ONLINE REVISED - Industrial Heritage as a Source of Social Empowerment and Economic Revitalization

The course will look at tangible and intangible heritage – landscape, built heritage, mobile heritage, practices, knowledge, and social structures – linked to redundant industrial landscapes. It will address the question of how cultural heritage can change the cultural identity of a region promoting an optimistic future. The course aims to improve the participants’ ability to understand industrial heritage within the dynamic relationship of three levels: the macro-level of regions (spatial planning and territorial development), the meso-level of settlements (urban planning), and the micro-level of buildings. The course will look at the regeneration not only of individual buildings but also of entire regions. However, adaptive reuse of buildings and complexes will be a special focus.
 
Heritage studies will be combined with discussions of visionary leadership to consider how the disadvantages of a redundant region (such as mass unemployment) can be re-positioned as benefits (such as an available skilled workforce). The re-development and management of former industrial sites is a complex process requiring multiple skills and fields of expertise. This is why the course involves a multidisciplinary faculty body, including researchers in various areas, policy experts, spatial planners, managers as well as cultural actors and artists.
 
Besides dealing with various theoretical and methodological problems related to de-industrialization, case studies will constitute an essential part of the course. Applicants will be expected to bring cases that can serve as a basis for in-class discussions and tutorials. When students present cases, they will place themselves in the role of the decision-makers as they analyze the situation and identify the problem they were faced with. Some tutors bring experiences with successful cases and best practices that will enrich the discussion, while others offer a strong academic approach to increase a wider understanding of the issues involved.   Participants will have the opportunity for personal consultations with the tutors on their case studies. 

Course structure

The course is composed of three modules focusing on three broad areas connected to industrial heritage as a social and economic resource.
 
Module 1 focuses on the perception of the industrial past in a deindustrialized era.
 
Module 2 is about policies towards industrial heritage: addressing its economic and social potential, its protection, redevelopment, and the issue of sustainability.
 
Module 3 is designed to present practices: industrial heritage research, protection, management, and interpretation are discussed through case studies and best practices.
 
Each module will be composed of two to four sessions organized by the invited experts. These are complemented by four seminar sessions where the participants present their own projects for discussion. 
The program of each day will be composed of three sessions. The first session will focus on theoretical issues, the second one on practices and the third one will be a seminar where we discuss the projects brought by the participants.
 
In the afternoon break, there will be an opportunity for one-to-one consultations with faculty members.
 
The chosen cases presented by the faculty will provide examples of how regions of industry deal with their industrial heritage. Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage is especially relevant in this context, the opportunities, and challenges of which will also be addressed. The case studies will provide an opportunity to discuss how to turn industrial heritage into economic assets, and the pros and cons of industrial heritage tourism.

Format

The course will be held online. Course participants will get access to readers and video materials in advance.  
 
The online program will include opportunities for group discussions and one-to-one consultations to facilitate mutual knowledge exchange among the participants – faculty and students – in accordance with the mission of the summer course. The coursework will be case-centered due to Module 3 – Practices, as well as to the case presentations by the participants and the related discussions.
 
Attendance and participation in the course’s official programs are mandatory and are part of the participants’ assessment. Participants are expected to read the assigned material for each session and are encouraged to participate in the joint discussions. During the course, participants will work individually and in groups, building on their individual experience and learning, and share their progress and findings with other groups and members of the faculty. Participants are expected to prepare presentations of their projects for the course in a digital form. Individual tutorials and guidelines will be available before and during the course.