We welcomed 22 inspiring and highly motivated young people from 12 countries.
With their different study backgrounds ranging from architecture to history and from sustainability to restoration, they spent two intensive weeks getting to know various industrial heritage sites, talking to regional and international experts and working on their own projects.

The project work focused on the topics of ‘Climate communication at industrial heritage sites’, ‘Berlin clubs as places where young people come into contact with industrial heritage’, ‘Industrial heritage in a suitcase – a self-exploration on the Wilhelminenhof campus’ and ‘Giving history a face and a voice – workers in Oberschöneweide’. A group of doctoral students worked on creating a matrix for dealing with the topic of sustainability at industrial heritage sites.

We are delighted that work is continuing on individual projects and that we were able to invite all students to present their projects in an online session of the ERIH Young Professional Network.

The next European Industrial Heritage Summer School is expected to take place in summer 2026.

In August we welcomed 17 young people from Europe and beyond in Berlin for our first Industrial Heritage Summer School. For two weeks we discussed the connection between industrial heritage and sustainability.

The great diversity of the different study backgrounds of our students enriched the summer school immensely. We had students of:
Museum Studies, Cultural Studies, (Public) History, Industrial Archaeology, Culture and Tourism Management, Architecture and Urban Planning, as well as Historic Preservation, Sustainability and Communication Studies with us.

Together we visited several sites of industrial heritage in Berlin and met with experienced colleagues at the Museum of Technology, the Pfefferberg, the Historic Port and Tempelhof Airport, the Peter-Behrens-Bau and the former Kulturhaus in Schöneweide.

In discussions with international Industrial Heritage experts such as TICCIH President Miles Oglethorpe (Scotland), ERIH Vice President Adam Hajduga (Poland) or Public Historian Donna Graves (USA), the students developed projects of their own.

One student project could be implemented in the beginning of next year aready. The idea for an “ERIH Young Professionals Network” was presented to the ERIH Network at the Annual Conference in November 2023. The feedback was very positive.

The Summer School 2023 was rewarded with the "Best Practice Award" of the Cultural Routes of the Concil of Europe.

The Summer School 2024 is organized by the Berliner Zentrum Industriekultur (bzi) with the support of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) and in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW Berlin).