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Possibilities for (re)Activation of Vacant Industrial Buildings: CROSSROADS AND ROAD SIGNSRecycling became very significant for modern societies which aspire to the environment sustainability. By trying to diminish, reuse and recycle the lost, we find new life in everything, from empty bottles and boxes to clothing, vehicles and buildings.
When the recycling of buildings of great cultural and historical value in question, the benefit for the community and its environment is vaster, being that these kinds of structures are part of the landscape and identity and they contribute to authenticity of the communities they belong to. Besides, the reuse of the abandoned buildings implies preservation of the “built in energy” of original spaces which makes projects like these more sustainable in comparison to those which purport the construction of completely new structure. A great number of vacant industrial buildings throughout Europe have been successfully revitalized by being architecturally adapted, revived with new contents and functions and reused in contemporary life. Unfortunately, apart from the incoherent and sporadic initiatives, a quality practice of protection and integration of the structures of the industrial heritage in social and economical development of the communities hasn’t been established yet, in Serbia as a whole, or in Belgrade. The majority of deserted industrial complexes in Belgrade and Serbia, whose cultural and historical significance hasn’t been properly valorised, are more and more threatened to be irreversibly lost for the community they belong to. On the other hand, there are numerous spaces and vacant buildings whose quality adaptation and assignment of new functions could help preserve the cultural and historical significance they own, and, at the same time, contribute to their economical independence and sustainability. Generally speaking, the revitalization of the industrial heritage and of the vacant industrial structures, as its segment, represents a complex process whose quality implementation implies involvement of experts and professionals of various profiles, appliance of methods of different scientific disciplines and their mutual and simultaneous acting. Research, identification, documentation, valorization of the cultural and historical significance and determination of the most adequate approaches in protection represent the first steps in the given process, for whose realization the involvement of archeologists, art and architecture historians, architects, anthropologists, ethnologists, conservators and engineers is necessary. After completing the basic research, after determining the state of the building and after providing the elementary protection, it is necessary to find out the needs and reasons for reviving structures and based on those, and on possibilities for adaptation, to determine the new function. The determination of new functions of the mentioned spaces, and their adaptation for contents which would meet the local community’s needs, represent a responsible task for managers and operators in culture, representatives of the public, civil and business sector but for local communities and every individual as well. The mere adaptation of the deserted structures and complexes represents a challenge for architects and designers in finding innovative and creative solutions which would enable a successful reuse of the industrial buildings based on preservation of their authenticity and value. Being that the industrial heritage represents an important generator of the historical and urban identity of communities, by properly valorising, revitalizing and reviving it with contents which are in function of meeting the local community’s needs, the structures would not only gain an adequate care and protection but they would also contribute to the progress of the community. This is why it is necessary to work on informing the public on significance of industrial heritage of Serbia, about the responsibility of all of us for its protection, as well as about the needs and possibilities for its integration in the contemporary life. _______________________________________________________________________________ Conference Rivers and Industrial Heritage — Possibilities for (RE) Activation of Vacant Industrial Buildings and Structures in Serbia: Challenges and Practices
Belgrade, 17th and 18th of September 2007 Being aware of the existing need and wishing to encourage a more responsible attitude towards the industrial heritage domain, among the professionals and the wide public, we organized an international conference with the topic “Rivers and Industrial Heritage — Possibilities for (RE) Activation of Vacant Industrial Buildings and Structures in Serbia: Challenges and Practices” in Belgrade on 17th and 18th September 2007. The conference was a part of the official program of the manifestation “European Heritage Days 2007” and it was realized in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of Pančevo and organizations Cultural Front, Europa Nostra and Association for Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage ARCH, with support of the Ministry of culture of the Republic of Serbia, the City of Belgrade, the Embassy of the Republic of France in Belgrade and the Municipality of Pančevo. In the focus of the Conference were the experiences of professionals from Serbia and abroad as well in the domain of valorisation and reuse of the industrial heritage for the cultural/non-profit purposes, as well as the commercial/profitable ones. The participants of the Conference were experts and professionals active in the field of protection, valorisation and revitalization