Strategies for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals

Dear Colleagues,

During the last few decades, industrial heritage has steadily increased in its social recognition as one more typology of cultural heritage. Compared to other types of heritage with a greater social tradition, industrial heritage presents some special characteristics and circumstances. These aspects must be identified for the correct interpretation of their assets, and pose difficulties when acting on this typology. But they also turn industrial immovable assets into strategic opportunities for the sustainable development of our cities, territories and society.

The future of an industrial facility, due to its direct link to the production process that justifies its own existence and its industrial nature, is linked to that of the activity itself. Once the activity ceases, the future of the facilities is unknown. Initially, the efforts around this typology were oriented to the recognition of its values ​​and interests, as a necessary argument for its protection and conservation. Once this recognition has been achieved, the main challenge consists in managing this heritage for its proper conservation and reuse. And for this, both the cultural value of these assets and the key role that reuse actions can have in the sustainable development of our cities must be considered.

Ii is easy to identify large industrial areas whose activity has ceased and which represent ideal locations to implement urban and environmental regeneration policies, sustainable urban planning strategies and initiatives for local development, among other possible approaches.

Unlike other types of cultural heritage, industrial heritage has a greater number of assets, which also continue and will continue increasing as a result of productive activity. In addition, many of them are located in sites affected by other interests, especially in urban locations, but also in rural environments. Thus, all these assets and industrial areas must face a transformation from their origin, linked to the profitability of the productive activity, towards their sustainable conservation over time, which requires new activities that enable their conservation.

With all this, the protection of this typology and the action on its assets cover a wide range of challenges and strategies that are of interest within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations. The protection and sustainable conservation of this typology begins with the promotion of its goods and values ​​among society, what includes teaching initiatives on industrial heritage issues, research works, musealization, etc. And it is from a better understanding of this type of property and a greater social appreciation of its characteristics, that it will be possible to define actions and reuse policies in which citizens participate.

This Special Issue will serve to compile proposals, initiatives, good practices, research, and experiences of a very varied nature that represent contributions of interest in the enhancement of industrial heritage and also to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through actions oriented to this typology, considering both intangible heritage and movable or immovable assets, and from territorial scales to scales focused to specific elements.

Some of the main topics that have a place in this Special Issue are the following: Sustainable Development Goals (SGD); Horizon 2030; Cataloging and analysis; Reuse; Tourism and promotion; Musealization; Technological and manufacturing studies; Teaching; Virtualization, representation and augmented reality; Monitoring and control; Cross-border cooperation; Acting through organizations and groups.

Prof. Dr. Juan Claver
Prof. Dr. Miguel Sebastián
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.