UNESCO

Chair on Heritage Futures

Preparing MONDIACULT 2025

2024-11-22

On 21 and 22 November 2024, Cornelius Holtorf was attending the Regional Consultation for Western Europe and North America in preparation of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025, to be held 29 September – 1 October in Barcelona, Spain. I was one of three UNESCO Chairs participating in the meeting.

The meeting was introduced by the Vice-minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Spain. Mr. Jordi Martí Grau who emphasized the rights of all citizens to culture and creative work, stressing the significance of education in that respect, and that “there cannot be sustainable development without culture”. Grau emphasized the rights of all citizens to culture.

The meeting was attended, among others, by the Assistant Director General for Culture (ADG Culture), UNESCO, Mr. Ernesto Ottone-Ramírez, and by representatives of Cultural Ministeries from many European countries, the U.S. and Canada. It was moderated by the representative of Andorra and featured simultaneous translation of all contributions between Spanish, English, and French.

In my own short address to the participants I emphasized the opportunities for culture, UNESCO and MONDIACULT arising from the 2024 UN Pact of the Futures. In conclusion, I suggested for MONDIACULT 2025 to

  1. integrate foresight, anticipation, and the benefits of ‘futures literacy’ in cultural policy around the world,
  2. promote the potential of culture and cultural heritage for globally addressing the needs of future generations in the context of change and transformation.

Note: an interesting background of global cultural policy development in relation to the work of UNESCO is given in Justin O’Connor’s 2024 essay on Global Cultural Policy at the Crossroads: Reflections on the Summit of the Future.

History and Archaeology meet the Future

2024-11-11

On 11 November 2024, Cornelius Holtorf and David Staley ran a digital research seminar bringing together a unique gathering of historians and archaeologists from Ohio State University and Linnaeus University, working on the future. The title was “When history and archaeology meet the future” and the seminar was attended by 18 students and researchers from different disciplines and in different time zones.

Watch the full seminar here: https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_us3m9ftw and here https://youtu.be/egs9t_QqgKM

Speakers included

  • Professor David Staley, Ohio State University
  • Professor Cornelius Holtorf, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Anders Högberg, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Noah Sobe, Loyola University Chicago
  • Dr Gustav Wollentz, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Christopher Nichols, Ohio State University

Among the participants and contributors to the half-day seminar were most members of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures, including Sarah May, Emily Hanscam, Ulrika Söderström, Leila Papoli-Yazdi, and Helena Rydén.

Kultursektorns beredskap för fred

2024-11-08

Den 16 oktober 2024 var jag inbjuden att delta på Länsmuseernas höstmöte i Uddevalla. Mötets tema var ‘Länsmuseerna i en brytningstid – kultur, motståndskraft och innovation’. Under en session med rubriken Kulturarvets beredskap för krig och fred höll jag ett anförande där jag ställde frågan om Länsmuseerna och den svenska kultursektorn gör tillräckligt just nu för att förebygga krig.


På grund av Zoom-formatet och den begränsade tiden var det svårt att föra en fördjupad diskussion med publiken. Sedan dess har två deltagare skickat in en gemensam skriftlig kommentar, som jag har besvarat.

Läs debatten här:

Ett tidigare bidrag till samma tema publicerades redan förra året:

Högberg, A. och C. Holtorf (2023) Heritage practices and the mobilization of society in times of conflict: We can do better. The European Archaeologist (TEA), issue 78 (Autumn 2023).

Heritage Futures in Saudi Arabia

2024-11-02

I spent three days in AlUla in Saudi Arabia, on invitation of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) to attend the AlUla World Archaeology Symposium 2024. The Royal Commission is extremely well resourced to shape AlUla’s Future, thanks to the Government of the Royal Family. They paid all costs of the Symposium participants and hired a charter jet to get them there from Ryadh (whereas I was driven 300 km through the nightly desert from Medina).

