Historical Environment Research Articles

Heritage and the Soviet city of the 1980s

The article examines changes in the architects’ and society’s understanding of the role of heritage in the Soviet city and its importance for the formation of the urban environment. It is known that the architecture of the Soviet period went through several turns in its development, determined by the change of State policy in this area. It seemed that urban planning concepts were also changing dramatically. However, with external differences, the deep layers of professional thinking of architects and urban planners changed little; the same problems of urban development and the preservation of historical buildings arose again and again. At the turn of the 1960s and the 1970s and then in the 1980s, there were certain advances in understanding the role of the historical city environment, but the conditions of urban planning in the country practically did not change, which contributed to the reproduction of established stereotypes. The last decade of the Soviet era was characterized by a paradoxical attitude towards heritage, which still largely remained in the post-Soviet period.

Re-creation of heritage: German experience of the XXI century

The article presents an analysis of the works on reconstruction and recreation of the historical environment in Dresden and Frankfurt am Main during three decades. The peculiarity of the accomplished works is the attention to the lost urban environment, which was recreated on the basis of available archival and visual sources and on the surviving project documentation. Both examples are a clear illustration of the principles that should guide the reconstruction and return of the lost artistic quality to cities. These examples are important for our country, which lost a significant part of its historical, architectural and artistic heritage during the revolutions, wars and political cataclysms of the 20th century.

The use of augmented reality for renovation of cultural heritage sites

Augmented reality is an innovative technology that merges the virtual and real worlds to create a unique interactive experience for users. Although the technology only became widely known in the mid-2000s, its potential and applications continue to evolve rapidly, especially with the advent of smartphones and other mobile devices that allow a wide range of users to interact with augmented reality in their everyday lives. In the field of cultural heritage and tourism, augmented reality opens up new opportunities for the restoration and presentation of historical buildings and places that no longer exist or have been altered by time, giving visitors the opportunity to see and experience the historical environment in its original form. However, to effectively use augmented reality in this area, it is necessary to ensure an exact correspondence between virtual objects and the real environment, as well as to implement navigation functions that will help users easily navigate the virtually restored space. Developing and implementing augmented reality solutions requires not only technological expertise but also a deep understanding of the historical, cultural and social context of the objects being recreated. Based on our research, we have developed a concept of an augmented reality application for the reconstruction and promotion of cultural heritage. This includes methods for accurately recreating historical locations and objects in a virtual environment, as well as developing intuitive navigation tools for users. The main achievement of the work is the creation of a foundation for the further development of augmented reality technologies in this area, with a focus on improving the interaction between virtual and real components, which will help increase audience engagement and raise awareness of historical and cultural heritage. This opens up broad prospects for the use of augmented reality for cultural heritage, and the proposed approaches can serve as a basis for future innovative projects in this area.

Centring Audiences: What Is the Value of Audience Mapping for Influencing Public Engagement with Cultural Heritage?

ABSTRACT Inherent biases, barriers to participation and other risks of exclusion thwart the UK cultural heritage sector’s capacity to benefit all citizens equally. However, growing evidence bases – from local audits to regional insight reports to national censuses – ostensibly make it possible to identify these biases and risks in increasingly fine-grained ways, and from there to design programmes to engage individuals who might not otherwise participate in the historic environment. In this paper, we assess the efficacy of ‘audience mapping’ for supporting the inclusion of specific, underrepresented audiences in UK cultural heritage. The audience mapping methodology we applied in the Towards a National Collection project Unpath’d Waters (UNPATH) offers a case study. Sixty datasets (including audience interviews, web analytics, observations, etc.) from 18 organisations catering to maritime heritage were compared to support the project in reaching three audiences: visually impaired people, cross-disciplinary researchers and non-coastal communities. We review our method and its outcomes, then position our learnings against other audience mappings conducted by the Museum of London Archaeology for commercial clients. Like all audience methodologies, mapping has problematic dimensions that can heighten rather than halt inequities. We consider how to adapt approaches (e.g. to surveying, consulting and ‘profiling’ people) to sensitively respond.

