A.R. Roders
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1
The Garden City concept, first presented by Howard and further developed by Patrick Geddes, was adapted in his 1925 plan for Tel Aviv, where built form and green space were conceived as interdependent elements—green-built relations. While Garden City planning has been recognised as urban heritage, how its principles are interpreted in contemporary metropolitan planning remains underexplored. This study investigates how planning documents across the Tel Aviv metropolis address the attributes of Geddes’ plan that underpin the UNESCO World Heritage inscription of the White City, and whether these attributes extend beyond the core heritage area. The research analyses strategic plans, conservation frameworks, and master plans, by means of a workshop held during the 2024 Livable Neighbourhoods in the 21st Century Garden City conference. Eighteen participants reviewed six municipal planning documents against thirty-one predefined attributes to contemporary green-built relations. Findings reveal that attributes from Geddes’ plan, which underpin to Outstanding Universal Value, extend beyond the World Heritage area but are unevenly recognised, with variation across municipalities and document types. Results demonstrate green-built relations as a useful lens for linking heritage management with metropolitan planning and for supporting Nature–Culture governance approaches.
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The Garden City concept, first presented by Howard and further developed by Patrick Geddes, was adapted in his 1925 plan for Tel Aviv, where built form and green space were conceived as interdependent elements—green-built relations. While Garden City planning has been recognised as urban heritage, how its principles are interpreted in contemporary metropolitan planning remains underexplored. This study investigates how planning documents across the Tel Aviv metropolis address the attributes of Geddes’ plan that underpin the UNESCO World Heritage inscription of the White City, and whether these attributes extend beyond the core heritage area. The research analyses strategic plans, conservation frameworks, and master plans, by means of a workshop held during the 2024 Livable Neighbourhoods in the 21st Century Garden City conference. Eighteen participants reviewed six municipal planning documents against thirty-one predefined attributes to contemporary green-built relations. Findings reveal that attributes from Geddes’ plan, which underpin to Outstanding Universal Value, extend beyond the World Heritage area but are unevenly recognised, with variation across municipalities and document types. Results demonstrate green-built relations as a useful lens for linking heritage management with metropolitan planning and for supporting Nature–Culture governance approaches.
Community participation is widely recognised as essential for sustainable heritage management. While international doctrines increasingly advocate participatory approaches, heritage management practices remain largely place-based and continue to prioritise territorially defined local communities. In the context of international migration and diaspora, such approaches inadequately address diasporic built heritage, whose cultural significance is conveyed by transnational diasporic communities across countries of origin and destination. Limited research has examined how diasporic communities negotiate their roles with other stakeholders in the participatory management of diasporic built heritage. This study presents a systematic literature review of 106 English-language publications, following the PRISMA guidelines, to examine how diasporic communities and other stakeholders participate in the management of diasporic built heritage. The analysis focuses on (1) mapping the geographic, institutional, and thematic patterns of current research, and (2) analysing stakeholder categories and cross-sector roles across origins and destinations. The results reveal a diverse, but uneven, geographic distribution of the case studies and institutions retrieved from English-language publications. A stakeholder framework is developed to bridge minority and mainstream (cross-sector) roles across origins and destinations, offering insights into the comprehensive understanding and identification of stakeholder roles for fostering further novel research on diasporic built heritage.
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Community participation is widely recognised as essential for sustainable heritage management. While international doctrines increasingly advocate participatory approaches, heritage management practices remain largely place-based and continue to prioritise territorially defined local communities. In the context of international migration and diaspora, such approaches inadequately address diasporic built heritage, whose cultural significance is conveyed by transnational diasporic communities across countries of origin and destination. Limited research has examined how diasporic communities negotiate their roles with other stakeholders in the participatory management of diasporic built heritage. This study presents a systematic literature review of 106 English-language publications, following the PRISMA guidelines, to examine how diasporic communities and other stakeholders participate in the management of diasporic built heritage. The analysis focuses on (1) mapping the geographic, institutional, and thematic patterns of current research, and (2) analysing stakeholder categories and cross-sector roles across origins and destinations. The results reveal a diverse, but uneven, geographic distribution of the case studies and institutions retrieved from English-language publications. A stakeholder framework is developed to bridge minority and mainstream (cross-sector) roles across origins and destinations, offering insights into the comprehensive understanding and identification of stakeholder roles for fostering further novel research on diasporic built heritage.