of the industrial heritage from the entire Republic of Serbia whose professional profiles ranged from representatives of relevant institutions and organizations, cultural and tourist agents and operators, architects, urban planners, managers and experts in the field of heritage management and other related domains, to representatives of the state government and local municipalities. This conference gathered a vast number of referees, professionals from Serbia, from neighboring countries as well as from EU countries which have a rich industrial heritage and a long tradition of its revitalization: Prof. Dr Wolfgang Ebert, ERIH (Germany), John Rodger, Blaenavon Industrial Landscape WHS (United Kingdom), Fazette Bordage, Mains d’Oeuvres/Artfactories (France), Angus Fowler, Europa Nostra (Germany), Prof. PhD Irina Subotić, Europa Nostra (Serbia), Tadej Brate, The Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute (Slovenia), Miljenko Smokvina, Association “Pro Torpedo” Rijeka (Croatia), Tamas Loky, SIN Culture centre (Hungary), Milan Ivanovski and Mile Velčovski, The National Conservation Centre Skopje (Macedonia), Mr Rifat Kulenović, The Museum of Science and Technology (Serbia), Aleksandar Stanojlović, Yugo cycling campaign (Serbia), Prof. PhD Nađa Kurtović-Folić, The Faculty of Architecture,Belgrade (Serbia), Mr Žaklina Gligorijević, Belgrade Urban Planning Institute (Serbia), Mr Mirjana Đekić, Regional Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of Vojvodina (Serbia), Mirjana Andrić, Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute Kragujevac (Serbia), Aleksandra Trifković, Ivana Volić and Sonja Prentović, Faculty for Sport and Tourism, Novi Sad (Serbia), Jelena Živković, The Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade University (Serbia), Prof. PhD. Ružica Bogdanović (Belgrade Urbanists Association) (Serbia), Jovan Blat, Center for Fine and Applied Art, Terra Kikinda (Serbia), Marijana Cvetković, NGO Stanica, The Warehouse in Kraljevića Marka (Serbia), Neda Knežević, NGO ARCH (Serbia), Snežana Večanski, The Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute Pančevo (Serbia), Maja Šotra, DIN/FILIP MORIS (Serbia), Borislav Šurdic, Ministry of culture of the Republic of Serbia, Dragana Zeljković, The Belgrade City Council (Serbia), Ana Sofrenović, actress and drama artist (Serbia), Gordana Plamenac, The Tourist Organization of Serbia (Serbia), Katarina Živanović, The cultural centre REX (Serbia), Prof. PhD Milena Drgićević-Šešić, The University of Arts, Belgrade (Serbia). The following text summarizes conclusions, identified problems and formulated recommendations produced by the participants of the Conference during their two-day work, which were upgraded by results of the consultative process that, among the other, included a public analysis of the Conference’s results which was conducted in October 2008. A special contribution to coming up with conclusions and formulating references was given by the results of a panel discussion “The possibilities for (re)activating the vacant industrial structures in Serbia” which was held within the Conference. _______________________________________________________________________________ Conclusions: Industrial heritage – European value • All over the Europe industrialization of the 19th century meant modernization and beginning of the new age. In that context, industrial heritage represents important element and generator of contemporary European identity. • Key problems that were identified in the field of industrial heritage and related to its quality exploitation do not represent specificity for Serbia, they are common and present in almost all countries in the surrounding countries. • Specific value of industrial heritage in Serbia could be seen in a fact that it represents part of European heritage and memory since great number of industrial buildings were built by architects from different European countries (e.g. Jews, Checs, etc.) who came at the beginning of the 20th century in Serbia in order to support its citizens in building and development of a new society. Therefore industrial heritage can be perceived as material evidence of cultural diversity of Serbian society and its connections with European and world cultural heritage. Cross-sector cooperation – necessity and demand • Despite the fact that certain initiatives have been underwent, as well as successful projects have been realized in the field of revitalization of industrial heritage in Serbia, which have been based on participation and cooperation among public, civil and private sector, this kind of cooperation and joint actions should be more consistent and based on the long-term goals. • Experiences and numerous examples of good practice all over the Europe show that projects directed on quality revitalization of industrial heritage are based on cross-sector partnerships and their successful implementation commands inclusion of and cooperation among public, private and civil sector. However, support of state institutions is of utmost importance and state should play key role in those processes, the state is should estimate which projects are worth investment and which projects are of the greatest significance for overall benefit of cities, communities and state itself. Modernization of existing legislative and standards • Process of revitalization of industrial heritage in Serbia is in its initial phase and that can be seen as adequate moment for setting-up framework and establishing principles and standards which will enable quality development of the field of industrial heritage. • Harmonization of existing standards and regulations with those which are already accepted all over the Europe, together with