Intergenerational Memory and Revitalization Strategies for Industrial Heritage Sites from the Perspective of Collective Memory: A Case Study of the Museum of Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan

Industrial heritage sites possess significant historical, cultural, sociological, and scientific research value, serving as historical embodiments of urban industrial civilization. As one of the major birthplaces of modern industry in China, Wuhan has preserved a rich array of industrial heritage resources. The purpose of this study is to reveal the intergenerational characteristics of visitors’ collective memory of industrial heritage and to translate them into evidence-based preservation and revitalization strategies, thereby filling the gap left by largely qualitative and descriptive previous research. Taking the Museum of Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan—located on the site of the former Hanyang Ironworks—as a case study, this study develops and validates a scale for measuring intergenerational visitor memory and comprehensively applies the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to identify the key factors influencing industrial heritage memory sites and to construct a visitor emotional experience model. The results reveal the dimensions and characteristics of visitors’ intergenerational memory, significant differences in memory characteristics and emotional experiences across birth cohorts from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the relative weights of memory elements, memory significance, and influencing factors. Based on these findings, corresponding preservation and revitalization strategies are proposed to provide theoretical support for the sustainable preservation and adaptive reuse of Wuhan’s industrial heritage.