INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN THE URBAN IDENTITY AND MEMORY AXIS

Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

value in something old and crude, and things generated from ‘naturally generated value’
(Douet, 2012, p. 153). Image of the industrial heritage normally connects with something
abandoned, decay and rustic. Personifying old abandoned industrial sites create an image
of lonely heritage. There also is another aspect that can be generated from the Wabi Sabi
ideology. Recommendation on the historic urban landscape corresponds with the Nara
Document on Authenticity in that the principles recognize vitality of dynamism that
has driven the world today that the principles of conservation and modern applications
to the heritage have to be dynamic as well, and they shall accommodate considerable
conservation and reuse practices in this more complicated global situation. Given the
world of (industrial) heritage flowing with dynamism, it can be noted that in many cases
the industrial heritage might not have been reused or transformed if this needs too high
cost. Given this, aesthetics and beauty of those industrial ruins may lie upon their intact
state with decay and rustic condition; something new (regenerated) in dying state. It is
just that how much or in which level an individual perceives, connects with them and
appreciates their original form.

Railway tourism as the industrial heritage promotion

The distance of the town’s railway line is approximately 92.07 km (the figure
was from the calculation by the author based on the information of the distance between
each station starting from Bangkok Railway Station) (“Northern Line (Thailand)”, 2021),
including another 1,352.10 metres passing through Khun Tan Tunnel before arriving
Khun Tan Station which marks the border between Lampang and Lamphun. The line

Figure 1: Mae Moh Mine Figure 2. The power plant view

Figure 3. Mae Moh Museum Figure 4. Mae Moh Mine Landscape

passes through 4 districts of the province: Mae Moh, Mae Tha, Muang, and Hang Chat,
with 13 stations. The landscape along this railway corridor embraces mixed natural and
cultural fabrics or built environment in the rural and urbanized contexts. It includes
railway station buildings, passenger platforms, rail yards, locomotive shed, freight depot
and old warehouses, groups of houses of the railway officers, bridges, viaducts and tunnel.

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Tracked back in the history, the province has played a significant role as the timber log
trade and transport centre of the Lanna Kingdom (the north of Thailand today). Since
1842 (2385 B.E.), there were teak forestry concessions in the area (Jindapluk, 2013, p.
87). The plentiful supplies of teak not only in Siam but also in neighbouring countries
such as Burma and Indonesia became the magnet for the European colonists to seek for
trading business (Laohachaiboon, and Takeda, 2007). The trade had been carried out via
the rivers until there was the construction of the railway network to the north of Thailand
(the Siam at that time). The arrival of the train to Lampang in 1916 marked the history of
the town and opened the new transport network. This development started in the reign of
King Rama 5th was carried out with political purpose (Kakizaki, 2012). The Siam needed
to prevent expansion plans of western colonizing countries that were establishing their
power over the provinces of Siam at that time by using the railway they built, through
the borders (Suphadiloklak, 2008, p. 71-79). The railway could support the logistics
of transporting weapons, soldiers and food between Bangkok and the border towns
(Svetachintâ (Sananwai) and Chukaew, 2011). The first concrete bridge, Rassadaphisesk
Bridge crossing the main river of the city, Wang River, was built to replace the older
one that was built with wood and iron. The construction was motivated by the higher
mobility of construction materials by the use of rail transport. The development of rail
transport moved the town’s economic centre from the area along the Wang River known
as the Chinese Market or Kad Kong Ta, to the new quarter established around the railway
station called today the Sob Tui Sub-District Community (Suphadiloklak, 2008, p. 71-79).
The setting of the Sob Tui Sub-District and Nakhorn Lampang Train Station reflects the
cultural history of the train station and the associated development of the landscape. The
area is denoted as the boundary shaped by the influence of the railway development. The
train station is decorated by the display of the old steam locomotive, Tender Engineseries,
Mogul (C.56) (Figure 5) produced by Japan and brought by the Japanese army during
World War II to use in transportation on the Malay Peninsula-Burma rail route, and under
the operation during 1934 and 1935 (State Railway of Thailand, n.d., p. 40). The precinct
around the railway network includes significant landmarks, including the train station
itself. The rest of components are the locomotive shed, the water tower, the rail yard
and the old freight depot, the group of houses of the railway staff, the long railway track
joining the old black railway bridge crossing the Wang River, the old market and the
three main streets with the impression of the old architecture of the beautiful privately-
owned historic houses. These physical structures give a better understanding of the built
environment of the site. The site is considered a historic district of Lampang, developed
since the reign of King Rama VI almost a hundred years ago. The site is signified by both
the physical evidence and the history that gives clues to its socio-economic development
linked with the national events. The site covers the areas designated for the higher-density
housing (orange zone-multifamily) and lots or parcels containing retail sales and services
and all recreational services that are predominantly privately owned and operated for
profit, for example, train station, banks, retail commercial buildings and houses, (red zone-
commercial) under the categories of residential and commercial/ industrial land use. From
the town plan, the site may be considered as the transition zone that was developed further
from the older inner zone northwards. The edges identifying the boundary are comprised

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Figure 5: Old steam locomotive, Tender Engineseries, Mogul (C.56), in
front of the train station

of both natural and man-made elements. The natural one is the Wang River, whereas the
man-made one is the northern railway line and the bridges. The Phahonyothin Road is
considered the path that links and shares the rail right of way, which joins with Chatchai
Street that leads to the inner node of the city, the Clock Tower (the Five Intersections) that
marks the centre of the town.

The complex of Nakorn Lampang Railway Station

Most buildings within the complex of Nakorn Lampang Train Station were
designed by the European architects, showing western styles both in the buildings and
elements. The main five groups of buildings portray the significance of the train station,
which are the train station building, the locomotive shed, the water tower, the old goods/
freight depot, the black railway bridge, the group of railway houses including those in
vernacular architecture, and associated components including the horse carriage, the three
main streets and old houses along these streets.

The train station building and the passenger platform (Figure 6): Nakhorn Lampang
Train Station is the main building in this site, with unique architecture with the European
impression mixed with Lanna (northern Thai) style, called Lanna Colonial. The front is
impressed by the arched doors supporting the second floor that was built of wood. The
terrace above the arched doors was impressively decorated with perforated design made of
wood. The building has been well conserved and looked after since it was built. In 1993,
it was awarded for the Architecture Excellence under Public Architecture category by the
Conservation Commission of Art Architecture Association of Siamese Architects under the
Royal Patronage. Based on the old pictures, there were more railway tracks because they
were used for freight transport, and they were at the front of the station building.

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The locomotive shed and the water tower (Figure 7): The locomotive shed and the
water tower are also impressive elements of the train station. The locomotive shed was
designed by a German architect; therefore, the style remarkably expresses the modernist
movement. This locomotive shed has shared its life with the train station, opened for
actual use on the first day of the railway service operation, the 1st April of 1916 (2459
B.E). The water tower was built for use with steam locomotive; the structure was all
constructed of metal whereas the tank was built with concrete. Looking from the bird-eye
view down to the locomotive shed and the water tower, we see an iconography magnifying
the landscape entities and giving a sense of the town that is growing by the virtue of the
transport development. The water tower standing with the shed exhibits a distinctive and
rare industrial architectural style of metal work that is hardly seen elsewhere in Lampang;
the style that represents the high watermark of industrial construction. The scene of the
water tower standing in railway station is usually seen in main old railway stations which
creates an iconic sense of place. The structure of the water tower reflects the period of the
industrial revolution with its discovery of new technology, in particular the use of metal
for constructing grand buildings, an appreciation of metals and efforts in using metals to
present high degree of aesthetics even in something very industrial. It shows greatness and
craftsmanship until the globalization and capitalism arrived which turned everything into
mass produced elements. Cost is important, and therefore mass production simply shows
homogenous forms of things to reduce cost, less architectural beauty and aesthetics, less
architectural complexity.

The old goods / freight depot: The old goods depot, now no longer used remains
intact. It was the area where trains regularly stopped to load or unload freight. This area
was typified by the platform with the butterfly-shaped roof and the warehouse. The
present passenger platform nearby was there in comparison. The area of the present train
station platform including the old freight depot and warehouse and the railway housing
area covers 257,600 Square Metres (161 Rai).

The iconic black railway bridge (Figure 8): The black railway bridge symbolizes
a passage to exit from the older railway landscape to a newer town zone that is connected
with the Asian Highway. The zone near the black railway bridge is therefore apparently
considered a buffer zone. The black railway bridge was successfully built in 1920 to cross
the Wang River. The bridge was constructed of iron. The walkways along the bridge at
both sides were made of wood, which cannot be used today due to their age. The bridge
was built after the Second World War as a route to transfer troops and war supplies by
the Japanese Army during the task of invading the British colony of Burma.This black
railway bridge imprints the scenery where the natural landscape was introduced with
the material culture of human. It represents major human creation made for their use in
amidst of natural environment of the river; what is called ‘the humanized landscape’.
Notably, this area also gives a sense of marginality somehow. The edge of the area is
adjacent to the Wang River. The landscape of this zone symbolically gives a perception
of marginality due to its wearying environment and emptiness. The area is at the west side
of the city, close to another section of the Wang River, which has more shallow level of
water, plus with the group of old and poor-condition wooden houses. The more culturally

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vibrant part of the city is rather at the older inner area in the east side of the city where
more cultural activities take place. Despite its impressiveness of an array of old, unique,
vernacular-styled houses, the site on the west side of the city near the railway seemed to
be less attentive until there is street art initiative happening earlier giving a new life to the
place, which the author will narrate later in this paper.

The old streets with old houses and buildings (Figure 9): The linkage of the
train station with its neighbourhood is marked by the three important streets: Chatchai,
Surane and Prasan Maitri. The housing in this area occupies high concentration
of land use. Most houses are for commercial-purpose. Most houses are similar to
shop houses but they are in a combination of the Chinese and Western structure and
elements, built of steel-framed reinforced concrete. The development of these shop
houses in this area was motivated by the busy wholesale trades and living that came
with the railway network. The biggest group of resident traditions was Chinese, which
included traders and labours, especially along the Prasan Maitri Street (Wongtimarat
et al., 2006). The prosperous time made the Chinese become the rich group of people.
The evidence is the collection of the surviving houses along these streets. Moreover,
in the past since this area was the transport hub, Prasan Maitri was the centre of
entertainment, recreation, business affair and public services, and even of the opium
dens. Some houses on Prasan Maitri Street have a common style with the architectural
buildings in Bangkok during King Rama 6th for example Chalerm Thani Theatre (The
Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage, 2012). The structure
looks like a warehouse, making an industrialized sense of place. On the Surane
Street, Phraya Suren House is another beautiful house, dwelled by Phraya Suren
Ratchaasena (Jerm Jarujinda), the first governor of Lampang (B.E. 2453-2470). The
house was distinguished by its British architectural style, with red wooden windows
and rectangular in the western fashion. The main house stands with other elements
such as an old rice barn, high steeled water tank and the separate servant quarters.

