Industrial legacy, contemporary views: narratives on industrial heritage and its development in Czechia

Industrial heritage is often highlighted in development strategies as an asset that can be valorized and thus contribute to the redevelopment of old industrial regions. However, the inclusion of industrial heritage in development efforts is based on a specific constellation of perceptions and expectations of local or regional stakeholders, which ultimately transform these efforts into newly revitalized places. Based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of local and regional authorities, traditional industrial companies, NGOs and cultural institutions in an old industrial region in Czechia, we identified three different narratives relevant to industrial heritage: the pragmatic, the problematizing, and the revitalization narrative. Our findings highlight the different perceptions and expectations of the development potential of industrial heritage that need to be taken into account when incentivizing transformative efforts in old industrial regions. While this plurality can generate new insights and ideas, the lack of alignment prevents the emergence of a system-level agency at the regional level that could reshape industrial culture and integrate industrial heritage into a coherent development strategy.