Landscape Heritage Research Articles

Rust, Dust, Smoke and Smell: Memoryscapes for Industrial Heritage

ABSTRACT The sensory aspects of heritage can be elusive, with the fugitive nature of the dimension of smell, and with the ephemerality of tactile changes to surfaces, and the overall temporal mutability of the landscape. Memoryscape is a multi-sensory approach that promotes the act of remembering and bodily experience in a landscape. Industrial heritage possesses important cultural and historical values and worth remembering, yet heritage design practice has been focused on the visual and neglected the non-visual aspects of the landscape. This article explores how smell and materials can enhance a bodily experience at post-industrial landscapes through three cases in New Zealand: Shantytown Heritage Park, Dunedin Warehouse Precinct and The Tannery. The results illustrate how olfactory and ephemeral materials infuse heritage landscapes with vivid connections to the past, but are often overlooked in professional framings of heritage. Traditional perspectives on heritage, especially in formal settings like museums, eliminate elements such as smell and dust as they are seen as phenomena of decay. Professionals, such as landscape architects, are predominantly ocularcentric in their practice, and the potential of multi-sensory approaches can be overlooked. In the context of industrial heritage, these olfactory and ephemeral qualities are not necessarily pleasant, and this further contributes to their being neglected in the treatment of heritage sites.

Digital Footprint as a Public Participatory Tool: Identifying and Assessing Industrial Heritage Landscape through User-Generated Content on Social Media

International heritage management approaches have developed into a more inclusive process wherein public participation is identified as a pivotal tool. Thus, determining how to assess public interests and include the public’s ideas in heritage protection has become a technical issue, but relevant research still remains limited. This paper aims to test the digital footprints of social media users as a public participatory tool, with the objectives of identifying industrial heritage landscape attributes and assessing associated values. Targeting the Sanxian industrial heritage landscape of Liangdancheng in China as a case study, in this research the data from user-generated content on social media platforms Ctrip, Weibo, and Meituan were collected and processed with ROST CM 6 and NVivo 12, and content analysis (CA) and importance-performance analysis (IPA) were conducted. Results revealed that the industrial heritage landscape of Liangdancheng encompasses various built, cultural, and natural environmental resources, including both tangible and intangible attributes such as architectural constructions, historic artifacts, cultural events, and plants. These attributes were assessed and categorized into four quadrants of importance–performance characteristics, wherein cultural environmental resources show relatively high performance but built environmental resources need further actions to improve their value perception and interpretation among the public. This research demonstrated that the digital footprints of social media users as a participatory tool can work well in terms of data accessibility, value identification, and public representation, advancing the theoretical framework of Chinese industrial heritage management and global practices.

Eco-Revelatory: The Missing Link in the Development of Adaptive Landscape to Industrial Heritage Sites

ABSTRACT Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage paves the way for revitalization, new use, and achievement of dynamism and sustainability. The aim of the present study is to access the missing link in developing a landscape model adaptable to industrial heritage sites. The present study was conducted within a qualitative approach framework and used the grounded theory method. Qualitative data analysis of the research was performed by MAXQDA2020 software, and based on the results, a paradigm model of adaptive industrial heritage landscape was explained. The research results include causal conditions (physical), core category (environmental), contextual conditions (historical, infrastructural), intervening conditions (economic, technology), strategies (policies and laws), and consequences (social, cultural). According to the identified components of the adaptability of industrial heritage to the landscape, the concept of Eco-Revelatory was extracted. It also states that the missing link is the adaptability of landscape and Eco-Revelatory industrial heritage, the use of which leads to the dynamism and stability of industrial heritage.

Method for selecting viewpoints of architectural heritage landscapes

The selection of viewpoints is a crucial aspect in conducting visual impact assessments of architectural heritage. To address this issue, a quantitative viewpoint selection method based on GIS spatial analysis is proposed. The first step involves defining the factors that influence the selection of viewpoints for architectural heritage. Next, the city’s historical architectural areas are divided into units based on courtyards. Subsequently, a candidate set of viewpoints is constructed by extracting the skeleton lines and characteristic points of sub-regions. Finally, following the principles of viewpoint selection, the method achieves the selection of viewpoints for the visual impact assessment of architectural heritage. The Forbidden City is chosen as the practical area for implementation, and the results demonstrate that the viewshed coverage range in the architectural heritage area is as high as 96%. It represents that this approach for visual impact assessments of architectural heritage is more grounded.