Developing the AMPHORA policy guidelines for heritage projects as mental health interventions: a Delphi consultation

PurposeEngaging with heritage to support mental health and wellbeing has become a focus of research and policy, more recently moving towards social prescription of heritage interventions. While there are benefits to active participation, there are potential risks to those taking part and to the non-renewable historic remains and landscape that form the core of these projects. The purpose of the current research paper was to develop best practice guidelines for organisations offering heritage projects as interventions for people who live with mental health issues to protect both participants and heritage.Design/methodology/approachThere were two research phases; a Sandpit with World Café discussions to produce a set of research priorities, and a Delphi Consultation, using three questionnaires distributed over six months, to develop best practice guidelines. The panel in both phases comprised experts through lived experience, policy, practice and research.FindingsThe Authentic and Meaningful Participation in Heritage or Related Activities (AMPHORA) guidelines cover three stages: project development, project delivery and project follow-up, with a set of action points for each stage. Of particular importance was authentic participation and expertise to ensure appropriate management of heritage/ historic environment assets and support for participants.Social implicationsThe AMPHORA guidelines can assist all organisations in the delivery of safe projects that support the mental health of those involved, as well as enhancing and protecting the historic environment.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, these are the first research-led guidelines that help heritage organisations support those living with mental health issues.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance and the Aesthetics of Authenticity

Warhorse Studios’ award-winning action role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) has—perhaps somewhat unkindly—been described as a “peasant simulator.” Nonetheless, “simulation” is a good description of the way in which its gameplay is conceived and framed, with a stated focus on historical accuracy and realism. This verisimilitude has been cited as having a noticeable cost in terms of accessibility for new players, with something of a steep learning curve required to master the game, but has also frequently been cited in positive reviews. The level of realism is indeed impressive. It extends not only to the need to eat, drink, and sleep, but also to the need to learn how to read (vernacular and Latin separately) if the player wishes to glean any information from written texts. But a focus on realism always brings with it challenges. The highly effective musical score of this game, written by Jan Valta and Adam Sporka, features an interactive and adaptive score, making use of a new engine developed specifically for the game called the Sequence Music Engine. There is already a neat tension here between the stated aim of historical fidelity and the modern expectation of an adaptive score; no preexistent “authentic” music can be used in this manner. As with all games, and indeed all screen media, composers and studios must work hard to balance authenticity to the medium and the genre with authenticity to the period. We expect fairly ubiquitous non-diegetic music in screen media—and its absence carries very particular semantics—but fifteenth-century Bohemia was conspicuous in its absence of invisible, itinerant symphony orchestras roaming its landscape. This article focuses on the interplay between fantasy and “authenticity,” especially considering the ways in which the composers work creatively to give an immersive and coherent soundworld, within the limits of what I term an “aesthetic of authenticity.” It explores the creative interplay between the “real” historical environment and that which is understood to be real in the popular consciousness, as well as the interconnected web of demands set by the medium, the interactive and narrative genres, and the historical setting.

Trechus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) of Appalachia: A Phylogenetic Insight into the History of High Elevation Leaf Litter Communities

Elevation gradients provide a wealth of habitats for a wide variety of organisms. The southern Appalachian Mountains in eastern United States are known for their high biodiversity and rates of endemism in arthropods, including in high-elevation leaf-litter taxa that are often found nowhere else on earth. Trechus Clairville (Coleoptera: Carabidae) is a genus of litter inhabitants with a near-global distribution and over 50 Appalachian species. These span two subgenera, Trechus s. str. and Microtrechus Jeannel, largely restricted to north and south of the Asheville basin, respectively. Understanding the diversification of these 3–5 mm flightless beetles through geological time can provide insights into how the litter-arthropod community has responded to historical environments, and how they may react to current and future climate change. We identified beetles morphologically and sequenced six genes to reconstruct a phylogeny of the Appalachian Trechus. We confirmed the Asheville Basin as a biogeographical barrier with a split between the north and south occurring towards the end of the Pliocene. Finer scale biogeography, including mountain-range occupancy, was not a reliable indication of relatedness, with group ranges overlapping and many instances of species-, species group-, and subgeneric sympatry. This may be because of the recent divergence between modern species and species groups. Extensive taxonomic revision of the group is required for Trechus to be useful as a bioindicator, but their high population density and speciose nature make them worth additional time and resources.

