The forgotten legacy: oil heritage sites in Iran

Abstract

During the rapid process of deindustrialization in Iran, the term ‘industrial heritage’ has recently emerged as a new subject into public realm. In order to integrate the methodologies for the protection and adaptive reuse strategies, the ‘industrial heritage’ itself needs to be divided into various categories. UNESCO has begun inscribing increasing numbers of local industrial legacies such as railway, mines, factories, assembly plants, agricultural production and manufacturing production in its World Heritage List. However, in the process of their adaptive reuse the question of heritage meanings arises. Over the past century in Iran, powerful corporate and governmental actors have created a broad range of oil imaginaries that changed over time and in line with local cultures. Starting from 1920s and after the nationalization of oil industry in Iran, oil cities such as Abadan and Masjid Suleiman saw massive expansion to house labors and oil-industry specialists who had arrived from the United States, Europe, India, and the Persian Gulf states.
This research aims to clarify how the oil industry, in close collaboration with national governments, has materially shaped the oil cities through oil-specific architecture like company headquarters, gas stations, retail and infrastructure buildings. The current legacy of oil industry continues to reshape the industry, society and politics as well. This research uses a critical and analytical problem-based approach to examine the current policies that build a new image and identity through adaptive reuse strategies to promote sustainable local development in Iran’s industrial heritage.

Full text

CONGRESO XVII TICCIH - CHILE
Patrimonio Industrial.
Entendiendo el pasado, hacienda el futuro sostenible
Industrial Heritage: Understanding the Past, Making the Future Sustainable
DIRECTOR CONGRESO
Migone Rettig Jaime
Presidente TICCIH Chile

CONGRESO XVII TICCIH - CHILE
Patrimonio Industrial
Entendiendo el pasado, haciendo el futuro sostenible
XVII Congreso Internacional
DIRE CTOR CONGR ESO
Jaime Migoine Rettig
Presi dente T ICCI H Chil e
13
al 14 de septiembr e de
2018
Quint a Nor mal, Santiag o:
-
Museo Ferroviario
-
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
- Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
- MAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. Quinta Normal
- Museo de Ciencia y Tecnologfa
- Museo de la Educaci6n Gabriela Mistral
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Casa dell’Adulto Mayor
I.
Municipalidad de Santiago
-
Artequ in
-
Bibliot eca de Sa ntiago
15 de se ptiembre de
2018
Sewell ,
Region de O·
Higgins
-
Fundaci6n Sew ell
-
Museo de la Gran Mineria del Cobre
Diseno Grafico Publicaci6n
Daniela Rios Quezada
UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DE CHILE
Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Paisaje.
Escuel a de Ar quitectura.
TICCIH Chile
Corporaci6n p ara la Conservac i6n del Patrim onio Industr ial - Delegaci6n Chilena
Primer a Edic i6n
300
ejemplares
Agost o de
2018
Prohib ida la repro ducci6 n total o parcial de es ta obra, por cualquier media, sin la aut orizaci6 n escrit a del edit or.
lmpres o en: ER lmpresor es
Santiago.CHILE
lmpreso en Chile/ Printed in Chile.

CONGRESO XVII TICCIH - CHILE
Patrimonio Industrial.
Entendiendo el pasado,
hacienda
el
futuro
sos
t
enible
·
Industrial Heritage: Understanding the Past, Making the Future Sustainable