The Alluvial Geoarchaeology of the Upper River Kennet in the Avebury Landscape: a Monumental Transformation of a Stable Landscape

Geoarchaeological research as part of the AHRC funded Living with Monuments (LwM) project investigated the upper Kennet river system across the Avebury World Heritage landscape. The results demonstrate that in the early–mid-Holocene (c. 9500–1000 bc) there was very low erosion of disturbed soils into the floodplain, with floodplain deposits confined to a naturally forming bedload fluvial deposit aggrading in a shallow channel of inter-linked deeper pools. At the time of the Neolithic monument building in the 4th–early 3rd millennium bc, the river was wide and shallow with areas of presumed braid plain. Between c. 4000 and 1000 bc, a human induced signature of soil erosion became a minor component of fluvial sedimentation in the Kennet palaeo-channel but it was small scale and localised. This strongly suggests that there is little evidence of widespread woodland removal associated with Neolithic farming and monument building, despite the evidently large timber requirements for Neolithic sites like the West Kennet palisade enclosures. Consequently, there was relatively light human disturbance of the hinterland and valley slopes over the longue durée until the later Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, with a predominance of pasture over arable land. Rather than large Neolithic monument complexes being constructed within woodland clearings, representing ancestral and sacred spaces, the substantially much more open landscape provided a suitable landscape with areas of sarsen spreads potentially easily visible. During the period c. 3000–1000 bc, the sediment load within the channel slowly increased with alluvial deposition of increasingly humic silty clays across the valley floor. However, this only represents small-scale landscape disturbance. It is from the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age when the anthropogenic signal of human driven alluviation becomes dominant and overtakes the bedload fluvial signal across the floodplain, with localised colluvial deposits on the floodplain margins. Subsequently, the alluvial archive describes more extensive human impact across this landscape, including the disturbance of loessic-rich soils in the catchment. The deposition of floodplain wide alluvium continues throughout the Roman, medieval, and post-medieval periods, correlating with the development of a low-flow, single channel, with alluvial sediments describing a decreasing energy in the depositional environment.

Reconstructing historical road landscapes along the corridors of early 20th-century road networks in Northern Greece

The paper aims to reconstruct historical road networks, focusing on an area of South-Eastern Europe (specifically on a part of northern Greece) and to contribute to the research for cultural heritage landscapes promotion. By the proposed approach, ignored cultural corridors would be revealed, paving the way for significant management and the emergence of cultural landscapes. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools, textual references and historical maps are utilised to identify the historical roadways. The spatial information is mined from the historical maps, whilst the descriptive information is mined from both the textual sources and the maps as well. The combination of the maps and the narratives supported an integrated classification of the roads for all periods, according to the construction style/technique, allowing the interpretations of the historical roads’ landscapes. The suggested approach and the consequent maps could serve as a valuable contribution to the enhancement of heritage management of historical landscapes.

Offensive Heritage in an Era of Globalization and Mass Migration

Offensive Heritage in an Era of Globalization and Mass Migration

New investigations in Gaza's heritage landscapes: the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP)

AbstractDecades of conflict in the Gaza Strip have contributed to widely documented cultural heritage destruction, demonstrating a need to monitor vulnerable sites and enhance the empirical base. This article describes how the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP 2022–2023) was developed to monitor coastal and near-coastal sites, collaboratively. Owing to the unprecedented destruction of heritage since October 2023, GAZAMAP's scope has fundamentally shifted.

A Townscape in Evolution: Caño Roto Modern Heritage, 1957–2023

Caño Roto (Madrid) is one of the most relevant Spanish post-war architectures. Its typological contributions have already been studied within the framework of the so-called “Led Settlements”. This paper proposes a systematic analysis of the evolution of the neighborhood townscape, its most singular characteristic as a critical approach to the CIAM city project. It starts with the photographic documentation, studied through the methodology established by Gordon Cullen and developed, in a systematic way, by Nigel Taylor. The comparative study includes the original published photographs, a sample of photographs from the 2010s, and the shots taken in a new exhaustive documentation campaign. The comparison yields relevant results on the evolution of urban space definers: building volumes, facade composition, pavements or vegetation, and the presence of people in public areas. Several paths are studied to allow an understanding of the overall landscape structure. As a result, the key elements of the townscape of the settlement are identified and valued. The aim of this paper is to provide tools for the preservation of both the architectural and landscape heritage of Caño Roto. In short, thorough knowledge will help residents to become aware of the heritage value of their neighborhood.

