The structural changes in the industrial world the last forty years has been violent and the shakeout has been massive. When seeing these vast numbers of abandoned industries of a past vintage, one could always blame "globalization" and claim that "it was better in the good ol' days". Apart from being quite meaningless to do so, the reality is of course more complex than that. Productivity in several industries has increased enormously and the changes in the economics of raw materials, labor costs and transportation together with liberalization of trade and capital markets creates inevitable changes.

But, independent of the kind of rational side behind things, I cannot deny a stain of melancholy when walking around in abandoned buildings of the past. The transition occurs gradually in the period between 1955 and 1975 where the western world goes from the old to the new, from labor to automation. Collapsed and abandoned industries from 1975 and onwards can be spectacular ruins but the mythical feeling is simply not there. Prefabricated concrete elements, corrugated sheet steel and welded beams cannot simply compete with wood, bricks and rivets. As simple as that...
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