C O N T E X T 1 1 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 0 59 Book reviews Post-industrial spirit Heritage, Culture and Conservation: managing the urban renaissance Rebecca Madgin,VDMVerlag, 2009, 252pp, ISBN 978 3 639 15789 5, £67 FromWilliam Blake’s ‘dark satanic mills’ through the negative imagery of Charles Dickens and Emile Zola to the garden city movement in the UK and its counterparts on the continent, the industrial city did not begin to inspire a favourable press on either side of the Channel until it had lost its formative, first industrial revolution raison d’être. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that none of the four English historic town reports of the 1960s included a major industrial city or that none of the secteurs sauvegardés in France comprised an industrial quarter. Even in England, the world’s first purposebuilt railway town and precursor of Swindon, namely Wolverton in Buckinghamshire, now part of Milton Keynes, was not designated a conservation area until 2001. Heritage, Culture and Conservation has its origins in a doctoral thesis. The title of the book is misleading: its focus is on processes of urban regeneration in de-industrialised cities in Britain and France. Specifically, taking the 1970s as its starting point, the book highlights the selective nature of the values that are attributed to redundant industrial buildings, and positions this in the context of the cocktail of psychological, cultural, political and economic considerations that determine urban regeneration strategies generally, and the deference or hostility that the industrial component of the historic environment attracts. Madgin evidences a clear understanding of the nature of change in cities, the complex perceptional processes that determine what is valued and rejected at any given point in time, and the degree to which the policy-makers and agencies of regeneration anticipate, reflect or lag behind the gamut of contemporary values. As she explains, alterations, additions and demolitions in the historic environment leave an indelible mark on the mental as well as the physical landscape of cities. The results do not always reflect local values – including those of historical association and human memory. The vocabulary of Heritage, Culture and Conservation does not shy away from direct, emotive language. Concepts such as sanitisation, seduction of urban users, manipulation of space and repackaging, characterise the portrayal of agendas that seek to market selected components of the industrial urban heritage as a commodity that accords with certain of today’s economic and cultural values, as opposed to the ones for which they were built. Case studies explore the extent to which the historic environment has been considered relevant and contributed to the reinvention of the image and function of the postindustrial city, and how this has been conditioned by the politics of place and institutional and fiscal frameworks. On the positive side, these concentrate on the entrepreneurial spirit that enveloped Manchester in the 1980s (the book focuses on the regeneration of the Castlefield district) and the equally catalytic role of the historic environment in the regeneration of industrial Roubaix in northern France – specifically through the conversion and reuse of the landmark Motte-Bossut textile factory. On the negative side, Madgin relates the protracted battle between the public, voluntary and private sectors which led to the loss in introduction to quirky buildings. In my first week of listing in 1984, I visited Youlston Park (without an appointment) at Shirwell in North Devon. The owner invited me in for a liquid lunch and showed me the whole house. We visited the 19th century game larder, the 18th century exterior, the Chinese Room, the 17th century panelling and exquisite plasterwork and, above the Georgian dining room, a concealed base-cruck roof. The house is a brilliant essay in organic evolution. In the afternoon fug, I walked in the parkland and came across the village skittle alley – a converted railway carriage that turned out to be one of the carriages from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee train. I have no idea how it got there. Your favourite place? In spring, the Chilterns; in summer, Brancaster beach in Norfolk; in autumn, the Blue Ridge Parkway. I am still working on that elusive sunny retreat for the winter. This year I discovered Berber mud architecture and the Sahara. But for a complete assault on all the senses, Varanasi in India is etched on my mind as an extraordinary experience. Your favourite book? Wilkie Collins’ Woman inWhite for the 19th century, Graham Greene’s BurntOut Case for the 20th, and probably so far William Boyd’s Restless for the 21st, although Marilynne Robinson’s Home or The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry must be close joint seconds. WilliamWharton’s Franky Furbo has also just popped into my head as a truly magical read. What do you do in your spare time? At the moment I am training for a marathon that I may or may not run. If that does not happen, it will come in useful as we are off to Glastonbury this year. What organisations are you a member of? Ancient Monuments Society, Vernacular Architecture Group, RICS, IHBC, Devon Buildings Group and Bucks Archaeological Society. I am a trustee of the Buckinghamshire Historic Buildings Trust. The one I am most proud of is being the only member in England of the International Association of Structural Movers. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? A campaign that prioritises a buildings at risk programme encompassing Grade II and locally listed buildings, and unlocks the funding and mechanisms to deliver it.
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