Introduction

In the pantheon of heritage,industrial heritage is rarely highly ranked.When competing against well-known,“traditional”heritage forms—architectural masterpieces,dramatic castles,ancient monuments and beautiful landscapes—the rusted legacies of dirty and dangerous industry have always had a major image problem;a problem that is accentuated in some places where such industries are still functioning.However,slowly but surely,the remnants of the industrial past are being recognised for their significance,not only in shaping the landscape but also in shaping a global culture of industrialism.

The definition of industrial heritage is very broad indeed and has evolved over the past fifty years or so.As with any discussion regarding heritage,a key question relates to value and how communities and societies value the legacies of their industrial pasts.Of course,there are different types of value—historic,architectural,design,symbolic,etc.—and many different motivations behind these values.According to The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage(TICCIH),what we normally include in the category of industrial heritage is:

“...the sites,structures,complexes,areas and landscapes as well as the related machinery,objects or documents that provide evidence of past or ongoing industrial processes of production,the extraction of raw materials,their transformation into goods,and the related energy and transport infrastructures.Industrial heritage reflects the profound connection between the cultural and natural environment,as industrial processes—whether ancient or modern—depend on natural sources of raw materials,energy and transportation networks to produce and distribute products to broader markets.”(Joint ICOMOS/TICCIH Principles for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Sites,Structures,Areas and Landscapes,2011)(https://www.daowen.com)

This definition now extends to incorporate the immaterial aspects of past industrial activity and so includes the crafts and skills and wider practices associated with industrial activity.The intangible aspects of industrialisation are of course,problematic to preserve but nonetheless they are essential to recognise as part of the wider socio-economic contexts that framed industrial life.

It is important to recognise that the value of industrial heritage varies considerably across cultures,political systems,economic conditions and resonates with wider patterns of social change.While most societies have structures in place for the designation,protection,preservation and management of heritage,what constitutes that heritage varies and it would be a reasonable observation to make that there has been less emphasis on industrial heritage until relatively recently.However,as with any form of heritage,a critical question for societies and heritage agencies to reflect upon with regard to industrial heritage is“whose heritage is it?”(Ashworth and van der Aa,2002)

In this article I pick up this question and address what I term the second industrial heritage revolution and the challenges it poses for all those who value the legacies of the industrial past.Today,within societies increasingly dominated by the service sector and with new generations ever distant from the realities of the industrial world,there is an urgent need to re-think our approach to industrial heritage not only in terms of the practicalities of preservation and conservation but also with regard to its effective and sustainable management.Two important and inter-related challenges dominate the field of industrial heritage in the developed world.First is how to maintain those industrial structures that communities and societies really values(Mydland and Grahn,2011).Preservation itself is not enough and industrial sites need to be resourced by finding a creative use and also by applying creative management approaches that can generate the necessary resources to ensure sustainability.Second,it is critical that industrial heritage is made relevant to the younger generations who have grown up in a post-industrial world.This implies more innovative interpretation and looking for new ways to embed and translate the industrial past in the present and future.Drawing upon experiences and practices from the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in the UK—the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution—this article looks at how such challenges can be met and how a new agenda for industrial heritage can be established.