More than ever, the legacy of industry is at the forefront of current events, across the planet and even beyond. Deindustrialisation, but also the refinement of scientific knowledge and techniques of production are redefining our relationship with the environment and with our history. This legacy is no longer solely made up of obsolete machinery and of “castles of industry”: it is the legacy of territories, of knowledge, of social groups, of space stations as much as nuclear facilities and workers’ houses, as well as steel complexes, all of which challenge our views and practices. In the face of profound changes in industry and in its social status—both political and economic—industrial heritage raises issues and offers possibilities that go beyond, from this point on, simple conservation. The transmission of knowledge, the inclusion of people and a renewed humanist perspective on sustainable development are among the possibilities of industrial heritage that are now imperative to call into question.
The theme “INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE RELOADED” is designed to encourage a redeployment of reflections and practices beyond classical “post-industrial” formulations coloured by escheat and obsolescence. It thus aims to further decompartmentalize industrial heritage, as instigated by previous congresses. While reserving a space for discussion on buildings and their conservation, as well as, naturally, on other industrial infrastructure and artefacts, the 2021 TICCIH congress in Montreal is designed to perpetuate and renew research and exchanges on less-discussed areas of industrial heritage, by addressing the identity of industrial civilization from the angle of its representations, culture, territories, of its inheritance (positive or negative) and of their documentation and development.
As such, beyond the manufacturing industry, the congress questions what is “the industrial” in the contemporary world, both in terms of what remains and with regard to current productions: is the knowledge economy an industry? How does the major multinational industry of the 20th century view itself, faced with “castles of the industry” and at the time of its own demise? Beyond a generic narrative on progress, how can we address the legacy of the scientific breakthroughs that supported its expansion? How to discuss neighbourhoods where the working-class identity is disappearing? Or how, conversely, to preserve the brand of industry in the urban centres that it forged, including modern cities, company towns, or working-class neighbourhoods undergoing significant economic, social, and cultural changes? One can, likewise, question the methods and practices beyond mere preservation: what are the contributions and issues of increasingly popular oral history? What about branding strategies, which have positioned vast requalification operations on a planetary scale? How to conciliate environmental assessment and heritage assessment? How can industrial tourism adapt to the new desires of visitors whose relationship with the industry is more and more distant?
In the wake of such questions, the Congress will enthusiastically welcome especially those proposals of research or intervention on industrial heritage that will bring to discussion, together with a more traditional corpus or a new one, with a specific case or with a more theoretical reflection, themes like:
Functional or symbolic requalification;
Belonging and social acceptability;
Social engagement with the scientific discourse;
Memory and people’s participation;
Sustainable development;
Uses and aims of heritage;
Environmental challenges of industrial heritage.
These questions and themes aim to thus “reload” the industrial heritage by targeting its social and territorial realities, to reflect on its new or potential identities and to situate it in the changing cultural landscapes or our times.

This XVIII TICCIH Congress considers the manifestations, discourses, policies, and stakes of industrial heritage—as an artifact, a phenomenon, a tool of empowerment; in communities, societies, or any material or mental environment. It seeks to strengthen the investigation and the understanding of industrial heritage as an inclusive topic to be addressed from diverse geographical regions and disciplinary fields, such as public history, memory studies, museology, archaeology, tourism studies, architecture and planning, urban studies, archaeology, geography, sociology, cultural studies, political science, anthropology, ethnology and artistic research. Subthemes range from the legacies of the Second Industrial Revolution to the future of working-class, company towns to heritage-based sustainable development, deindustrialization to issues of urban preservation.

Submissions are to be made online at http://ticcih2021.uqam.ca

The conference will host four session types:
- Regular sessions are sessions containing three or more 20-minutes papers which draw on recent research, empirical or theoretical, and relate to precise cases, approaches or methodologies to address a theme through a specific angle. These can include the participation of a discussant. Regular sessions can be either open, with papers submitted by authors following the general call for papers and/or specific call for papers circulated by session organizers, or closed and designed in collaboration by session organizers and the authors. It is thus expected that closed session proposals include a preliminary list of participants (at least 3 and up to 9).
- Prototype sessions are series of very short presentations (180 seconds and 6 slides), enlightening precise aspects of a collective work or specific contributions relating to a field of knowledge or practice.
- Roundtables that bring together researchers, practitioners or decision-makers around a precise question, which is addressed by each participant for a maximum of 5 to 10 minutes, then through reciprocating questions, answers and dialogs animated by a chair and/or a discussant. Roundtable proposals must include a preliminary outline of content, including participants (at least 3 and up to 6) and questions to be addressed.
- As the conference wishes to expand boundaries of the study and understanding of industrial heritage, it will welcome non-traditional proposals dedicated to the development of knowledge and innovation through artistic or multimedia expression and experimentation. Such research-creation sessions or installations present critically informed work, situated with research activity, in a variety of media. They can gather any number of participants and will be peer reviewed as with other proposals.

Submissions for sessions should be sent with an abstract of no more than 500 words outlining the objectives of the session/roundtable in relation to the goals of TICCIH and the theme of the congress. Submissions for sessions should be accompanied by a brief resume (biographical notice and main publications or achievements) of the organizer(s). It is expected that all session proposals will include a preliminary outline of content; closed sessions, roundtable and research-creation proposals, in particular, will also include a preliminary presentation of participants.

Submissions for papers or prototypes should be sent with a brief resume (biographical notice and main publications or achievements) of no more than 300 words and an abstract of no more than 600 words presenting the topic or main argument, its relation to one of the themes of
the conference (or to a specific session) and its interest in the field of industrial heritage. Papers abstracts should also demonstrate scientific quality through references to a theoretical framework, a methodology or by outlining the contribution to knowledge. It is expected that prototype submissions also outline their contribution and state how the prototype format will allow a better understanding of the subject treated.

Submissions can be made in English or French.

Session organizers will be asked to submit (or to have submitted by proposed participants) detailed paper proposals and the biographical notice of each participant through the conference website.

Papers and posters submitted independently will be forwarded to session organizers following of their assessment by the scientific committee.