This study introduces a literature review tool for abstract-screening in urban studies. It presents two pipelines that focus on linking geoparsing outputs and hierarchical toponym aggregation. Pipeline1 uses batched matching with GeoNames for fast but coarse aggregation. Pipeline2 enhances the accuracy by incorporating a toponym resolution model to address geo/geo ambiguity, and semantic checks to correct potential resolution errors. Evaluated on 500 abstracts, Pipeline2 achieves a precision of 0.96 and a recall of 0.98 for aggregated toponym output.
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This study introduces a literature review tool for abstract-screening in urban studies. It presents two pipelines that focus on linking geoparsing outputs and hierarchical toponym aggregation. Pipeline1 uses batched matching with GeoNames for fast but coarse aggregation. Pipeline2 enhances the accuracy by incorporating a toponym resolution model to address geo/geo ambiguity, and semantic checks to correct potential resolution errors. Evaluated on 500 abstracts, Pipeline2 achieves a precision of 0.96 and a recall of 0.98 for aggregated toponym output.
In 1972, Christopher Stone’s seminal essay, ‘Should Trees Have Standing?’, challenged anthropocentric legal frameworks by proposing legal rights for non-human entities, sparking a paradigm shift in environmental law and ethics (Stone, 1972). More than 50 years later, the extension of legal rights to non-human entities has evolved significantly, with non-human stakeholders such as rivers and ecosystems being granted legal personhood in various jurisdictions worldwide (e.g. Boyd, 2017; Kauffman & Martin, 2021). [...]
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In 1972, Christopher Stone’s seminal essay, ‘Should Trees Have Standing?’, challenged anthropocentric legal frameworks by proposing legal rights for non-human entities, sparking a paradigm shift in environmental law and ethics (Stone, 1972). More than 50 years later, the extension of legal rights to non-human entities has evolved significantly, with non-human stakeholders such as rivers and ecosystems being granted legal personhood in various jurisdictions worldwide (e.g. Boyd, 2017; Kauffman & Martin, 2021). [...]
Heritage fieldwork for values-based design in higher education
A serious gaming approach for citizen engagement in Faro, Portugal
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the integration of values-based design and serious gaming for heritage fieldwork in architectural higher education. By employing serious gaming, the study seeks to develop user-friendly tools that facilitate and motivate the participation of diverse stakeholders in the redesign process. This approach enhances the recognition and conservation of heritage values associated with tangible and intangible attributes in the city of Faro, Portugal, ultimately contributing to the specialization of heritage architects.
Design/methodology/approach
The graduation design studio employs a three-step methodology involving eight master’s students in the city of Faro. Initially, students mapped values associated with buildings and neighborhoods. Subsequently, they developed redesigns using a values-based approach. Finally, they conducted impact assessments through self-evaluation of their redesign solutions. Traditional methods such as interviews, questionnaires and focus groups were adapted to include interactive tasks like treasure hunts, quizzes, 3D games, card games and board games. This methodology engaged various target groups, including schoolchildren, university students, heritage specialists and the elderly, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of community values.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of heritage fieldwork with serious gaming tools to foster citizen engagement and stakeholder collaboration in values-based design. The study confirms that serious gaming facilitates participation and enhances understanding of heritage values for both master’s students and citizens. Despite being new to the master’s students, this method proved successful in engaging diverse stakeholders and collecting relevant data. The results highlight the potential for local municipalities, such as Faro, to apply these approaches in heritage planning. This may lead to improved conservation efforts and sustainability while fostering greater citizen involvement in the decision-making processes related to their built heritage.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by its small sample size, short fieldwork duration and the context-specific nature of the case study in Faro, Portugal. The reliance on master’s students as facilitators and the adaptation of serious gaming methods to local conditions may affect the generalizability of the findings. Further research should include longitudinal studies, larger and more diverse participant groups and comparative analyses across different cultural contexts. The implications suggest that while serious gaming can enhance values-based design and citizen engagement, its effectiveness depends on careful adaptation to local needs and ongoing evaluation of its impact on heritage planning processes.
Practical implications
The integration of serious gaming into heritage fieldwork offers practical tools for educators, municipalities and heritage professionals to foster citizen engagement and collaborative decision-making. The methods developed can be adapted for use in other cities and educational settings, supporting participatory urban and heritage planning. Local governments can leverage these approaches to better understand community values, inform policy and improve the sustainability of built environments. The study provides a replicable framework for training future architects in values-based design, equipping them with skills to facilitate inclusive workshops and mediate between diverse stakeholder interests in real-world heritage conservation projects.
Social implications
By involving citizens of all ages in the redesign of their built environment, this approach strengthens community agency and trust in heritage planning. Serious gaming methods help bridge generational and cultural gaps, making participation accessible and enjoyable for groups often excluded from traditional engagement processes. The study demonstrates that such participatory practices can foster empathy among future architects and increase public awareness of heritage values. Ultimately, this contributes to more inclusive, democratic and sustainable urban development, empowering communities to shape their environments in ways that reflect their collective values and identities.
