2.3.2. Technological Level

Two classification fields are included regarding to this aspect. Thus, assets can be identified as "pre-industrial" or "industrial". This classification can seem easy, but when you classify an element you are applying some criteria, and sometimes the decision about which are the appropriate criteria can be complicated and the subsequent application of the selected criteria can also be confusing.

The definition of industrial heritage that was proposed by the National Plan of Industrial Heritage of Spain in 2001 [2] identified the assets that compound this typology as the one result of the relation between a social model, capitalism, and the technological resources of the machining, which constrains these assets within the period between the second half of the 18th century and the last third of the 20th century. This temporal limitation is similar to the one proposed by The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), considering the same start and an as of yet undefined end that goes on until today.

**Figure 5.** Graphical guidelines for the classification as a single asset or as a set of assets.

These general approaches define a limit between an industrial era and a pre-industrial era, and that idea was discarded in this work. The authors understand that the concept of industrial heritage must be able to cover and include any element—both movable and immovable assets—that are capable of helping the understanding of the operation of productive processes of interest, and also the life around these activities. The corresponding historical period is important information and in this study it is used as a classification criterion, but it is not a reason for the exclusion of a group of assets of interest, nor for the preference of some of them.

Thus, after the decision includes both possibilities in the catalogue, the guidelines for making the decision in each particular case must be established. The limits between industrial and pre-industrial assets might sound simple, but in many cases, it will not be so clear to decide in which group a particular asset must be included. The operation period of the asset is not a key aspect in this respect. Pre-industrial assets such as windmills were operating (and also were built) during the period defined by the National Plan and TICCIH as industrial. So, what criteria could be of help?

For that purpose, the authors established two main aspects that must be analyzed before the classification of each particular asset as pre-industrial or industrial [1]. On the one hand, there is the technological level of the asset, but this level is from a particular point of view that is focused on the power source that was employed. When this source is linked to the natural resources of the environment, the location of the asset is conditioned by the need of proximity to that resource, and this is understood as a pre-industrial attribute, in contrast to industrial situations in which steam engine or electric energy are the usual power sources. However, special situations can exist, so a second aspect is analyzed: the productive level or capacity. When the productive activity supplies the area near the asset, the productive level is understood as local, which means a pre-industrial attribute for the classification into the catalogue. When the asset is focused on exporting the products to other areas or regions, the productive volume is higher, and this is understood as an industrial attribute.

By combining the conclusions of both analyses, it is possible to select the industrial or pre-industrial nature of each particular asset. There will be situations in which these conclusions will point in opposite directions, and then the trend that is valued as the one of higher relevance will be one considered for the final classification of the asset.

#### 2.3.3. Relation with Local Population

As exposed before, one of the main functions of the developed catalogue is the support of other initiatives of study, promotion, or actuation. In that sense, the catalogue was initially integrated in a global methodology for the study and management of the industrial immovable assets that have been developed by some of the authors, concretely for the selection of the most compatible new uses for particular assets, in order to minimize as much as possible the impact of the adaptation to the new activity [19]. Precisely in that context, the interest of including some new criteria in the catalogue was identified. When one of these assets is recovered for a new activity, one of the most important aspects is the success of this activity. When the new use fails, two new scenarios emerge for the asset. On the one hand it can be again in a situation of abandonment for some time, which probably will deteriorate the asset in some way. On the other hand, it can be adapted again for a different new use, and that process will have some kind of new impact. Both situations are undesired, so making the right selection of the new use is a key aspect.

In that sense, the criteria structures of the decisions of the mentioned global methodology demand the inclusion of new criteria into the developed catalogue. The environment of the assets is very important for the success of the potential new uses. For example, some uses will benefit from highly populated environments, while other activities can be more appropriate for rural contexts. Thus, in addition to the location criteria that are initially included into the catalogue, criteria related to the rural or urban context of each asset considered, and the size of the surrounding villages and cities have been included in the catalogue. Thus, eight new categories were considered and included into the catalogue as new classification criteria. These new criteria were listed below in Table 1, which also shows the logic behind the new criteria incorporated into the catalogue, but not the needed application guidelines.

In the case of rural environments, two possible situations are considered. The classification as a "rural location" is used when the analyzed asset has no direct relation to any nearby village or town, either because a nearby village or town does not exist, or because there is not a clear connection with the analyzed asset, for example a road. Thus, this criterion of classification shows a certain grade of territorial isolation. The criterion called "semi-rural location" can represent assets out of the urban fabric, but with certain connection and relation to some nearby town or village, for example due to its close proximity or for the existence of a road, and also it can be used for assets associated to small groups of houses without their own real administrative or fabric structure. As it is possible to appreciate, assets classified with this criterion will be neither included in large urban structures nor connected to them, but they will not have the previous level of territorial isolation. If potential synergies with human settlements can be identified, then the potential demand of certain new uses can be taken into account.

On the other hand, four categories are defined for assets located in urban environments. The category called "town" is used for populations of less than 10,000 inhabitants. When the number of inhabitants is higher than 10,000 the term city is used, while "small city" is when the population is between 10,000–30,000 inhabitants, "medium city" is when the population is between 30,000–100,000 inhabitants, and "big city" is when the population is higher than 100,000 inhabitants. Figure 6 shows graphically the key aspects for decision making about the most appropriate category of classification in each case when these new sets of criteria are applied to each particular asset.

**Figure 6.** Guidelines for assets classification by criteria related to the grade of relation with human settlements.

In addition, the special role as "province capital" is also considered. When the population intervals were defined, the number of inhabitants of the main cities and towns of Andalusia was consulted in the database of the National Institute of Statistical of Spain [23]. Table 2 shows that, together with the eight province capitals, other cities have an important population in Andalusia, cities in which different industries are present, and contribute with some elements to the catalogue, so this additional classification criterion was considered of interest.

**Table 2.** Cities with the highest population in Andalusia. Source: National Institute of Statistical of Spain [23].


The application of this group of criteria, as well as the other ones included in the catalogue, is supported by the geolocation information included for every asset of the catalogue. This aspect is exposed in the following section.
