Mediating the Decline of Industrial Cities : Knowledge Production, Heritage-Making and Urban Transformation in Postwar Europe

Abstract

This volume reflects the latest historiographical discussion about the decline, transformation, heritagisation, and re-invention of industrial cities in Europe during the late 20th century. It argues that the notion of “mediation” as it has been used in the history of technology helps to shed new light on the processes of understanding changes of industrial cities before, during, and after the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. The contributors investigate how different actor groups, such as scientists, union members, journalists, politicians, artists, and historians, mediated the understanding of decline, the anticipated future, and the heritage of industrial cities. The authors look at a wide range of European cities during different phases of decline and transformation. The book is aimed at scholars of urban history and industrial history, as well as contemporary European history, the history of technology, and deindustrialisation studies. The contributions also resonate with discussion in neighbouring fields such as urban studies, media studies, cultural studies, sociology, and digital history.