The East-West Workshops on Industrial Archaeology aim to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology.
The workshops are organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China) and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology.
It is planned to hold two workshop events each year, in the (Northern Hemisphere) Spring and Autumn.
Recordings of earlier workshops are available on the AIA YouTube channel
Full written reports of the workshops are available in IA News
The eleventh edition of the East-West Workshop will be held on the 21st November 2026 10:00 – 12:00 London time
Zoom (online meeting).
Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event here:
SPEAKERS & TALKS:
– Stephen WALKER (Friends of Moor Pond Woods, England): “Spinning Yarns: A Tale of Landscape Archaeology in the Leen Valley of Nottinghamshire, UK“
The cotton spinning mills developed in Nottinghamshire (England) by George Robinson and his sons in the late 18th century were acknowledged by contemporary writers to be pioneering. Faced with a crisis in their water supply, their early use of steam power was groundbreaking. Furthermore, their impact on the landscape was considerable. From the 1960s, researchers identified surviving earthworks and catalogued aspects of the business. Exploration of the mill water system (as an ongoing community archaeology project) since 2000 has revealed more detail about their innovative approach to maintaining production with their water wheels, using a modest stream and a combination of surface water storage and groundwater sources. This presentation introduces the site and some of the findings.
– Fang WEI (Beijing Forestry University, China): “Re-imagining Machine and Garden: Public Perception of Post-Industrial Landscapes from a Human Factors Perspective”
Post-industrial landscapes represent a complex intersection of industrial heritage, spontaneous nature and contemporary urban life. Their regeneration requires not only the preservation of physical remains, but also an understanding of how people perceive and experience these transformed environments. This presentation introduces a human factors perspective on post-industrial landscape research, focusing on the interactions among industrial remains, natural elements and new design interventions. Through empirical studies combining questionnaire surveys, image semantic segmentation, eye-tracking experiments and physiological measurements, the research examines how different landscape configurations influence public perception, preference, visual attention and emotional response. Findings show that industrial elements are important carriers of identity and visual attention, while natural succession can enhance ecological and experiential qualities when appropriately balanced. By linking measurable human responses with physical landscape attributes, the study demonstrates how perception-based evidence can inform more sensitive, adaptive and publicly responsive approaches to the regeneration of post-industrial landscapes.
– Hyun-Jin CHUN (Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China): “Line Forest Park Design in Seoul, South Korea“
This lecture presents Seoul’s landmark Gyeonguiseon Linear Park, a transformative railway-to-green corridor regeneration project constructed from 2010 to 2016 on a disused 6.19 km rail stretch spanning Yongsan Community Centre to Gajoa Station, with a total area of 140,170 m². The core design framework adopts the triple “Green Conveyor” concept to establish integrated sustainable urban infrastructure covering ecology, socio-economy, and local history and culture. The site is segmented into four distinctive thematic zones: a History Zone showcasing railway industrial heritage, a Culture & Art Zone tied to surrounding university art communities, a Community Relaxation Zone featuring ecological waterways and multi-use leisure lawns, and a Nature Ecology Zone merged with Hongjecheon Stream. The design preserves original rail tracks, recycles subway groundwater for artificial streams, and builds interconnected pedestrian and cycling routes linking major Seoul waterfront and urban parks. Resident-led park steward councils drive community engagement via art galleries, outdoor libraries and local markets. This case demonstrates how obsolete rail infrastructure can revitalise marginal urban zones, enhance biodiversity, lift regional vitality, and create inclusive public green space balancing ecological value, cultural memory and everyday community life.
– David Lugli Turtera PEREIRA (São Paulo State University, Brazil): “Archaeometric Characterisation of Bricks from the Paulista Co Workshops (São Paulo State, Brazil): Raw Materials, Technology and the Production of São Paulo’s Railway Landscape”
This talk explores how bricks from the Paulista Co’s workshops in Campinas and Jundiaí (São Paulo, Brazil) evidence the formation of the railway industrial landscape from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Drawing on the chaîne opératoire approach, it relates environmental setting, raw-material procurement, technology, production and the circulation of building materials. Eight samples were collected and characterised using physicochemical analyses. The results revealed ferruginous aluminosilicate matrices with quartz-rich inclusions and geochemical affinity with local or regional clay sources. Variations in raw-material selection, paste homogenisation and fabric orientation indicate a shared yet flexible technological tradition, shaped by resource availability, forming practices and firing conditions. Estimated firing temperatures ranged from 750 to 900 °C and produced partial sintering. The samples enable reconstruction of a chaîne opératoire extending from the geoenvironmental availability of resources to their material embodiment in railway buildings, fundamental to the making of a distinctive industrial landscape.
