HERITAGE AND OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Research, Practice, Policy and Impact / Virtual Conference 22nd February - 2nd March 2021

Agreed in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unite 193 Governments with the shared aim of leaving both our planet and societies on a sustainable footing for future generations. No poverty, clean energy, sustainable cities and quality education are among the challenging targets that must be met no later than 2030. How do we ensure that heritage is central to the future development agenda? What kind of research and practical actions are needed now? And how can researchers work with practitioners and policymakers to maximise the ways heritage can contribute to multiple SDGs?

This session introduces key themes on how to utilise heritage in a wide range of contexts to meet the SDGs and raises questions to be discussed/answered during a further twelve outstanding sessions over ten days. We will draw on key findings from relevant studies and reports in the field as well as current challenges and gaps in heritage research, policy and practices for the SDGs to stimulate the discussion.

There is an urgent need to bridge the nature/culture divide and to strengthen human/nature relationships to fully reflect the diverse and nuanced relationships between communities and their local environments, as well as to promote more effective environmental conservation and management strategies. This session reflects on the role that heritage—and more holistic and integrated concepts exemplifying the interdependency between humanity and nature, like biocultural heritage and cultural landscapes—can play in promoting a more sustainable development and addressing a variety of SDGs, including SDG 2, 6, 11, 12, 14, and 15. How can we better connect social and cultural issues to environmental concerns? How can heritage contribute to the sustainable management of terrestrial and marine environmental resources? How can traditional and Indigenous knowledge and practices be valued, acknowledged and embedded into environmental strategies and applied to future management? What kind of future research, practical actions, and partnerships are needed?

This cross-cutting session reflects on harnessing the potential of heritage to rethink current approaches for local capacity strengthening for sustainable development, from formal and informal education, to training and other learning activities. How can we develop and implement long-term-oriented educational and training approaches supporting inclusivity, accessibility and a greater cultural and place sensitivity? Which barriers still need to be overcome? What role can museums and other heritage institutions play in this context, and how can intangible heritage be effectively mobilised for intergenerational transmission? What kind of future research, practical actions, and partnerships are needed? How can researchers work with practitioners, policymakers and developers to maximise the ways heritage can contribute to SDG 4, 5, 10, 11 and 16?

This session acknowledges that the work of reducing inequalities through people centred and decolonising approaches takes place on a knife edge of scholarly comforts and discomforts. It is vertiginous and dizzying in the immensity of the scope, it brings relief and comfort to some and discomfort and unease to others. How do we live in and through the scholarship on this knife edge? What assumptions do we bring to working on inequalities in knowledge and heritage practices? What assumptions underpin the understanding of who is to speak and perform decolonising and why? What kinds of pedagogies might sustain new directions? What, if any, might be the strengthening work of institutions which have been steeped in colonial histories? How can researchers work with practitioners, and policymakers to maximise the ways heritage can contribute to SDG 4, 10, and 16?

In order not to eschew the reality of the present moment and the histories which underpin it the session will open with a panel discussion from three different sets of global heritage bearers. The ‘bearings’ and ‘burdens’ are different, but what each of the people ‘centre’ as they bear the work of decolonising approaches from different positions, is the use of history, archive, tradition, alongside languages and different environments. From the culture of Eritrea and its practice, to a children’s story called ‘Grease’ from Canada, to the locked up and forgotten treasures of adinkra symbols from Ghana in Glasgow the panellists will open up space for discussing what might be meant by people centred and decolonising approaches. This will then lead into workshop sessions which focus in on the comforts and discomforts which attend the work of reducing inequalities.

The use of digital technologies for heritage diagnosis, recording, reconstruction, display, and transmission to future generations is at the forefront of interdisciplinary innovation. It has proven to be a key ally particularly in contexts where heritage is particularly at risk of disappearance or has already been destroyed or damaged because of war, conflict, climate change, earthquakes, environmental disasters and other harmful events. The use of new media, technological platforms and digital software and tools (e.g., digital modelling, immersive and augmented reality, virtual exhibitions and site tours, mobile apps, etc.) can provide museums, heritage site conservators and managers, governmental bodies, academic institutions and other stakeholders with digital alternatives to physical heritage preservation and enjoyment, increasing also heritage awareness and accessibility.

This cross-cutting session explores ways to maximise the use of digital technologies to innovate in heritage research, policy and practice for sustainable development. How can we use digital technologies to provide new ways to engage with different forms of heritage and amplify marginalised voices? How can digital technologies be used to better-inform the decision-making process? What kind of future research, practical actions, and multi-level and multi-sectorial partnerships are needed?

Today, billions of people continue to live in poverty and are denied a life of dignity. The impact of COVID-19 is exacerbating these issues and existing social and economic inequalities even further. It is now even more urgent to rethink and reframe our (unsustainable) models of development, which have often focused solely on economic growth and its immediate benefits. This session explores the role of heritage-based tourism, intangible heritage and creativity in promoting more inclusive, people-centred and sustainable ways of economic development, welfare, and well-being. How can we unlock the potential of heritage to develop more inclusive and sustainable economic models, taking into account a wider range of quality of life elements, such as spiritual fulfilment, happiness, and human solidarity? What kind of heritage research, practical actions, and multi-level and multi-sectoral partnerships are needed now? How can researchers work with practitioners to maximise the ways heritage can contribute to SDG 1, 3, 5, 8, and 12?

The potential of harnessing heritage to address global challenges has remained largely under-represented and underestimated in the most recent international development agenda adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Among the 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets established by the 2030 Agenda, only target 11.4 explicitly mentions heritage, stating that efforts should be strengthened “to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage” in order to make our cities safe, resilient, and sustainable. Progress toward the achievement of target 11.4 are measured through the “total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by type of heritage, level of government, type of expenditure and type of private funding”.

This session questions this current evaluation framework and discusses ways to better capture the complexity of heritage-generated impacts. How can we rethink and reframe methods for measuring the impacts of cultural heritage for sustainable development? How can the quantitative and qualitative impacts of heritage research and practice be better evaluated to incorporate the complexity involved? Finally, how do we ensure that culture and heritage are central to the future development agenda?