The viaducts and the composite railway bridges (Figure 10): A viaduct is
essentially a series of bridges connected to each other for crossing a valley or low-
lying area. Viaducts can be built either on land or over the water bodies in order to
facilitate crossover by people. When built over water they are merged with other
tunnels or even bridges to help navigate water bodies (Sawe, 2017). According to
the Bridge Survey Division of State Railway of Thailand, a viaduct bridge is called
in Thai ‘Saphan Hor Soong’. ‘Saphan’ means bridge. ‘Hor’ means tower or pillar
(pillars that support the bridge). ‘Soong’ means high. ‘Saphan Hor Soong’ describes
the bridge or the viaduct that lies on or is supported by the high pillars. Viaduct
bridges are represented by “continuous through truss bridge” structure or a truss bridge
which extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. Conversely,
continuous truss bridges rely on rigid truss connections throughout the structure for
stability (“Continuous truss bridge”, 2021). There are huge buntings in iron structure
underneath to support the bridge. This type of structure is normally used with the
geographies of high physical hindrances like valleys, gorges or high mountain pass,
with approximately 20-30 metres in length. In Thailand, there are 2 viaduct bridges

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left, called in Thai ‘Saphan Song Hor’ and ‘Saphan Sam Hor’. To call it whether a
‘Saphan Song Hor’ or ‘Saphan Sam Hor’ depends on number of ‘Hor’ (or Pillar) that
are used for supporting the viaduct bridge. For example, the ‘Saphan Song Hor’ is
used for calling the viaduct bridge that is supported by 2 pillars (‘Song’ means two),
and the ‘Saphan Sam Hor’ is used for calling the viaduct bridge that is supported
by 3 pillars (‘Sam’ means three). Consideration of number of pillars to be built for
supporting varies by length of a viaduct bridge. In the case of the northern rail line
in this case study, in order to overcome the three valleys of 30-40 metres high of the
mountain range of Khun Tan which have the streams and rivers underneath, 3 viaduct
bridges were built in 1915 to connect the mounts of the range. These include ‘Saphan
Ha Hor’ (‘Ha’ means five-the viaduct bridge supported by 5 pillars), ‘Saphan Sam
Hor’, and ‘Saphan Song Hor’. These viaduct bridges were supported by the concrete
pillars on both sides and steel pillar. The bodies of the bridges were built in deck
truss and desk plate structures. Today, ‘Saphan Song Hor’ and ‘Saphan Sam Hor’ are
still used, with an addition of a steel pillar at the middle of the bridge to increase the
bridge’s carrying load. ‘Saphan Ha Hor’ was no longer used and replaced in 1967
by the composite bridge in the similar structure. This is the first composite bridge for
the railway in Thailand. The composite bridge is supported by 2 reinforced concrete
pillars on each end side and 4 at the middle.

It can be thereafter claimed that the landscape of this area is characterized
by the urbanized pattern. Urban landscape, as explained in 1995 by Dolores Haydn
(in Taylor, 1997), places an essence of social memory, meaning and shared values,
as community’s fabric will naturally be designed based on experience of people
who live in the place and shared public history. The site is an ordinary place, yet
is connected with its history in the time where it prospered in industrialization,
trades and transportation. This can be seen from its annual festival, “Rotfai-Rotma
Lampang” (Lampang Railway and Horse Carriage Festival), held to celebrate the
arrival of the first railway to the north, with an attempt to interpret the history and
attach the presence of its surviving physical materials to the past to create a meaning
of the place. The black bridge in proximity (approximately 1.08 kilometers) to Nakorn
Lampang Train Station is part of the scene setting for the province’s annual Rotfai-
Rotma Lampang Festival as well. Moreover, the site is also perceived as ordinary
place with the living landscape where ordinary living of people can be seen. People
sell foods in the morning for the locals and passengers or tourists who arrive by train.
Passengers who need to eat mingle with street vendors who sell food in package to
passengers who are waiting for a train. This is an ordinary happening but a unique
scene that creates a specifically local sense of Lampang around the train station. It is
also a significant moment of ‘host and guest interaction’. The existence of the train
station, with its history, has also become a drive for tourism and service business to
be created; this can be seen from more new hostels and coffee shops, for instance,
being established around the area. This bustling area encourages the communication
and traveling of people within the area and outsiders travelling in and out. In between,
this flamboyant atmosphere also triggered the development of road transportation.

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Train stations in Thailand normally have a market nearby. Nakorn Lampang
also has the 100-year-old fresh market located adjacent to the rail track. The market
neighbourhood showcases interesting structure of old vernacular-styled houses but
most are in bad condition. The site observation also features a change that concerns a
notable attempt for the revitalization of the site in relation with the significance of the
railway. A scenic railway trip has been offered to passengers: the train trip through
the historic Khun Tan Railway Tunnel (Figure 11) to catch up with the sun rise. This
evidently adds new commodity to the rail transport cultural landscape in connection
with tourism, that is considered a social aspect and it is considered a significant clue
for potential tourism development in the future.

Figure 6: The train station building Figure 7. The locomotive shed and the water tower

Figure 8: The black railway bridge Figure 9. Old houses and buildings

Figure 10. The original viaduct bridge on Figure 11. Khun Tan Tunnel at the present, and during the

the northern line before reaching Khun construction

Tan Tunnel, called Saphan Ha Hor

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Khun Tan Tunnel and Khun Tan Railway Station

The history of the construction of Khun Tan Tunnel narrates the time during and
after the World War I since the Siam declared war with Germany and Austria-Hungary
in 1917 (“Siam in World War I”, 2021), and as a result the construction lacked the
German engineers who were prisoners of war. Therefore, the construction needed to
hire Thai engineers, under the command and supervision of Krom Phra Kampaengphet
Akarayothin. This demonstrates how Krom Phra Kampaengphet Akarayothin, the group
of engineers and workers during that time had successfully overcome the challenges of
many constraints including the geographical difficulties. The railway cultural landscape
bestows a picturesque scene of Lampang railway with the Khun Tan Railway Tunnel as
the shared historic memory of the northern Thai people by the mountainous backdrop;
the tunnel is importantly a part of the longest railway in the Thai railway history. Trains
from the lower north ride through the historic Khun Tan Railway Tunnel, along the
mountainous geography reaching Chiang Mai as the last station. This creates an image of
the historic element linking with the development of the nation. The construction of the
tunnel was carried out, cutting through the solid granite bedrock narrating how hard the
work was especially in the time of limited technology.

The industrial value of this site concerns its efforts to construct a tunnel on the
high mountain without high technology that would help the construction. The highlights
of the construction include the building of a Composite Girder or viaduct to replace the
three former bridges that had been used more than 50 years to support the laying of
the rail; the longest tunnel built through the 1,400-meters long mountain that separates
Lampang and Lamphun successfully completed by the skill of the engineers and hard
work of the labours. The Composite Girder was the first viaduct by the State Railway of
Thailand. Moreover, the industrial and engineering technology of Thailand, including of
Lampang during that time represented the sense of connection with internationality, as it
used the engineering technology of Germany. The site represents the industrial value in
that it expresses the human efforts to overcome the force of nature in order to build up
transportation to support connectivity and communication for better living, and the future
opportunities for growth of trades and industrialization. Topographically, the station is
where the two provinces of the north meet. In the aesthetic sense, this symbolizes the
emotional transition from a province to another province; it is especially when passengers
travel through the longest tunnel of Thailand and confront with the highest railway station.
Passengers feel this narrative by linking physical and emotional aspects of landscape of
the place. The industrial value of the site as well as the natural landscape can connect with
the aesthetic narrative; the romance of the rail. Bridge can be part of enhancing railway
journey experience for travellers to appreciate the value of the industrial heritage like the
railway bridge. The thing is that travellers normally cannot interact with the bridges in
situ due to physical difficulty and safety issue along the railway track. It is not like the
heritage railway that has no longer been operated. One way that can be developed is on-
train interpretation.

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Cultural embodiments through arts

According to the International Documentation and Research Centre on Industrial
Heritage for Tourism, one approach of the industrial heritage for tourism is the intangible
heritage such as cultural activities inspired by industrial development (Ozden, 2012).
Street art as cultural content includes not only art created on streets but also on walls,
abandoned places and buildings, and it can be sculpture work and art piece that plays
with spaces and what originally are there as well. A difference between street art and
graffiti is that whereas graffiti is done to narrate the dark sides of society, social sarcasms,
and seemingly to tell society about marginality and minority of groups of people, street
art is rather done to narrate and represent positive and beautiful side of society. Street
art phenomenon in Lampang portray paintings and sculpture works, which later creates
public and cultural space. At present, there are some zones where street arts are showcased
on wall spaces and on the fences of the locals’ houses (with their consensus) near the
bridge area. Street art plays a role in urban revitalization; it has recently become a kind
of practice for revival or renewal of old places, creating new cultural and art landscape.
Street art has been positioned as means of promoting a new form of tourism like urban
tourism that responds to the idea of place-making. In this case, it is very interesting to
see that this practice has been occurred at the site occupied by anything industrial such
as bridges and railway. This happening becomes a vehicle to attract more visitors to the
city and its neighbourhood, and a platform to bring vitality to smaller spaces in the city,
as a staged experience for visitors, as a facet of residential place identity, and as a vehicle
for place-making for local businesses and residents (Insch and Walters, 2017). In regards
to street art as place-making and identity construct, street art is performed as a symbolic
form of culture, which thereafter appreciate the town and local uniqueness by making
the intangible cultural heritage into materials or something tangible, or even making the
tangible assets of the town into memory through art embodiments, such as paintings that
depict conventional symbols or icons of the town like the horse carriage, the roosters,
the locomotive, the white and the black bridges, the main train station façade, the clock
tower, the ceramic bowl (generally painted with rooster as the provincial brand), temples
and elephants at work (associated with teak trade time). These tell the stories of the town
reflecting its distinctive place identity from its social history, folklore and industrial past.

Recognition and popularization of the industrial heritage in Lampang is in its
early stage, temporarily turning public spaces for cultural expression. Nowadays, to
give meaning of the industrial heritage of the town still is in a practice of decorating
old industrial-related precincts, to make the places to be more liveable by use of
paintings and sculptures, and cultural production through events. A notorious example
is the use of space around the Rassadaphisek Bridge crossing the Wang River (Figure
12) inviting the locals and visitors to engage in an expression of street arts in a town’s
fair named ‘Chang, Ma, Gai, Rodfai Lampang: Lampang Street Festival’ that plays
around the town’s identity icons (Chang= Elephant, Ma= Horse, Gai= Rooster and
Rodfai= Railway-all are the town’s symbols). This recent fair was an opening of
street arts at the bridge showcasing arts on the walls, with array of local goods sold in
the street market, plus a short documentary promoting tourism of Lampang by using

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the space under the bridge as the film screen. The use of urban infrastructure becomes
connected with the public activities using the cultural content. Lampang therefore
shows its new move by using this art content, interacting with the industrial objects.
This is also an influence of the idea of revitalizing urbanism decay of old towns and
areas. This has been done at the area near the Wang River (around Kad Kong Ta Old
Market connected with Rassadaphisek Bridge) and near Nakorn Lampang Railway
Station zone. This is notable that the art embodiment happening is usually occurred in
the older areas. Not long after the street arts was started around Rassadaphisek Bridge,
another street art phenomenon occurred at the old Kad Kao Jao Market (Figure 14)
near Nakorn Lampang Railway Station complex. This practice confirms the situation
of urban renewal pattern beginning to be felt in Lampang, happening at the railway
transport precinct with the rail landscape as the backdrop. The paintings are the
means to local memories related to the place in the history, as well as representing
railway industrial heritage. Further on other streets linking from the Railway Station,
there also is a scene of reconstruction of old rice warehouse into accommodation,
or even a coffee shop that interprets the railway image through the shop design.
All have artistic elements. There is also more ‘open house’ trend of old houses that
share the age with Lampang during its railway time. This has become an era of the
town in recognizing the use of its industrial and industrial-related spaces for cultural
production that can motivate people to visit and engage in activities, and interact
with spaces, resulting in the production of tourism and following economic benefit
through general consumption of services at the places.

