ReIH: An online knowledge Platform for Industrial Heritage Reuse

This paper presents an innovative online tool, which enables the review of industrial heritage reuse practice internationally. The website ‘ReIH. Industrial Heritage Reuse in Europe’ is the product of 4 years of research, conducted within the framework of a PhD investigation titled “Control Shift. European Industrial Heritage Reuse in Review”. Being more than a conventional database, it includes both an extended digital registry with more than 150 case studies of transformed industries across Europe as well as background information about the development of industrial heritage reuse practice in Britain, the Netherlands, Greece and Spain. An important feature of the website is its dynamic character, facilitating the processing and management of existing data while also allowing for the update and extension of the registry in a user friendly way. This online knowledge platform is a far reaching effort. In the short term, it is aimed at the extensive recording of reused industries, the dissemination of this information and the familiarization of both specialists and the public on this significant, widely employed practice. On the long run, through a collaboration network providing additional information, this project has the potential to become a comprehensive point of reference for industrial heritage reuse on a European or global scale.