Virtual Museum Reșița 250+, a small step in a large endeavor, contributing to the urban regeneration of Reșița city

Reșița is the urban center of Banat Mountain, a medium-sized city in decline, with a remarkable industrial past: 250 years of iron and steel industry and derived products, such as locomotives, large machinery, turbines, etc.

Reșița's sharp decline occurred recently and was determined by clear factors. The city lost a large part of its heavy industry and over 25,000 jobs in the period '90-'00, in a painful and abrupt transition from an authoritarian communist regime and a centrally planned and controlled economy to global competition and free markets. Consequently, Reșița's case reflects the particular challenges of post-socialist Eastern European cities transitioning to market economies and undergoing profound changes in their social fabric. Among these cities, Reșița experienced one of the steepest economic restructurings and demographic declines, leading to reduced trust, civic apathy, demoralization, and cynicism among the remaining population.

Another challenge for the city is the physical state of its built environment: abandoned industrial sites occupy large areas of the city, former workers' colonies are in an advanced state of degradation and currently constitute pockets of urban poverty.

On a positive note, Reșița:

• has one of the most high-performing local administrations - a strong determining factor and predictor of local development prospects.

• although still relatively isolated, is located in a rich natural area, which increases its attractiveness for a category of dedicated residents, lovers of nature and slow-paced urban life.

• represents for Romanian heritage what former industrial cities like Glasgow, Bilbao, etc. represent for Western Europe: the abundance of unused former industrial buildings includes a series with high and internationally recognized architectural value, such as the TMK Furnace or the water management system. These represent an opportunity for Reșița's development.

As the city undergoes major public investments to improve basic infrastructure, we believe there is a need for systematic efforts to stimulate innovation, creativity, and new visions regarding the other layers of the city's renaissance: its social capital, local identity and pride, productive system, and quality of life.

An urban innovation laboratory, an ecosystem open to innovation involving a network of partners from the public sector, academia, civil society, and citizens, integrating applied research to test new practices that respond to community needs. It operates within a territorial context (city, region, etc.).

Reșița 250 Lab, to which this virtual museum is subscribed, is an ecosystem that mobilizes resources - creativity, know-how and skills, funding, etc. - to find solutions to the city's challenges.

Until 2022, we worked intensively on the first steps in the creation process of Resita 250 Lab:

• 2016-2017: we inventoried, for the Reșița City Hall, the industrial lands and halls in the city; we conducted focus groups and interviews to define the community's profile and local needs for spaces and new functions; we focused on the large Triaj-Mociur-Valea Țerovei site, which had the greatest potential for attracting private investment. We created the city's plan for attracting investors and developers, for the valorization of its latent assets, along with related materials (www.investinresita.ro website, promotional folders and films, stands at conferences and trade fairs, etc.)

• 2017-2018: we continued promotional activities for investors and developers, contributing to the relaunch of the city's Industrial Park and attracting the Nhood developer to the Mociur industrial platform. We co-founded, alongside the Reșița City Hall, the Reșița Local Action Group and developed and submitted its first strategy dedicated to the urban regeneration of marginalized areas in the city for funding.

• 2018-2020: we began to expand our activities in Reșița towards partnerships with civil society organizations; we assisted Reșița City Hall in conceiving and launching the first public funding program for civil society, "Trust in Reșița"; we first created the concept of Reșița Lab within the application for UIA in 2019 (which did not materialize at that time);

• 2021-2023: together with Reșița City Hall, the Humanitas Pro Deo Foundation, and Vitamin A, we generated the country's first participatory process for regulating informal housing in the Câlnic marginalized area (more info at: locuireinformala.ro); we began working, also with Reșița City Hall, on rethinking the allocation criteria for social housing and new condominium regulations to improve the maintenance of the social housing stock; we started working on a new urban regeneration strategy for the marginalized urban areas of the city, for GAL Reșița, for the 2023-2027 funding cycle; in 2021 we launched this museum and, a year later, we had a first event to mark and celebrate the city's industrial heritage: tours, an exhibition, and a debate dedicated to the hydrotechnical facilities network in Banatul Montan.

2021 is the best time to start such a process and cumulative effort. The year 2021 marks the 250th anniversary of the commissioning of the first blast furnace in Reșița. It is a year with significant symbolic weight and a good time for the inhabitants to reflect on the moments that have shaped the city's becoming, but also to reconnect with its memory.

On the occasion of this anniversary, we took the first step in outlining Reșița 250 Lab, by creating the Virtual Museum Reșița 250+, in partnership with the Ethnological Image Archive (a division of The Romanian Peasant Museum) and with The Amateur Filmmaker Museum, with funding from the National Cultural Fund Administration and co-financing and support from the Reșița Municipality.

The Reșița 250+ Virtual Museum platform highlights the stories of the city's neighborhoods and industry development, through stories and archives collected from citizens and photo-journalistic field trips.

The platform includes (1) an archive section - as an easily navigable online repository, storing old and new photo-video materials about the city's neighborhoods and industry, (2) an exhibition section, where we will gradually build exhibition galleries, and (3) a news and information section about the activities undertaken by the museum and the Reșița 250 Lab urban innovation laboratory.

From October 2023, we are also bringing Reșița 250 Lab to shore through a first discovery and ideation workshop dedicated to the city's industrial heritage.

What's next:

• We will continue applied research actions in the fields of urbanism, industrial heritage, and socio-anthropology to enrich and complete the virtual platform with new themes.

