The Transformation of European Historical Shipyards and Arsenals (EHS&A)
The transformation of historic shipyards and arsenals into heritage sites poses crucial issues for preservation, protection and use, with significant socio-economic impacts. Their changing uses—from production to other activities (e.g. exhibitions, shops, housing)—have detached them from their original meanings and imbued them with new ontologies that somehow co-habit with the old ones, leading to tensions between preservation and innovation. Practically, this has also brought managerial challenges far subtler than generating income and managing visitor flows: sites must trade-off the different and often conflicting priorities of preservation, productivity, housing, visitor enjoyment, community engagement, etc., often taking place with a huge process of urban regeneration. For this project, we invite experts of major EHS&A to discuss the process of transformation of these sites, with a particular lens on open access and access from citizens. This will provide a unique opportunity for discussing possible developments in general, and in particular for the Venice Arsenale. The initiative is co-organized by the University of Bologna and Oxford University, with the collaboration of a variety of institutions involved in the transformation of individual EHS. AIPAI will stream the three events.
Luca Zan, Pegram Harrison in collaboration with AKT & Hermann Czech
