Sonja Ifko - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Sonja Ifko
Cities, 2018
Achieving sustainability goals within urban regeneration processes has become essential for our f... more Achieving sustainability goals within urban regeneration processes has become essential for our future. This is a particular challenge in post-conflict areas, where among the sustainability factors /economical, ecological and social/, the social one is the least represented, and at the same time the most important one due to the disrupted social structure. In this paper industrial heritage, which is thought to be a heritage category unburdened by issues resulting from a conflict, is discussed as a potential catalyst in conducting a successful socially sustainable urban regeneration in post-conflict contexts. The hypothesis states that endangered industrial heritage sites, due to their societal, historical, architectural, and technological values, present a fruitful base for incorporating sustainability principles and can be seen as a catalyst for urban regeneration of post-conflict areas in the future.
Procedia Engineering, 2016
When discussing sustainable development, it is essential to equally consider all of its aspects: ... more When discussing sustainable development, it is essential to equally consider all of its aspects: environmental, economic, and social. The experience in Slovenia shows that the third dimension, the social one, is often neglected, even though it is essential to integrated implementation of sustainable development. Industrial heritage sites are highly complex structures, which are an important part of our social, spatial, cultural, and technological past. Their complexity is the main reason that they need to be tackled through a specific interdisciplinary approach to research and evaluation and, moreover, as this text points out, also through a specific heritage management approach, which has to start right after the production stops. Many negative consequences of the closure of production, e.g. loss of jobs, social problems, economic issues, affect both individuals and communities as a whole. So it is very important to approach the problem also from the social aspect and make sure that interested stakeholders including former employees are involved in heritage management. Such an approach would have various positive aspects; beside the fact that the industrial site in question would be recorded immediately after closure, the involvement would send an important message to others who are negatively affected with the closure, loss of jobs, and social distress. All of this would positively influence and accelerate the site's and community sustainable regeneration process. The proposed approach will be presented on the case study of the coal mining heritage in town Hrastnik in Slovenia.
Architektura a Urbanizmus, 2013
This paper addresses the basic but also conflicting starting points that are key to the preservat... more This paper addresses the basic but also conflicting starting points that are key to the preservation of industrial heritage. On the one hand, this relates to the preservation of values of important heritage, while, on the other hand, abandoned industry sites have the spatial potential for developing new urban programmes and functions allowing for modern spatial and economic development. Abandoned historical industrial sites are mostly located in urban centres where there is a significant need for new development areas. This is precisely what leads to conflict situations, i.e. where guardians of heritage and designers of the new are in disagreement. This paper presents a methodology based on a values-led approach, whose basis is to consider, as objectively as possible, all aspects defining reuse or renewal projects concerning heritage sites. It includes the parameters of protection, development, and social requirements to the greatest extent possible to achieve efficient and sustaina...
Architect Sonja Ifko, PhD main research areas are history of the 19th and 20th century architectu... more Architect Sonja Ifko, PhD main research areas are history of the 19th and 20th century architecture, heritage preservation, and interpretative presentation. She is author of several articles and conference proceedings published in Slovenia and abroad. She is currently Assistant Professor for Architecture and Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana. She is vice president of ICOMOS Slovenia and member of National Board for Heritage at the Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO.
An Eastern Europe Vision
Industrialization caused the biggest technological changes in human history, which called for not... more Industrialization caused the biggest technological changes in human history, which called for not only new ways of working but also of living, education, and life as a whole. Eventually the world became the global market that we know today, when we are on the threshold of 5.0 Industry, when utopia is becoming reality. Despite its peripheral role, Slovenia started to change quite early under the influences of industrialization; these changes accelerated in the 19th century and gained momentum during socialist industrialization, when organized heritage protection started to develop extremely quickly — first it was used for socialist propaganda and then increasingly for concrete protection actions and regenerations. In parallel, relevant domestic knowledge was developed and, particularly, awareness was raised about the significance of industrial heritage, testifying to the transformation of its value in space and time. The understanding of this is necessary for an effective, developmen...
The aim of the chapter is to present the possibilities of protection of socialist industrial heri... more The aim of the chapter is to present the possibilities of protection of socialist industrial heritage that has been, under the conditions of intensive restructuring during the economic crisis, practically unprotected, despite the recognised development qualities and features of the heritage. We are looking for efficient protection approaches on the case study of the industrial complex of Litostroj; i.e. an innovative and economically viable way of protection of (at least the most important) heritage features, which, indeed, have been increasingly disappearing, even though they made a major contribution to the development of contemporary Slovenia.
