There are vacancies! The business of industrial urban voids in Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil

Abstract Urban voids stand out in the (re)production of the contemporary city. Formation and transformation processes of these spaces, systematically studied in the last decades, are associated with varied phenomena and agents and with public and private strategies. This article relates recent transformations of industrial urban voids in Fortaleza, State of Ceará, to real estate businesses and urban planning. It highlights the role of the agents involved and implications of developments and new uses to the built environment, as well as consequences of law enforcement. A case study of a set of urban voids located in the city’s old industrial Western periphery is presented. It was found that the transformation process of industrial voids is associated with the real estate market’s actions and the consequent generation of new businesses.