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But if you sign a waiver- have a tour guild that watchs over the small group.... I myself would be all over these kind of places. Like those listed above ( car racing, rock climbing, etc.) you know the risk when you step into it. Why should the fear of being sued block those of us who know the risk, and still wish to visit them for the beauty, history? While you have taken the right / made laws for the need to protect me- I should have the right to tell you no.

As an FYI, I can tell you that races like Nascar are insured by special insurance carriers. The location is insured by the number of days that there will be cars on the track and spectators in the infield. The racetracks that I worked with would not allow any spectators in the normal viewing areas except on race days. Which means they were able to insure just the track at a lower premium. When I was chairing SCCA races the company we used was K and K insurance. By buying special event insurance the cost was cheaper. Not cheap, but cheaper. I think in the 400.00 to 500.00 range for a 2 day event.
Mr Motts, great photos. When I cruise other abandoned photo websites, I appreciate just how skilled you are with your camera. Keep up the great work. I love to see these places through your eyes
Thank You

(Not being an expert in such matters) I'm not sure how much liability / insurance plays into this. I don't see how it could be harder / more expensive to insure an old factory vs. a theme park where rides can fail and people do die (because of the ride or their own negligence), or Nascar where cars routinely crash and occasionally send deadly debris into the crowd, or like Motts said, a state park where you can be seriously injured or die while rock climbing.

I think it just comes down to, who is willing to invest in these places? Those of us that are interested in old factories are relatively small in number. A developer wants to make money. They will be better off buying an old factory, razing most everything, and building a shopping mall, or condos, or Disney World.

Private preservation groups rarely have the financial means to acquire, preserve and maintain such sites. And rarer still are the examples where voters will approve millions of dollars in municipal funds to preserve a place like Sloss. Sloss and Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord prove that preservation is possible, and that visitation levels demonstrate the public's interest in these sites. But all too often the people with the money to make things happen want to make a few more dollars in much quicker fashion by redeveloping sites. A couple hundred people plunking down half a million dollars for each condo unit will generate a lot more fast cash than factory tours.

If redevelopment is not an option, then the owner would simply demolish an obsolete factory since they are not in the business of operating a mall, or a park, or managing a condo complex. And there we get those empty lots ringing most American cities, where factories once stood.

Mr Motts it seem you have dived into the realm of philosophy, a very dangerous realm to explore more dangerous then any of the ruins you have been in.
Principles have been set in the American judicial system to protect people from their own stupidity, for example 1967 the government told the auto company’s to put seat belts in all their cars that was setting a principle, once the government did that others came along and said if seat belts can be mandated then so can air bags, seat belt pretensioners and crumple zones, etc. In the realm of western philosophy to protect people from their own stupidity is disgusting, you have free will, as American citizens epically you are entitled to liberty, if you want to drive a car with no seat belts or wonder around an abounded factory you have the right to do so. In any case to avoid talking about John Locke, Aristotle etc. who’s philosophies were the foundation of the United States, I will simply state when it comes to protecting people from their own stupidity in a free society determining the limits of such an ideology is almost impossible and because of that you end up with arbitrary laws which creates things like police won’t really enforce laws that are designed to prevent Mr Motts from taking his wonderful pictures but they will enforce laws that make people wear seat belts.

great pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the informantion HV Rob! I will have to add that to the list of places I want to go. :-)

I wish I knew more about the law myself, I would LOVE to see some of these places preserved. We are a sue-happy country, aren't we? Such a shame.

Larry and Toot - yes, everything in these "industrial parks" seemed like an American lawyer's dream or nightmare depending on the point of view. I'm just confused about where the boundary of personal responsibility is - for example, many people get injured or die while rock climbing. No waivers are signed, you just put yourself at risk on the mountain... not sure how or why that would be so different at a preserved industrial ruin. Perhaps I just don't know enough about law.

HV Rob - very cool, I didn't know Sloss was preserved - it looks like a great example. I will try to check it out next time I'm around Birmingham. http://www.slossfurnaces.com/

evilavatar - I agree with the red tape problem, but disagree about the want to eliminate WWII stigma. I believe that was done by eradicating all traces of Nazi symbolism (artwork, statues, bunkers, etc).