According to the TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage), industrial heritage “consists of the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value. These remains consist of buildings and machinery, workshops, mills and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places where energy is generated, transmitted and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as well as places used for social activities related to industry such as housing, religious worship or education”.
Industrial heritage includes all those industrial testimonies and buildings that played a fundamental role in the development of society, the economy and technological innovation during the Industrial Revolutions.
These places offer us a unique window into the history of companies. They are tangible evidence of the materiality and immateriality of human creativity and ingenious solutions that have changed the course of our evolution. Some of these manufacturing sites have been left in ruins, others have been restored, becoming museums and cultural centres, helping to preserve the industrial heritage and some have even become UNESCO sites. The link between the history of the company with the territory and the community is very close from a social, economic and town-planning point of view.
However, despite the intrinsic value of the opportunities it offers, industrial heritage is often at risk of neglect and degradation. Therefore, it is necessary for scholars with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of industrial societies to contribute to the analysis of material traces (the machinery, artefacts and factories) that acquire the role of documentary sources for historians of economics and technology, labour and enterprise, architecture and engineering. The survival of these traces depends on various factors (human and environmental), but the recognition of their historical, cultural and anthropological value is fundamental to bringing the problem of their preservation to the attention of the community. It is the first step on a path that can allow the industrial heritage to be protected and then identify the most effective strategies for future valorisation.
In this context, there has been an increasing number of studies dedicated to industrial heritage in recent years, justified by the rapid changes in economic, political and socio-cultural terms. Furthermore, the influence of these factors requires a continuous and in-depth research of the industrial heritage.
The book, Industrial Heritage: a Multifaceted Approach, edited rigorously by Florentina-Cristina Merciu, is an important scientific contribution that adressess the main relevant themes related to industrial heritage.
The purpose of this book is not only to increase knowledge and the exchange of international experiences between scholars, but also to involve the public so that they become aware of the importance of industrial heritage.
This scientific contribution offers an original palette of approaches to industrial heritage analyzed by specialists from diverse fields (architecture, geography, sociology, history). The scientific methods adopted thus vary depending on the field from case study analysis to qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Moreover, the book concentrates case studies that reflect the diverse typology of industrial heritage justifying the need to debate the various discourses referring to geographical, political and cultural contexts from Croatia, Portugal, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Argentina, Brazil, China and Egypt.
Authors pay attention to several concepts such as industrial housing, collective memory, place attachment, adaptive reuse, circular architecture, conservation, living and technical museums, colonial discourse, industrial tourism that reflects the multidisciplinarity approach of industrial heritage.
Some chapters discuss current topics related to the importance of the rigorous urban planning of the adaptive reuse of the industrial heritage in the context marked by deindustrialization, globalization, service and housing dynamics. It is considered of particular importance to analyze derelict industrial heritage buildings and sites from the perspective of adaptive reuse through minimal interventions on their structure in order to respond to a greater extent to the needs of the community and to reflect their patrimonial values and at the same time to limit their purely economic reuse. From this perspective, this book is of particular interest to the many stakeholders involved in the preservation, conservation and reuse of industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is a valuable resource that deserves attention, protection, promotion and study. Valuing these “cultural complexes” allows us to better understand the past, inspire the present and build an innovative and sustainable future.
Professor PhD. Giovanni PEIRA,
University of Turin,
Turin, Italy