018
-
XVII International Congress, Santiago, Chile
IRAN
The forgotten legacy:
oil
heritage sites in Iran
Author-1 : Asma Mehan
Author-2: Mostafa Behzadfar
Author-1: Corresponding Author, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sch ool of Arc hite ctur e a nd Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and
Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran / Mail : asma.mehan01@gma il.com
Auth or-2: Full Professor of Urb an Design, Schoo l of Arc hitectur e and Environment al Design, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST),
Tehran,
Iran / Mail: behzadfar@iust.ac.ir
Section 3
Abstract
During the rapid process of deindust rialization in Iran,
the term 'industrial heritage’ has recent ly emerged as a
new subject int o public realm. I n order to integrate the
methodologies f or the protection and ad aptive reuse
strategies, the ‘industrial heritage’ itself needs to be
divided into various categories. U NESCO has begun
inscribing increas ing numbers of local industrial lega
cies such as railway, mines, factories, assembly plants ,
agricultural product ion and manufact uring production in
its World Heritage Lis t. Howev er, in the proc ess of their
adaptive reuse the question of herit age meanings
arises. Over the past century in Iran, powerful corpo-
rate and governm ental actors have created a broad
range of oil imagi naries that change d over time and in
line with local cultur es. Starting f rom 1920s and after the
nationalization of oil industry in Iran, oil c ities such
as Abadan and Masjid Suleiman saw massive expansion
to house labors and oil
-industr
y specialists who had ar-
rived from the·
United States,
Europe, India, and t he
Persian Gulf st ates. This research aims to clarify how the
oil industry, in clos e collaboration with national
governments, has materially shaped the oil cities throug h
oil specific arc hitecture like com pany headquarters, gas
stations, retail and infrastructure buildings. The current
legacy of oil indus try continues t o reshape the indu
stry,
society and politics as well. This research uses a critical
and analytical pro blem-based approac h to examine the
current policies t hat build a new image a nd identity
through adaptive reuse
strat
egies to prom ote sustainable
local development in Iran's industrial h eritage.
897
Comité Nacional para la Conservación del Patrimonio Industrial