This creative cluster and culture-led approach can be explained under the
umbrella of urban tourism theory. The industrialization in the past had been limited
only in its context such as the industrial productions and industrial components and
supplies as well as economic realm. The heritage of industrialization during the 20th
century or the post-industrial age has arisen mainly with the aim of protection and
conservation, and later especially in the 21st century has become integrated with
other dimensions such as social and cultural dimensions. This trend has met with
awareness, recognition and promotions of historic towns, cities and precincts called as
the historic urban landscape (HUL). The promulgation of urbanism value has created
public interests and interactions to urban elements. It is not only the architectural part
but also cultural and social parts that have been fabricated within this value.

As dealing with uses of city public spaces, street art performance and other art
and cultural content should be incorporated as part of urban planning policies, and
other associated plans such as art and cultural strategic plans, and urban tourism and
(creative) economic development plans. Another aspect of street art regards attitudes
towards the aesthetics of the art itself. Increasingly, if street art has become a focal
node of attraction to city via annual or monthly or weekend festivals, for instance,
issues of domination of tourism and commercial interests may lead to limiting local
residents and visitors’ engagement.

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Figure 12. The old and the present Figure 13. Street art around Rassadaphisek Bridge

Rassadaphisek Bridge (the white bridge)

The Bridge Phenomenon

Bridge is symbolically a phenomenon Figure 14. Old houses and buildings
originated in the post-modern man’s nostalgia
associated with the historic iron bridge
development in the industrial revolution. From
that point, iron, concrete and wooden bridges
are interpreted historically and culturally. The
railway and roadway bridges are in the scene
today. They have become alternative node of
attraction in tourism, such as the Tha Chomphu
Bridge between Hang Chat of Lampang
and Mae Tha of Lamphun (Figure 15), over
which every train to Chiang Mai passes. The
Rassadaphisek Bridge in Lampang downtown
is also a focal node of interest over the Wang
River, which is decorated to welcome visitors
to shoot photos of the bridge itself, daily local
living scenes and the river. Moreover, recently,
in many communities there is a phenomenon
of building bamboo footbridge by using
bamboo strips, called ‘Saphan Boon (‘Kua
Tae’ in northern Thai language: Kua means
bridge and Tae means the way of making a
bridge using bamboo) or a bridge of merit for
crossing rice fields, as well as renovating an
existing old (i.e. over 100 years old) bridge,

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for example the historic hanging bridge in Ngao District of Lampang (Figure 16), built in
1926, with the structure like a railway bridge with no pillars to support and using wooden
railway sleepers as the walkway. In the author’s point of view, this phenomenon has partly
been connected with or by an effect of urbanism value of the post-modern century in which
a nostalgia is felt and transferred into cultural form of the historic industrialization.

Figure 15. Tha Chomphu Bridge between Lamphun Figure 16. Historic hanging bridge in Ngao District

and Lampang Province of Lampang Province

Bridge can be an important node of both tourism promotion and tourism
development in the future. Symbolically, Rassadaphisek Bridge (the white bridge)
connects the town zone that had been settled before, whereas the black railway bridge
portrays a connection between the cultural and natural realms. The black and white
bridges of the town as they have been called should be recognized for their own sake of
the industrial qualities as well as of the daily cultural landscape that situate them such
as daily activities of people down there and the river. Today, especially Rassadaphisek
Bridge has become an iconic and historic bridge of the town. Yet, the author would like
to point out that this should contribute to more happenings of activities that reflect the
local value and conservation of the Wang River and the water. This can be done through
different interpretations and expressions based on routine activities that incorporate local
people to help and volunteer to state-of-the-art interpretation techniques.

Industrial craft heritage tourism

The well-known industrial craft heritage of Lampang in this paper includes the
ceramic (Figure 17), wood carving (Figure 18) and knife and sword making (Figure 19);
most are small and household scale. In this paper, a case of ceramic tour is used for
showcase. These household craft industries require artisanal knowledge, hand skill, beliefs
and custom way of doing; all combined into a wisdom. These qualities contribute to the
heritage value. Industrialization always involves with tools and machines. By this way,
thinking the industrial heritage as the heritage of production, the handicraft production
can be those representing not just a hand skill in producing, but a skill of hands handling
and utilizing tools and machines with expertise in the production from the start to the end,
effectively, productively and safely. By this perspective, there are ways to commoditize

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Figure 17. Ceramic craft Figure 18. Wood craft

the industrial and cultural parts of the production through stories and motion pictures
to materialize this heritage. To create a concrete meaning and value of ‘artisan hand’, a
museum can be established. In transferring the craft wisdoms, workshop programs can
be invented as a cultural experience to offer to visitors. Furthermore, digital media today
plays important role in narrating the heritage and arousing visitors’ interest and attracting
them to visit the site.

Figure 19. Knife and sword making

Ceramic factory tour
The being as the heritage of the industrialization in the local context of Lampang
is still young; most of them are still operating and contemporary. This type of tourism
activity can be associated with the ceramics and wood carving household craft industries.
The community that represents wood carving industry of Lampang has high potential to
be developed and promoted for active craft industrial tourism with workshop offer. For the

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

ceramic industry, the only current ceramic workshop attraction is Dhanabadee Ceramic
Factory and its museum, where ceramic workshops and the ceramic museum are offered.
Industrial tour can be done at these sites while connecting other tourist attractions nearby
and in town, due to convenience of travel and short distance, making a potential industrial
tour with shopping opportunity. Currently, industrial tourism in Thailand is generally
understood as groups of organization members visit relevant manufacturing sites as part
of business tourism. Sites that offer more leisure industrial craft workshop and seminar in
Thailand is still limited, especially in a more academic atmosphere. The industrial tourism
that could make sense in this study is the tourism that situates a contemporary or a present
‘moment of truth’ where visitors can receive hand-on experience in-situ at production, using
and handling tools to create small and simple craft objects with local artisans supervising
them. By this, household industrial handicraft production could be expanded in the future; it
may invite more people who have special interest of (i.e., wood) art into this small industry,
making the world of wood carving to be more vibrant and diverse. It is a way to create space
for creative tourism and finally it creates a creative environment to the city that possibly
turns it into a creative city. A recommendation is investment of innovation trainings in
product design, for example products made from different materials may be combined to
add more value and create higher price. Connecting the industrial craft heritage like wood
carving, with the souvenir sector, many product items are made with insertion of ideas
linked with physical or built identities and symbols of Lampang for selling to visitors, such
as Rassadaphisek Bridge, horse and horse-drawn carriage, train and tunnel and clock tower.
Some are in sculptured model and most are painted products, not carved one. The carved
ones are rather in a big scale and mostly in animal figures.

According to the interview with the representatives from the Federation of Thai
Industries (F.T.I.)- Lampang Chapter, the main role is to connect and integrate the
industrial part of the town with other dimensions in order to drive out industrial product

Figure 20. Typology of the industrial heritage of Lampang Province
Source: The Author

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

development and production innovation. A sample case was an idea of combining the
ceramic product with wood work and other handicraft products into new and attractive
product presentation in different channels such as in catering in events. The aim is to
solve the problem of local product promotion, and in this integrative picture, resulting
in reasonable budget proposal to the government. The organization acts as an agent
connecting the industrial private sector with the related public sector, in finding industrial
and business problems and brainstorming ideas of product development and writing plans
to propose to the Ministry of Industry through Lampang Provincial Industry office (public
sector). The organization works with other organizations in other industries including the
chamber of commerce and the tourism industry in pushing cohesive approach of tangible
and intangible products and creating competitiveness both in products and production
cost. Two issues with concern are about rethinking the sustainability and conservation/
safeguarding of the resources of Lampang in terms of economic, cultural and social
dimensions, re-interpreting them, and about human resource development and education
in medium and small size entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs’ innovative and creative
ideas that can increase more value.

Ceramic products should be part of landscape design as to promote destination and
image. In connecting with tourism and cultural sector, there is a gradual use of cultural
sector in the industrial production so far. The Chairman of Lampang Ceramic Association
(LCA) understood and agreed that there was a trend of using cultural content in industrial
products. What to concern here is that cultural interpretation and perception of consumers
towards industrial products is diverse. Therefore, to add cultural content into industrial
product design, entrepreneurs need to be aware of this diversity and subjectivity to
individual tastes and collective (ritual) beliefs. They need to understand both ritual belief
and art aspects.

Figure 21. The map illustrating the industrial heritage resources of Lampang in theme routes
Source: The author

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

Seeing the Town’s Phenomenon with the Historic Urban
Landscape Viewpoint

Towns have increasingly transformed; rural and semi-rural towns have high
chance to transform into urban environment. The industrial heritage has the sense of
urbanism, which thereafter associates with future planning for town. Industrialization
has values as an outstanding historic event leading to the development of culture and
economy (Ghanbari, 2018). Therefore, the industrial fabric is viewed as significant motif
and driver of towns’ evolution. Different landscapes as a result of activities occurred
from different periods of a town have association and require policies for shaping future
direction of the town and well-being of its people in the sustainable way in this dynamic
world. This is why the industrial heritage conservation became part of urban policies.
This has connection with how we should treat the environment of towns and ways to use
it, both in production and consumption parts. Given this, the historic urban landscapes
concept is noted in allowing thoughts to the heritage and contemporary industrial activities
to be integrated with city (urban) planning and policies. This paper showcases more than
one site that are considered aligning with the characters of the (contemporary) industrial
heritage. There are cases (sites) that represent different periods of time with old and
new-built fabrics as evidence of movement, creating different palimpsests. An example
of site that has been narrated through four palimpsests from the past to the present is
the Kad Kong Ta or the old Chinese Market area near the Wang River (linked with the
Rassadaphhisek Bridge) as follows:

• The 1st palimpsest: The British colonial time/ teak time

• The 2nd palimpsest: Revival of the area into cultural/ walking street market

• The 3rd palimpsest: Adaptive reuse of old houses for new functions such as
museum, restaurants, coffee shops, guesthouses, souvenir shops

• The 4th palimpsest: New built fabrics and cultural embodiment utilizing street
art and sculptures, and more public space nodes created for new events (such
as the case of Street Festival and 102 Years Rassadaphisek Bridge Celebration)

From the study, it is obviously noticed that the same pattern has been going on with
other sites, in particular the site of the railway transportation hub of the town. There is a
collection of street art and the revival of the old fresh market there, and this attracts people
to visit the place. The value of the place has been recognized, not just as an ordinary and
everyday life scene but as a more tertiary layer with the cultural content being perceived.
One thing it should be in the future is that some areas and buildings within the railway
station compound should be remembered for their significance and usefulness for social
activities of its neighborhood, so that those empty structures will resume to liveliness
again in the historic ambience, by social gatherings such as being a place for arranging
a weekend market or for exhibiting the town’s past and present stories, which can be a
traveling or temporary exhibitions, for example. By this, relevant laws and regulations

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

associated with railway properties need to be reconsidered and unlocked for future
adaptive reuse opportunities. In the view of urban tourism, urban tourism offers cultural
activities in urban or city zones, and tourism activities can be based on both traditional
and contemporary cultures (tangible and intangible). Urban tourism has a connection
with urban renewal where tourism /
cultural tourism activities take place
in old zones or inner zones of city. It
is a form of regeneration of inner and
old precincts for tourist uses. Arts and
festivals are considered the main drive of
urban tourism and how cities have been
manufactured to motivate citizens’ use of
public (culture-related) amenities and to
attract visitors. Creativity is of great use
as the focal point of urban development
and of urban tourism. In the realm of
industrial heritage and historic urban
landscape (HUL) concept, these precincts
have been transformed into various
adaptive reuses interpreting the industrial
heritage property or even changes of them
into new forms and functions serving
contemporary uses. From that point,
urban culture seems to generate street
culture in many forms, and later industrial
street culture such as containerized retail
shops, museums, food trucks, street
paints in old inner, industrial sites, or
around transport precincts. The concept is
also diverse through replicas induced by
this industrial discourse such as capsule
hotels or retail places with an industrial
appearance and atmosphere. Lampang
sees its initial state of this transformation
with the backdrop of traditional Lanna
culture. The author feels that in the
future there would be another palimpsest
of the town to be recognized, in which
a combination of industrial heritage
in different interpretations for former
industrial sites and historic urban areas
can be popularized and experienced. This
would not just be represented by general Diagram 1: Proposed practical paradigm of the industrial heritage
activities but by more specification to study for future application

Source: The author, 2020

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

tourism activities and image that reveal sides of historic urbanism elements and historic
built environment. Once this phenomenon associates with urban, it means that the system
will be more complicated and involve many groups of people. Urban heritage conservation
and reuses thereafter require ways that give respect and attention to various groups of
stakeholders, with high concentration of knowledge, information, communication and
local civil participation and cooperation (UNESCO, 2011).

