In the course of the structural change that began in the 1980s large industrial sites were closed down. In Zürich-West one after another major food and machinery companies stopped production, storage areas became obsolete, huge halls stood empty. In the midst of the recession Sulzer-Escher Wyss turned things around by building a techno-park and helped shape technological change. The transformation into a service society continued unabated in the 1990s and this development also transformed the former industrial district. With a policy based on gentle urban redevelopment, city councillor Ursula Koch steered things in the direction of quality housing and mixed-use districts. The first transformations, such as the Steinfels site, bear the stamp of this policy. At the same time a rich sub-culture developed on the disused industrial sites along with an up-and-coming art scene that used the halls as off-spaces.