrial firms, services, cultural and artistic initiatives take place in the close proximity to the city centre. Results show the waterfront transformation attracts “developers’ dialogue” giving the opportunity to build a coherence for spatial, environmental and socio-economic development. Yet fragmented redevelopment of brownfield areas strengthen polarization between dynamic and carefully planned Frihamnen and spontaneously growing Ringon. This paper contributes to the knowledge on the complexity of urban post-industrial transformation.