Moreover, we may say that it is hard to distort the authenticity of the industrial
heritage due to its high materiality and endurance (tangible visibility) (Lusiani, and
Panozzo, 2016), not like other kind of cultural heritage sites that are vulnerable to changes.
Many cultural sites today such as old villages are fragile and easy to be changed due to
visitors’ perceived romance induced by the nostalgia and media that creates it. Rather, the
industrial heritage is more vulnerable in that it is at risk of being destroyed due to demand
of new use of spaces. Even so, with the trend of nostalgia tourism attempting to attract
visitors through romantic decoration, the former industrial sites may be of fear by this
trend. Today, romantic viewpoint has been shown in decorations of some old industrial
related sites. It is like an attempt to change places of brutal, real and rustic look in to
something of romance through the process of disneyfication in order to attract people or
society at large. The form of romanticism implication has gradually made places become
more homogeneous.

Practical paradigm for future application

This study offers a foundation for continuing study of the potential approaches
of use of the industrial heritage for tourism of Lampang. Diagram 1 outlines the steps
suggested as a guidance for future study.

Concluding Remark

Industrial heritage is at risk of disappearing

It should be noted that the industrial heritage today is at risk of disappearing as they
are everyday exposed to degradation, are neglected and left to decay (ICOMOS Slovenia,
2017). Risk of disappearing is also determined under the factors such as decreased value
of machinery after cessation of the production or its lower productivity, and the image
of the industrial heritage that is not quite appealing to general leisure market and fear
of contamination. Another factor involves physical form of former industrial buildings
that tend to be barely adaptable to new uses as they were built to a special form for
specific purpose (s) which is no longer needed. Also, some have very special fittings
that only attract special interest. Importantly, to reuse former industrial buildings and
sites means to convert their existing physical condition into new purpose of use and
process of decontamination; this involves high investment of money. Thus, there must be
considerations of legal framework to safeguard the well-being of industrial heritage sites,

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

precincts and movable objects or artefacts for the heritage sustainability, as well as other
alternative ways of reuses and/ or transformations in ways that support the well-being
in social, cultural, environmental and economic dimensions. Further outlook for urban
(tourism) uses from this kind of heritage means that new policy, planning and investments
of finance, involvement of expertise and creativity for development are required. It
should also be noted that the conservation legal framework covers intangible assets of
the industrial heritage such as industrial memories, production process and techniques of
the industrialization that could be disappeared due to risks from the social and economic
structural shift to a more service-oriented society, migration of people to other places to
live and work in other tertiary industries, or due to unavailability and shortage of resources
normally used in industrial production. Conservation of the industrial heritage can also
be integrated with policies, planning or management related to industrial promotion and
development, and natural resource management.

Specific laws and charters must be initiated as a sustainable path to ensure the
industrial heritage protection. This is not only for old building structures and machinery
but also for the sources of raw materials used in productions, production techniques
and (hand) wisdom, as to foster the sustainability of resource uses, and to place the
natural and geological values being the authentic sources of human productions. Whilst
the phenomenon of the use of industrial heritage has recently been felt, the author
suggests that general people have not been aware why it is this way, but they enjoy the
phenomenon as it is new to them. People in general are attracted by anything or places
that are decorated or designed or renovated with the influence of the industrial look, and
probably without knowing the meaning of the phenomenon or giving a significance to.
This study demonstrates how and under what circumstance this phenomenon has arrived
and has developed, and describes tourism atmosphere happening. The phenomenon is
getting more attention, and there could be more involvements and development. It is
certain that concern on conservation of the industrial heritage for its own sake, not just for
tourism and economic benefits, is crucial in the era when the heritage has been so much
romanticized to serve nostalgic imagination of modern people.

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269



THE IMPORTANCE OF
RE-FUNCTIONING INDUSTRIAL
HERITAGE STRUCTURES IN
ISTANBUL WITHIN THE SCOPE OF
URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF1

Abstract

The urbanization movements that developed simultaneously with the Industrial
Revolution have changed the cities environmentally, socially, and economically. The
sustainable city phenomenon and the concept of urban sustainability emerged as a driving
force due to problems such as population growth, high resource (energy-water-material)
demand, high greenhouse gas emissions, changes in lifestyle and consumption habits,
destruction of natural areas, dispossession, urban rent, unplanned urbanization, de-
identity, fragmentation, security problems, and uncontrolled growth.

Having served as the capital of 3 empires with an urban history of nearly 3000 years,
Istanbul could not manage its industrialization and construction policies well with the change
of lifestyles, management structure, capital power, population, and socio-economic structure
and turned into a city that cannot breathe due to unplanned urbanization. It has been observed
that the industrial areas in the city cause serious damage to the ecosystem of Istanbul, and in
the 20th century, it was decided to move the industrial activities out of the center. This situation
has revealed the problem of the abandoned building stock in industrial areas. The existence of
industrial heritage structures, which are of great importance for urban identity and memory in
abandoned industrial places, initiated a new transformation process based on re-functioning.

Around the scope of the study, industrial heritage structures in Istanbul will be
scanned and listed, and those that are re-functionalized will be examined. This study

1   Assist. Prof. Halic University - Faculty of Architecture.

e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-7734-4990

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The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

aims to reveal the importance of not leaving the industrial heritage buildings in Istanbul
in an idle state but including them in the city with new current functions for urban
sustainability. Also, conservation and reuse suggestions will be made for the industrial
heritage in Istanbul by focusing on concepts, institutions, and approaches.

Introduction

After the Industrial Revolution, in the Ottoman Empire, industrial facilities
were built up mainly by the state and private enterprises in the capital Istanbul and its
surroundings. Industrial structures witnessing the period they existed should be considered
and protected within the scope of architectural, historical, and technological heritage. Some
of these buildings still function, some of them are left to decay and some of them are re-
functionalized in İstanbul. When idle industrial structures continue to be used by taking
incorrect function, they are damaged more and more every day. Therefore, to transfer the
industrial heritage to future generations, it is of great importance to give proper function to
the buildings and to protect their original identities (Köksal ve Ahunbay, 2006). Within the
scope of this study, the locations, registration status, and current status of industrial heritage
buildings in Istanbul will be examined. Conservation and functional transformation of these
structures will be mentioned and recommendations will be made. The study aims to reveal
that industrial heritage structures, which are brought to life by proper function, will provide
very positive contributions to urban sustainability. As it is known, urban sustainability is
the set of activities that contribute to urban development in environmental, social, and
economic contexts (Yazar, 2006; Goodland, 1995). Urban sustainability will be supported
by protecting the natural and built environment, strengthening urban identity and memory,
stabilization of economic capital, and improvement in social structure through practices and
policies protecting the industrial heritage. In the study, theoretical and empirical research
and literature reviews were done as a method. Journal articles, books, technical reports, and
conference papers with important field indexes on the subject have been carefully reviewed.
Also, many re-functional industrial heritage structures related to the subject were examined
on-site, and observations were made.

Industrial Heritage Structures

From the second half of the 18th century, with the development of technology
with the Industrial Revolution, machines replaced human power. Along with the changing
production methods, the places where production is carried out have changed, and
industrial facilities that contain large devices and equipment have started to be built.
These structures have become structures that direct habits and lifestyles by witnessing
their place and society. For this reason, the social, economic, and environmental effects
it creates, and the fact that it should be protected in the name of cultural heritage as a
concrete indicator for urban identity and memory has emerged.

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

The concept and definition of industrial heritage

Production activities of the past and architectural wholes created for this purpose
are considered within the scope of industrial heritage since the second half of the 20th
century (Tanyeli, 2000). Today, “industrial heritage” is used to refer to the old industrial
structures, areas, and all kinds of assets associated with them that have a certain historical
character and significance. Therefore, the concept of industrial heritage includes places
belonging to the industrial period, buildings of different architectures, power plants,
machines, and equipment. The industrial heritage also corresponds to pieces of information
about workers’ shelters, industrial settlements, processes, products, and industrial society
(Xie, 2006).

The birth and development of the industrial heritage concept in
the world and related international organizations

The first awareness of the preservation of old industrial structures emerged in
Britain. The processes of researching, unearthing and, reporting old industrial buildings
carried out for this purpose were named industrial archeology, and the unearthing
structures were called industrial monuments. In the case where the protected asset is
not a single industrial structure but all of the structures and facilities gathered in a
specific area, the area is referred to as a whole and defined as an “industrial site”. The
concept of “industrial heritage” has come to the fore with the approach of protecting
old industrial structures gaining an international dimension, and the view that industrial
monuments and sites are components of international heritage, as well as a national
one, was adopted in this process (Saner, 2012).

Britain played a leading role in carrying the conservation of old industrial
structures approach to the international level. In 1973, FICCIM– First International
Congress on the Conservation of Industrial Monuments was held with the participation
of 61 delegates from 8 countries. This congress, which brings together officials from
Canada, East and West Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United
States, as well as England, is important in terms of opening the subject to international
discussion (Trinder, 2000). Upon the positive impact created by FICCIM, the second
meeting within the same scope, SICCIM - (Second International Conference on the
Conservation of Industrial Monuments) was held in Bochum, Germany in 1975 (Saner,
2012). The third of this series of conferences was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1978.
The concept of industrial heritage started to be used for the first time in the committee,
which changed its name as TICCIH- The International Committee for the Conservation
of Industrial Heritage. With this new organization that focuses on the need to consider
industrial structures within the scope of heritage, studies in this area have gained a new
momentum (Trinder, 2000).

In the international platform, the United Nations and UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) are not organizations that are

273

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

directly specialized in “cultural heritage”. ICOMOS is UNESCO’s partner on this
issue. TICCIH has been appointed as the expert committee of ICOMOS (International
Council on Monuments and Sites) on the study and protection of the industrial heritage
and thus joined the network of international organizations where the United Nations is
at its center (Saner, 2012).

The Council of Europe has put the concept of industrial heritage on its agenda since
the second half of the 1980s. The recommendation decision named ‘Recommendation on
the Protection and Conservation of the Industrial, Technical and Civil Engineering
Heritage in Europe’ dated 13 September 1990 is the main text of the Council of Europe
on industrial heritage (Madran and Özgönül, 1999)

The European Union deals with the concept of industrial heritage within its general
policy and in the decisions made by the European Commission, under the concept of
cultural heritage. Even in some cases when historical industrial centers were examined,
it was seen that the concept was referred to as “ heritage job” (Falconer, 2005). One of
the most comprehensive programs in which the European Union deals with industrial
heritage indirectly under cultural heritage is the Culture 2000 project. Aiming to highlight
the European common culture on both cultural diversity and cultural heritage, the
program also aimed to reproduce the monuments and sites that would increase awareness,
thus indirectly contributing to the highlight of the structures and areas included in the
European industrial heritage (OJ-L 63, 2000).