The tenth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 9th May 2026. The speakers were:
– Amber PATRICK (Association for Industrial Archaeology, Britain): “Malthouse Developments – The Late 18th Century to the Mid-20th Century“
– Pablo ALONSO GONZÁLEZ (Spanish National Research Council, Spain): “Craft Vs. Industrial? A Critical History of Spanish Wine“
– Yuchen WANG (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China): “Symbiotic Cityscape: Luzhou Baijiu Cultural Heritage as an Urban Cultural Landscape“
The ninth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 15th November 2025. The speakers were:
– Yibing FANG (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China): “A Review of Research on China’s Early Steel Rails Heritage“
– Paulina ROMANOWICZ (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland): “Rediscovery of a Brickworks Narrow-Gauge Industrial Railway Tunnel in Stołczyn, Poland“
– Arida Fitriana YASMIN (University of Groningen, Netherlands): “Follow the Tracks: Railway Heritage Management at the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, Indonesia“
– Juan Manuel CANO SANCHIZ (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China / Association for Industrial Archaeology, UK): “European Early Railway Architecture in Beijing: A Perspective from Building Archaeology“
The eighth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on Saturday 10th May 2025, 10:00 – 12:00 London time. The speakers were:
Chenyuan LI (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China): “The Evolution of Mining and Metallurgical Production Technologies in the Northern Frontier Regions of China during the Qin and Han Dynasties: A Perspective from Archaeometallurgy”
Rhys MORGAN (Black Mountains Archaeology, Britain): “Rediscovering Copperopolis: The Hafod Plate Rolling Mill, Swansea”
María Isabel PAYER IBÁÑEZ (Prayer Arquitectura / University of Seville, Spain): “Metallurgy as Industrial and Urban Development in Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, Spain”
The seventh edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 23th November 2024. The speakers were:
Yiping DONG (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China)
“Complexity of the Conservation of Textile Heritage in China”
Ian MILLER (The University of Salford, Britain)
“Salford Twist Mill: Uncovering an Iconic Textile Factory”
Mark WATSON (Historic Environment Scotland, Britain)
“Global Textile Industries and their Built Heritage”
The sixth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 11th May 2024. The speakers were:
Hilary ORANGE (Swansea University, Wales)
“Stuff Kicked Underfoot – The Surfaces of Industrial Ruination”
Xianping GAO (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China)
“Excavating the Ruins of the Chinese Porcelain Industry: The Luomachiao Kiln Site in Jingdezhen “
Guilherme POZZER (University of Sheffield, England)
“Words in Ruins: Sensorial, Affective and Creative Approaches to the Ruins of Industry”
The fifth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 25th November 2023. The speakers were:
Carolina CASTAÑEDA (TICCIH-International and TICCIH-Spain)
“The imprint of the Spanish tobacco industry on the urban landscape: Permanences and absences of an industrial memory
Fanlei MENG (Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China)
“Research on the history and architectural heritage value of industrial construction in modern Beijing”
Gordon DAVIES (Cambridge Museum of Technology, England)
“An industrial tale of two cities: Filming the architecture of industry around Cambridge Museum of Technology (UK) and Athens Technopolis (Hellas)“
The fourth edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 27th May 2023. The speakers were:
Alice Gorman (Flinders University, Australia)
“Beyond the rocket: the archaeological study of space technology”
Shujing Feng (National Academy of Innovation Strategy & Tsinghua University, China)
“Wenzhou Alum Mine from the perspective of the archaeology of technology”
Geoffrey Wallis (GW Conservation/Dorothea Restorations & AIA, UK)
“Developments in practical engineering conservation. The works of Dorothea Restorations Ltd.”
The third edition of the East-West Workshop was held on the 19th November 2022. The speakers were:
Dongdong WANG (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China)
“Discussion and interpretation of mining and metallurgical cultural heritage in Chinese museums”
Florentina-Cristina MERCIU (University of Bucharest, Romania)
“Diversity in approaching proto-industrial heritage. The water mills from Rudăria area (Romania) as a case study”
The second East-West Workshop was held on 21st May 2022. The speakers were:
- Yuchen Wang (University of Science and Technology Beijing) who spoke on: “Electronic industry heritage: the example of the Chinese display industry”
- Otis Gilbert (Wessex Archaeology) who spoke on: “Digging industrial Britain: two case studies from Sheffield and Normanton”
- Mário Bruno Pastor (Portuguese Catholic University) who spoke on “The Millano’s woollen mills in Portugal: an archaeology of absence”
- Tiago Silva Alves Muniz (Federal University of Pará) who spoke on: “The rubber industrial complex and entanglements in the Brazilian Amazon”
The first East-West Workshop was held on 8th May 2021. The speakers were:
- Professor Marilyn Palmer (President of the Association for Industrial Archaeology) who spoke on: “Industrial Archaeology in Theory”
- Dr. Mike Nevell (Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England) who spoke on: “Industrial Archaeology in Practice in the UK and Europe”
- Professor Wei Qian (Dean of the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science and Technology, USTB) who spoke on: “Industrial Archaeology and Heritage in China: A General Overview”
- Dr. Juan M. Cano Sanchiz (Associate Professor at the ICHHST. Internationalisation officer for the YMB-AIA) who spoke one: “A Comparative Approach to China and Europe: Differences, Common Points and Potential Lines of Collaboration”
