Heritage, culture and regeneration: the role of coal in the future of Cardiff Bay

This paper is concerned with relationships between the transforming economies of post-industrial cities, ways of framing the histories and roles of built heritage in regeneration, and strategies of spatial intervention in historic sites. In the first section, these relationships are briefly set out in terms of existing literature on heritage roles in the culture-related re-development of post-industrial spaces and in UK regeneration processes in recent years, and on the politics of built heritage preservation. In the second, they are explored through a case study of the almost derelict Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay which faces an uncertain future as authorities dispute its value, condition and potentials post economic crisis. The paper argues for the need for an integrated approach to the analysis of heritage value which allows for a multiplicity of readings of the role of the past in the present to be linked to strategic regional and urban directions, design processes and future development