Review of the European Industrial Heritage Summer School in Berlin ‘Shaping Sustainability in Industrial Heritage‘
In August, 22 young students from 12 countries gathered in Berlin for the second Summer School. They spent two intensive weeks working on the question of designing sustainability at sites of industrial heritage. While visiting some of these sites and talking to regional and international experts, they had the opportunity to develop their own projects. ERIH actively supports the Summer School because young people's voices and the issue of sustainability are crucial for the future of the network.
Once again, the Summer School was jointly hosted by ERIH, the Berlin Centre for Industrial Heritage (bzi) and the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Berlin. The participants came from a wide range of countries – including various European countries, as well as Taiwan, China, the USA and Argentina – and represented a variety of academic disciplines. This is precisely what makes the exchange of young students such a fruitful experience and enables the results of the Summer School to be applied in ERIH's work.
This year, interesting ideas emerged for a more targeted way of communicating. These include, for example, a communication kit dealing with climate issues at industrial heritage sites that have been restored to their natural state – a project that is likely to underpin one of the workshops at this year's ERIH Annual Conference, deals. Another Summer School project group explored ways to raise awareness among Berlin clubbers about the history of the places where they dance. In addition, three doctoral students drew up a matrix that provides evaluation criteria for the preservation of industrial heritage sites.
The hosts were impressed by the quality of the presentations and the commitment shown by this year's students in their intercultural collaboration. The next European Industrial Heritage Summer School is planned for summer 2026.