Coming to new life? Envisioning sustainable development in industrial World Heritage Sites

Industrial areas having faced a collapse of their development model may come to a new life by repositioning their material and immaterial professional-productive heritage in the local and global value chain and map. This contribution investigates the influence of socio-economic and institutional factors on the adoption of a new regeneration model through the process of rejuvenation of an industrial heritage site and an urban centre in the mining area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun, Sweden, a cultural World Heritage Site (WHS). Case evidence collected through the analysis of the qualitative data collection shows that the site had adopted a patronage model of regeneration. At the initial stage of its development, both local interest groups and UNESCO’s recommendations were inspired by a conservation-oriented approach. Value creation were confined within the mine site and proceeded mainly through educational activities and traditional cultural tourism. Clearly, this path dependency needs to be reconciled with new narratives including an empowerment of winder local community to participate in industrial heritage hybridization with creativity, extracting value from the site through creative and relational tourism and fostering spill over effects in the surrounding areas.