The Principle of "Polyfunctionality and Recombination of Functions" of the Complex Process of Restorative-Reconstructive Transformations of the Historical Urban Environment

The article examines the special principle formulated by the author of "Poly functionality and recombination of functions" of the complex process of restorative-reconstructive transformations (RRT) of the historical urban environment. Its compliance with the defined functional system level of the integrated RRT process is shown. Specific techniques that make it possible to implement this principle of transformation are considered in detail. They are recommended by the author to ensure the activity, increase the quality and attractiveness of any historical and architectural value and destruction of the historical urban environment, and transform it into a multi-comfortable one for a long-term stay during the implementation of restorative-reconstructive transformations at the functional level. The relevance of the use of this principle in the implementation of restorative-reconstructive transformations for various degrees of historical and architectural value and destruction of the historical urban environment with the use of the appropriate complex of RRT methods is shown. Depending on the determined degrees of historical and architectural value and destruction of a certain urban environment, it is recommended to apply to it the appropriate methods possible for it, formed into a discrete complex of RRT methods "4C", when each method from the urban planning level pulls its corresponding methods from the volumetric and functional levels. The correspondence of the principle and methods of restorative-reconstructive transformations of the functional level is determined. Recommendations are provided on the application of the most effective combination of functional-level methods for various combinations of degrees of historical and architectural value and destruction of the historical urban environment to transform it into a multi-comfortable one.

Business center at 69 Dekabristov street: history first

Interaction between new projects and historical buildings is explored on the example of the business center at 69 Dekarbistov Street. The role of this business center in the structure of the historically significant area in Yekaterinburg is established through analysis of its spatial and urban compositions, and plastic and coloristic solutions. Opinions from practicing architects and architecture theorists have enabled general architectural and artistic approaches to the design of new architectural objects in historical contexts and criteria for their analysis to be formulated. A review of similar objects from Russian and international practice provided an evaluation scale with two opposite values: "full contrast" and "full nuance" of architectural solutions for a new facility in relation to the existing surrounding buildings. In conclusion, the importance of the business center is revealed as an object that harmoniously interacts with the historical environment and forms a corner of the city block.

Issues of Education and Preservation of Family Values

The article shows that a successful solution to the problem of preserving family values is related to how the personality was formed. It is noted that today not enough attention is paid to applied genealogy as an integral part of the educational process. However, it has great potential and is capable of intensifying the desire for knowledge, revealing human talents and creativity when studying various sciences, primarily history, law, economics, etc. It is proposed to use a project-based interdisciplinary approach in the educational process, based on genealogical research in order to increase interest trainees and develop new research competencies in them. From these positions, an assessment is made of the monograph, which presents the results of many years of research by Professor V.A. Parkhomov about the service of members of the Barozzi del Els family, in the backdrop of a change in the historical and legal environment in Russia and their contribution to the country development over three centuries.

Research on Fake News Detection Based on Dual Evidence Perception

With the development of online social networks, the prevalence of fake news on social media is increasing, leading to a heightened focus on detecting fake news. To combat this, researchers have developed various strategies, including text-based and fact-checking approaches. The text-based approach analyses linguistic features within fake news posts, while the fact-checking method verifies statements against an external knowledge base, disregarding the linguistic patterns between posts. Despite their differences, both approaches offer complementary benefits in the fight against fake news, highlighting the importance of integrating these methods. However, there has been relatively limited investigation into merging these two strategies into a unified framework. In this paper, we proposed the FakE News Detection Based on Dual Evidence Perception (DEP-FEND) method. This novel approach merges text-based and fact-checking techniques into a unified framework to enhance fake news detection. DEP-FEND consists of three sub-modules: evidence perception based on the historical news environment, evidence perception from an external knowledge base, and the fake news detector. Initially, two independent modules were developed to gather evidence from the historical news environment and an external knowledge base using the Gaussian kernel soft-counting method, generating two distinct evidence vectors. Subsequently, these two independent perception modules were combined using domain gates, and the posts, along with the combined evidence perception signals, were inputted into the fake news detector. The experimental results on the two Chinese datasets demonstrate that our proposed solution outperformed other fake news detection methods with an average accuracy improvement of 3.6% and a macro-f1 improvement of 2.1%.