ERIH - European Route of Industrial Heritage is a project that aims to showcase
the industrial heritage by creating a network and various sightseeing routes between
various points in Europe where buildings and ruins set an example for the industrial
heritage and thus spread the concept. The foundations of ERIH were laid with the regional
route designed for the Ruhr Basin in Germany (Falconer, 2005). The project, originally
designed to be valid between October 2002 and October 2007, and supported by the
European Union’s regional development fund ERDF, continues to expand its boundaries
in terms of both content and area of s​​ tudy, and new points that set an example of industrial
heritage are added to the route (Saner, 2012).

E-FAITH - European Federation of Associations of Industrial and Technical
Heritage is a local and international organization for the European continent, with its
roots in the TICCIH organization. After TICCIH gained an international character
and expanded and national committees were formed, some breaks occurred within the
organization and some departments that left the organization later came together under
the roof of E-FAITH (Falconer, 2005; Saner, 2012).

DOCOMOMO - DOcumentation and COnservation of Buildings, Sites, and
Neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement don’t just work on industrial heritage.
However, this international organization, due to the period of focus, in many cases can
coincide with the industrial heritage as a field of study (Ergut and Özkaya, 2006).

274

Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

Concept of industrial heritage in Turkey

The concept of industrial heritage in Turkey has come up with the Halic (Golden
Horn) Master Plan by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in the late 1980s. On that
dates, even if this term is not used exactly, it has gone down in history as a period in
which ideas about the protection of industrial heritage were put forward intensely. In
fact, many industrial heritage elements were destroyed in this planning, which was
aimed at the decentralization of industrial areas, and the identity of the Halic was
damaged (Saner, 2012: 60; Çakır Kıasıf, 2018: 9; Yücetürk, 2001).

The term industrial archeology, which is a very parallel concept with the
Industrial Heritage, was used for the first time in 1993 in the process of Ankara Maltepe
Gas and Electricity Factory under protection. In the legal process carried out, it was
stated in the expert report requested by the court that industrial facilities are within the
scope of industrial archeology and should be protected (Saner and Severcan, 2009).

Towards the end of the 1990s, unused industrial buildings that lost their function
in and around the Halic began to attract the attention of investors. In this transformation
process that serves the cultural industries, the concept of industrial heritage has been
used extensively (Çakır Kıasıf, 2018; Saner, 2012).

Re-functioning industrial heritage structures

It is very significant for urban sustainability that the industrial heritage structures
that witnessed a certain period are not isolated from their surroundings but made useful
to society. In the globalizing world, there is a constant renewal and change. To protect
and exist in their buildings, they must continue their activities with the right function
by the social, environmental, and economic order. In this way, the awareness of history
is strengthened, the continuity of public memory is provided, it has spaces that can
communicate with the past of the society, the aesthetic perception is increased and the
socio-cultural structure is strengthened (Severcan, 2012).

Industrial heritage buildings are structures that can transfer the lifestyle and
philosophy of the time, culture, and period they belong to. Societies can preserve their
historical and cultural values ​i​f they can combine them with today’s lifestyles. An active
and multi-faceted approach should be adopted with economic and social solutions, not
prohibition based passive protection. Today, the understanding of passive preservation
is being abandoned and the idea of ​l​iving by fulfilling the requirements of the age is
becoming widespread (Arabacıoğlu and Aydemir, 2007). However, it is a matter to be
carefully emphasized that their original identities are not damaged in transferring the
industrial heritage that is included in the city life with appropriate functions to the future.

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The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

Industrial Heritage in Istanbul

The most intense industrialization attempts in the Ottoman Empire were the
capital Istanbul and its immediate surroundings. At the center of state power and
control, with its sea-land connections and lands with suitable conditions for the
industry, Istanbul has become a reason for the preference for industrial structures.
Intensely, after 1850, the number and type of foreign capital, labor force, and
technology and industrial structures in the city increased significantly. In this context,
production techniques and machines brought mainly from England, Germany,
France, and Belgium were used. Various experts came from the same places to
use these systems. However, the importation of technology, technical experts, and
sometimes even building parts from abroad, prevented the industrialization efforts
from creating a radical transformation in the country’s lands and caused this to
remain just an enterprise. When the masters of the factories were gone, or when
technological methods were insufficient, factories were closed or production could
not be made (Toprak, 1985).

Industrial buildings in Istanbul in the historical process

Istanbul, which has been the industrial center of the Ottoman Empire since
the 1850s, has incorporated many industrial structures with the presence of foreign
capital, workforce, and sufficient transportation network (Ökçün, 1997). Before this
process, Istanbul, which had important industrial structures such as Tersane-i Amire
in the 15th century, Tophane-i Amire in the 16th century, and Azadlı Baruthanesi
in the 18th century, started to build industrial facilities with great acceleration in
the 19th century (Pamuk, 1997). In the first stage, the facilities in the years 1830-
1840 were established to meet the requirements of the state, army, and palace. Iron
foundries, woolen-weaving factories extending from Yedikule to Küçükçekmece
and Feshane-i Amire Building are examples of the most important of these facilities
(Clark, 1992). In the second stage, there are facilities established with domestic
and foreign capital with the acceptance of the free trade agreement of the Ottoman
economy. Three-quarters of the Ottoman factories were built in this period after the
1880s (Ökçün, 1997) (Figure 1).

The table below lists significant industrial buildings built in Istanbul until now. Some
of these structures have not survived by being demolished. Some of them are still operating,
some of them are idle, some of them exist in the city with new functions (Table 1).

276

Figure 1. Map, list and codes of districts of Istanbul (URL-1)

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

Table 1. Industrial buildings of Istanbul

INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS OF ISTANBUL
  EUROPEAN SIDE (EU)
1.) EU01_01 : Terkos Water Pump Station
2.) EU01_02 : Uçar Toy Factory
3.) EU04_01 : Haznedar Brick Factory
4.) EU04_02 : Beverage Industry (İMSA) Coca Cola Factory
5.) EU05_01 : Baruthane-i Amire (Bakırköy Gun Powder Factory)
6.) EU05_02 : Bakırköy İspirtohanesi (Bakırköy Alcohol Factory)
7.) EU05_03 : Bakırköy Cloth Factory
8.) EU05_04 : Akın Textile Factory
9.) EU05_05 : Unilever- İş Vita- Sana Factory
10.) EU05_06 : Kilim Kartaltepe Textile Goods Factory
11.) EU06_01 : Azatlı Gun Powder Factory
12.) EU08_01 : Yıldız Çini Fabrika-i Hümayunu (Yıldız Tile Factory)
13.) EU08_02 : Beşiktaş Astro Tobacco Factory
14.) EU08_03 : Dolmabahçe-Hereke Weaving Mill
15.) EU08_04 : Nuri Demirdağ Plane Factory
16.) EU08_05 : Eczacıbaşı Modern Pharmaceutical Factory
17.) EU08_06 : Squibb Pharmaceutical Factory
18.) EU10_01 : Tersane-i Amire/Taşkızak Shipyard
19.) EU10_02 : Camialtı Shipyard
20.) EU10_03 : Lengerhane-i Amire (Anchor Factory)
21.) EU10_04 : Hasköy Şirket-i Hayriye Tersanesi (Hasköy Shipyard)
22.) EU10_05 : Tophane-i Amire (Canon Foundry)
23.) EU10_06 : Kasımpaşa Flour Plant
24.) EU10_07 : Şahbaz Agiya Brick Factory
25.) EU10_08 : Sütlüce Slaughterhouse
26.) EU10_09 : Taksim Water Facilities
27.) EU10_10 : Kasımpaşa Tannery
28.) EU10_11 : Ebüzziya Printery
29.) EU10_12 : Shipyard Power Plant
30.) EU10_13 : Matbaa-i Bahriye (Naval Printery)
31.) EU10_14 : Çifte Arslan Bread Factory
32.) EU10_15 : Bayrakçı Flag Factory
33.) EU10_16 : Iron Steel-Work Factory
34.) EU10_17 : Nuri Killigil Gun Factory
35.) EU10_18 : Kasımpaşa Salt Warehouse
36.) EU10_19 : Ford Automobile Assembly Factory

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

37.) EU10_20 : Rebul - Grande Parisienne Pharmacie
38.) EU10_21 : Karaağaç Fuse Factory
39.) EU10_22 : Arçelik Domestic Appliances Factory
40.) EU13_01 : Mercedes-Benz Türk (Otomarsan) Bus Factory
41.) EU13_02 : Ottoman Military Bakery
42.) EU15_01 : Silahtarağa Power Plant
43.) EU15_02 : Feshane-i Amire (Feshane Weaving Mill)
44.) EU15_03 : İplikhane-i Amire (Eyüp Filature)
45.) EU15_04 : Haliç Feneri Workshop- Alibeyköy Paint Factory
46.) EU15_05 : Alarko Air Conditioners Factory
47.) EU16_01 : Cibali Tobacco and Cigarette Factory
48.) EU16_02 : Yedikule Gas Factory
49.) EU16_03 : Darphane-i Amire (Mint Factory)
50.) EU16_04 : Unkapanı Flour Plant
51.) EU16_05 : Corset Factory
52.) EU16_06 : Sabuncuzade Şakir Soap Factory
53.) EU16_07 : Military Flour Plant
54.) EU16_08 : Seferoğlu Cigarette Paper Factory
55.) EU16_09 : Orosdi Back Shops and Workshops
56.) EU16_10 : Yedikule Filature
57.) EU16_11 : Ahmed İhsan Printery
58.) EU16_12 : Osman Bey Printery
59.) EU16_13 : Ahırkapı Sawmill
60.) EU16_14 : Ahırkapı Flannel Factory
61.) EU16_15 : Unkapanı Cold Air Storage
62.) EU16_16 : Nuri Leflef Shoe Polish Workshop
63.) EU16_17 : Postane-i Amire (Grand Post Office)
64.) EU16_18 : İbrahim Ethem Ulugay Pharmaceutical Factory
65.) EU16_19 : Abdi İbrahim Pharmaceutical Factory
66.) EU16_20 : Bodur – Eğinlioğlu Edirnekapı Cotton Factory
67.) EU16_21 : Marshall Paint Factory
68.) EU17_01 : Gön Leather Factory
69.) EU18_01 : Merter Vakko Factory
70.) EU18_02 : Raff Military Textile Factory
71.) EU19_01: Hamidiye Water Balance
72.) EU20_01 : Küçükçekmece Match Factory
73.) EU20_02 : Borusan Mannesman Factory
74.) EU21_01 : Büyükdere Tekel Beer and Match Factory
75.) EU21_02 : İstinye Shipyard
76.) EU21_03 : İstinye Lineros Lime Factory

279

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

77.) EU21_04: Hamidiye Water Facility
78.) EU24_01 : Dolmabahçe Gazhanesi (Dolmabahçe Gas Factory)
79.) EU24_02 : Bomonti Beer Factory
80.) EU24_03 : Cendere Water Pump Station
81.) EU24_04 : Mecidiyeköy Distillery
82.) EU24_05 : Blumenthal Record and Gramophone Factory
83.) EU24_06 : Şişli Bread Factory
84.) EU24_07 : Cav Bicycle Factory
85.) EU24_08 : Kasımpaşa Gun Powder Factory
86.) EU24_09 : State Heroin Factory
87.) EU24_10 : Nestlè Factory
88.) EU25_01 : Zeytinburnu Iron-Steel Factory
89.) EU25_02 : Kazlıçeşme Tannery
90.) EU25_03 : Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital Workshop
91.) EU25_04 : Kazlıçeşme Weaving Mill
92.) EU25_05 : Mavzer Ammunition Factory
93.) EU25_06 : General Electric (GETAŞ) Lighting/Light Bulb Factory
94.) EU25_07 : Bitlis (POLİSAN) Finishing Paint Factory
 
