Contributions of social media to the recognition, assessment, conservation, and communication of Spanish post-industrial landscapes

Abstract

The paper aims to draft how phenomena such as abandonment, territorial disarticulation, environmental pollution, socioeconomic imbalances, and heritage consideration issues that surround landscapes where industrial activity has ceased are reflected on social media in Spain. The research focuses on the most popular social media platforms in Spain: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. A manual sample strategy was conducted to ensure an individualized approach to user-generated content. Sampling was carried out separately for three aspects: (1) keywords at a general level, (2) terms used to define industrial landscapes, and (3) recognition of significant industrial landscapes related to governmental facilities built in the 20th century, wherein we take into account three potential profile types: (i) individuals; (ii) NGOs/associations and/or public administrations; and (iii) academics. The results show that social media platforms are widely used as tools to disseminate information about industrial landscapes, but the contributions of each platform are uneven and incomplete in relation to the reality of post-industrial landscapes. However, it is worth recognizing the added value that their possible interaction brings as a reference for current civic debates. How social media contributes toward mitigating the difficulties of recognition, comprehension, and protection of post-industrial landscapes is emphasized in our conclusions.