• We will create new work tracks and new partnerships, on the following 4 major strategic levels in relation to Reșița's context and development: (1) City and nature. Challenge: How do we improve the quality of life for residents considering Reșița's natural resources / rich surroundings? (2) Housing. Challenge: How do we increase the attractiveness of Reșița's neighborhoods by improving housing, public space, and increasing public/civic participation? (3) Heritage, identity, and culture. Challenge: How do we reconstruct strong new narratives through cultural and community initiatives and by celebrating valuable built heritage? Also, how do we find new uses for abandoned industrial assets that serve the community's needs? and (4) Hospitality and tourism. Challenge: How do we rethink Reșița and the Caraș-Severin region as a tourist destination and a local system of short production and supply chains, together with actors from HoReCa, civil society, and beyond, aiming for the development of a sustainable local economy.

Water was and continues to be the main driver of the iron industry in the Banat Mountains, an industry that celebrated 250 years of existence in 2021, an occasion on which we also launched the Virtual Museum of Reșița platform. The products of the iron industry – steel, rails, bridges, locomotives, turbines, etc. – were generated by technology initially using hydraulic energy, then charcoal produced from wood transported by water, and later hydroelectric energy.

Around Reșița, there is a system of over 100 km of canals, including dozens of metal and rock tunnels and aqueducts, sluices for flow regulation, 6 reservoirs, and 5 hydroelectric power plants – a true material heritage that makes up the hydrotechnical system in the upper Bârzava basin.

All are true works of engineering art whose development began in the 17th century and culminated in the first decade of the 20th century and in the period immediately following World War II. However, this network is little known even by locals.

With the aim of promoting this unique material heritage in Romania to the public, the project “The Unseen City. Part 1: The Story of Water” was born, financed by AFCN, which generated the first exhibition published on this platform, consisting of photo archives and personal stories about the history and evolution of the hydrotechnical system, documented during the summer of 2022. In the news section, you can also find information about the tours, the physical exhibition, and the debate held within the project.

In the autumn of 2023, we organized a first multidisciplinary foray into the industrial heritage of Reșița, as a first step under the Reșița 250 LAB umbrella. We gathered approx. 40 participants from the professional spheres of architecture, urbanism, cinematography, digital arts and photography, museum design, community development, environment and biodiversity, from Reșița, Timișoara, and Bucharest. We walked through the industrial sites, hills, and streets of the city. We clashed the electrifying mix of ideas, visions, and personalities in intense working sessions. We opened paths for work and collaboration that bring us—now and in the future—together in Reșița.

Follow the /news section

In April 2024, we opened the gates of the Mociur - Triaj - Valea Țerovei industrial site, alongside the Reșița City Hall, ADLR - Reșița Local Development Agency, the Amateur Filmmaker Museum, and the Mociur Industrial Collection museum initiative. The event's purpose was to offer citizens the opportunity to (re)discover the industrial past of this area, as well as its current and future development prospects.

The open day included:

>> a meeting with the local business environment for presentation and consultation regarding the area's development prospects;

>> an exhibition for the general public with archival photographs of the factories that were once on the site, development prospects, and planned investments;

>> guided tours and a visit to the Mociur Industrial Collection (MIC) and live demonstrations;

>> screenings of Sahia short films about the Reșița factories organized by the Amateur Filmmaker Museum at the Art and Industry Salon.

We are working hand in hand with the Reșița City Hall and the community for the urban regeneration of the area. A difficult and complex process, but necessary, desired, viable, and very motivating. Follow the /news section.

In July 2024, we brought the community together around the funicular, in its last year "in its old attire", meaning before it enters the restoration and conversion site for a new function: a new mobility axis (pedestrian and cycling) that will connect the city center and the surrounding hills. The project had three components:

• Exhibition about the history, operation, and functional conversion vision of the funicular (offline + online at www.muzeulvirtualresita.ro);
• - Co-creation and development of an industrial and natural heritage interpretation plan related to the funicular, which will form the basis for the arrangement of both the funicular visitor center and other attractions or facilities;
• Street event to celebrate the funicular, together with the community: the first edition of Street Delivery x UrbanEye Film Festival, in Reșița. A weekend of workshops, debates, film screenings, artistic interventions, guided tours of the landscape and heritage.

The Fantastic Funicular project is an initiative of MKBT, conceived as part of the Reșița 250 Urban Innovation Laboratory. We act systematically, in a network, and in the long term, for the preservation, valorization, and promotion of Reșița's industrial heritage. Follow the /news section

“We are closing ranks around the last blast furnace” is an initiative to celebrate, safeguard, and capitalize on the last blast furnace in Reșița, the most imposing industrial heritage site in the city, a symbol of over 250 years of iron and steel industry. The project aims to involve the local community and local and national institutional actors in the revitalization process of the blast furnace, which can only exist through a prior recovery of local history and memory.

The project activities are:

• historical research on the blast furnace site and its surroundings, with a team of architects and support from local archive collectors
• documentation with an oral history working group, with a team of journalists and anthropologists, see more at /noutăți
• study visit to Dolni Vitkovice – Moravia, Czech Republic, and to the Ignacy Historic Mine, Poland
• exhibition about the blast furnace, on the street and online, on muzeulvirtualresita.ro
• architecture workshop-school, involving academia from three university centers: Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, and Bucharest, OAR and INP
• facilitation of local debates (extended and restricted) about the opportunity of taking over, restoring, and revitalizing the blast furnace, as well as roles and responsibilities in this regard;
• Let's Wake Up the Blast Furnace!, the second edition of the Street Delivery x UrbanEye Film Festival event
  with satellite events, including a documentary film about the blast furnace, on Furnalelor Street and at Pittner School

These activities are coordinated by MKBT, with the involvement and support of the Reșița Municipality and Artrom Steel Tubes, and local partners Amateur Filmmaker Museum, Banatul Montan Community Foundation, Non-Formal Spatial Planning Workshop, as part of the project “We are closing ranks around the last blast furnace”. Follow the /noutăți section