‘Archeology’ of Hidden Values of Underutilized Historic Industrial Sites in Context of Urban Regeneration and Nature-Based Solutions

Today, cities and their heritage function under so-called BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible) conditions. Climate change, military conflicts, and the urge to comply with sustainability requirements and to implement green transformation and urban regeneration cause a threat to rapid decision making, which may result in the loss of more subtle, intangible values in the urban environment. Such loss may particularly affect industrial heritage with its contested values and identities. This encourages searching for approaches to capture, analyze, and employ these invisible values for future developments. The methods of research used in this study include qualitative analysis of the literature, the theoretical conceptualization and development of a methodology to capture and record these invisible and intangible values, and the application of the developed methodology to the case study of a historical industrial site in Kaunas (Lithuania). The main findings of this research include a theoretical framework for the analysis of hidden values of historic industrial sites revolving around the concepts of place identity, spirit of place, symbolic potential of place, embedded values, and time depth and its application to the case study of the historic industrial site in Kaunas. This research has demonstrated that historic industrial sites existing in urban settings contain a multiplicity of aspects and meanings, which are not visible at first glance and require thorough qualitative analysis. These invisible aspects constitute important resources for the future development of the site and can contribute to the identity and local character of regeneration efforts and nature-based solutions.

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