AlUla (also al-Ula) is an ancient Arabian oasis city with some spectacular archaeological sites from various periods as well as additional attractions. The idea is to develop it as a tourism destination until 2030 – which is the year the Saudi King and Crown-Prince’s “Vision 2030” is aiming at.

Vision 2030, they say, “is a blueprint that is diversifying the economy, empowering citizens, creating a vibrant environment for both local and international investors, and establishing Saudi Arabia as a global leader”. The Vision even incorporates comprehensive reforms in the public sector, the economy, and society.

Like other Gulf States (I saw this even last year in Dubai), bold visions are modernising the region at a fast pace and changes, for example regarding women rights, are already visible. The region is engulfed (!) in future visions of the kind that have become practically forgotten in Western countries dominated by either apocalyptic fears or initiatives to maintain the status quo.

The idea for AlUla, according to the RCU is this: “By safeguarding AlUla’s unique heritage and natural features, we aim to generate economic growth and sustainable development. Our strategies are crafted to not only protect but also enhance AlUla’s environmental and historical integrity, ensuring every initiative aligns with sustainable principles. This thoughtful approach positions AlUla as a model for preservation and progress, where its past informs its future.”

They actually take this very seriously, commission a number of comprehensive archaeological research projects in the area and are doing their best to work sustainably in various ways (obviously less so regarding carbon footprint…).

We are invited for the sake of product development and marketing as AlUla is trying to set itself up as the Place of Heritage for the World (as on the incription above) and the Archaeology capital of the world (as they have it on another occasion). The RCU is ambitious in its aspirations, has much archaeology to study and show to visitors, and they also have come far in many ways already.

The experience we get is certainly very different compared to what we see about Saudi Arabia in our media. I am thinking about the BRICS alliance and their claim to manifest an emerging multipolar world. While the old Western powers are increasingly in political, economical and cultural (?) crises, perhaps even decline, there is a perceptible momentum towards fast future development in the Gulf. Interestingly, they embrace culture and heritage (rather than cut budgets which we have become familiar with in Europe by now). A new world order may indeed be emerging, and in Saudi Arabia we saw it being crafted right now.

Some questions remain for Saudi Arabia to work through more fully, e.g. about the exact role of the local community and the human rights record of the government. But it is impressive nonetheless that they have entered a path for change, not just focussing on the economy but also embracing culture and society.

Heritage Futures in the making! Very interesting to see it happening.

Living Environments for the Future

2024-10-22

Today, Ulrika Söderström, defended her PhD thesis entitled “Cultural Heritage as a Resource in Socially Sustainable Urban Development: A Designed Living Environment for the Future” (Swedish with an extensive English summary), in front of an audience of 40 in the room and another 20 online.

Opponent: Professor Bodil Axelsson, Linköpings universitet

Examination Committee: Dr Anne S Beck, Museum Sydøstdanmark, Professor Mats Burström, Stockholms universitet, Docent Richard Pettersson, Umeå universitet

Supervisor: Professor Anders Högberg; Linnéuniversitetet

Chair/internal examiner: Professor Cornelius Holtorf, Linnéuniversitetet

ABSTRACT:

Claiming that cultural heritage must be preserved for sustainable urban development and for the benefit of future generations is common practice in cultural heritage management and urban planning. But when cultural heritage is used as a resource in urban transformation processes, do current heritage practices, including archaeology, promote the socially sustainable urban futures they aim to achieve?

This research aims to generate new knowledge on how Swedish contract archaeology can contribute to sustainable urban development and good living environments in an informed and innovative manner. By adopting a broad perspective, I explore how cultural heritage is utilized as a resource in urban transformation and design processes to promote social sustainability. Employing an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, I examine how the social sustainability effects of current heritage practices, including archaeology, affect sustainable futures making. The research includes three case studies on urban transformation: the Caroli quarter in Malmö (1967–1973), the Valnötsträdet quarter in Kalmar (2008–2018), and the ongoing transformation of Kiruna town.