Looking Up for prehistoric hunter-gatherer archaeological sites in mountain landscapes in Europe

This paper introduces Looking Up, an intradisciplinary project combining archaeology and geological perspectives to contribute to the management of hunter-gatherer archaeological heritage in mountain landscapes, with a case study based in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland. Looking Up, which ran from 2021–2023, used a combination of original archaeological research – especially the development of predictive models of the location of areas of high archaeological potential – and new geological models which provided new information on the timing of deglaciation and numerical models of palaeo-glaciers. This was combined with extensive stakeholder and public engagement to develop best practice guidelines on the management of hunter-gatherer archaeological sites in mountain landscapes.

A Territorial Strategy for the Activation of Tourism in Low Population Density Heritage Landscapes

Sustainable and balanced territory development involves management and planning based on the cultural and natural values that characterise it. In contrast to solutions based exclusively on quantitative growth, today, we defend qualitative territorial planning based on specific characteristics and identity what, ultimately, is the heritage content and significance of the territory. In line with these arguments, this article reflects on the need to design territorial planning strategies to activate territories with low demographic density through their heritage and landscape values, specifically referring to rural areas made up of small, scattered population centres. The wide territorial dispersion of these settlements, which represent a large proportion of Latin American and European territory, calls for specific planning and management models and criteria. This article proposes a territorial strategy for these sites aimed at sustainable tourism activation through itineraries and potential identity facilities. The application of the strategy is shown in a pilot case study of the island of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain).

Cultivating Value: Teaching a Job and Mitigating Climate Change Effects While Restoring a Landscape Heritage

Abstract In the degraded peri-urban areas, there are several traces of the agrarian landscape heritage: they are not relicts of the past but a resource for managing water, providing fauna and flora biodiversity, and mitigate climate change in the urban environment. A pilot experience of recovering the Milan medieval water meadows has been done in the last two years: the aim was to provide a new job to fragile people, while restoring an ancient landscape. The tangible permanencies have been recovered by unemployed people at the same time as the traditional art of managing water has been taught by ancient watermen. A course has been organized to transfer the knowledge. Several schools have been involved in the practical recovery of artifacts: students enjoyed to care an “ordinary” heritage in their neighbourhood, as a resource for a sustainable way of living, and a good quality landscape. The high social and cultural value provided increased Municipality’s attention to consider a joint management with the social cooperative of this productive landscape and to include didactical visit to water meadow in each student curricula.

Preserving Roots: A Commitement to Cultural and Heritage Landscape Conservation

Lal Bagh Palace in Indore, India, stands as an architectural marvel and a symbol of the region's rich cultural heritage. This research paper delves into the multifaceted endeavor of conserving Lal Bagh Palace as a cultural and heritage landscape. Through archival research, site documentation, stakeholder consultations, and community engagement, the study explores the historical significance, architectural features, and socio-cultural context of Lal Bagh Palace. It examines the challenges facing its conservation, including urban development pressures, environmental degradation, and the need for sustainable tourism management. The research also evaluates conservation initiatives undertaken to preserve the palace's integrity and authenticity while enhancing its accessibility and relevance to diverse audiences. By synthesizing insights from cultural and heritage conservation, landscape management, and community involvement, the paper proposes holistic strategies for sustaining Lal Bagh Palace as a vibrant cultural asset. This study contributes to the broader discourse on cultural and heritage landscape conservation by offering practical lessons and recommendations applicable to similar historic sites. Keywords: Cultural heritage preservation, Landscape conservation, Cultural roots, Heritage landscapes, Preservation strategies, Community involvement, Conservation practices, Cultural identity, Historical significance, Sustainable development, Cultural landscapes, Traditional knowledge, Indigenous heritage, Conservation policies, Interdisciplinary approach, Cultural stewardship, Ethnographic research, Cultural sustainability, Landscape management, Preservation challenges.