Методологический анализ практики фрагментарной регенерации исторической среды на примере стены Угличского кремля

The paper considers the designing process of historical environment regeneration from a methodological point of view. The authors present a systematisation of the main principles and methods of the contextual approach to the design of historical environment reconstruction and regeneration. The authors also give recommendations for optimising the design solutions of the regeneration objects in the historical environment. The project of fragmentary reconstruction – regeneration of the Uglich Kremlin log wall is considered as an example of methodological analysis.

Quantitative characteristics and influencing factors of Tibetan Buddhist religious space with monasteries as the carrier: a case study of U-Tsang, China

Tibetan Buddhism has an inseparable connection with the spatial characteristics, development process, and human-natural environment of the Tibetan Plateau. This paper takes monasteries as carriers of Tibetan Buddhist culture in U-Tsang region which is one of the traditional geographical units of Tibet. Using geospatial analysis methods, this study explores the spatial quantification characteristics of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes the factors that influence the spatial distribution of monasteries. The results indicate that: (1) Political activities of human society influence the pattern of political power. Under the unique context of Tibetan theocracy system, the scope of political authority has a significant influence and affects the religious spatial pattern in the U-Tsang region throughout history. The distribution of monasteries in the U-Tsang region shows significant spatial differences at three sub-regional scales. (2) The religious spatial pattern in the U-Tsang is the result of the diverse interaction of human-natural factors. The results indirectly endorse that religious space is an inevitable product of the interaction between humans and the environment. (3) The religious spatial distribution patterns in the three major Tibetan regions have distinct characteristics, closely related to the superior conditions of their respective historical and geographical environments.

Genome assembly of autotetraploid Actinidia arguta highlights adaptive evolution and enables dissection of important economic traits

Actinidia arguta, the most widely distributed Actinidia species and the second cultivated species in the genus, can be distinguished from the currently cultivated Actinidia chinensis on the basis of its small and smooth fruit, rapid softening, and excellent cold tolerance. Adaptive evolution of tetraploid Actinidia species and the genetic basis of their important agronomic traits are still unclear. Here, we generated a chromosome-scale genome assembly of an autotetraploid male A. arguta accession. The genome assembly was 2.77 Gb in length with a contig N50 of 9.97 Mb and was anchored onto 116 pseudo-chromosomes. Resequencing and clustering of 101 geographically representative accessions showed that they could be divided into two geographic groups, Southern and Northern, which first diverged 12.9 million years ago. A. arguta underwent two prominent expansions and one demographic bottleneck from the mid-Pleistocene climate transition to the late Pleistocene. Population genomics studies using paleoclimate data enabled us to discern the evolution of the species’ adaptation to different historical environments. Three genes (AaCEL1, AaPME1, and AaDOF1) related to flesh softening were identified by multi-omics analysis, and their ability to accelerate flesh softening was verified through transient expression assays. A set of genes that characteristically regulate sexual dimorphism located on the sex chromosome (Chr3) or autosomal chromosomes showed biased expression during stamen or carpel development. This chromosome-level assembly of the autotetraploid A. arguta genome and the genes related to important agronomic traits will facilitate future functional genomics research and improvement of A. arguta.

Effects of Background Synoptic Environment in Controlling South China Sea Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Size Changes in Pseudo–Global Warming Experiments

