The Social Platform for Holistic Heritage Impact Assessment (SoPHIA project) has hosted a virtual stakeholders conference 21-22 April to debate issues around measuring heritage and its impact in Europe. SoPHIA is an EU research and innovation Horizon 2020 funded project of which PASCAL is a member.
SoPHIA invited researchers, practitioners and, policymakers from Europe and beyond to the two-day event which consisted of presentations, discussions, and a virtual world café to provide feedback and input on issues that relate to the concrete findings. Altogether 260 people attended from 53 countries.
A range of themes was discussed and included heritage and education, sustainability, use of public spaces, dissonant heritage, cultural heritage narratives, and over-tourism and the city. The heritage and education panel focussed on the role lifelong learning can play in cities and regions and in contributing to the development of heritage and culture.
A range of important cross-cutting themes familiar to the PASCAL city networks was explored in the world café. These included social capital and cultural heritage, climate, resource management, and green economy in cultural heritage as well as the quality of life and cultural heritage assessment.
The PASCAL Learning Cities Networks initiative, in cooperation with the European Museum Academy and the SoPHIA project, will host a workshop on a cultural heritage model for improving services on 28 April and 19 May. Further details can be found on the PASCAL website. http://pobs.cc/1uhlq [1]
Rob Mark and Henrik Zipsane
Further information: https://sophiaplatform.eu [2]
Comments
The musings of a retired academic
I have some thoughts on the following section of this item.
"The heritage and education panel focussed on the role lifelong learning can play in cities and regions and in contributing to the development of heritage and culture."
This is an interesting question and important to think about about but I want also to challenge it or at least to suggest that it is not the only way to reflect on the relationships.
At the moment I am involved in two local projects: one is to set up a arts and cultural centre in an old and rather beautifal manoir in a small French village; and another to set up a museum in the another village in the old schoolhouse and mairie to commemorate the Chinese Labour Force and the British Tank Corps in WW1. I am also involved with 2 other local history societies groups and 2 family history groups. No-one involved in these activiies thinks of them as 'lifelong learning' and they are never counted in surveys as such.
So it strikes me that the focus of your panel may be the wrong way around. The more pertinent question might be: what role can local community groups, museums and cultural centres play in contributing to LLL?
Of course one question does not exclude the other and I am certainly not suggesting that we should start 'counting' these activities in any formal sense - this might be their death knoll. But maybe we should recognise more often that a huge amount of LLL goes on which isn't valued in the way it might be.
The musings of a retired academic
Pat
Join the debate
The hen and the egg
Dear Pat,
Thank you for your comments which I really appreciate. I think we had people in mind when we said lifelong learning, for people is what this is about. Maybe you can start the process with focus on the heritage or you can start in the other end with learning, but either way it will be about people, by and with people.
Great to hear about your involvement in so many small an medium size heritage based activities. The stories carried by people which relates to one kind of heritage or another seems to me to a great way to bring knowledge, skills and attitudes from one generation to the next.
I agree with Rob: Please feel welcome to our talks in the SoPHIA project.
Kind regards
Henrik