introducing new, modern standards in the field of industrial heritage protection and revitalization is one of possible solutions for improving the situation in the field and one of the first steps aimed at intensification of the process. • First phase in the process of revitalization of monuments of industrial culture should be making the list of existing monuments, and after that valorization which should be effectuated by state institutions of cultural heritage protection. Next phase should be revitalization of monuments through different contents. Cultural policy • Responsibility for current bad situation in the field of industrial heritage is shared among Government which did not create determined cultural policy that would provide environment stimulant and encouraging for development of industrial heritage, local municipalities because of neglecting importance of industrial heritage and its potentials for local development, and different national and local institutions because of inert attitude regarding affirmation of industrial heritage and often neglecting this segment of cultural built heritage, but also responsible are all citizens who could contribute significantly to integration of industrial heritage in life and development of local community. • Basic need and requirement of development and improvement of the field of industrial heritage is more intensive informing of wide public on importance and potentials of industrial heritage, as well as higher level of transparency in institutions’ acting together with higher level of citizens’ participation. • Establishing a kind of interim body that would make a link between all sectors and that would gather the initiatives within the country could be one of possible solutions and/or potential instrument for fostering development of the industrial heritage. • Successful realization of projects in the field of industrial heritage revitalization necessitates support of European funds which, on the other hand, demands synchronized action of different stakeholders within the country and directing investments that are coming in Serbia on long term needs and long term objectives and needs. Also, we need initiatives that are not occasional and random, but good planned, continuous initiatives with concrete results. • Generally speaking, level of knowledge on industrial heritage among experts and wide public as well is extremely low. Fortunately, certain number of scientific researches and thesis in the field of industrial heritage protection and re-use have been produced recently. Civic initiatives and local community inclusion • Industrial buildings can serve to different functions and wide range of needs, but their role in the overall community development mostly depend on needs and priorities of local community representatives and their perception on what should be the new purpose of the space inn order to contribute to fulfillment of needs of local people and achieving common wellbeing. • Belgrade is a city with rich and diverse industrial heritage which could have numerous and multidimensional uses in contemporary life. Certain quarters of the city (e.g. city municipality Čukarica, one of the Belgrade suburbs) nowadays represent places of collective memories related to industrial culture and that could be main generator in the process of industrial heritage revitalization. • In Serbia exist large number of vacant industrial objects which served to different industries in the past and which lost their primary functions due to continuous dying of industry, and from whose revitalization could benefit whole local community. Built heritage - protection • Speaking about transformation and re-use of buildings as one of possible concepts of protection and revitalization of built heritage, in the field of industrial heritage two main categories can be identified: buildings and structures that are still in function and complexes that are not in use any more and where does not exist live industry. Second category of buildings can become useful for community by gaining new functions that are aimed at fulfilling the needs and interest of community they belong to. On the territory of Serbia exist certain number of industrial complexes that are not any more in service of industries they initially served to, that are devastated and in their recovering nothing was invested for decades (e.g. Very often industrial buildings are older than 100 years) Such examples open numerous questions related to the need of identifying the best way and possible solution for their protection, but also for identifying real needs, reasons and potentials for their transformation and re-use. • In economically developed countries projects aimed at revitalization of industrial heritage are perceived as initiatives contributing to environment protection and sustainability while the concept of recycling, adaptation and re-use of vacant buildings is accepted as model for fulfilling basic mission of cultural sector in the field of heritage which is appropriate protection and revitalization of buildings that are evaluated as monuments of culture. Industrial heritage and cultural tourism • Industrial heritage could represent great potential in cultural tourism development in Serbia being a cultural resource whose integration in tourist offer could contribute to its attractiveness and enrichment with contents which can not be categorized as typical tourist ones. In contribution to this hypothesis can serve fact that number of big companies that are present on Serbian market is rapidly growing, and since they organize different gathering events for their employees and business partners, events that require unusual, atypical and original environment, environment