FACULT AD DE AROUITE CTURA, ORBANISMO
Y
PAISAJE
Introduction
This paper aims to explore the current legacy of oil
indus try and it s assoc iated c once pts in bro ader
debates on the global industry, society and politics.
Then, it will analy sis the current policies engag ed with
the adaptive reuse strategies of industrial heritage.
Building on this theoretical framework, the research
specifically focuses on the case of o il he ritage i n Ira n
since the value of t hese disappearing "live industrial
histor y" a nd their pote ntial reuse val ues, has b een
under unawareness for a long time (Farahbak hsh and
Hanachi 20 16). This paper aims to introd uce t he
impo rtanc e of oil in the construction of the built
environment and spatial development and its effec t on
national identities, politics and local welfare.
Adaptive Reuse Strategies of Industrial Heritage
2018 -
XVII
International Congress, Santiago, Chi
le
Focusing on the French term "patrimonie" (usually
translated as 'Heritag e' in English), the patrimonization
is a process about t he critica l re cognit ion of v alues fo r
local d evelo pment a nd ident ity (Hospers 2002 ). The
concepts of "Ind ustrial Archeology" (1), "Industrial
Heritage"(2), and "Industrial Landscape" are
representative of the germination, development and
maturity periods in the evolvement process of
indus trial herit age. Duri ng t he 199 0s, industrial
heritage became a new interest for local development
and tourism (Repellino et al. 2016). (3) However, as
Hudson (1994) criticized the cultural values of these
indus trial herit age still were not recog nized m uch by
the tourists (Hud son 1994).
According to ICOMOS (Int ernational Coun cil on
Museums and Sites) and TICCIH (The International
Commit tee for the Co nserva tion of the Industrial
Herita ge) , the indus trial heritage's field "focuses on
the remains of industry- industrial sites, structures and
infra structure, machinery and equipment , housing,
settlements , landsc apes, products , processes,
embedded kno wledge and skills, doc uments and rec ords
as well as the us e and treat ment of this heritage in the
present. Industrial heritage includes not only the
remains of the Indust rial Revolut ion, but also the
traditional precursors from earlier centuries that reflect
increased technical special ization, intensified
productive capacity, and dist ribution and consumption
beyond local markets, hallmarks of the rise of
industrialization. I ndustrial herit age als o inc ludes the
planning, policy-making and rehabilitation necessary to
manage these remains in the face of
deindustrialization" (Martin and Araoz 2014).
In a mo re genera l scale, an alyzing the role of industry
in the city helps to redefine the connection between
cities and indust ries and theref ore provide a uni que
urban ex perience through c ollective memory (Bonino
and De Pieri, 2015). Based on the new frame works
and strategies that were developed rec ently, the
scope of industrial heritage had been enlarged from
the single m onument to the whole landscape.(4 ) In
better words, the focus on industrial herit age has
been evolved from a specific interest in the monument
(the individual b uilding or a single machine ) to t he
industrial sites (including the mac hines, buildings
and its infrastruct ures), then to the whole industrial
area and landsca pe (Yao, 2014). In the meanwhile, new
representation of industrial heritage such as on-site
preservation, eco-museums and collections of
artifacts em erged (Alfrey and Putnam 2003, 340). In
Europe, the successful experiences of recovery o n a
regional scale and to protect industrial heritage sites and
their preservation enco uraged the European Ro ute of
Industrial H eritage (E RIH) to be founded. (5) This virtual
library aims to facilitate research among organizations
and academic institutions involved with preserv ing data
about the industrial sites (Berens 2010, 256).
The new approaches to the protection and adaptive
reuse of industrial heritage from the emphasize on
conservatio n, then on physical renewal and
regeneration, now has been upgraded within a much
wider cont ext, including social, economic, cultural and
environmental contexts (Repellino et al. 2016, 72;
Razavivand fard and Mehan 2018, 190-191). Acc ording
to Hatuk a and Be n-Joseph (2017), from the 1750s on,
three phas es in the evolving sp atial dynamic s
between city and industry have been identified: the
emergence of industrial city (1750-1880), a s earch for
an ideal industrial city (1880-1970) and the process of
deindustrialization (from the 1970s on) (Hatuka and
Ben-Joseph 2017, 11-12). These evo lving dynami c
between city and industry resulted in three prototypes
of indus trial sp aces in cludin g integrated,
(1) At the end of the 19t h century, industrial arc heology was first ly risen in Britain.
Recently, the s ubject of industrial archeology has grown to the sub-discipline of archeology accompanied implem entation and policies for document ing, recording, and listing
industrial archeology in Europe, See M inchinton, World Industrial Arch eology: A Survey, 125-13 6.
(2) The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH) was founded in 1978. Since then, the study of industrial h eritage stepped in
the development period.
(3) The experiences with Industrial Heritage Tourism in the Ruhr area in Germany is a good exampl e.
(4) The introduction of th e term "Cul tural Land scap e" in the UNES CO W orld Herit age is a good example.
(5)
https: / /www.erih.net/
Universidad Central de Chile
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2018 - XVII International Congress, Santiago, Chile
the
adjacent and the autonomous (Hatuka, et al.
2014).
By analyzing the relationship between the built
environment and its heritage through the concept of
the "territorial loc al system" as an experienc e
implyi ng and allowing the contemporary prese nce and
closeness of differe nt actors, local industrial heritage
could become a core factor for the development of
the
territorial local system (Montella 2009).
In this sense, heritage sites require rethink ing how to
balance protection, conservat ion and development
issues. In order to identify the appropriate reus e
