The present graduation thesis “The shopping mall as an urban catalyst” explores the idea of an urban structure where working, crafting, living, meeting, and learning are entangled. The aim of this exploration mainly lies in the creation of a “skill city”, where groups that have not yet been fully integrated into the area under research can be the protagonists of a vibrant neighborhood, while the shopping mall from a place of consumption is transformed into a community core, a place of production and exchange. At the same time, this project is a continuous research on how an existing structure with its embedded values can become future-proof, ensuring it both remains a point of reference and accomodates change according to the shifting needs and demands. This aspect was examined under the scope of urban adaptability and its interplay with the notion of heritage; revealing design strategies that were implemented on the redesign of Leyweg Winkelcentrum. To conclude, the exploration of the new role that shopping malls, as urban centers, could adopt in an ever-changing context as condensers of public life, its diverse aspects, and social groups, as hubs for social interaction and as cores of community life can be regarded as the motivation for the development of this project.

The question of industrial buildings’ and complexes’ management has been a developing field of research and experimentation, especially over the last three decades. Despite the acknowledgement of industrial relics as factors that have largely contributed to the formation of regions’, communities’ and cities’ identity, in the 21st century there are still vast underused post-industrial
areas. If dealt with in a large-scale context, these areas have the inherent potential to revitalize the adjacent urban areas. For the purposes of this research, the aforementioned potential is examined under the scope of Edessa’s historic industrial landscape, consisting of several complexes. Rather than dealing with each one separately, the present thesis aims at setting the ground for an inclusive, industrial heritage-led approach in the prospect of the
Historic Urban Landscape (2011). Towards this purpose, three case-studies, showcasing the dynamics that industrial heritage’s implementation in urban regeneration processes offers in different scales, were analyzed. Conclusively, this study suggests the management of Edessa’s industrial complexes as a network rather than as an assembly of individual units, that would stimulate an urban regeneration process, promoting and enhancing its urban landscape.