Abstract Assessing how global warming affects tropical cyclones (TC) is immensely important for climate change adaptation and hazard mitigation. However, projected intensity and size change can vary greatly among different individual storms, even under the same forcing in pseudo–global warming (PGW) experiments. Here we hypothesize that these variations are related to the historical environment in which each TC was embedded. Twenty-five TCs in the South China Sea (SCS) region were simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. Their changes in the near (2036–65) and far future (2075–99) following the representative concentration pathways 8.5 (RCP8.5) and 4.5 (RCP4.5) under phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) were investigated by the PGW technique. The mean changes in TC intensity and gale-force wind radius (R17) in the SCS were +6.4% and +1.5% for a 2°C warming, respectively. Multiple linear regression and stepwise regression analysis revealed that storm intensity variations were positively correlated with historical sea surface temperature and negatively with outer (i.e., outside the TC’s R17) atmospheric instability, while the R17 variations correlated positively with outer midtropospheric relative humidity (RH) and surface outer wind speed (OWS). Ertel potential vorticity (EPV) diagnostics further showed a moister SCS background can cause stronger diabatic heating and EPV production at the spiral rainbands under PGW, which increases R17. Additionally, stronger background absolute angular momentum (AAM) promoted stronger AAM influx, leading to larger R17. Implications were drawn to explain the uncertainties in projected TC intensity and size due to natural variability. Significance Statement Changes in the intensity and size of individual tropical cyclones in future climates are highly variable. This study aims to understand the environmental factors influencing these variations. We selected 25 storms that entered the South China Sea region and modeled them in both present and future climates. The mean intensity and size were projected to increase by 6.4% and 1.5% for a 2°C warming, respectively. We found that tropical cyclones embedded in historically warmer oceans and more stable atmospheres intensified more than the others, while historically wetter and windier environments promoted larger size growth. Our results suggest that certain tropical cyclones can exhibit a greater increase in intensity and size in a warmer climate under favorable environmental conditions.

The Protection of Archaeological Monuments from the 19th and 20th Centuries in Sweden

When the Swedish Historic Environment Act was amended in 2014, it became possible to safeguard specific sites of archaeological interest from the 19th and 20th centuries. However, since 2014, few younger sites have received protection. The most likely reason for this is related to a scarcity of resources at the county administrative boards.

Peculiarities of the “Provincial Secession” Style Development in Ukraine At the Beginning of the 20th Century and Modern Problems of Its Monuments Preservation In War Time

The article analyzes the specifics of the Secession period buildings in the regional centres of this style formation in Ukraine. Along with the four main centres (Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa), there were smaller Secession centres in provincial cities. The character of the style in these centres was influenced by belonging to the Austro-Hungarian or Russian Empire. Compared to the European Secession and the Secession in the main centres, the Secession in the province felt the influence of local strata, which introduced the term “provincial secession”. However, these facilities are part of the historic environment of the former administrative centers of the provinces, medium and small towns. It was determined that the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war led to the destruction of many objects of valuable background buildings, and planned repairs and restoration of even non-destroyed objects are not carried out.

Formation of a transport framework in the historical zones of the largest cities with a functioning center

The strategic goals of sustainable development of the historical core in the largest city are aimed at integrating heritage protection policy into the general urban planning policy of economic efficiency in managing changes in the historical urban environment based on the principle of “development through creation.” Two approaches are considered - socially oriented and infrastructural. The object of the study is a sustainable transport and urban framework in the conditions of a functioning city-wide historical center in a number of European cities.

Staying local – experiencing local landscapes and the potential of hidden stories

ABSTRACT This article considers some of the opportunities increased visitation to recreational areas presents in terms of engaging residents and visitors with local heritage in the form of Historic Environment Records (HERs). There are countless potential ‘hidden stories’ related to cultural heritage sites and artefacts within palimpsest landscapes. These sites and artefacts present opportunities for alternative narratives of place to be negotiated, creating links to the past in the present, and between the exotic and the familiar. The changing approach to landscape practices resulting from COVID-19 restrictions presents new opportunities to engage people with these hidden stories, linking places near with far-off lands across time and space. It also encourages new connections with place that have the potential to (co-)create new narratives; increasing engagement, as well as correlating with pressing issues centred around the climate crisis and the urgent need to reduce travel to achieve Net Zero targets.

Formation of a transport framework in the historical zones of the largest cities with a functioning center

The strategic goals of sustainable development of the historical core in the largest city are aimed at integrating heritage protection policy into the general urban planning policy of economic efficiency in managing changes in the historical urban environment based on the principle of “development through creation.” Two approaches are considered - socially oriented and infrastructural. The object of the study is a sustainable transport and urban framework in the conditions of a functioning city-wide historical center in a number of European cities.