STUDY OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HOLISTIC GOVERNANCE.

• Author: Hua, Zhang

1. Introduction

   In the 1970s and 1980s, large-scale deindustrialization movements began in Western Europe and North America (Altena and van der Linden, 2002). Citizens, public administration managers and legal experts have raised questions about the transformation of the industrial heritage. As an example, the VolklingerHutte plant in Saarland, Germany, an extraordinarily lucrative company during the steel age, ceased production in 1986 and was successfully listed on The World Heritage List in 1994 as the first industrial heritage in the world (UNESCO, 2020). Through an innovative process, it has become a cultural center and an industrial tourism site. Along with the industrial transformation and upgrading in the contemporary era, and because of new environment regulations, heavy and textile industries have been moving out of the cities, leaving former industrial land abandoned. From defining industrial heritage to adding more and more industrial heritage into the World Heritage centers, UNESCO has been very active in stimulating the transformation of industrial heritage first in Europe and the United States, then in the rest of the world (UNESCO, 2020).

   Many countries have made the choice to redesign industrial heritage into public facilities, because the architecture of the industrial era enables this transformation. The challenges of brownfield reconstruction are mostly related to funding and policies. The essence of this process is the gradual replacement of the former enterprise management through public coordination and administration. The government needs to administer various resources and to deal with complex power relations during the implementation of the project. For example, the transformation of mining areas in the Ruhr region of Germany needed a lot of financial support. The European Union, the German state and municipal governments, as well as associations such as the RAG (Ruhrkohle AG) Foundation and large enterprises have provided funding (Zhang and Liu, 2020). In terms of complexity, the case of the Iron Bridge Gorge in the U.K. also is relevant: this reconstructed industrial heritage consists of seven monuments and museums and 285 protected industrial buildings--a vast project that transformed factories, warehouses, mining areas, workers' dormitories, transportation roads and other facilities (Baidu Baike, 2020). As we mentioned before, rules and regulations are needed for the implementation of such projects. In Japan, for instance, a special committee for cultural properties protection planning was established in 1992. In its 1994 report, the committee extended the protection of cultural properties to modern heritage, including industrial heritage born in modern times. In 1996, the 'Building Registration System' was approved by the Japanese Parliament and the protection and renovation of industrial heritage was officially launched.

   The period of industrial heritage transformation in the world overlaps with the birth and development of new public management and integrated management in the field of public administration. These new trends have more or less affected the industrial heritage transformation in various countries (Hood, 1991). The new public administration--with its focus on business management technology--has created competition mechanisms and customer orientation. Though there is no direct evidence that the worldwide industrial heritage transformation completely follows the new public management principles, the theoretical framework of public management plays an important role in the construction of public spaces, including industrial heritage. There are variations from one country to another in the system design and other aspects of the reform, as well as different options in management practice and reform depth. Sometimes, the new public administration theory and practice have led to the fragmentation of government management, a lack of communication, breaks in the decision-making process, eventually impacting the citizens and the efficiency of the public services that they receive. Successful cases have shown that the transformation of industrial heritage needs to be guided by a collaborative governance approach, with a lot of attention paid to transparency and good communication. They also have proven that public administration managers should learn from the competitive corporate culture and from market mechanisms, but also to consider principles such as of social equality, justice and other democratic values.

   China began large-scale industrial constructions after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. Since the 1980s, the reform and open policy have promoted the development of all sectors of production, including the industry. However, the modernization of the production process and the growing focus on IT technologies, unused or underused large-scale industrial properties have become an issue of concern. According to the national soil pollution survey communique released in 2014, the soil environment in China's abandoned industrial lands is a serious problem, accounting for 34.9% of the areas where the pollution exceeds the standard (China Soil Pollution Status Survey Bulletin, 2014). 'The Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction and Greenhouse Gas Emission Control of Shanghai During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period' (General Office of Shanghai Municipal Government, 2018) stipulates that the adjustment and elimination of processes and products with high energy consumption, high emissions and low added value should be promoted. The plan envisions that, by the end of 2020, 3,500 enterprises in 50 key regions are going to go through this process of transformation (Shanghai Government, 2018). Experts have called for the transformation and regeneration of the abandoned industrial land. What has been the theoretical framework for the implementation of this process? What were the steps of the transition from enterprise management to public management? How does the government continue to coordinate this project? This paper aims to respond to these questions through an analysis build on a case study and multiple interviews.

2. Literature review: The new management path of industrial heritage research

   The rise of holistic governance theory is based on the gradual decline of new public management and the advent of internet digital technology. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of holistic governance has penetrated into the public administration, with the aid of information technologies and mobile internet. It requires appropriate division of work and cooperation between government departments and internal and external government agencies under the overall guidance of comprehensive thinking, and emphasizes the use of competition and incentive policies. This management style ultimately seeks to make better use of scarce resources, to produce synergy by aggregating stakeholders in a specific policy field, and to provide seamless rather than fragmented public services to the public (Pollit, 2003). In the process of industrial heritage transformation, it is necessary to emphasize the concept of holistic governance and explore the power relationship between internal and external government agencies.

   As of July 11, 2019, 272 papers including 'industrial heritage' in the title could be retrieved by using Web of Science (see Table 1 for details.) The research topics are mainly about the preservation and protection of industrial heritage, the beautification of industrial heritage and the tourism of industrial heritage.

   In the process of industrial heritage development and transformation, governments of all countries have recognized the important value of industrial heritage and have taken corresponding measures. In Western European countries, public policy often believes...