Showing papers on "Industrial heritage published in 1998"

Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage

Abstract: "Destination Culture" takes the reader on an eye-opening journey from ethnological artifacts to kitsch. Posing the question, 'What does it mean to show?' Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett explores the agency of display in a variety of settings: museums, festivals, world's fairs, historical re-creations, memorials, and tourist attractions. She talks about how objects - and people - are made to 'perform' their meaning for us by the very fact of being collected and exhibited, and about how specific techniques of display, not just the things shown, convey powerful messages. Her engaging analysis shows how museums compete with tourism in the production of 'heritage'. To make themselves profitable, museums are marketing themselves as tourist attractions. To make locations into destinations, tourism is staging the world as a museum of itself. Both promise to deliver heritage. Although heritage is marketed as something old, she argues that heritage is actually a new mode of cultural production that gives a second life to dying ways of life, economies, and places. The book concludes with a lively commentary on the 'good taste/bad taste' debate in the ephemeral 'museum of the life world,' where everyone is a curator of sorts and the process of converting life into heritage begins.

Local development and heritage: traditional food and cuisine as tourist attractions in rural areas

Abstract: This paper analyses the transformation and redefinition of local identity in rural France from the perspective of heritage – more precisely food and gastronomy – and local rural tourism. As an identity marker of a geographic area and/or as a means of promoting farm products, gastronomy meets the specific needs of consumers, local producers and other actors in rural tourism. The paper considers the meaning of food from a theoretical perspective. The current interest in traditional food and cuisine is part of a general desire for authentic experiences. At the regional level, the dynamics of building up heritage consist in actualizing, adapting, and re-interpreting elements from the past, thus combining conservation and innovation. Local development can be seen as a process of territorial and heritage construction. Culinary heritage is a social construction and an important resource for local action. The paper examines the case of the Haut Plateau de l’Aubrac (Central France), where the local development process is closely linked to the valorization and the re-creation of gastronomic knowledge and skill.

Heritage tourism: at what price?

Abstract: Heritage and sustainability share a common theme of inheritance. Heritage tourism is, as an economic activity, predicated on the use of inherited environmental and socio-cultural assets in order to attract visitors. Sustainability requires that those assets are carefully managed to ensure that future generations inherit a resource base that is sufficient to support their needs and wants. The purpose of this paper is to consider how sustainability principles might best be applied in the context of heritage tourism, with particular reference to the management of historic properties and gardens. In doing so, the paper considers the findings of a postal survey in the UK of owners of historic properties, heritage consultants, visitor attraction managers and heritage industry representatives. The survey results suggest that while overcrowding, wear and tear, pilfering, graffiti and traffic problems were all significant and widespread causes for concern, the principal dilemma for heritage attractions is how to s...

Industrial Archaeology: Principles and Practice

Abstract: Industrial Archaeology uses the techniques of mainstream archaeological excavation, analysis and interpretation to present an enlightening picture of industrial society. Technology and heritage have, until recently, been the focal points of study in industrialization. Industrial Archaeology sets out a coherent methodology for the discipline which expands on and extends beyond the purely functional analysis of industrial landscapes, structures and artefacts to a broader consideration of their cultural meaning and value. The authors examine, for example, the social context of industrialization, including the effect of new means of production on working patterns, diet and health.

Industrial Heritage Tourism at the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

Abstract: Industrial tourism is a popular subsection of the heritage tourism industry. Although many companies create tourism sites to increase profits, the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation uses tourism as a public relation tool to generate a positive image of the copper industry and to counteract public fears about pollution and environmental degradation.

Industrial heritage attractions: Types and tourists.

Abstract: Heritage tourism has become an important sector in the tourism industry. In fact, interest in heritage tourism among the American public increased 16% from 1991 to 1995. In spite of this surge in demand for heritage tourism little is known about tourists' visitation to “types” of heritage attractions and if their travel behavior characteristics are related to their patterns of visitation. This study examined both issues in the context of industrial heritage tourism. The results indicated that tourists were visiting “types” of industrial heritage attractions. In addition, there was a relationship between the type of trip they were on, the number of people in their travel party, when they made their decision to visit, and the total number of trips they had taken in the last 12 months and the “type” of industrial heritage attraction they visited.

