UNESCO

On the 16th of September Gustav Wollentz presented as an invited speaker on an inspirational day for the World Heritage Site “Naval Port of Karlskrona”. Around 110 people participated from the region, including representatives from the County Administrative Board, museum professionals, researchers from the university, local politicians, and more. The focus on Gustav’s presentation was how Strategic Foresight can benefit a sustainable development of a World Heritage Site. Examples were provided from the work that Gustav has been carrying out with ICCROM, where he has been working to anticipate futures for heritage.

Gustav also participated in a panel discussion where the focus was on how to apply methods from Strategic Foresight when managing a World Heritage Site. We were discussing how to make this kind of work more participatory, so that the futures anticipated would reflect an increasingly diverse society rather than very limited needs and aspirations.  We were also discussing some key concepts in Foresight, such as the value in “wild cards” and the difference between “used futures” (futures that have been reused over and over again to no success) and “novel futures” (the future that we may never have anticipated before).

There is indeed an increasing interest in how Foresight and anticipation can benefit heritage management!