Rethinking cultural heritage in a changing climate
What counts as cultural heritage amid rising global temperatures? Beyond monuments and historic sites, the EU-funded LANDSCAPEforCHANGE(opens in new window) project expands this focus and shows that heritage is more than a vulnerable asset. “Cultural heritage is a socio-cultural construct and a source of resilience, as it contributes to many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” states Manal Ginzarly, principal investigator of LANDSCAPEforCHANGE. Undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme(opens in new window), the project adopts a living heritage approach. This broader understanding includes human-environment interactions, everyday heritage practices, collective memory and local identity, among other elements. The focus shifts to practices, narratives and emotions from multiple stakeholders and community groups, seeing heritage as a living entity that changes over time and space.
Challenging conventional heritage conservation
Drawing from urban, landscape, heritage and environmental studies, LANDSCAPEforCHANGE addresses gaps and limitations in conventional conservation approaches. “Current policies often rely on traditional, expert-driven categorisations of heritage that limit the ability to capture multivocal heritage narratives, especially in relation to climate change and disaster risk,” explains Ginzarly. According to the researcher, there is a persistent division between formal and informal heritage, as well as between tangible and intangible heritage. Linear approaches often overlook the role of communities in co-producing local knowledge based on their experiences and perceptions. They remain focused on the physical representations of heritage instead of embracing techno-spatial infrastructures shaped by digital technologies. Responding to these challenges, the project developed conceptual and methodological frameworks(opens in new window) that combine geospatial data and vulnerability indices with social media metadata and AI-assisted analysis to support the resilience of cultural heritage and communities amid climate change.
A data-driven tool for climate-resilient cities
The multidimensional methodological framework(opens in new window) offers practical contributions to cities and policymakers. Its comprehensive design helps identify the most and least disadvantaged areas and communities. “This decision-support tool enables researchers and heritage managers to pinpoint priority zones and develop targeted mitigation strategies to minimise the adverse impacts of climate change,” affirms Ginzarly. A case study of LANDSCAPEforCHANGE focused on the floods that took place in Belgium in 2021. The team analysed user-generated content from social media channels by identifying hashtags and groups and interviewing members of these online communities. In parallel, it mapped and assessed the vulnerability and exposure of built and natural heritage to flooding at the watershed scale, integrating open geodata and socio-economic disparity indicators. “This multidimensional analysis shows that climate change affects not only material heritage assets but also social systems, everyday practices and economic activities that depend on their surrounding physical environment,” says Ginzarly. The strong role of social media(opens in new window) during the crisis and in the short-term recovery emerged as an unexpected insight. Social channels were central in supporting grassroots mobilisation, volunteer networks, coordination and mutual aid, enhancing community resilience. “Social media can serve not only as a data source but also as a transformative tool that supports the co-construction of heritage values, facilitates public engagement and enables communities to mobilise and coordinate during emergencies,” she adds. Overall, LANDSCAPEforCHANGE provides a scalable framework, based on data and community input, to support inclusive and climate-resilient heritage management. It can guide future cross-sectoral decisions on cultural heritage and disaster risk in diverse European territories.