The results highlight how contradictions between legislation’s focus on the past and cultural and urban planning’s future-oriented goals institutionalize ideas about cultural heritage value and the perception that preservation is a sustainable heritage practice in itself. Consequently, archaeology is rarely seen as a process or practice that promotes social sustainability. Instead, focus is on the value of the built historic environment and stories about the past, assuming that using these elements in development and design processes will promote present and future sustainability values, such as attractiveness, security, social cohesion, and collective identities. However, the results show that expected social sustainability goals are rarely met due to a lack of citizen participation and a lack of understanding of what is required to achieve these goals in the present and for the imagined futures. I argue that to effect change, it is necessary to explore futures literacy in theory and practice, deepen comprehension of how archaeology and heritage practices contribute to social value, and broaden participation in discussions and decisions regarding how cultural heritage can be used as a resource in urban development processes.

From left: Members of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures, Helena Rydén, Cornelius Holtorf, Ulrika Söderström, Anders Högberg and Gustav Wollentz.

Future generations in law

2024-10-09

In a new paper in the International Journal of Cultural Property, the Glasgow-based law scholar Andreas Giorgallis discusses the idea of protecting cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations in international cultural heritage law.

Giorgallis (2024: 1-2) points out that the idea of protecting cultural heritage to bequeath it to future generations is probably the most commonly cited rationale upon which legal regulation is justified. But nevertheless, law scholars hardly ever studied it. Instead, he notes, intergenerational concerns for cultural heritage “have migrated to other fields of studies, including heritage studies, cultural economics, museum studies, archaeology, and anthropology taking on sizable portions of the discourse”. Here, he also cites some of the work of authors associated with the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures.

Intriguingly, Giorgallis confirms (2024: 11) that none of the routine legislative pieces referring to future generations designates their exact identity nor does it determine their rights and obligations regarding cultural heritage.

Giorgallis also suggests (2024: 18) that “[a]ttempting to predict the tastes and priorities of future generations in cultural heritage is not an easy enterprise. The danger of imposing a majoritarian take on contemporary tastes in a rather paternalistic and neocolonial way is ever-present…” But this risk of presentism can be avoided by drawing on foresight and futures literacy – which is a capability our Chair is building among global heritage professionals.

—–

Giorgallis A. The idea of protecting cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations in international cultural heritage law. International Journal of Cultural Property. Published online 2024:1-24. doi:10.1017/S0940739124000171

German UNESCO Chairs Conference

2024-10-08

Cornelius Holtorf participated and presented the work of our Chair in the 2024 International UNESCO Chairs Conference at Leuphania University Lüneburg, Germany, dedicated to the theme “UNESCO Chairs’ Perspectives on Sustainable Development Goals” (7-9 October 2024).

Among the ca 60 participants were UNESCO Chairholders and team members of 10 German UNESCO Chairs as well as of ca. 10 international UNESCO Chairs from Canada, India, Netherlands, Norway, and the U.K., and several senior representatives of the German UNESCO Commission and its Secretariate in Bonn.

I participated on invitation of Michael Kloos, UNESCO Chair on Historic Urban Landscapes and Heritage Impact Assessments at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Various activities July – September 2024

2024-10-04

Cornelius Holtorf visited the activities with young people during Kalmar Town Festival, organized by Kalmar municipality’s cultural section under the label “Expedition Future” and inspired by our work in the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures (10 August 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf and Anders Högberg ran a Mini Futures Workshop for 30+ colleagues during the Kick-off meeting of the Department of Cultural Sciences at Linnaeus University, Sweden (20 August 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf sent comments and suggestions to the revised draft guidance note on ‘Climate action for living heritage’ to the UNESCO Living Heritage entitity (20 August 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf, Anders Högberg and Gustav Wollentz met with Alison Heritage and José Luiz Pedersoli at The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome to discuss mutual interests and future collaboration in the area of promoting futures-thinking and futures literacy in the global heritage sector (30 August 2024)