Originality/value
This study introduces an innovative approach by integrating serious gaming into the values-based redesign of buildings and neighborhoods. It bridges the gap between public and professional perspectives, offering a novel approach for engaging citizens in heritage planning. The research contributes to the limited body of work on values-based approaches by demonstrating their applicability and effectiveness in real-world settings. By involving diverse community groups and employing interactive serious gaming tools, the study provides a unique framework for understanding and preserving heritage values in architecture and urban environments, promoting more inclusive and sustainable design practices. ...
This paper aims to explore the integration of values-based design and serious gaming for heritage fieldwork in architectural higher education. By employing serious gaming, the study seeks to develop user-friendly tools that facilitate and motivate the participation of diverse stakeholders in the redesign process. This approach enhances the recognition and conservation of heritage values associated with tangible and intangible attributes in the city of Faro, Portugal, ultimately contributing to the specialization of heritage architects.
Design/methodology/approach
The graduation design studio employs a three-step methodology involving eight master’s students in the city of Faro. Initially, students mapped values associated with buildings and neighborhoods. Subsequently, they developed redesigns using a values-based approach. Finally, they conducted impact assessments through self-evaluation of their redesign solutions. Traditional methods such as interviews, questionnaires and focus groups were adapted to include interactive tasks like treasure hunts, quizzes, 3D games, card games and board games. This methodology engaged various target groups, including schoolchildren, university students, heritage specialists and the elderly, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of community values.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of heritage fieldwork with serious gaming tools to foster citizen engagement and stakeholder collaboration in values-based design. The study confirms that serious gaming facilitates participation and enhances understanding of heritage values for both master’s students and citizens. Despite being new to the master’s students, this method proved successful in engaging diverse stakeholders and collecting relevant data. The results highlight the potential for local municipalities, such as Faro, to apply these approaches in heritage planning. This may lead to improved conservation efforts and sustainability while fostering greater citizen involvement in the decision-making processes related to their built heritage.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by its small sample size, short fieldwork duration and the context-specific nature of the case study in Faro, Portugal. The reliance on master’s students as facilitators and the adaptation of serious gaming methods to local conditions may affect the generalizability of the findings. Further research should include longitudinal studies, larger and more diverse participant groups and comparative analyses across different cultural contexts. The implications suggest that while serious gaming can enhance values-based design and citizen engagement, its effectiveness depends on careful adaptation to local needs and ongoing evaluation of its impact on heritage planning processes.
Practical implications
The integration of serious gaming into heritage fieldwork offers practical tools for educators, municipalities and heritage professionals to foster citizen engagement and collaborative decision-making. The methods developed can be adapted for use in other cities and educational settings, supporting participatory urban and heritage planning. Local governments can leverage these approaches to better understand community values, inform policy and improve the sustainability of built environments. The study provides a replicable framework for training future architects in values-based design, equipping them with skills to facilitate inclusive workshops and mediate between diverse stakeholder interests in real-world heritage conservation projects.
Social implications
By involving citizens of all ages in the redesign of their built environment, this approach strengthens community agency and trust in heritage planning. Serious gaming methods help bridge generational and cultural gaps, making participation accessible and enjoyable for groups often excluded from traditional engagement processes. The study demonstrates that such participatory practices can foster empathy among future architects and increase public awareness of heritage values. Ultimately, this contributes to more inclusive, democratic and sustainable urban development, empowering communities to shape their environments in ways that reflect their collective values and identities.
Originality/value
This study introduces an innovative approach by integrating serious gaming into the values-based redesign of buildings and neighborhoods. It bridges the gap between public and professional perspectives, offering a novel approach for engaging citizens in heritage planning. The research contributes to the limited body of work on values-based approaches by demonstrating their applicability and effectiveness in real-world settings. By involving diverse community groups and employing interactive serious gaming tools, the study provides a unique framework for understanding and preserving heritage values in architecture and urban environments, promoting more inclusive and sustainable design practices. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the integration of values-based design and serious gaming for heritage fieldwork in architectural higher education. By employing serious gaming, the study seeks to develop user-friendly tools that facilitate and motivate the participation of diverse stakeholders in the redesign process. This approach enhances the recognition and conservation of heritage values associated with tangible and intangible attributes in the city of Faro, Portugal, ultimately contributing to the specialization of heritage architects.