The publication presents selected papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Cultural Heritage ... more The publication presents selected papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Legal Issues. It was organized in October 2015 by ICOMOS Slovenia with the support of the Council of Europe, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural heritage in Slovenia, the Slovenian Ministry of Culture and TICCIH Slovenia. The present publication brings eleven articles from different countries, especially focused on south-east Europe industrial heritage, where after the fall of Yugoslavia the new economic order led to the collapse of many industrial factories and towns from the socialist period, now in a process of decline. The nature of economic and political circumstances in south-east Europe are constantly and increasingly challenging the survival of industrial heritage - even "listed" monuments. Public interest is not always sufficiently expressed in decision-making process. The same is true about excpectations of heritage communities associated with industrial ...
This monographic book is intended to assist scientists carrying out research in the field of cons... more This monographic book is intended to assist scientists carrying out research in the field of conservation. Unlike most books dealing with the scientific method, which stress its philosophical rationale, this book is written from a practical standpoint. It contains a rich legacy of principles, maxims, procedures and general techniques that have been found useful in a wide range of conservation sciences. The key value of this scientific monograph is also to discuss the international consultation and comparison in the field of conservation. The publication is related to the first Bled International Symposium on cultural heritage and legal issues which was titled International Legal Standards for Heritage Protection in a Period of Economic Recession and the Tools for Safeguarding the Standards of Protection (2–3 May 2013, Bled) and was organised as a part of the celebrations for the centenary of the public heritage service in Slovenia by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heri...
Cultural identity is a building block and a symbol of identity; thus, in armed conflict it is oft... more Cultural identity is a building block and a symbol of identity; thus, in armed conflict it is often, if not as a general rule, exposed to destruction, in contradiction with the provisions of The Hague Convention and other international documents. Following the establishment of peace in conflict areas, its protection is a sensitive subject, particularly when referring to specific heritage categories directly linked to religious, national, and ethnic identities. This is particularly evident in the case of Mostar, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which saw many changes in the inter-ethnic war following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and then in its post-conflict transition. Unfortunately, the city is increasingly segregated based on ethnicity, while establishing a space for dialogue exceeding the existing continuity is necessary for the future of the city. To overcome this situation, we must first find the common starting-points, particularly in the legacy that inhabita...
Cities, 2018
Achieving sustainability goals within urban regeneration processes has become essential for our f... more Achieving sustainability goals within urban regeneration processes has become essential for our future. This is a particular challenge in post-conflict areas, where among the sustainability factors /economical, ecological and social/, the social one is the least represented, and at the same time the most important one due to the disrupted social structure. In this paper industrial heritage, which is thought to be a heritage category unburdened by issues resulting from a conflict, is discussed as a potential catalyst in conducting a successful socially sustainable urban regeneration in post-conflict contexts. The hypothesis states that endangered industrial heritage sites, due to their societal, historical, architectural, and technological values, present a fruitful base for incorporating sustainability principles and can be seen as a catalyst for urban regeneration of post-conflict areas in the future.
Procedia Engineering, 2016
When discussing sustainable development, it is essential to equally consider all of its aspects: ... more When discussing sustainable development, it is essential to equally consider all of its aspects: environmental, economic, and social. The experience in Slovenia shows that the third dimension, the social one, is often neglected, even though it is essential to integrated implementation of sustainable development. Industrial heritage sites are highly complex structures, which are an important part of our social, spatial, cultural, and technological past. Their complexity is the main reason that they need to be tackled through a specific interdisciplinary approach to research and evaluation and, moreover, as this text points out, also through a specific heritage management approach, which has to start right after the production stops. Many negative consequences of the closure of production, e.g. loss of jobs, social problems, economic issues, affect both individuals and communities as a whole. So it is very important to approach the problem also from the social aspect and make sure that interested stakeholders including former employees are involved in heritage management. Such an approach would have various positive aspects; beside the fact that the industrial site in question would be recorded immediately after closure, the involvement would send an important message to others who are negatively affected with the closure, loss of jobs, and social distress. All of this would positively influence and accelerate the site's and community sustainable regeneration process. The proposed approach will be presented on the case study of the coal mining heritage in town Hrastnik in Slovenia.