Cornelius Holtorf presented a talk on “Is Archaeology Ready to Address the Climate Heritage Paradox?” for an audience of 25+ attending the session on “Archaeologies of Climate Change? Current Issues and Future Directions” held at the 30th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Rome, Italy (31 August 2024)

Cornelius Holtorf attended an online symposium on “Nuclear Futures. Art, Speculation, Matter, Performance” arranged by Linköping University (11 September 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf took part in meetings of the Pledge Network, promoting strong references to future generations and their interests in the UN Summit of the Futures in September 2024 in New York and its aftermath (12 September 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf attended the report launch of the project “The Nuclear Spaces: Communities, Materialities and Locations (NuSPACES)” featuring speakers Sam Alberti (National Museums Scotland) and Elizabeth Norton (NDA) addressing questions of nuclear cultural heritage, held at the Science Museum, London, and online (18 September 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf participated in a side-event to the UN Summit of the Future organised by the Culture 2030 Goal Campaign and entitled “No Future Without Culture: Reflecting and Imagining on the Place of Culture in Delivering the Past for the Future” (20 September 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf followed online selected parts of the Action Days preceding the UN Summit of the Future, featuring, among others António Guterres, General-Secretary of the United Nations, Gabriella Ramos, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences, Mamphela Ramphela, the former Co-Director of the Club of Rome, and Kim Stanley Robinson, the author of The Ministry for the Future (20-21 September 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting in Cordoba, Spain, with Matthias Ripp, World Heritage Coordinator of Regensburg (Germany) and OWHC Regional Division Representative, discussing future collaborations (24 September).

Cornelius Holtorf contributed to a meeting of cirka 30 international experts and UNESCO staff finalising a guidance note on Safeguarding intangible cultural and climate change. The expert meeting was chaired by Fumiko Ohinata, Secretary of the UNESCO 2003 Convention and held digitally on 25-26 September 2024.

Climate Heritage Breakthrough

2024-09-28

Congrats to the Climate Heritage Network has achieved a major breakthrough by securing a total of $ 1.5 million in private funding for a series of initiatives.

Most notably, the “Imagining Low Carbon, Just, Climate Resilient Futures through Culture and Heritage” Project” will address two complementary problems. While contemporary climate planning suffers from a pervasive failure to help people imagine plausible ways of living that are not wedded to the carbon economy and the systems that support it, cultural heritage practice is not sufficiently attentive to address the climate change crisis at a large enough scale. By increasing culture-based climate action, transforming climate policy via cultural heritage, and supporting a range of partner communities, funding from the Mellon Foundation will address both issues at once.

The new funding for this and a number of additional smaller projects, means that the Climate Heritage Network is not only able to scale-up its activities but also continues to extend its agenda towards finding new roles for cultural heritage in the context of the climate change crisis. It is a good example why cultural futures can make us hopeful!

The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures is a sustaining member of the Climate Heritage Network.

Heritage Futures for World Heritage Cities

2024-09-25

In the context of the 17th World Congress of the Organisation of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) in Cordoba, Spain, 24-27 September 2024, Cornelius Holtorf ran a Heritage Futures Workshop for 21 elected politicians and world heritage managers from the Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the US.

Two days before the workshop, UN member states had assembled in New York for the UN Summit of the Future where they passed a joint Pact for the Future. The Pact does not only acknowledge culture as an “integral component of sustainable development” but also calls for more “evidence-based planning and foresight” to improve the wellbeing of current and future generations. That makes developing modes of long-term governance and futures literacy even more urgent for the cultural heritage sector and World Heritage.

In our participative workshop (one group pictured at work above), we were together exploring in detail how cultural heritage relates to specific futures and how futures thinking can enhance the management of World Heritage Cities today. Participants enhanced their capability of imagining alternative futures and reflected on how their World Heritage Cities can contribute to finding innovative solutions for a better tomorrow.

During the Congress we also enjoyed a festive occasion in the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba including speeches by local, regional, and national politicians and a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony #9.