Enhancing Resilience Through Sustainable Management of Brownfield Industrial Heritage: A Case of Kolkata

Most of the Indian megacities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai are also recognized as historic industrial settlements. Following each phase of industrialization, there were phases of mass dereliction of certain industrial typologies. This has left behind invaluable urban assets, commonly referred to as industrial brownfields. As against the prevalent perception of treating these brownfield parcels as physical, environmental, and social threats, these may be considered as industrial heritage. In the present context, the high real estate demand in the megacities may be met by sustainable redevelopment or reuse strategies for these brownfield industrial heritage sites. The linkage of heritage management with sustainable development and resilience can be established from the Goal 11 of Sustainable Development Goals. This chapter identifies the factors of sustainable redevelopment of brownfield industrial heritage through a systematic literature review and word cluster analysis on concepts of brownfield, industrial heritage, and sustainable development using a semi-automated method of content analysis. The applicability of the identified factors is then assessed with the help of abandoned industrial sites in Kolkata, India. The study concludes by establishing the need for systematic inclusion of brownfield industrial heritage management to enhance urban resilience in the Indian megacities.