Developing Heritage Preservation on Ilha de Moçambique Using a Historic Urban Landscape Approach

In 2011, a new approach was introduced into the management of heritage on Ilha de Moçambique by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Known as the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, this seeks to expand current understanding of the island’s historic urban heritage, recognising that ‘heritage’ is not limited solely to monuments or the built environment. Importantly, HUL incorporates urban sustainable development within the scope of heritage preservation. Given this, the adoption of the HUL approach has the potential to contribute to ensuring the authenticity and integrity of the built heritage, as prescribed by the 1972 UNESCO Convention, of Ilha de Moçambique, and effectively maintaining the Outstanding Universal Values that resulted in the declaration of the island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. This paper discusses how local communities use the resources and heritage available to them and the central role of commerce, and the marketplace, in the heritage landscape of the island. A critical aspect of this is the sale of antiquities, including archaeological items, to tourists. Perspectives developed within the Rising from the Depths (RftD) network recently supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK, with funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), offer positive alternative solutions to overcome this challenging situation. In particular, the network sought to identify how the tangible submerged and coastal Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar, and its associated intangible aspects, can be utilised to stimulate ethical, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth in the region. Our paper demonstrates how the implementation of the RftD initiative when combined with the HUL approach can help to increase awareness among communities on Ilha de Moçambique about the relevance of their heritage and the need for preserving it while meeting everyday needs.

Formation Process and Spatial Representation of Tourist Destination Personality from the Perspective of Cultural Heritage: Application in Traditional Villages in Ancient Huizhou, China

Tourism destinations are cultural heritage and spatial landscape systems of organic coexistence between humans and the Earth, and are formed through the long historical evolution of a specific geographical environment. With the development of large-scale cultural and tourism projects and the construction of scenic areas, many tourist destinations face conflicts between people and the environment and the crisis of discontinuity in the landscape and the cultural context. The concept of tourist destination personality provides a perspective for studying the interaction between humans and the environment in tourist destinations. However, existing research has not delved into the mechanisms of temporal–spatial interaction and spatial representation of regional cultural heritage in regional systems. Therefore, from the perspectives of geography and urban–rural planning, this study selects traditional villages in ancient Huizhou as the research object and employs relevant theories from cultural ecology to construct a paradigm for analyzing the formation path of tourist destination personality based on a cultural core from a regional systemic perspective. Building on this, this study develops a coupling analysis framework for the “accumulation anchoring” of heritage landscape representation in traditional villages in ancient Huizhou based on a cognitive understanding of tourist destination heritage landscape and a ‘time–space’ interactive model. The research reveals that the formation of personality in traditional villages in ancient Huizhou centers around cultural cores such as production methods, social organizations, construction mechanisms, and social beliefs. It is driven by basic forces such as resource endowment vitality, a social structure driving force, and a historical choice regulatory force, with the logic of forming dominant functions and obtaining expected benefits such as the core. The spatial representation of traditional village heritage in ancient Huizhou exhibits a synergistic evolution mechanism between ‘culture and landscape’. The research process and conclusions provide a basic framework and methodological system for the study of tourist destination personality and heritage revitalization, expanding the understanding of the process of human–environment interaction and spatial patterns in tourist destinations.

Virtual space experience design of grand canal cultural heritage landscape: Panoramic interaction and guided tour algorithm

<h3>This work presents the application of interactive virtual reality (IVR) technology in the preservation and presentation of cultural heritage (CH) for China’s Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is a historical engineering marvel and an icon in Chinese cultural and economic development. This work addresses the need for the enhancement of traditional methods for CH education and preservation through immersive and interactive experiences. In this study, an IVR system is developed that is tailored to represent China’s Grand Canal with the objective of providing users with historical accuracy and better engagement. The IVR experience is designed based on core user experience (UX) principles to maintain usability, accessibility, and engagement. Key features of the model include panoramic interactions, higher participation, and realistic representations through better graphic rendering and 3-D modelling. A guided tour algorithm was employed for personalized and adaptive UX to increase user satisfaction. The findings found after the IVR implementation through the sourced feedback reveal that the IVR system has improved user engagement, comprehension, satisfaction, and immersion compared to traditional touring methods. The statistical analysis, including comparative analysis, cross-tabulation, and correlation tests, supported these conclusions.</h3>

Evolution of cultural landscape heritage layers and value assessment in urban countryside historic districts: the case of Jiufeng Sheshan, Shanghai, China

