Empty Spaces, What Are We Living For? Conservazione e valorizzazione del patrimonio industriale perduto = Empty Spaces, What Are We Living For? Conservation and Enhancement of Lost Industrial Heritage

The title, echoing the opening line of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On”, evokes a sense of disorientation and questions the persistence of the void left by what no longer exists. This image describes the condition of disused industrial architectures: once central to the productive and social identity of communities, today silent witnesses of a declining past, often reduced to mutilated fragments, erased by new developments, or turned into urban voids. Industrial heritage, frequently considered obsolete or marginal, instead represents a crucial component. Its preservation concerns not only the tangible fabric but also the intangible legacy of relationships, knowledge, and memories that shape collective identity. This paper reflects on the reasons behind the enduring undervaluation of industrial heritage, an attitude that has too often led to incongruous transformations or even complete demolitions. The analysis investigates the residual capacities of spaces emptied of function and identity, or of surviving architectures profoundly altered. The hypothesis is that such capacities may serve as levers to reactivate meanings and to guide processes of enhancement, conservation, and reuse in ways that remain faithful to historical memory.