Paper short abstract:

The auditive aspects of cultural heritage is one of several missing links to a new and needed ‘relational’ approach to characterization. In an integrative review including national tools, I search for assessment of sensuous character in architecture and the environments it inhabit.

Paper long abstract:

The building industry faces great challenges if we as a global society are to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda and The Paris Agreement. Solving these challenges means diminishing carbon emissions and resource consumption and calls for significant renovation and transformation of the existing built environment. A change of practice towards re-use may not only involve a more inclusive approach and attribution of value to the existing, but also a methodical shift for the tools we use in the field - Tools which are largely rooted in cultural heritage characterization and traditional representation formats from architecture.

One of the scholars who points to a needed shift in methodology is Donna Haraway, who proposes inclusion of ‘the relative, the heterogeneous temporalities and spatialities’ in our research for new answers and understandings. Coming from an interdisciplinary film and architectural background familiar with using film as a media to capture the heterogeneous interconnectedness of architecture and its surroundings, including the auditive, temporal and intangible, I have used the capacity of the film tool as my point of departure in an integrative literature review and exploration of national tools for cultural heritage characterization. My findings indicate a general absence of assessment of auditive aspects, with few national tools or guides as exceptions. This, despite the great impact of the auditive on the experience of cultural heritage, the importance of the auditive for indigenous communities, and the policy recommendations from international cultural heritage institutions.