Connecting with Ambivalent Heritage

Exploring the difficult and contested sites of deindustrialised society on the brink of transformation to either heritage or wasteland, this open access 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 leftover spaces is enhanced by an examination of the ways they are used.

Ambivalent heritage sites are not always recognised 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.

The ebook editions of Connecting with Ambivalent Heritage are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the University of Oulu.