Industrial heritage and creative initiatives as catalysts of event tourism

Abstract

The concept of sustainable urban development requires re-purposing of buildings and areas in service of local communities. Industrial complexes which are no longer used for their original purpose are often left to degrade, simply because their demolition requires large investments. In such circumstances, creative sector initiatives were proved to be of multiple importance. They do not require too much of financial investment and do provide authentic solutions for the given problem. Innovation in that domain significantly contributes to the tourism industry, in particular to some forms of selective tourism and to outbound markets whose demands are increasingly difficult to be satisfied by mass tourism products. Among examples from practice, the case of "Ciglana" in Karaburma (Brick factory) in Belgrade stands distinguished, as a place where the festival "Dev9t" dedicated to creativity has been organized. This area contains the memory of various layers and stages of Belgrade's industrialization and it is not under institutional protection. In this paper, the process of its adaptive reuse was discussed, as well as new meanings assigned to it by the festival activities.