Connecting with Ambivalent Heritage: Creative Uses of Postindustrial Spaces (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781350426788)

Exploring the difficult and contested sites of deindustrialized society on the brink of transformation to either heritage or wasteland, this volume looks at the creative ways that such sites are (re)used and suggests that they are not always merely abject or abandoned. As a result, our understanding of the meanings given to left over spaces is enhanced by an examination of the ways they are used.

Ambivalent heritage sites are not always recognized for their potential, although artists and people from different recreational activities, such as industrial sites and parkour, use and experience these places in different ways. The contributors introduce fresh ideas on how to approach these sites and the people invested in them, employing multidisciplinary methodologies from archaeology and heritage studies to ethnography and sociology. Through the use of Northern-European case studies such as a former sanatorium, a prison and the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, the reader gains a new perspective on these sites of contestation, which are cherished despite their problematic status. The conclusion is that due to the rapid societal change we are experiencing in the contemporary world, heritage professionals must start to acknowledge and deal with the difficulties that ambivalent heritage sites pose.

Author: Tiina Äikäs
ISBN-10: 1350426784
ISBN-13: 9781350426788
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 03/19/2026
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.55d