Paper short abstract:

Using the "Deep Cities" approach, this paper offers a trans-European analysis of transformation as cultural and social value as well as its dissonant nature. It does so in three post-industrial areas of Barcelona, London and Oslo.

Paper long abstract:

Cities are complex systems in constant change. The multiple changes to which cities are subject to form a palimpsest in which some structures are preserved and others perish in which part of their history is staged, narrated and revealed to a wider audience, while other parts remain hidden. Using the Deep Cities approach adopted by the JPI-CH Curbatheri/Deep Cities project (www.deepcities.eu), we argue that these historical transformations can in themselves offer new ways of approaching the conservation of urban heritage. We support this contention through the use of participatory, ethnographic and digital methods in three post-industrial cities. Critical reflections on how to accommodate different ways of applying the concepts of time, temporality and survival can be made, thus laying the foundations for a multi-layered sustainable and social conservation, a “conservation of care”. Our case studies relate to development of post-industrial cities including: Barcelona metropolitan area in Sant Andreu de Palomar (Barcelona), the Royal Arsenal conservation area in Woolwich (London) and The Tukthus Prison Quarter (Oslo). Some of the questions under exploration are: “Should we protect cities as images frozen in time, without taking into account the events that take place in them?”, “Which “heritages” should we conserve?” and “Wouldn’t it be more sustainable to focus on the conservation of a site if we already know about its historical uses and transformations?”. These and more transformation related questions are explored through the lenses of a deep cities approach that regards change as a cultural and social value in itself.