Heritage builds communities: the application of heritage resources to the problems of social exclusion

Abstract: The concept of ‘social exclusion’ has become central to the UK government's political philosophy. The need to combat the causes and deal with the symptoms of ‘social exclusion’ has become vital to many policy initiatives. The use of heritage resources to help deal with social problems has been practised since the early years of the 19th century and can provide a community with a focus, identity and pride as well as making a contribution to regional economies. This paper traces the use of heritage resources in community regeneration programmes and demonstrates their lack of objectives and unplanned nature. A holistic multi‐agency approach is advocated to tackle social exclusion, with heritage playing a central role. Finally, the paper calls for research which will clarify the contribution that heritage resources can make and identify a framework within which heritage can realise its potential to build communities.

Does the past have a future? : the political economy of heritage

Abstract: Many countries are proud of their 'heritage,' in terms of buildings various artefacts from the past. In some cases, a country's heritage is of such interest that people will travel ong distances to view it. But there are resource costs in preserving the past and presenting it: the resources so emplyed could have been used in other activities. How are decisions made about what should be preserved and how should those decisions be made? In Does the Past have a Future?, eight distinguished authors (from France, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) examine such questions and consider alternative means of making preservation decisions, ranging from voting rights for citizens to various forms of privatisation.

Accessing distributed cultural heritage information

Abstract: HE CONSORTIUM FOR THE COMPUTER INTERCHANGE OF MUSEUM INFORMATION (CIMI) is leading an international effort to provide distributed search and retrieval of cultural heritage information [1]. A primary aspect of CIMI’s work utilizes ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1995, an American National Standard protocol for information retrieval [2]. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently approved Z39.50 as ISO 23950. CIMI chose Z39.50 to enable uniform access to existing and emerging digital collections and the vast repositories of cultural heritage information resources. These resources include a variety of physical and digital objects—physical artifacts and digital derivatives of those artifacts, descriptive records designed for collection management, bibliographic records, full-text documents, online tools such as thesauri and authoritative lists of artists’ names, and more. CIMI’s application of Z39.50 in the networked cultural heritage information environment is breaking new ground in distributed and integrated access to textual and nontextual digital collections. William E. Moen

Steel Town: The Making and Breaking of Port Kembla

Abstract: The sun moves across the narrow coastal plain that borders the range to the north ...It shows once separate places now merged into one suburban entity, a ribbon of residential, commercial and industrial development ...There is a commercial centre whose tall metallic and glass structures reflect the light, and celebrate an industrial heritage. And to the south, an area where a mass of industrial buildings converge around a large harbour. This area stands as a telling symbol of the region's golden industrial age. To most Australians Port Kembla is a grimy, polluted, industrial wasteland located down the coast from Sydney. Such images were formed over fifty years ago when industrial development in the town was at its height, and when the expanse of breathtaking coast had been colonised by the stacks and furnaces of heavy industry. Yet the vision of stacks and pollution from furnaces was never the whole storyandmdash;there was always more to Port Kembla. Although these ideas persist even today, they obscure the real experiences of the people of the port. Steel Town illuminates our understanding of the processes of industrial and social change. Port Kembla was unique in Australian termsandmdash;an urban environment where industrial society shaped local life and politics like nowhere else. This book explores the advent and implications of industrial societyandmdash;and the impact of economic decline and deindustrialisation. In his comprehensive and persuasive account of local life Erik Eklund draws together themes of migration, gender, class and identity. Using archival records, oral history interviews and company documents, Steel Town charts the relationship between economic change and the human experience of that change. The story of Port Kembla is the story of the 'big issues' of Australian history writ small on the lives of three generations of local people. The legacy of industrial society is a mixed one; its experiences and consequences are full of contradictions. And that, of course, is the beauty of history.

Archaeology and heritage management in Europe : trends and developments

Abstract: The importance of archaeological heritage management in a united Europe has increased in recent years, and the archaeological scene is changing drastically. Causes of this development are, among others; the end of the political division of Europe and the 'green debate' with its effects on the way in which the archaeological heritage is being treated. Equally important are the effects of the. Malta Convention and the influence of lawmaking within the ED. This paper discusses recent developments and the need for cooperation at a European level, as well as the various opportunities, tasks arid challenges of heritage management in the immediate future.

Disneyfication of Cornwall - developing a Poldark heritage complex

Abstract: Cornwall has undergone rapid change. Traumatic economic crises, from the 1860s to the present agony over South Crofty, the last Cornish mine, have challenged the industrial basis of identity, and over‐fishing has seen the near disappearance of fishing communities. Mass tourism and commodified heritage dominate the scene, if not the economy, and thousands of new residents have been drawn there by this imagery. Cornwall and its people are imagined and represented in bewilderingly diverse ways, from within and without, by native commentators and participants, outside journalists and visitors, artists, writers, film‐makers, holiday promoters and diverse others. Nineteenth‐century narratives of industry, technical achievement and diaspora clash with romantic images of antiquity, Celtic myth and superstition, backwardness, rustication, changelessness and insularity. Images of golden beaches, semi‐tropical gardens and picturesque fishing ports take precedence over those of industrial decline and economi...

