Industrial society has changed thoroughly during the last half a century. In many Western cities and towns, new patterns of production and consumption entailed that centrally located industrial areas became redundant. The once lively workplace and urban core became silent and abandoned, gradually falling into decay. In recent decades, the former industrial built environment was reinterpreted and reused as apartments, offices, heritage sites, stages for artistic installations and destinations for cultural tourism. Companies and former workers, heritage and planning professionals, as well as artists and urban explorers, were some of the actors involved in the process. The overall aim of the study is to contribute to an understanding of this transformation, and hence it addresses questions about what happened to the industrial places that lost their original function and significance. How were they understood and used? Who engaged in their future? What were the visions and what was achieved? Three former industrial areas are examined from a historic perspective and with a critical hermeneutic approach: Koppardalen in Avesta, Sweden, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum in Britain, and Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord in the Ruhr district of Germany. Included in the results that challenge previous research, the study claims that the key figures were often newcomers to the place, and white-collar professionals, rather than former workers asserting a historic perspective from below on the basis of a crisis experience. In general, the study shows how the redundant industrial place became an arena for visions of the future in a local community, and, furthermore, how it was being turned into a commodity in a complex gentrification process. The place was given new value by being regarded as an expression of the overall phenomenon of reused industrial buildings, and, simultaneously, as a unique and authentic entity. In the conversion of the physical environment, the industrial past became relatively harmless to many people, because the dark and difficult aspects were defused in different ways. Instead, the industrial place was understood in terms of adventure, beauty and spectacle, which included rust from the past as well as hope for the future. / QC 20100910

I have always known that I would leave my hometown. Always been told that it is too boring for a dreamer, that it is a place where all ambition wanes. None of my childhood friends stayed; we all moved towards something bigger, something better- towards opportunities. We all moved, to some degree, south. Depopulation of rural communities is not unique to Norrland but Tankebanan investigates this topic within the context of the northern inlands of Sweden, exploring its industrial history and local conditions. The project aims to create an infrastructure strengthening the social and cultural capital of the inland by generating educational, entrepreneurial and identity building activities in the region. The site of the project stretches along Malmbanan, the railway transporting iron from the industries of the inland to the ports of Narvik and Luleå. The tracks are a physical trace of the industrial history of the region and therefor a suitable location for the project that proposes three fixed nodes along the railway, each targeting one specific aspect of the knowledge network. The nodes are Creation in Abisko, Education in Kiruna and Entrepreneurship in Gällivare.Tankebanan reprograms old carbarns within the towns into hubs of activity and optimism, aiming to challenge the pessimism often connotated with the region, causing people to leave. It aims to turn struggles into challenges and encourage young people to see the potential within themselves and within Norrland. This phase of the project explores the node of Education in Kiruna, which proposes an alternative university for those who wish to obtain a degree without leaving the north. The program consists of a public library and train station, educational facilities, conference rooms and accommodation for long distance commuters. It is hosted within a modular system, relating to the module of the train car and extending the network of the rails into the building.

L’industrie cimentière française possède une influence internationale considérable. L’entreprise Lafarge est aujourd’hui le numéro un mondial du ciment. Ses concurrents français sont tout aussi performants. On peut citer Vicat, entreprise familiale, ou la société Ciment Français, filiale du groupe Heidelberg-Italcementi. Ciments Français est une entreprise héritière du groupe Poliet et Chausson. En 1971, suite au rachat de la branche cimentière de Poliet et Chausson par Ciments Français, les départements des ciments des deux groupes fusionnent. Puis, Poliet et Chausson est transformée en société holding de distribution de matériaux de construction sous le nom de Poliet S.A. Elle est rachetée par Saint Gobain en 1996 et son nom disparaît. La firme a pourtant été la première entreprise française de ciment en 1930. C’est la monographie de cette entreprise que s’attache à retranscrire cette thèse. L’histoire de Poliet et Chausson au cours du XXe siècle est tortueuse. Par un effet d’aubaine, cette entreprise parisienne de matériaux de construction, profite de l’invention du marché du ciment pour devenir l’un des plus grands producteurs de ciment français au cours des années 1930. Sa trajectoire est parallèle à celle de l’entreprise Lafarge. Elle en diffère cependant par bien des points. Émaillée d’embûches, elle oscille entre des moments de succès considérables et des périodes plus troublées. Entre industrialisation et désindustrialisation, l’histoire de Poliet et Chausson s’écrit dans l’ombre de son concurrent plus brillant, Lafarge. Comment expliquer la réussite de l’un et la disparition de l’autre ? / The French cement industry has considerable international influence. Lafarge is now the world's largest cement company. Its French competitors are equally performing. These include Vicat, a family business, or Ciment Français, a subsidiary of the Italcementi group. Ciments Français is a company inheriting from the group Poliet and Chausson. In 1971, following the purchase of the cement sector of Poliet and Chausson by Ciments Français, the cement departments of the two groups merged. Then Poliet and Chausson was transformed into a holding company for the distribution of building materials under the name Poliet S.A. It was bought by Saint Gobain in 1996 and its name disappeared. The firm was, however, the first French cement company in 1930. This thesis attempts to transcribe the monography of Poliet and Chausson. The history of Poliet and Chausson during the twentieth century is tortuous. Through a windfall effect, this Parisian company of building materials, profits from the invention of the cement market to become one of the largest producers of French cement in the 1930s. Its trajectory is parallel to that of the Lafarge company. However, it differs in many aspects. It is fraught with obstacles, and oscillates between moments of considerable success and more troubled periods. Between industrialization and desindustrialization, the story of Poliet and Chausson is written in the shadow of its brighter competitor, Lafarge. How can we explain the success of the one and the disappearance of the other?

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