  ANATOLIAN SIDE (AN)
1.) AN01_01 : Büyükada Flour Plant
2.) AN02_01 : Genoto- General Automotive Factory
3.) AN03_01 : Göksu Mill
4.) AN03_02 : K. Yorgi Pagapulo Can Factory
5.) AN03_03 : Paşabahçe Alcohol Factory
6.) AN03_04 : Paşabahçe Çukurçayır Brick & Tile Factory
7.) AN03_05 : Göksu Brick & Tile Factory
8.) AN03_06 : Foti Kendros Brick Factory
9.) AN03_07 : Umuryeri Lime Factory
10.) AN03_08 : Cloth Factory
11.) AN03_09 : Paşabahçe Glass Factory
12.) AN03_10 : Çubuklu Glass Factory
13.) AN03_11 : Modiano Glass Factory
14.) AN03_12 : Beykoz Ceramic & Crystal Factory
15.) AN03_13 : Beykoz Leather & Shoe Factory
16.) AN03_14 : Kalınoğlu Ananyas Leather Factory
17.) AN03_15 : Beykoz Hünkar İskelesi Paper Factory
18.) AN03_16 : Beykoz Hamidiye Paper Factory
19.) AN03_17 : Paşabahçe Candle Factory
20.) AN03_18 : Beykoz Broadcloth Factory

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

21.) AN03_19 : Beykoz Oil Filling Plant
22.) AN03_20 : Göksu Hawser Factory
23.) AN03_21 : Çubuklu Soda Factory
24.) AN03_22 : Göksu Pottery Factory
25.) AN03_23 : Diesel Fuel Factory
26.) AN03_24 : İncirköy Glass & Ceramic Factory
27.) AN03_25 : Elmalı Dam Station
28.) AN03_26 : Elmalı Dam Station - II
29.) AN05_01 : Kadıköy Mills
30.) AN05_02 : Yaşarzade Hasan Hüsnü Efendi Brick Factory
31.) AN05_03 : Hasanpaşa Gas Factory
32.) AN05_04 : Anadol Car Factory - Otosan
33.) AN05_05 : Haydarpaşa Station Workshops
34.) AN05_06 : Wine Factory
35.) AN06_01 : Yunus Cement Factory
36.) AN06_02 : Esaş Transformer Factory
37.) AN06_03 : Eczacıbaşı Building Supplies Factory
38.) AN06_04 : Aksan Metal Factory
39.) AN06_05 : Özarar Crane Factory
40.) AN06_06 : Eczacıbaşı Ceramics Factory
41.) AN06_07 : Vinyl Floor Tile Factory
42.) AN06_08 : Anadolu Isuzu Factory
43.) AN07_01 : Maltepe Thread Factory
44.) AN07_02 : Maltepe Cigar Factory
45.) AN08_01 : Stelyanidi Brick Factory
46.) AN08_02 : Pendik Dockyard & Heavy Indusrty
47.) AN08_03 : Tiryandafilopulos Yorgi Mill
48.) AN08_04 : Pendik Sulzer Engine Plant
49.) AN12_01 : Petodi Brick Factory
50.) AN12_02 : İstren Osmanlı Cement Processing Factory
51.) AN12_03 : Alarko Alamsaş Heavy Equipment Industry Plant
52.) AN13_01 : Royal Gaskets Factory
53.) AN14_01 : Paşalimanı Flour Plant
54.) AN14_02 : Polizo & Leko Pasta Factory
55.) AN14_03 : Üsküdar Silk Factory
56.) AN14_04 : A. ve N. Sarrafyan Carpentry Factory
57.) AN14_05 : Üsküdar Blachsmith Factory
58.) AN14_06 : Nakkaştepe Gas Factory
59.) AN14_07 : Üsküdar Power Plant
60.) AN14_08 : Üsküdar Alcohol Factory

281

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

61.) AN14_09 : Üsküdar Printing Press

62.) AN14_10 : Üsküdar Disinfection Center

63.) AN14_11 : Paşalimanı Tobacco Depot

64.) AN14_12 : Üsküdar Şemsipaşa Tobacco Depot

65.) AN14_13 : Nemlizade Tobacco Depot

66.) AN14_14 : Toledo Bahar Flour Mill

67.) AN14_15 : Çıknavoryan Biscuit Factory

Source: Köksal, 2005; Bozdemir, 2011; URL-1

Location of industrial buildings in Istanbul

The distribution of industrial facilities in Istanbul within the city has generally
been on the Golden Horn, Bosphorus, and Marmara coasts. On the northern shore of
the Golden Horn, shipping activities and brick production are predominantly located,
while on the south coast, facilities for food and clothing are located. In the 19th century,
there were businesses and warehouses from many different sectors such as soap, food,
and tobacco in a vertical position to the beach (Müller-Wiener, 1992). Factories on the
northern shores of the Bosphorus were concentrated in Üsküdar, around Göksu Creek,
and on the Beykoz-Paşabahçe line. It was located in Büyükdere, İstinye, and on the
Tophane-Beşiktaş line on the southern shore of the Bosphorus. Finally, on the Marmara
coast, industrial buildings were densely encountered around Yedikule, Bakırköy, and
Küçükçekmece. In the positioning of the factories; factors such as proximity to water,
having arable lands, being sheltered, being a railway connection, and being close to the
place where it will serve were effective (Köksal and Ahunbay, 2006).

The current state of the industrial heritage in Istanbul

Most of the industrial facilities in Istanbul were operating at full capacity until
the 1980s. However, as a result of the state’s failure to support the production of raw
materials, lagging behind in technology, insufficiency of production, and the damage
caused by the facilities to the environment, there was a process where the public facilities
were gradually closed and moved out of Istanbul (Pamuk, 1997). It was seen that these
structures, which lost their functions after the 1990s, were demolished for various invalid
reasons. Some of the industrial buildings, which are significant witnesses of Istanbul’s
industrial past and that have survived to the present day, continue their activities, some of
them are left to decay in an idle state, and some of them are re-functionalized and existed
in the city life (Table 2).

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

Table 2. The Existing industrial heritage structures in the Istanbul today

The Existing Industrial Heritage Structures in İstanbul Today

Industrial Location Registration Current State Current Name or
# Heritage Struc- Const. Year Status Function
Beyoğlu
ture’s Name Under Legal
Tophane Protection
Tersane-i Amire Piyalepaşa- Partially
(Haliç-Cami- Kasımpaşa Under Legal Continues Its Planned to be a
1 altı-Taşkızak 1455 Bakırköy Protection Functionality. Science Center
Sultanahmet Under Legal Re-Functioning MSGSÜ Exhibition
Shipyard) Hasköy Protection is Considered. Hall
Taksim Under Legal Re-Functioning
2 Tophane-i 15th Century Başakşehir Protection
Amire Foundry Under Legal
Üsküdar Protection
Kasımpaşa Beykoz Under Legal Restoration It Will be a Cul-
3 Okmeydanı Gun 1579 Defterdar Protection Works Continue tural Facility
Kasımpaşa Under Legal
Powder Factory Üsküdar Protection
Under Legal
4 Bakırköy Gun 1700 Protection Re-Functioning Yunus Emre Cul-
Powder Factory ture Center

Darphane-i 1727 Exhibition Area in
5 Amire (Mint Re-Functioning Topkapı Palace 1st

Factory) Court

Lengerhane-i 1730 Re-Functioning Rahmi Koç Mu-
6 Amire Anchor seum

Factory

7 Taksim Water 1732 Re-Functioning Taksim Republic
Station 1794 Art Gallery

Azadlı Gun It is Aimed to be
Powder Fac- Restored and At-
8 tory – Azadlı Damaged tend to Tourism.

Baruthanesi

9 Paşalimanı To- 1798 Under Legal Re-Functioning Tekel Museum and
bacco Depot Protection Culture Center

10 Beykoz Leather 1810 Under Legal Restoration Yıldırım Holding
–Shoe Factory Protection Works Continue Company Rents as
a Set to Films.

Feshane-i Under Legal Re-Functioning Mysticism Museum
11 Amire Weaving 1833 Protection

Mill

12 Kasımpaşa Salt 1840 Under Legal Re-Functioning Medina Turgul –
Warehouse Protection Re-Functioning DDB Office
Not Registered It is Used by Turk-
13 Üsküdar Black- 1841 Yet ish Armed Forces
smith Factory As a Mosque.

283

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

Zeytinburnu Under Legal
Iron Steel Fac- Protection Fişekhane Culture
14 tory – Fabrika-i 1845 Zeytinburn Re-Functioning Center

Hümayun

15 Dolmabahçe 1854 Maçka Under Legal Re-Functioning Maçka Küçükçift-
Gas Factory Çengelköy Protection - One Part of lik Park (Concert
Üsküdar Under Legal Demolished, Hall and Amuse-
Protection One Part of ment Park)
Under Legal Sturdy.
Protection
16 Üsküdar Alco- 1857 Re-Functioning Sumahan Hotel
hol Factory

17 Paşalimanı 1858 Restoration -
Flour Plant Works are
Started (Only
Exterior Walls
Exist)

Hasköy Ship- 1861 Hasköy Under Legal Re-Functioning Rahmi Koç Mu-
18 yard – Şirket-i Kuzguncuk Protection seum
Under Legal
Hayriye Protection

19 Nakkaştepe Gas 1864 Re-Functioning Beylerbeyi Palace
Factory as a Cultural Gas Factory
Center (Works Mülkiyeliler Birliği
in Progress) Cultural Center

One Part of
Demolished, Borsa Culture and
Unkapanı Flour Under Legal One Part of Business Center
20 Plant 1866 Unkapanı Protection Sturdy. Planned Project is Consid-

to Have a New ered
Function

21 Ottoman Mili- 1876 Davutpaşa Under Legal Re-Functioning Research Center
tary Bakery Protection in Yıldız Tech.
Univ. Davutpaşa
Campus

22 Yedikule Gas 1880 Yedikule – Fatih Under Legal Destruction Yedikule İETT
Factory Protection Due to Lack of Warehouse
Maintenance
– Reusing as a
Warehouse

23 Terkos Water 1883 Terkos Havzası Under Legal İstanbul Water
Pump Station Protection Re-Functioning Civilizations

Museum

Cibali Tocacco 1884 Cibali Under Legal Re-Functioning Kadir Has Univer-
24 and Cigarette 1886 Kasımpaşa Protection sity
1890 Fatih Under Legal
Factory Protection
-
25 Kasımpaşa Neglected -
Flour Plant

26 Ahmet İhsan Continues Its Servet-i Fünun
Printery Initial Function Printery

27 Yıldız Tile 1890 Yıldız Under Legal Continues Its Museum and Tile
Factory Protection Initial Function Production
Partially

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

28 Hasanpaşa Gas 1891 Kadıköy Under Legal Partially De- A Project has
Station Protection molished Been Prepared to
Continues Its Build a Cultural
Dolma- 1891 Dolmabahçe Under Legal Initial Function Center.
29 bahçe-Hereke 1894 Protection Partially -

Weaving Mill

30 Üsküdar Disin- Üsküdar Under Legal Re-Functioning Islamic Art Center
fection Center Beyoğlu Protection
Under Legal
31 Rebul Pharmacy 1895 Protection Continues Its
Initial Function Pharmacy
Partially

32 Küçükçekmece 1897 Küçükçekmece Under Legal Building is Still Rented as a Set to
Match Factory Protection Standing Films.

33 Corset Factory 19th century Fatih Under Legal Continues Its It is Renovated
Protection Initial Function and Added New
Structures.

34 Hamidiye Wa- Before 1900 Kağıthane Under Legal Neglected It is Remained in
ter Balance Protection the Intensive City
Tissue.

