The Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage in European Circular City Plans: A Systematic Review

Ruba Saleh,Gillian Foster

doi:10.3390/su13052889

Abstract

A new movement in urban environmental policy, the circular economy (CE), aims to change how Europeans consume and produce materials and energy. Cities are taking up the CE challenge. This research inquires whether the infant CE programs in European cities include cultural heritage and adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) buildings. ARCH buildings exemplify the central principal of the CE, which is a temporally long service life with multiple uses for several generations of users. In addition, culture and cultural heritage buildings are established drivers of socioeconomic development, urban landscape, and identity. Hypothetically, cultural heritage and adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) buildings should be prominently included in European cities’ CE programs, particularly those cities that are highly ranked on the 2019 European Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (Monitor). To test this hypothesis, this study creates a novel dataset that profiles the existing circular city plans of 190 European cities included in the Monitor’s ranking. Contrary to the hypothesis, just seven percent of cities in the dataset include cultural heritage. European cities are missing an opportunity to achieve their CE goals and preserve their unique identities as embodied in the built environment.

Highlights

The importance of cultural heritage to the economic and social development of urban areas is important in Europe, as the population and the economy are increasingly centralized in urban areas [1,2,3,4,5]
The cities score well for culture and already have city-level circular city plans (CCPs) in place that include buildings (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Helsinki, Oslo, Prague, and Barcelona). As several of these cities are leaders in the European circular economy (CE) movement (i.e., Amsterdam and Helsinki) and the authors are aware of many adaptive reuse of existing and historic buildings in these cities, it came as a surprise that the plans do not include text directly about cultural heritage
The study concludes that most European city governments in the culture-focused dataset have not recognized or capitalized on the synergies and opportunities that arise from integrating adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) with CE

Summary

Introduction

The importance of cultural heritage to the economic and social development of urban areas is important in Europe, as the population and the economy are increasingly centralized in urban areas [1,2,3,4,5]. A new movement in urban environmental policy, the circular economy (CE), aims to change how Europeans consume and produce materials and energy. Cities are rapidly taking up the CE challenge. This article empirically examines the presence, strength, and integration of these two themes for. The integration of CE and cultural heritage is embodied in adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) buildings. ARCH buildings exemplify the central principal of the CE, which is a temporally long service life with multiple uses for several generations of users

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Discussion

Conclusion