Architektura a Urbanizmus, 2013
This paper addresses the basic but also conflicting starting points that are key to the preservat... more This paper addresses the basic but also conflicting starting points that are key to the preservation of industrial heritage. On the one hand, this relates to the preservation of values of important heritage, while, on the other hand, abandoned industry sites have the spatial potential for developing new urban programmes and functions allowing for modern spatial and economic development. Abandoned historical industrial sites are mostly located in urban centres where there is a significant need for new development areas. This is precisely what leads to conflict situations, i.e. where guardians of heritage and designers of the new are in disagreement. This paper presents a methodology based on a values-led approach, whose basis is to consider, as objectively as possible, all aspects defining reuse or renewal projects concerning heritage sites. It includes the parameters of protection, development, and social requirements to the greatest extent possible to achieve efficient and sustaina...
Architect Sonja Ifko, PhD main research areas are history of the 19th and 20th century architectu... more Architect Sonja Ifko, PhD main research areas are history of the 19th and 20th century architecture, heritage preservation, and interpretative presentation. She is author of several articles and conference proceedings published in Slovenia and abroad. She is currently Assistant Professor for Architecture and Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana. She is vice president of ICOMOS Slovenia and member of National Board for Heritage at the Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO.
An Eastern Europe Vision
Industrialization caused the biggest technological changes in human history, which called for not... more Industrialization caused the biggest technological changes in human history, which called for not only new ways of working but also of living, education, and life as a whole. Eventually the world became the global market that we know today, when we are on the threshold of 5.0 Industry, when utopia is becoming reality. Despite its peripheral role, Slovenia started to change quite early under the influences of industrialization; these changes accelerated in the 19th century and gained momentum during socialist industrialization, when organized heritage protection started to develop extremely quickly — first it was used for socialist propaganda and then increasingly for concrete protection actions and regenerations. In parallel, relevant domestic knowledge was developed and, particularly, awareness was raised about the significance of industrial heritage, testifying to the transformation of its value in space and time. The understanding of this is necessary for an effective, developmen...
The aim of the chapter is to present the possibilities of protection of socialist industrial heri... more The aim of the chapter is to present the possibilities of protection of socialist industrial heritage that has been, under the conditions of intensive restructuring during the economic crisis, practically unprotected, despite the recognised development qualities and features of the heritage. We are looking for efficient protection approaches on the case study of the industrial complex of Litostroj; i.e. an innovative and economically viable way of protection of (at least the most important) heritage features, which, indeed, have been increasingly disappearing, even though they made a major contribution to the development of contemporary Slovenia.
The publication presents selected papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Cultural Heritage ... more The publication presents selected papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Legal Issues. It was organized in October 2015 by ICOMOS Slovenia with the support of the Council of Europe, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural heritage in Slovenia, the Slovenian Ministry of Culture and TICCIH Slovenia. The present publication brings eleven articles from different countries, especially focused on south-east Europe industrial heritage, where after the fall of Yugoslavia the new economic order led to the collapse of many industrial factories and towns from the socialist period, now in a process of decline. The nature of economic and political circumstances in south-east Europe are constantly and increasingly challenging the survival of industrial heritage - even "listed" monuments. Public interest is not always sufficiently expressed in decision-making process. The same is true about excpectations of heritage communities associated with industrial ...
This monographic book is intended to assist scientists carrying out research in the field of cons... more This monographic book is intended to assist scientists carrying out research in the field of conservation. Unlike most books dealing with the scientific method, which stress its philosophical rationale, this book is written from a practical standpoint. It contains a rich legacy of principles, maxims, procedures and general techniques that have been found useful in a wide range of conservation sciences. The key value of this scientific monograph is also to discuss the international consultation and comparison in the field of conservation. The publication is related to the first Bled International Symposium on cultural heritage and legal issues which was titled International Legal Standards for Heritage Protection in a Period of Economic Recession and the Tools for Safeguarding the Standards of Protection (2–3 May 2013, Bled) and was organised as a part of the celebrations for the centenary of the public heritage service in Slovenia by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heri...
Cultural identity is a building block and a symbol of identity; thus, in armed conflict it is oft... more Cultural identity is a building block and a symbol of identity; thus, in armed conflict it is often, if not as a general rule, exposed to destruction, in contradiction with the provisions of The Hague Convention and other international documents. Following the establishment of peace in conflict areas, its protection is a sensitive subject, particularly when referring to specific heritage categories directly linked to religious, national, and ethnic identities. This is particularly evident in the case of Mostar, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which saw many changes in the inter-ethnic war following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and then in its post-conflict transition. Unfortunately, the city is increasingly segregated based on ethnicity, while establishing a space for dialogue exceeding the existing continuity is necessary for the future of the city. To overcome this situation, we must first find the common starting-points, particularly in the legacy that inhabita...