Haydarpaşa 20th century Haydarpaşa Under Legal Building is Still It is not Clear What
35 Station Work- Protection Standing the New Function
Re-Functioning Will Be.
shops Planned to Nevmekan Bağlar-
Have a New başı: Cafe-Li-
36 Üsküdar Power 1900 Bağlarbaşı - Function brary-Volunteer
Plant Center
No Current Work
37 Hamidiye Wa- 1902 Maslak Under Legal Has Been Carried
ter Facility Maslak Protection Out Yet.
Eyüpsultan Under Legal
38 Cendere Water 1902 Protection İstanbul Water
Pump Station Under Legal Re-Functioning Civilizations
Protection
Museum

39 Silahtarağa 1913 Re-Functioning Santralİstanbul
Power Plant 1908 Energy Museum
1917
Sabuncuzade Eminönü Not Registered Continues Its Equipment is
40 Şakir Soap Yet Initial Function Renewed.

Factory

41 Bakırköy Alco- Ataköy- Under Legal Re-Functioning İspirtohane Cul-
hol Factory Bakırköy Protection ture Center
Continues Its Bayrakçı Adver-
42 Bayrakçı Flag 1919 Tepebaşı- Be- - Initial Function tising Textile
Factory yoğlu Re-Functioning Industry and Trade
(But Demol- Inc. Co.
43 Sütlüce Slaugh- 1923 Sütlüce Under Legal ished and
terhouse Protection Re-Built) Haliç Congress
Center

285

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

44 Nemlizade To- 1923-1925 Üsküdar - Kuz- Under Legal Re-Functioning
bacco Depot guncuk Protection (Re-Used as the Park Holding HQ-
Headquarters Office
of Ciner Group)

45 Kazlıçeşme 1927 Kazlıçeşme Under Legal Damaged Has Been Expro-
Weaving Mill Protection priated By İBB

46 Yunus Cement 1929 Kartal Not Registered Damaged Planned to Build
Factory Göksu Yet Planning to Residence, Mall
Paşabahçe - Re-Functioning and Marina
47 Göksu Hawser 1933 Not Registered Neglected Loft Project
Factory Yet Requested To Be
Demolished and
48 Paşabahçe 1934 Built a Hotel
Glass Factory

Source: Köksal, 2005; Bozdemir,2011; URL-1.

Urban Sustainability

Cities are among the most important works of the historical development of
human beings. With the technology developed after the industrial revolution, cities, and
societies that consume quickly and uncontrolled, the concept of urban sustainability
has come to the fore. It is foreseen that urban sustainability can be possible with
good management of the environment, natural resources, economy, social structure,
population, identity, history, technology, and biological structure. In this way, cities
will be able to respond to the needs of future generations, shed light, and guide (Negiz,
2017).

Sustainable development in the report Our Common Future, announced by Gro
Harlem Brundtland, chairman of the World Environment and Development Commission,
and published in 1987; It is defined as “the ability of humanity to make development
sustainable by providing daily needs without jeopardizing its ability to respond to the
needs of future generations.” It does not consume natural capital, does not take away
the opportunities of future generations to meet their own needs, maintains the balance
between the economy and the ecosystem, is ecologically sustainable. “Environmental
Protection”, “Economic Development” and “Social Justice” are put forward as three
interrelated concepts for sustainable development (Vanegas, etc, 1998).

For social sustainability, it is necessary to ensure equality, freedom, and
impartiality in matters such as belief, culture, language, religion, race, gender, health,
education, quality of life, and justice. Also, the issue of reintegration of the disabled,
disabled, young, and old people into society and accessibility should be addressed
meticulously. Economically sustainability; stability is provided by healthy growth,
efficient production-consumption, and a continuous cycle. To ensure environmental

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

sustainability, it is necessary to protect natural resources, ecosystem integrity, efficient
use of resources, and support biological structure design (Sönmez & Çakır Kıasıf,
2018).

A study in Turkey about Eco-Compact Urbanization introduced as part of the Urban
Sustainability Criteria are set out 13 principles. These principles are (Tuğaç, 2018 );

• P1. Sustainable Transport Planning: Revitalization of the city center, sub-
centers, and public spaces

• P2. Energy Efficiency: For zero CO2 emissions renewable energy, carbon
footprint-greenhouse gas inventory, and air management

• P3. Waste Management: Zero waste-producing city
• P4. Integrated Urban Water Management
• P5. Development of Intelligent Infrastructure Systems and Urban Disaster

Risk Management
• P6. Eco-Compact Design: Green building / green roof, passive energy

applications
• P7. Protection of Urban Landscape and Biodiversity and Enrichment of Green

Infrastructure
• P8. Local Food, Urban Agriculture and Shorter Supply Chains
• P9. Liveability, Healthy Society and Mixed Uses
• P10. Preservation of Cultural Heritage: Regional identity and regional

memory

Figure 2. Sustainable Development Goals (URL-2) 287

The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

• P11. Urban Green Governance, Leadership and Green Practices
• P12. Capacity Building, R&D, and Information Sharing
• P13. Strategy Development for the Urban Economy and Climate Change

Finance in Cities
The compact urban and eco-city hybrid approach of this model suggest that policy
adapted to the conditions of Turkey’s adoption;
• Considering local climatic conditions and topographical data,
• Creating cities that generate their energy from renewable energy sources,
• Implementation of sustainable waste management,
• Ensuring water quality, supply, and safety through integrated urban water

management,
• Increasing green areas against the urban heat island effect,
• Adoption of urban ecology principles that consume natural resources as much

as it needs,
• Application of the latest technology and highly efficient sustainable energy

generation systems,
• Accessibility and having a well-developed public transportation network,
• Use of local materials in construction,
• Protection of cultural heritage and integration of these buildings with urban

mixed uses,
• Use of environmentally friendly and renewable energy resources,
• Adopting urban agriculture and local garden practices in the healthy food

supply,
• Addressing a participatory approach in which the opinions of all parts of the

city are taken into consideration
• Paying special attention to mixed-use structures,
• Reducing air and noise pollution by reducing vehicle dependency,
• Increasing the quality of life
matters have been mentioned (Tuğaç, 2018).

Results

Industrial heritage is a historical document as it expresses the historical past,
technological infrastructure, social, political, cultural, and economic accumulation of a
society. Therefore, it is of great importance for urban sustainability to include industrial
structures in the city with new functions. Today, many industrial heritage structures have
been included in Istanbul with new functions and have supported urban sustainability. The
following table lists the industrial heritage structures that have been re-functionalized in
Istanbul and supports the sustainability of the city (Table 3). Buildings that are planned to

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

be re-functionalized or buildings that have not been activated for use despite receiving new
functions are excluded from the scope of the study. Because the effects of these structures
on the sustainability of a city will be evident after the new function starts to operate.

Table 3. Re-Functioning industrial heritage structures which is used in active in Istanbul

# Industrıal Heritage Const. Location Current Name or Function
Structure’s Name Year

1 Tophane-i Amire Foundry 15th Tophane Msgsü Exhibition Hall
Century Yunus Emre Culture Center
Rahmi Koç Museum
2 Bakırköy Gun Powder 1700 Bakırköy Taksim Republic Art Gallery
Factory

3 Lengerhane-i Amire Anchor 1730 Hasköy
Factory

4 Taksim Water Station 1732 Taksim

5 Paşalimanı Tobacco Depot 1798 Üsküdar Tekel Museum and Culture Center

6 Kasımpaşa Salt Warehouse 1840 Kasımpaşa Medina Turgul - DDB Office
Üsküdar It is Used by Turkish Armed Forces as
7 Üsküdar Blacksmith 1841 Zeytinburnu a Mosque.
Factory 1845
Maçka Fişekhane Culture Center
Zeytinburnu Iron
8 Steel Factory Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park (Concert Hall
and Amusement Park) (One Part of
Fabrika-İ Hümayun Demolished, One Part of Sturdy.)
Sumahan Hotel
9 Dolmabahce Gas Factory 1854 Rahmi Koç Museum
Kadir Has University
10 Üsküdar Alcohol Factory 1857 Çengelköy
1861 Hasköy Islamic Art Center
11 Hasköy Shıpyard 1884 Cibali Nevmekan Bağlarbaşı: Cafe-Library-
1894 Üsküdar Volunteer Center
12 Cibali Tobacco and 1900 Bağlarbaşı Santral İstanbul Energy Museum
Cigarette Factory İspirtohane Culture Center
Haliç Congress Center (Demolished
13 Üsküdar Disinfection and Re-Built)
Center Park Holding HQ -Office
(Headquarters of Ciner Group)
14 Üsküdar Power Plant

15 Silahtarağa Power Plant 1913 Eyüpsultan
16 Bakırköy Alchol Factory 1917 Ataköy-Bakırköy

17 Sütlüce Slaughterhouse 1923 Sütlüce

18 Nemlizade Tobacco Depot 1923- Üsküdar-
1925 Kuzguncuk

Source: Köksal, 2005; Bozdemir,2011; URL-1.

When the table is examined, it is seen that 18 industrial heritage buildings in
Istanbul are existed in the urban life by taking new functions. When the new functions
of these industrial heritage structures are examined it is seen that there are;

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The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

1. - 7 museums, art, and exhibition,
2. - 5 congress and cultural centers,
3. - 2 offices,
4. - 1 university,
5. - 1 cafe-library
6. - 1 mosque,

7. - 1 hotel.

Giving the right function to the industrial heritage structures that cannot keep up
with the needs of the age and cannot continue their activities is of great importance for
urban sustainability. When Table 3 is examined, we see that the museum, art, and exhibition
functions are mostly given. Museums are defined as places or structures where art and science
works or objects that will benefit art and science are stored and displayed for public display
(URL-5). With this feature, it plays an important role in raising the cultural level of the society
by raising public awareness. In this context, giving a museum function to the old industrial
facilities, which are significant for our cultural heritage, positively affects urban sustainability
by strengthening local identity and memory. The point to be taken into consideration here is
that the building functions as a museum with a respectful design approach without prejudicing
its historical value and original qualities. Tophane-i Amire Foundry, Lengerhane-i Amire
Anchor Factory, Taksim Water Station, Dolmabahçe Gas Factory, Hasköy Shipyard, Üsküdar
Disinfection Center, Silahtarağa Power Plant are the industrial heritage buildings that have
been included in the city by giving new functions as a museum, exhibition, and art center.
When Table 3 is examined, it is seen that 5 industrial facilities have been transformed into
congress and cultural centers. The cultural center is defined as the place where the opera, theater,
museum, and exhibition activities are held to serve the development of culture (URL-5). As
can be understood from the definition, congress and cultural centers, which can additionally
have the function of a museum, have a great contribution to the social sustainability of the city.
Bakırköy Gun Powder Factory, Paşalimanı Tobacco Depot, Zeytinburnu Iron Steel Factory,
Bakırköy Alcohol Factory, and Sütlüce Slaughterhouse are among the industrial heritage
buildings included in the city as a congress and cultural center. Kasımpaşa Salt Warehouse
and Nemlizade Tobacco Depot buildings were included in the city as an office. The location,
architectural properties, and physical conditions of office buildings, which are an important
part of urban life and business life, are of great importance for work efficiency. Universities
are defined as the educational structure consisting of units such as faculties, institutes, and
colleges that have scientific autonomy and public legal personality, which provide high-level
education, training, scientific research, and publication (URL-5). The fact that many students,
administrative staff, and academic staff experience such a building of historical importance
contribute significantly to the sustainability of the city. In parallel with this, the fact that the
Üsküdar Power Plant building is used as a cafe-library function is of great importance for
any segment of the library that will do research. The use of the Üsküdar Blacksmith Factory
building as a mosque is important in terms of supporting the social belief system. Meeting
religious needs in an industrial facility of historical importance adds richness to the social
sustainability of the city. Finally, it is thought that the transformation of the Üsküdar Alcohol
Factory building into a hotel will attract the attention of tourists especially and support
economic sustainability.

