The International Collieries Study: Part of the Global Strategy for a Balanced World Heritage List

Abstract

The Global Strategy to attain a balanced World Heritage List has been running for ten years. Now is an appropriate time to review what has been achieved in relation to Industrial Archaeology and to make available a study which only appeared in final form on the internet during 2003. No less than half of the twelve studies so far produced as part of this strategy concern the functional and social elements of the industrial heritage. These, and an earlier general industrial archaeological advisory list produced in 1994, have provided the context for almost all industrial archaeological sites nominated by national governments for inscription on the World Heritage List in the last decade.