History, Cultural Heritage and the Regional Forest Assessment Process

Abstract: Forest history was a relatively neglected area of study until the public land use planning instrumentalities and heritage conservation authorities reassessed the coverage of their registers and funded studies to fill the gaps in their data. Following the 1992 National Forest Policy, comprehensive regional assessments were required as the basis for Regional Forest Agreements. The assessments have been conducted so that a wider range of types of places have been included from a broader base of sources, including community groups. Cultural values are considered for Aboriginal places, historic places, and places of social and aesthetic value. The result is an increase in place data. This article examines the assessment process and the adequacy of the current approach to managing our cultural heritage in forests at a time of declining public resources.

The construction and analysis of the cultural heritage: Some thoughts

Abstract: Notions of the cultural heritage are a key intellectual and political issue for the twenty‐first century, but practical problems relating to the cultural heritage seldom find their way into front‐line political debate, in either the developing world or electoral issues in the developed world. In part this is because at an academic level the cultural heritage lacks a strong disciplined presence and correspondingly an agreed framework of reference and research. This paper is a preliminary exercise towards the establishment of such a frame of reference. It expands the argument into suggestions of the directions research might take, and is intended to encourage debate.

Cultural Heritage and Urban Revitalization: A Meta-Analytic Approach to Urban Sustainability

Abstract: This paper will address the issue of cultural heritage and urban revitalization based on a comparative meta-analytic approach regarding European urban policy experiences.

El patrimonio industrial de la provincia de Alicante. Rehabilitación y nuevos usos

Abstract: Alicante province (Spain), as a result of its secular industrialization processes based on local natural resources, has got an abundant, rich and varied industrial heritage (mills, factories, agroindustrial settlements, equipment and infrastructure related to industrial activities, etc.), which, after having fallen into disuse and oblivion, is being revalued at present, not only because of its cultural value, but also because it is considered as another territorial resource. This paper tries to emphasize that industrial heritage is a socioeconomical resource of the territory and, as such, when possible, it should be protected, preserved and re-used again by giving new functional uses for it. In this sense, the experiences in Europe, Spain and, in particular, in the interior industrial parts of Alicante province are collected.

Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage

Abstract: The cultural dimension of sustainable development is often neglected. In the Summit of Rio the ecological dimension of sustainable development has been emphasised. Last year the World Summit in Copenhagen has analysed the social dimension of sustainability (ONU, 1995).

Architectural heritage: the paradox of its current state of risk

Abstract: The treatment of movable and immovable heritage is markedly different. While movable objects are highly valued and carefully protected, their immovable equivalents are often under a serious cloud of threat. This peril is the result of global mismanagement, failure of governments to provide adequate funds for their maintenance, and lack of recognition by the public that these disappearing resources are assets of major value. Conservators of immovables face special ethical and practical concerns in their efforts to preserve cultural heritage within its context - depicted in this article as case histories from the World Monuments Watch list of endangered sites. The legal and procedural mechanisms that support this task are ineffectual in the face of rapid change. The field needs new methodologies that harness public appreciation of a site's 'sense of place' to guarantee its future.

Policy issues and their impact on practice: heritage conservation in Canada

Abstract: For the past twenty years a value-based approach has dominated the practice of heritage conservation in Canada and will likely continue, as the concept and scope of heritage broadens and fiscal conservatism reigns.

Architectural Conservation in South Africa: The Cape Town Heritage Trust and its Proposal for a National Trust of South Africa

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the development of architectural conservation in South Africa in the light of the country's history and the colonialist influences that were largely responsible for shaping the architectural heritage. Examples are given indicating the nature of this heritage and approaches to architectural conservation in practice. Reference is made to the management of architectural conservation in terms of existing and proposed legislation, the contribution of non-governmental organizations being outlined. The work of the Cape Town Heritage Trust is described, an account being given of its origins, its projects and its prospects. In considering the factors motivating its proposal for the establishment of a National Trust of South Africa, attention is drawn to the present fragmentation of effort and to the need to recognize the heritage of those dispossessed under colonial rule and during the apartheid period. The future of architectural conservation, it is suggested, lies in th...

Museum Acquisitions Policies and the 1970 UNESCO Convention

Abstract: One of UNESCO’s major functions in the preservation of the world cultural heritage is the adoption of appropriate legislation defining the nature and scope of the protection to be provided. In layi...