Heritage itineraries and the ‘rest state’ at Europe’s Cold War-era Ground-launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) sites

Figures & data

Figure 1. Distribution of Europe’s six Ground-launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) sites.

Figure 2. Graphic layout of the itineraries investigated. Highlighted in grey, the current situation of the six sites is represented. The sites meet the rest state, for instance, between a military use and awaiting a possible future use following closure.

Figure 3. The transitions between land and Land. Current aerial photographs of the six Europe’s GLCM sites, scale 1:100 000 (from top left, clockwise: RAF Greenham Common, Comiso, Pydna, Woensdrecht, RAF Molesworth, Florennes).

Table 1. Approaches to buildings and sites after the cessation of their anthropic use.

	Not protected as heritage	Protected (or designated) as heritage
Active approach	Rest state	Conservation, Adaptive Reuse/Adaptive Release, Curated Decay
Passive approach	Abandonment	Rest state

Table 2. Some characteristics of strategies of change of use and abandonment.

Adaptive release (after DeSilvey et al., 2021, p. 421)

Rest State

identification and interpretation of emergent natural and cultural heritage value and significance programme of monitoring of and learning from change not passive: extended engagement and almost certainly some continued investment some relinquishment of control, and a willingness to accept uncertain outcomes and messy change trajectories targeted intervention where appropriate focus is on the process

identification and interpretation of emergent natural and cultural heritage value and significance no programme: permission to other humans and non-humans to enrich the palimpsest of the site passive management: no formal curatorial investment total relinquishment of control, and willingness to accept uncertain outcomes and messy change trajectories target intervention where appropriate focus is on the state (but also the process where ‘the rest state’ is seen as part of a trajectory)

Figure 4. Plans of each of the six European GLCM sites, outlined within the area of the wider air bases of which they are (or were) a part.

Figure 5. Images of the current conservation state of a GAMA structure in Comiso (Photo: Simona Bravaglieri, August 2020).

Figure 6. Pictures of the current conditions of different facilities in Comiso Air Base (Photo: Simona Bravaglieri, 2020).

DeSilvey, C., Fredheim, H., Fluck, H., Hails, R., Harrison, R., Samuel, I., & Blundell, A. (2021). When loss is more: From managed decline to adaptive release. The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice, 12(3–4), 418–433. doi:10.1080/17567505.2021.1957263

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