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When Tables 2 and 3 are examined, it is seen that there are buildings that are not
opened for use despite the completion of the re-functioning processes. Daphane-i Amire
building, Terkos, and Cendere Water Pump Station can be given as examples of these
structures.

Before the Industrial Revolution, Darphane-i Amire, which was located in Istanbul,
served as a money production workshop and since 1665 it was serving in the 1st Courtyard
of the Topkapı Palace. With the developing technology and machinery, it first grew in its
existing land, and then it was abandoned because its function began to fall short. Although
it is a very suitable place for the establishment of the Istanbul Museum together with the
Istanbul Archeology Museum and Topkapı Palace Museum, the museum could not be
opened. After its renovation, it hosted 3 major exhibitions such as “World City Istanbul”,
“Housing and Settlement in Anatolia” and “From the Mint to the Istanbul Museum”, and
subsequently more than 600 art events until the date it was closed. This venue, which can
support education and social developments and shed light on the rich history of Istanbul
with the Habitat-II Summit and subsequent exhibitions and art activities, is closed (Nazik,
2021). This situation adversely affects urban sustainability in environmental, social, and
economic terms.

ISKI has many buildings belonging to the Ottoman Period within the scope of
“water structure” as a cultural asset. Cendere Water Pump Station was first decided to be
the Istanbul Water Civilization Museum to shed light on the history, to obtain information
about the buildings, and to discover them. In this direction, İSKİ applied to Gülsün
Tanyeli from the Restoration Department of ITU Faculty of Architecture and requested the
protection, restoration, and functioning of this facility as the Istanbul Water Civilizations
Museum (URL-4). The Cendere Water Pump Station, built in the early 20th century, is a
unique representative of industrial architecture in terms of both its function, architectural
design, mechanical equipment, and other unique features (URL-3). With the same thought,
the Istanbul Water Civilization Museum work was completed for the Terkos Water Pump
Station, which was built in the 1880s. Currently, the buildings are not opened, although
they are put out to tender and received special museum approval from the Ministry of
Culture (URL-4). The fact that these water facilities, which are of great importance for a
certain period of Istanbul, are not included in the city as a museum negatively affects urban
sustainability.

As a result, the inclusion of an industrial heritage structure, which has survived until
today, into the city with correct functions and practices will contribute both environmentally,
socially, and economically. Because these buildings, which have an important place for
the urban identity, are included in the city instead of leaving them idle, causing the urban
memory and social sustainability to be strengthened. Instead of giving a new function
to a standing building, the construction of a new building causes more damage to the
natural environment, large consumption of energy and materials, and negatively affects
environmental sustainability. This also applies to economic sustainability. A new building
will cost much more than an existing and historically significant industrial structure and will
attract less attention and provide less economic benefits.

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The Importance of Re-Functioning Industrial Heritage... Gözde ÇAKIR KIASIF

Discussion and Conclusions

The industrial revolution is not only a period when technology is developed,
but also an environmental, social, and economic transformation process that changes
people’s thinking and lifestyle. With this process, the industrial facilities also
transformed and became one of the biggest witnesses of this period. Later, they were
closed or abandoned as a result of their inability to keep up with the developing
technology, pollute the environment and not operate efficiently. For the sustainability
of the industrial heritage, which is of great importance for urban identity and memory,
these structures should be included in life with new functions.

The first goal in the re-functioning of industrial heritage structures should
be on the preservation of the original historical identity of the building. Because
these buildings contain many cultural, social, and political data of the period they
were built. The theoretical knowledge obtained to provide the correct function and
to make on-site interventions is not sufficient by itself. For this reason, successful
projects put forward by countries specialized in this field should be analyzed in
detail. After these analyzes, unique strategies and methods should be produced for
the industrial heritage in Istanbul. To protect the industrial heritage, civil initiative
and expert staff should come together and meet at a common point with a collective
consciousness. Because of the protection of industrial heritage; It is possible by
working in cooperation in a common activity area that includes many components
such as architecture, engineering, archeology, history, social sciences, philosophy,
economics, and urbanites.

In urban sustainability, it is of great importance to evaluate the industrial
heritage with contemporary functions that respond to current requirements. However,
as a result of not making the right decisions, the industrial heritage can be damaged
and transform into an urban structure without roots and identity. The continuity of
the industrial heritage that has witnessed a certain history, is possible with correct
functionalization and correct practices. In the planning model named Eco-compact
Urbanization, it has been revealed that the protection of cultural heritage can be
achieved by keeping the local identity and memory alive. For this, the determination
of local history and cultural values i​​s a very significant issue. Strategies should be
developed to strengthen the landmarks and develop a sense of belonging. Plans for the
balance of protection and use should be set forth. In such a case, industrial heritage
structures can make serious contributions to urban sustainability in environmental,
social, and economic terms. An individual living in an environment that carries the
signs of the past will have the continuity of culture and historical awareness. The
continuity envisaged here is intended to carry the symbols of the past in the new
life that strengthens social sustainability. Environmental and economic sustainability
is supported by less intervention in the natural environment by re-evaluating the historical
texture and restoring it to the present day. Thus, energy and material resources can be used
more effectively and buildings located in the center can be included in the city.

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294

AN INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE EXAMPLE
ON ISTANBUL GOLDEN HORN
SHORE: UNKAPANI MILL

Füsun SEÇER KARİPTAŞ1

Abstract

The realization of the importance of industrial structures has been possible by
perceiving them as a legacy. After the emergence of the industrial heritage concept, the
importance of these structures has drawn attention in terms of cultural identity. Due to the
development of technology and production techniques that are insufficient to meet the
requirements of changing needs, the reactions to the abandonment of industrial structures
have triggered the conservation efforts in this field.

Istanbul and especially the Golden Horn coasts are important regions in terms of
industrial heritage. Unkapanı region was developed as a place where wheat trade has been
done since the Byzantine period. For this reason, many large and small mills and bakeries,
which were generally working with water and horses, were established in this region. At the
end of the 19th century, these mills were replaced by mills which were powered by steam or
electricity. One of these big facilities is the Unkapanı Mill located in the Unkapanı district.

The Unkapanı Mill was built in 1870 and has changed as a result of various
degradation and repairs throughout its history. The re-functioning of the Unkapanı Mill
has been on the agenda for years. However, it has been abandoned and devastated for a
very long time. In order not to lose our industrial heritage, it is important to document the
Unkapanı Mill as soon as possible and to re-evaluate it with a function that will protect its
architectural identity, as well as many other industrial heritage buildings in our country.

1   Prof. Dr., Faculty of Architecture, Halic University, Sütlüce Mah. İmrahor Cad. No:82 Beyoğlu/İstanbul

e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-1594-6061

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Introduction

The concept of industrial archeology in the world is a scientific discipline that
emerged in the second half of the 20th century and focuses on the activity of producing
goods or services with mechanical tools and setups and the authentic architecture built
for this purpose. When it comes to industrial archeology, although it evokes only the
structures and tools that were produced and manufactured in the industrial age, it actually
includes equipment from all periods. All sources within the scope of industrial archeology
constitute the industrial heritage. The transfer of this heritage to future generations can be
achieved by not only bringing the buildings into urban life with an appropriate function,
but also by preserving their original identities.

Resources available as industrial heritage are vast but very fragmented. This is
because the industrial civilization is lacking an effort to change and an integrated business
strategy. If the resources within the scope of industrial heritage are classified in general,
these are the tools defined as movable cultural assets and the buildings and industrial
landscapes defined as immovable cultural assets.

In recent years, due to unconsciousness and improper conservation efforts,
there is a great threat to the destruction of historical industrial structures. These
structures, which lost their function over time, were not considered as important as
other monumental buildings and therefore they were not preserved. Many industrial
structures have been left to collapse, losing their function with the development of
technology and the establishment of new factories. Since the end of the 20th century,
these buildings have been accepted as industrial heritage and have been included
in the scope of preservation. The concept of industrial heritage in Turkey began
to be valued in the early 21st century. Studies and practices on this subject have
gradually increased. There are many examples of industrial heritage, especially in the
Istanbul Golden Horn region. Today, some of these examples are re-functionalized
and continue their lives. Some examples are still dysfunctional and ruined by neglect.
One of the industrial heritage structures in Istanbul waiting to be re-evaluated is
Unkapanı Mill (Photo 1).

Flour Distribution and Mills in Istanbul

Throughout the Ottoman history, nutrition in Istanbul has been one of the issues
that occupied the central administration the most. Therefore, during the Ottoman Period,
meeting the grain and bread requirements of Istanbul was not left to the will. Even if
different practices have taken place in various years, the state has always actively dealt
with this issue, and a series of regulations from production to consumption have been
introduced, and resources have been sought for people not to be left without bread. These
regulations are the result and necessity of previous famines, the geographical conditions
and transportation facilities of the day, and the large population of Istanbul (Güçer, 1964).

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Photo 1. Unkapanı Mill, 1870.
Source: Müller-Wiener, W. (1998)

Maritime has been used to a great extent in the transportation of grain to Istanbul.
The transportation of grain by land remained limited, mostly covering the distance
from the production areas to the piers. In some regions, river roads were also used and
production areas were connected to certain piers. It was determined to which pier the
producers would take their goods, and not everyone was able to take their products to
other piers, except for the ones which they were assigned to. This situation originated
from the desire of the state to establish a regular organization. (Aynural, 2002).

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An Industrial Heritage Example on İstanbul Füsun SEÇER KARİPTAŞ

Unkapanı region in Istanbul has developed as a place where wheat trade has been
done since the Byzantine Period. (Photo 2) For this reason, many large and small mills
and bakeries have been established in this region. Until the 1840s, wind, water and horse-
powered mills were mostly used in Istanbul. It is known that in the Unkapanı region, there
were many mills working with horse and water power, in addition to wind-powered mills.
However, after a while, horse-drawn mills and mills operating with other power sources
left their places to large facilities operating with steam or electricity, including other
machinery. One of these large facilities is “Unkapanı Mill”, which was established in
Unkapanı. The Unkapanı Mill was built in 1870 and has changed as a result of degradation
and repairs caused by various reasons.

Photo 2. Istanbul Trade districts and Haliç piers.
Source: Mantran, R. (1990).

Unkapanı history

Unkapanı district is located within the boundaries of Eminönü. The district spreads over
some parts of the Yavuz Sinan and Hacı Kadın districts of Eminönü and Haraççı Kara Mehmet
and Kasap Demirhun districts of Fatih. Atatürk Boulevard, which is the continuation of Atatürk
Bridge towards Aksaray, divides the district in the middle and separates Eminönü and Fatih
from each other. It is known that this region was called Armatiu in the Byzantine Period and
Platea or Plateia in the Late Byzantine Period. Pletea means flatness. This name was given to the
Unkapanı district because of the widest flat area in this part of the Golden Horn.

During the Ottoman Empire, the district of Unkapanı was also called Dakik (Un) Kapanı.
Throughout its history, Unkapanı has been a region with warehouses, mills and trade in wheat
and flour. Kömürcüyan and Robert Mantran, stated that there were over a hundred bakeries at
that time, describing the 17th century Istanbul in this region, which is also a crossroad.

The presence of the flour warehouse, which is one of the most important places for
the measurement, pricing and distribution of grain, food and other necessities coming to
Istanbul, has caused the district to be named after itself. The owner of the warehouse, who
received the incoming load, would take delivery and the distribution to the shopkeepers and

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