The capacity to adapt to climate change at heritage sites—The development of a conceptual framework

Abstract

• Determinants of adaptive capacity relevant to heritage management are identified. • Methods to investigate the capacity to adapt to climate change are developed. • Adaptive capacity is investigated at UK cultural heritage sites. • A conceptual framework of adaptive capacity for heritage management is presented. Despite the growing body of research on the concept of adaptive capacity, there is an absence of research which investigates adaptive capacity in the field of cultural heritage management. Climatic changes have potentially serious implications for the historic environment, which is itself a non-renewable resource. Cultural heritage sites can be particularly sensitive to severe weather events and to changes in climate, both due to direct impacts on built structures, archaeology and designed landscapes, but also due to changes in visitor behaviour and the potentially adverse implications of adaptive measures on heritage significance. This research investigated the adaptive capacity of the management of cultural heritage sites in the UK. The research methodology and a final conceptual framework of adaptive capacity relevant for heritage management are presented in this paper. An initial framework of adaptive capacity was developed through an examination of key literature, a scoping study and a questionnaire survey. This was then tested and refined through the assessment of adaptive capacity at three UK World Heritage Sites, the analysis of national and international policy and interviews with stakeholders at the national and international level. The process of analysis and development of a revised conceptual framework gave insights into some of the challenges of investigating adaptive capacity. The key determinants of adaptive capacity in the final framework, found to affect the capacity to adapt to climate change at cultural heritage sites, are cognitive factors, leadership, learning capacity, access to information, authority and resources.