Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and four other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Protection and Utilization of Industrial Heritage in Old Industrial Cities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), to accelerate the protection and utilization of industrial heritage in old industrial cities, promote the coordinated advancement of industrial heritage protection and utilization with cultural protection and inheritance, industrial innovation and development, and urban function enhancement, facilitate urban renewal and transformation, and explore new paths for the transformation and development of old industrial cities.
Industrial heritage is a testament to industrial civilization, a carrier of industrial culture, and an important component of human cultural heritage. Currently, the protection and utilization of industrial heritage in our country is relatively weak, especially as some industrial heritage has been damaged, destroyed, or even disappeared, necessitating effective protection and reasonable utilization measures.
The "Plan" clarifies the guiding ideology for promoting the protection and utilization of industrial heritage in old industrial cities, starting from the actual development of old industrial cities, proposing six tasks: conducting resource identification and management, promoting key protection and display, improving the industrial museum system, flourishing new business formats and models, expanding new spaces for cultural life, and shaping a new image of urban civilization. It aims to create a series of "living show belts" that integrate urban memory, knowledge dissemination, creative culture, and leisure experience, continuing the historical context of the city and adding new momentum to the high-quality development of old industrial cities.
The "Plan" proposes to establish a graded protection mechanism for industrial heritage, comprehensively carry out surveys, assessments, and identifications of industrial heritage, and build an industrial heritage database. The list of identified industrial heritage will be promptly published to the public, and industrial heritage with significant value will be timely confirmed and announced as protected cultural relics and precious movable cultural relics. Accelerate the identification and rescue of endangered industrial heritage, improve the archival records of industrial heritage, and strengthen maintenance and repair. Establish a monitoring and evaluation system to conduct dynamic monitoring of industrial heritage and assess the benefits of protection and utilization.
At the same time, the "Plan" proposes to effectively strengthen the protection of key industrial heritage and the governance of surrounding environments, implement a number of exemplary and driving engineering projects, and eliminate safety hazards of industrial heritage. Support old industrial cities in creating national demonstration zones for the protection and utilization of cultural relics based on industrial heritage; support the establishment of important industrial heritage museums, specialized industrial technology museums, traditional industry museums, etc., utilize digital technology to develop museum resources, build smart museums, and cultivate new cultural formats and industrial models; integrate industrial cultural elements and symbols into content creation and production, creative design, use new technologies to promote cross-media content production and presentation, and nurture new cultural formats; accelerate the transformation and upgrading of urban waterfront port areas and traditional industrial zones, update land use, restore urban waterfront factories, warehouses, and other historical remains, and promote the transformation of production shorelines dominated by factories and warehouses into living shorelines and ecological shorelines dominated by parks and green spaces; promote the integration of industrial heritage protection with urban image enhancement, incorporating landscape symbols that highlight industrial cultural characteristics into urban construction planning.
In the next phase, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments to strengthen coordination and form a joint force, enhancing specific implementation measures from six aspects: theoretical research, plan design, list formulation, project implementation, environmental creation, and publicity and education.□
Website editor: Gong Li
