The Journal of Culture Contents ISSN:2287-2256(Print) 2671-7026(Online) 문화콘텐츠연구

In the 1970s, new leftist youth launched a social and cultural movement to engage workers in cultural and artistic activities by using industrial buildings, a symbol of class consciousness, as social and cultural centers. In the 1980s, generations born after the 60s were attracted to industrial buildings and focused on regenerating them. However, from the late 1980s, public institutions took the initiative to designate historical, cultural, and architecturally valuable monumental buildings as cultural assets, and to preserve or renovate them and recycle them, thereby regenerating the city and creating economic wealth. In other words, the former industrial complexes and factories, which were the stains of the city, were legally converted into profit-seeking complexes by public institutions under the pretext of a marketization strategy. This means that industrial heritages with architectural, historical, and social values ​​representing the region are no longer a place for cultural democracy and social culture, but an investment for economic revitalization. The “Neue Mitte” of Oberhausen, Germany, built according to this reason that dominated at the time, is considered a representative example of the Ruhr region that has transformed the urban structure into a cultural industry. However, the formation of the “Neue Mitte” resulted in the decline of not only the original city center but also the neighboring cities. In other words, building a “Neue MItte” in Oberhausen has become a zero-sum game. Therefore, the government of Oberhausen still has the task of urban development for the common good of the entire city, and it can be said that it is in a dilemma commonly faced by cities seeking urban development due to changes in the industrial structure. This dilemma did not arise in the 1970s, when industrial buildings were recycled for the realization of cultural democracy. Therefore, if the transition from industrial culture to cultural industry is the demand of the times. It is necessary to devise a plan to industrialize industrial culture based on cultural democracy, rather than just industrializing it with a marketization strategy.