that would improve company’s image among partners and motivate employees to do something that will contribute to company upgrading. • Development of cultural tourism at global level verifies its important role in and contribution to revitalization of industrial heritage and enabling industrial heritage resources in becoming economically sustainable, contributing, in that way, to overall socio-economic development of regions and local communities. Therefore cultural tourism development represents one of potent instruments and possible solutions for quality revitalization and exploitation of industrial heritage potentials in overall societal development. _______________________________________________________________________________ Problems/needs • Lack of clearly defined and stimulant legislation and regulations in the field of industrial heritage revitalization which would enable rapid development and upgrading; • Lack of quality, systematic and overall system of protection and revitalization of industrial heritage, which results in situation when development of the whole field depends on individual, occasional and usually non-linked initiatives and enthusiasm of individuals; • Overall research, archiving and valorization of industrial heritage has never been conducted in Serbia; • Surveys on cultural needs which would facilitate determining new purposes and functions of revitalized buildings, and which were conducted few times, are more indicator of discrepancy in comparison with what has been concretely done; • Lack of strategy as well as political and cultural vision that would facilitate quality and efficient development of industrial heritage field; • Nonexistence of authorized body that would continuously foster activism, link and support different initiatives and stakeholders in the process of revitalization of industrial heritage at all authority levels; • Deficiency in long-term cross-sector partnerships and cooperation, as well as joint actions of institutions responsible for protection and revitalization of industrial heritage; • Unawareness of values and potentials of certain industrial complexes and structures that were built during the SFRJ, which is caused by omnipresent negative attitude towards everything that emerged during the socialist period, but which, on the contrary, represent significant resources not only for cultural sector but also for sector of tourism; • Non-regulated ownership relations represent the most often obstacle in development of industrial heritage in Serbia, as well as key reason for stagnation in the process of revitalization of vacant industrial buildings and complexes and their re-use; • Strong need for creative constructions and installations that will connect legacy of the past with contemporary needs, is present among young people who are creative and capable enough to introduce innovations in their everyday environments, but who are in the most of cases not enough informed on importance and potentials of industrial heritage in that context; • Unawareness of wide public on industrial heritage as very important segment of cultural heritage and constructive element of cultural identity which possess great potential for development; • Nonexistence of regulations and legislation in the domain of partnerships among public, civil and private sectors; • Deficiency in strategic plans which would identify priorities and determine the most adequate ways of intervention all over the country; • Lack of knowledge in the general public on industrial heritage, level of its endangerousness and marginalization, which as the final result has unawareness of the need for and possibilities of its reviving and use for different purposes; • Lack of motivation among citizens for initiating or participating in activities in this field; • Deficiency in number and profile of scientific magazines that deal with protection and revitalization of industrial heritage, magazines that will present different initiatives and approaches in the field of industrial heritage; • Access to large number of vacant industrial buildings and complexes is almost impossible, and that disables experts, motivated students and other relevant individuals to gain knowledge on this segment of heritage and slows initiation of activities directed towards its revitalization. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Recommendations • Basic instrument that could incite development of the field of industrial heritage is creation and endorsement of document which would lead to and facilitate changes in existing system of heritage protection; • In order to start process of revitalization of industrial heritage, it is necessary to identify and record all buildings which could be valorized as important cultural heritage resources and which need immediate treatment, and after that to make analysis on the most suitable purposes of those constructions. In that way it would be easier to identify buildings that could be encompassed by strategic plan of development. Next step should be setting-up categories within the industrial heritage corpus and defining criteria for their preservation based on those categories – determining type of building, historical period/style it represents, is it valuable preserving and is it possible to change its purpose and re-use it with new functions; • First step in the process of revitalization of industrial heritage, is conducting the research on historical data, but also research of the situation on the field that will encompass buildings and complexes in order to determine their role and effectuate cultural and historical valorization. Next phase is protection since it is very important to properly restore and protect it in