strategies, the industrial heritage needs to be
categorized into various gro ups. Based on the Historic
American Engineering Record (HAER), the sub-themes
of industrial heritage show 10 categories as follows: 0.
Executive Industries (e.g. Ore- or Gold-mi ning), 1. Bulk
Products Industries (e.g. primary metal industries), 2.
Manufacturing Industries (e.g. machine manufacture),
3. Util ities (e.g. water supply), 4. Power Resources
and Prim e Movers (e. g. water wheels, steam turbines),
5. Transp ortati on (e.g. railroads, cannels, harbor), 6.
Commun ication (e.g. ra dio, teleph one), 7. B ridges-
Trestles- Aqueducts, 8. building technology (roof
systems, fenestration), 9. specialized structures/
objects (e.g. da ms, tunnels, hydraulic works). (6) In
this classification system, "crud e petroleum and
natural gas (OIL)" are sub-categorized under the
Executive Industries which will be the main focus of
this research as the oil industrial heritage.
Spatial dimension of the legacy of oil industry in Iran
Ove r the las t 150 years, extraction, refining,
transformation, and consumption of petroleum have
made an extensive impact on oil cities. Concurrently ,
the divers e spatial emanations of oil are c onnected
through their relationship t o the groups of indus trial
players. Here this critical question arises: what is t he
relationship between the concept of global oil sites
and
the built environment?
As
Carola Hein well-clarif ied the different lay ers of the
physical and f inancial flows of petroleum such as
physical, represented, and everyday practices combine
into a palimpsest of global oil sites (Hein 2018, 1-2).
From another
perspective,
Michael Watt, uses the
term
oil complex (or oil assemblage) as the p articular
territorializing of the oil complex and the technolo gical
zone which is a center of economic, political and
scientific circulation (Watts 2009). For analyzing t he
interrelations between oil and g lobal politics in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Tim othy
Mitche
ll in his book -Carbon de mocrac y - explores the
rise of a
certain kind of democratic m ass politics an d the
historical development of energy from fossil fuels
(Mitchell 2009, 2011).
In the Middle East, the colonial regimes and rising
global corporations, greatly influenced on the patterns
of oil s patializin g (Fuc caro 2013). In the post-war
econ omic expa nsio n period, As US planners worked
to engineer the political order in Europe, the radical
shift from coal to oil, introduced in Europe through the
Marshall Pl an, wh ich widely affect ed the labor
dyna mics of gl obal industrial capitalism (Bogaert 2014,
1). Western Europe had no oilfields, so the additional
oil would come from the Middle East (Mitchell, Carbon
Democr acy 2009, 406). In Iran, the capitalist expansion
has alway s been closely tied to urbanization (Karimi
2012). Focusing on dynamics and actors of oil, the
transformati on of urban spaces for and by oil in Iran
began in 1908 by oil extrac tion in the southern region
of Khuz esta n under th e Britis h influence (Crinson
1997). Between 1908 to 1920, Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company (APOC) constructed a series of small new
towns such as Masjed
Soleiman,
Haftgel, Lali, Aghajari,
and Omidie h near new drilling sites in the oilfields of
Khuzestan to accommodate oil workers (Hein and
Sedighi 2016, 354). Considering t he representations
of oil in s patial practices, th e oil i ndust ry in Iran has a
close collaboration with national governments to
develop industrial growth. In this sense, it is c ritical to
understand how it shapes future design and industrial
heritage policies.
Conclusions: Looking for alternative Future Policies
In post-oil future cities, it is important to identify the
moments of decisive change toward new energy values
and policies. Moreover, in the aftermat h of
decolonization and the transformations of neoliberal
global order, it is import ant to understand the
significance and dynamics of the global o il complex
(Ehsani 2018, 27). However, finding the right balance
between the pr eservation strategies and spatial
changes sho uld be recons idered. As Robiglio well -
clarified "to minimize the required resources and
budget, an adaptive reuse project start s with the
selection of the ap propriate inf rastructure to reuse. This
phase is important to build community awarenes s
around potential opportunities, but there needs to be
some structure to sup port this ex ploration" (Robiglio
2017, 148).
Focusing on industrial heritage in Iran, oil heritage
along its hist oric al si gnific ance should be repr esent ed
as a part of national memory and identity. Com paring
to the internatio nal scale, the focus on "industrial
·
heritage” in Iran has. been started lately, as well as
the acceptance of its values. Today, there are nearly
200 museums in the world that exhibit oil and gas
machinery and relics. Start ing from January 2014,
arrangements bega n to establish the national
(6)
See: https://whc .unesco .org/arc hive/ind -study01.pdf
899
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2018 - XVII International Congress, Santiago, Chile
FACULT AD DE AROUITE CTURA, ORBANISMO
Y
PAISAJE
Museums and document center of oil industry in Iran set
up by the direct order of the Iranian Minister of
Petroleum-Bijan Namdar Zangane - that tries to collect
and display old oil indus try equipme nt. (7) However, the
management policies and its relat ed regulatio ns are still
developing. The framework for achieving the sustainable
adaptive reuse shou ld int egrate the social, political and
economic polic ies. In addition, the role
of
participatory
governance
and
the
importa nce
of
community participation are critical in the process of
achieving sustainable development (Yung and Chan
2012, 356). In this sense, for achieving a holistic and
methodological reuse strategies it is required to
reconsider various factors such as national policies
and the economic system as well. Due to the lack of
integrated management
system_,
it
is
necessary to
develop
new methods to identify and protect industrial heritage
with high values and s ignificance.
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