Application of Digital Techniques in Industrial Heritage Areas and Building Efficient Management Models: Some Case Studies in Spain

Carlos J Pardo Abad

doi:10.3390/app9204420

Abstract

This research represents a novel contribution regarding the application of digital technology to the management and cultural promotion of industrial heritage. The study answers questions about the level of digital transformation of certain preselected buildings and areas of great historical and technical interest. It includes an extensive bibliographic review and analyzes different variables linked to webpages, which are the main source of information for visitors, and studies the level of digitization using a survey of the technical managers. The results are valuable because they offer an original profile of selected industrial heritage sites, characterized by an important connection between visitors, visited spaces, and available resources; the interaction of these three elements with the surrounding territory, fostering a new competitive capacity; the projection of each place in a modern and attractive way; and the commitment to an efficient and sustainable local management model. The results provide a fresh look at the technological changes embodied by new uses in old industrialization sites. In addition, the performed analysis could easily be applied and operationally compared in other different heritage environments.

Highlights

The information and knowledge society, internet, e-commerce, connectivity breakthroughs or the generalization of mobile devices and applications have prompted a new technological framework that has greatly impacted all social, economic, and cultural activities
The digital transformation of industrial heritage sites boosts the influx of tourists and their degree of satisfaction which, in turn, encourages the conservation of other historical industrialization sites
The legacy of industrialization must be re-read from an integrated, scientific, and innovative perspective: (i) Integrated, because you cannot interpret isolated objects from each other or outside the environment in which they are located, and this implies a territoriality of unquestionable geographical value; (ii) Scientific, because there can be no more purely descriptive approaches to heritage resources, as occurs in a first phase of discovering and cataloguing the industrial heritage, without explanatory causal references; and (iii) Innovative, because a new information and communication technologies-based framework must be built around industrial heritage as a vehicle for the promotion

Summary

Introduction

The information and knowledge society, internet, e-commerce, connectivity breakthroughs or the generalization of mobile devices and applications have prompted a new technological framework that has greatly impacted all social, economic, and cultural activities. The digital transformation of industrial heritage sites boosts the influx of tourists and their degree of satisfaction which, in turn, encourages the conservation of other historical industrialization sites. This reinforces the role of industrial heritage as an emerging cultural resource of great potential for tourism. The legacy of industrialization must be re-read from an integrated, scientific, and innovative perspective: (i) Integrated, because you cannot interpret isolated objects from each other or outside the environment in which they are located, and this implies a territoriality of unquestionable geographical value; (ii) Scientific, because there can be no more purely descriptive approaches to heritage resources, as occurs in a first phase of discovering and cataloguing the industrial heritage, without explanatory causal references; and (iii) Innovative, because a new information and communication technologies-based framework must be built around industrial heritage as a vehicle for the promotion

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