Industrial Heritage: Regeneration or Preservation
This blog is part of my university assignment about global and cyber heritage, I have decided to look at the issue of industrial heritage and its preservation and if this can be combined with regeneration.
Industrial heritage gives us connection to our past and future in a way that more traditional forms of heritage cannot. Industrial heritage is the story of the people who made nations.
Welcome
Please follow the link below, watch the presentation and then follow the link back to the blog to register your views and answer the questions that were posed in it. Please feel free to share this blog with others you feel have an interest in the preservation of industrial heritage.
You can navigate through the presentation using the arrows which will appear at the bottom of the screen, if you want to look at the images in more detail just click on them. Moving the cursor back to the bottom of the screen will return you to the navigation arrows.
There are links in the presentation which may not work if it is not run in the 'Full Screen' mode, to do this, click on the 'More' button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and select 'Full Screen'.
We are now said to be living in a 'post-industrial' society; what does that say about areas of the world that are major manufacturers now (e.g. China)?
I always thought that post industrial is a difficult phrase. If it means that most of us earn a living by not working in factories I suppose that (possibly even in China) that's true. We are also post agrarian but a lot of people make a living off the land. Is banking an industry? I guess that the truth is the balance of occupation is now more varied than say in the 16th century, the 19th or even the early 20th.
I have read somewhere that we are currently living in the 'knowledge age' following the 'computer age' which followed the 'industrial age' (therefore post-industrial). I agree with Quercus, industry continues in all countries including this one albeit on a different scale and therefore, I feel, the 'label' is over simplistic and largely open to misunderstanding.
Equally I think that these types of labels speak of the most advanced technology in the world of economy and if that is true then the vast majority of the globe live in a 'post-industrial society'. They may have different priorities but they probably still use computers, physics, bio-chemical engineering etc on some level.
We should be cautious here that an attempt to prove or disprove this idea of 'western bias on heritage' doesn't not diminish, marginalise or positively discriminate against countries we think are not having a voice or 'not as developed'.
Therefore I don't think it says anything about places like China other than we are maybe looking too hard at trying to compartmentalise each other even in heritage.
It says that cultures develop at different speeds and in different ways, I think that this interpretation of the world links more closely to ideas of cultural imperialism than questions of heritage.
i agree with the above answer, it almost suggests that we have developed faster as a country, but i would consider China to be a more powerful and financially successful country, which is in some way achieved by their industrial exporting worldwide
It can only be seen that one day the deindustrialisation will happen to areas of mass production such as China but at the end of the day someone needs to produce what the world consumes.
Some good answers here and I tend to follow the consensus - seems like the phrase "post-industrial" refers to not getting dirty hands anymore - the computer scientist / technician is no less industrious. From a purely historical perspective, China was tapping natural gas and oil for industrial purposes centuries before the west. This is less an industrial heritage issue but more socio-economic - unfortunately at great environmental cost in many regions of the world.
Britain is certainly in a "post industrial period" if compared to the "heavy industries" of the late 18th to mid 20th Centuries. This view point can depend upon your interpretation of "Industry". We of course still have many industries such as the Service Industry, Financial Industry, Hospitality Industry etc, but these are not the Heavy Industries of old. The Far East has taken over a high proportion of the essential manufacturing industries through their culture, use of technology communications and cheap labour. Whilst consumable products are required, the World will always need industry, it will however modernise and will inevitable move around the globe in search of cheap manpower.
As commented in 4 – it may be that only a post industrial society has the time and will to try to preserve what has been lost. Why preserve a manufacturing process when you’re still using it!
The question I think is who are the 'we', where is the 'society' and who determines it as 'post-industrial', especially if, as is stated today, there was no Industrial Revolution - it is simply a progressive based lifeform that is passing on its way to a higher level of existence.
I always thought that post industrial is a difficult phrase. If it means that most of us earn a living by not working in factories I suppose that (possibly even in China) that's true. We are also post agrarian but a lot of people make a living off the land. Is banking an industry? I guess that the truth is the balance of occupation is now more varied than say in the 16th century, the 19th or even the early 20th.
ReplyDeletePost industrial - England now it has achieved theme park status!
ReplyDeleteI have read somewhere that we are currently living in the 'knowledge age' following the 'computer age' which followed the 'industrial age' (therefore post-industrial). I agree with Quercus, industry continues in all countries including this one albeit on a different scale and therefore, I feel, the 'label' is over simplistic and largely open to misunderstanding.
ReplyDeleteEqually I think that these types of labels speak of the most advanced technology in the world of economy and if that is true then the vast majority of the globe live in a 'post-industrial society'. They may have different priorities but they probably still use computers, physics, bio-chemical engineering etc on some level.
We should be cautious here that an attempt to prove or disprove this idea of 'western bias on heritage' doesn't not diminish, marginalise or positively discriminate against countries we think are not having a voice or 'not as developed'.
Therefore I don't think it says anything about places like China other than we are maybe looking too hard at trying to compartmentalise each other even in heritage.
It says that cultures develop at different speeds and in different ways, I think that this interpretation of the world links more closely to ideas of cultural imperialism than questions of heritage.
ReplyDeletei agree with the above answer, it almost suggests that we have developed faster as a country, but i would consider China to be a more powerful and financially successful country, which is in some way achieved by their industrial exporting worldwide
ReplyDeleteIt can only be seen that one day the deindustrialisation will happen to areas of mass production such as China but at the end of the day someone needs to produce what the world consumes.
ReplyDeleteSome good answers here and I tend to follow the consensus - seems like the phrase "post-industrial" refers to not getting dirty hands anymore - the computer scientist / technician is no less industrious.
ReplyDeleteFrom a purely historical perspective, China was tapping natural gas and oil for industrial purposes centuries before the west.
This is less an industrial heritage issue but more socio-economic - unfortunately at great environmental cost in many regions of the world.
Britain is certainly in a "post industrial period" if compared to the "heavy industries" of the late 18th to mid 20th Centuries. This view point can depend upon your interpretation of "Industry". We of course still have many industries such as the Service Industry, Financial Industry, Hospitality Industry etc, but these are not the Heavy Industries of old. The Far East has taken over a high proportion of the essential manufacturing industries through their culture, use of technology communications and cheap labour. Whilst consumable products are required, the World will always need industry, it will however modernise and will inevitable move around the globe in search of cheap manpower.
ReplyDeleteAs commented in 4 – it may be that only a post industrial society has the time and will to try to preserve what has been lost. Why preserve a manufacturing process when you’re still using it!
ReplyDeleteThe question I think is who are the 'we', where is the 'society' and who determines it as 'post-industrial', especially if, as is stated today, there was no Industrial Revolution - it is simply a progressive based lifeform that is passing on its way to a higher level of existence.
ReplyDelete