Page 22 - Beyond Decommissioning

Introduction 3

Fig. 1.2 The Church of Saint Agatha in Prison, Catania, Italy.
Photo by M. Laraia (2018).

stage sea battles but was a reservoir used as a water supply for the gymnasium and the
city. As shown in Fig. 1.3, part of the structure was later converted to private
dwellings.
Over the millennia, literally many thousands of structures have been reused for new
purposes, as the few above-mentioned examples show. Reuse projects have addressed
churches, theaters, hospitals, barns, just to name a few. This book, however, addresses
only the reuse of industrial structures.
The industrial revolution, and the mass production associated with it, helped support
workers and their families for almost two centuries and contributed to shaping the
world’s economy, social habits, and environment to this day. The industrial buildings
and sites are a consequence of the industrial revolution: their sturdiness, large size, and
appearance have transformed our landscapes and mindsets. The United Kingdom
was the first industrial nation, followed by European nations, the United States, and
eventually most nations of the world. However, all industries gradually became obso-
lete in technology or unproductive, and were replaced by more advanced industries
or no industries at all. The developed countries’ society has changed from a
manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one in the period from mid-1960s
to mid-1980s.
Following the industrial revolution, deindustrialization has generated thousands of
deserted and unused industrial buildings worldwide. Complexes of these vacant build-
ings have created widespread phenomena, known to the specialists as industrial
ruination. For many, industrial ruination has resulted in a kind of stigma. Deindustri-
alization is a process of social and economic change triggered by the removal or