The heritage value of the historic urban countryside, as a remnant in the transition between the urban boundary and the natural environment, is a consequence of the spatial and temporal evolution of the city. However, through repeated social transformations, the conflicts between urban construction and cultural landscape heritage preservation have increased, resulting in the gradual disappearance of their cultural landscape heritage. This study takes the Sheshan Urban Countryside Historic District in Shanghai and interprets the layers of Sheshan's cultural landscape heritage into five periods, Emergence, Development and Exploration, Diversity and Prosperity, Turbulence and Change, and Stability and Precipitation. It analyzes the evolution of the layers of the cultural landscape heritage by applying Historic Urban Landscape Historic Land use Assessment (HUL) and interpreting the layers of the cultural heritage of Sheshan using Historical Landscape Assessment (HLA) to identify the characteristics and values of Sheshan's layers of heritage. The study indicates that the cultural landscape heritage of Jiufeng Sheshan exhibits four types of stratigraphic relationships: accretion, juxtaposition, overlay, and decline. This findings suggest a continuous evolutionary feature of superposition of multiple stratigraphic patterns. Moreover, the heritage value of the cultural landscape layers of Jiufeng Sheshan has shown a higher growth rate in the modern period. The integrity and survival status of modern religious and scientific buildings are more complete compared to the literati gardens and Buddhist relics. Based on the knowledge and value assessment of its cultural landscape heritage, it is necessary to intervene in the concept of living conservation and renewal of landscape heritage. This involves devising a conservation and renewal strategy for cultural landscape heritage that conforms to the law of historical stratification and connect the scattered historical and cultural relics. This study provides a reference for the conservation and inheritance of cultural landscape heritage in urban countryside historical areas and the organic renewal of urban and rural heritage.

Buddhist heritage landscape evolution of Mount Wutai: a path dependence approach

An adequate understanding about the evolutionary process, mechanism and influencing factors of cultural landscapes is crucial for their efficient preservation and sustainable development. The theoretical framework of self-reinforcing sequence in path dependence analysis appears applicable but has not yet been well explored as a tool for broader historical landscape analysis like the evolution of cultural landscapes that may last thousands of years. Within such a framework, an empirical case of Buddhist heritage landscape of Mount Wutai is used to account for the institutional genesis, reproduction and change associated with landscape evolution over time. The findings suggest the framework provides an essential toolkit to reveal the specific ways in which path dependence shapes the evolutionary trajectories of cultural landscapes and, based on that, to detect management options that steer development and change of cultural landscapes into a direction that aligns with desired outcomes.

Creative Destruction and Built Environment Heritage in Makhanda, South Africa

Heritage conservation is recognised as an important component of sustainable development but is often considered a lower priority compared to other development imperatives, and societal issues. The prioritization of economic and urban development threatens urban heritage through a process known as creative destruction. This research uses the concept of creative destruction to explore the interplay between market forces and urban planning and management practices on the heritage conservation of the city of Makhanda in South Africa. Makhanda has a rich and varied cultural heritage landscape, including many individual buildings and streetscapes. A qualitative approach, including semi-structured key informant interviews and secondary sources was employed. The study found that municipal dysfunction and other urban management challenges result in difficultly in enforcing legislation and policy, and thereby threatens heritage conservation. The fates of three buildings within the historic urban fabric of the city are explored in terms of the impacts of neoliberal urbanism occurring within this context. The research contends that for heritage management to be successful, there needs to be a balanced approach through improvements in stakeholder relationships, governance, institutional capacity, knowledge sharing and community involvement in decision-making processes.

Pungryu: transcendent ways of seeing landscape

This study investigates the Korean practice of pungryu, a unique way of appreciating landscapes intertwining aesthetic enjoyment with spiritual and philosophical pursuits. Pungryu, deeply rooted in the quest for divine immortality and harmony with nature, is explored as a lens through which Koreans have traditionally interacted with their landscapes. The study employs a historical and cultural analysis, drawing upon various sources to trace the evolution and influence of pungryu on Korean landscape culture. Pungryu is revealed as not just a practice but a sophisticated cultural expression that has shaped the Korean understanding of nature and beauty. This expression is rich in symbolic and metaphorical content, serving as a conduit for artistic inspiration, empirical knowledge and national identity. The paper underscores the importance of pungryu in comprehending the broader concept of cultural landscapes, highlighting its role in the ongoing discourse on authenticity and cultural diversity within the heritage landscape context.