order to use it again. However, initiating the process in Serbia requires establishing certain disciplines and educational programs that would produce experts and professionals of relevant profiles. • It is necessary to build integrative approach to the field of industrial heritage, to establish links between different professions, sectors, institutions at the level of educational system itself. This means that it is necessary to introduce new programs in educational system based on principle of interdisciplinarity and to provide new type of trainings which would not be conducted only in regular educational institutions. Introducing more practical approach in education – realization of concrete projects – would provide quality education of students and enable them for undergoing initiatives and active participation. It is necessary to train large number of individuals who would engage on the fulfillment of goals directed towards industrial heritage protection. • Forthcoming strategies of development and improvement of industrial heritage field should be based on the fact that industrial heritage of Serbia forms part of European industrial heritage and should strive to make it a part of world cultural heritage. • Cities and local municipalities should develop strategies in line with process of national cultural development and they should determine strategic directions of future acting which would enable concrete steps. Together with this all institutions of the system of protection and presentation of cultural heritage should promote industrial heritage. • One of the possible instruments for improvement of the field of industrial heritage could be establishment of agency – intermediary body which will be responsible for undertaking feasibility studies for reanimation and reactivation of industrial heritage and which would be responsible for all initiatives in the country. This approach would provide transparency of all undertaken initiatives and facilitate connecting of different stakeholders on implementation of joint activities. • This type of intermediary body would facilitate setting up the network of individuals, representatives of NGOs, public authorities and business sector and their joint actions which would contribute to strategic development of the industrial heritage at national and local levels. • Apart from researching buildings and complexes themselves it is necessary to conduct survey on needs of diverse societal groups and socio-demographic categories of citizens – who could become users of these spaces (e.g. artists, young people, civil sector organizations, etc.) This type of researches should have political and financial support in order to facilitate long-term planning. In order to demonstrate that projects of revitalization of industrial heritage are feasible and achievable it is recommendable to define action plan and framework based on results of conducted researches and realize at least one project. • In realization of projects directed towards revitalization of vacant industrial buildings bottom- up approach is very important. More precisely, it is necessary to provide opportunity for and enable participation and integration of local community in searching for and determining new functions and new reasons of existence of those spaces. • It is of utmost importance to identify in which way industrial heritage can serve as initiator for the local community in the sense that local community will not look at vacant factory as symbol of dying and stagnation, but as potential and opportunity for creating new space which can become place of life and gatherings. Projects directed towards revitalization of vacant industrial buildings are needed all over Serbia since such projects are important for strengthening urban cohesion and regeneration. This kind of initiatives can be realized at the level of the whole region and they should continue beyond local context. • Projects of revitalization of industrial heritage represent challenge but also opportunity for sector of culture which could become key player in the process of transforming industrial heritage into something that will have use and function in contemporary life. However, spaces in revitalized buildings should not be used exclusively by cultural institutions but also by all those who are capable to invest in and take care of their safeguarding and economic independence and sustainability. • Civil sector organizations should be initiators and main contributors to initiatives directed towards industrial heritage revitalization but participation of business sector is also very important for this kind of projects. Being that this field is not properly regulated by law it is needed that Government design draft law which will provide equal opportunities for representatives of different sectors of society and incentives for cross-sector partnerships. • In order to gain support of political elites and make them better understand and recognize value and potential of industrial heritage it is essential to animate them and to work on their awareness raising on issues in question. Industrial heritage is not only the field under responsibility of the Ministry of culture, it is equally important for other ministries which should also be included in the process of its revitalization. • It is important to provide citizens information on value and significance of industrial heritage and this should be done intensively and continuously with systematic and planned partaking of media. When society and wide public become conscious of benefits of projects of re-use of vacant industrial buildings they will be more willing and decisive to support the idea.
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