Abstract
This paper proposes that Civil Engineering Heritage is a distinct form of heritage, related to but differing from Industrial Heritage and a separate field that should be treated independently. The critical element that signifies engineering heritage is ingenium or innovation in development of complex technological responses to physical challenges. Engineering heritage requires specific approaches to its identification, documentation, conservation and management. The important first step of this process is a clear understanding of the values and attributes that contribute to the significance of engineering heritage and must be safeguarded. The example of engineering heritage examined here is the colonial steel railway bridges of Pakistan; three case study bridges are presented and the values and attributes of each are discussed. The paper then identifies a set of shared essential values of this type of engineering heritage that can serve as a basis for value-based conservation and management.
Highlights
This paper proposes that Civil Engineering Heritage is a distinct form of heritage, related to but differing from Industrial Heritage, a separate field that should be treated independently from Industrial Heritage
Civil Engineering Heritage very reflects engineering responses to challenges framed by technological limitations of the day: crossing over wild rivers, linking sheer mountain cliffs, boring as well as tunnelling through solid mountains, moving large quantities of water across the landscape and/or controlling its behaviour, creating striking monuments, altering an estuary to accommodate shipping traffic and linking nations with new roads based on historical cultural routes
Like the colonial steel railway bridges, Civil Engineering Heritage features complex technological responses to physical challenges; crossing over wild rivers, linking sheer mountain cliffs, boring as well as tunnelling through solid mountains, moving large quantities of water across the landscape and controlling its behaviour, creating striking monuments, altering an estuary to accommodate shipping traffic and linking nations with new roads based on historical cultural routes
Summary
This paper proposes that Civil Engineering Heritage is a distinct form of heritage, related to but differing from Industrial Heritage, a separate field that should be treated independently from Industrial Heritage. Civil Engineering Heritage very reflects engineering responses to challenges framed by technological limitations of the day: crossing over wild rivers, linking sheer mountain cliffs, boring as well as tunnelling through solid mountains, moving large quantities of water across the landscape and/or controlling its behaviour, creating striking monuments, altering an estuary to accommodate shipping traffic and linking nations with new roads based on historical cultural routes These are technological responses characterised by ingenium—innovative thought and use of materials which resulted in dramatic changes to the environment and to the social and economic lives of communities while at the same time often creating an aesthetic appeal (Engineers Australia Innovation Taskforce 2012). The aim is to test whether investigating and conceptualising historical bridges in this way can lead to more nuanced understanding and, better conservation and management of Pakistan’s steel bridge heritage
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