Design/methodology/approach
The graduation design studio employs a three-step methodology involving eight master’s students in the city of Faro. Initially, students mapped values associated with buildings and neighborhoods. Subsequently, they developed redesigns using a values-based approach. Finally, they conducted impact assessments through self-evaluation of their redesign solutions. Traditional methods such as interviews, questionnaires and focus groups were adapted to include interactive tasks like treasure hunts, quizzes, 3D games, card games and board games. This methodology engaged various target groups, including schoolchildren, university students, heritage specialists and the elderly, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of community values.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of heritage fieldwork with serious gaming tools to foster citizen engagement and stakeholder collaboration in values-based design. The study confirms that serious gaming facilitates participation and enhances understanding of heritage values for both master’s students and citizens. Despite being new to the master’s students, this method proved successful in engaging diverse stakeholders and collecting relevant data. The results highlight the potential for local municipalities, such as Faro, to apply these approaches in heritage planning. This may lead to improved conservation efforts and sustainability while fostering greater citizen involvement in the decision-making processes related to their built heritage.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by its small sample size, short fieldwork duration and the context-specific nature of the case study in Faro, Portugal. The reliance on master’s students as facilitators and the adaptation of serious gaming methods to local conditions may affect the generalizability of the findings. Further research should include longitudinal studies, larger and more diverse participant groups and comparative analyses across different cultural contexts. The implications suggest that while serious gaming can enhance values-based design and citizen engagement, its effectiveness depends on careful adaptation to local needs and ongoing evaluation of its impact on heritage planning processes.
Practical implications
The integration of serious gaming into heritage fieldwork offers practical tools for educators, municipalities and heritage professionals to foster citizen engagement and collaborative decision-making. The methods developed can be adapted for use in other cities and educational settings, supporting participatory urban and heritage planning. Local governments can leverage these approaches to better understand community values, inform policy and improve the sustainability of built environments. The study provides a replicable framework for training future architects in values-based design, equipping them with skills to facilitate inclusive workshops and mediate between diverse stakeholder interests in real-world heritage conservation projects.
Social implications
By involving citizens of all ages in the redesign of their built environment, this approach strengthens community agency and trust in heritage planning. Serious gaming methods help bridge generational and cultural gaps, making participation accessible and enjoyable for groups often excluded from traditional engagement processes. The study demonstrates that such participatory practices can foster empathy among future architects and increase public awareness of heritage values. Ultimately, this contributes to more inclusive, democratic and sustainable urban development, empowering communities to shape their environments in ways that reflect their collective values and identities.
Originality/value
This study introduces an innovative approach by integrating serious gaming into the values-based redesign of buildings and neighborhoods. It bridges the gap between public and professional perspectives, offering a novel approach for engaging citizens in heritage planning. The research contributes to the limited body of work on values-based approaches by demonstrating their applicability and effectiveness in real-world settings. By involving diverse community groups and employing interactive serious gaming tools, the study provides a unique framework for understanding and preserving heritage values in architecture and urban environments, promoting more inclusive and sustainable design practices.
This paper aims to explore the integration of values-based design and serious gaming for heritage fieldwork in architectural higher education. By employing serious gaming, the study seeks to develop user-friendly tools that facilitate and motivate the participation of diverse stakeholders in the redesign process. This approach enhances the recognition and conservation of heritage values associated with tangible and intangible attributes in the city of Faro, Portugal, ultimately contributing to the specialization of heritage architects.
Design/methodology/approach
The graduation design studio employs a three-step methodology involving eight master’s students in the city of Faro. Initially, students mapped values associated with buildings and neighborhoods. Subsequently, they developed redesigns using a values-based approach. Finally, they conducted impact assessments through self-evaluation of their redesign solutions. Traditional methods such as interviews, questionnaires and focus groups were adapted to include interactive tasks like treasure hunts, quizzes, 3D games, card games and board games. This methodology engaged various target groups, including schoolchildren, university students, heritage specialists and the elderly, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of community values.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of heritage fieldwork with serious gaming tools to foster citizen engagement and stakeholder collaboration in values-based design. The study confirms that serious gaming facilitates participation and enhances understanding of heritage values for both master’s students and citizens. Despite being new to the master’s students, this method proved successful in engaging diverse stakeholders and collecting relevant data. The results highlight the potential for local municipalities, such as Faro, to apply these approaches in heritage planning. This may lead to improved conservation efforts and sustainability while fostering greater citizen involvement in the decision-making processes related to their built heritage.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by its small sample size, short fieldwork duration and the context-specific nature of the case study in Faro, Portugal. The reliance on master’s students as facilitators and the adaptation of serious gaming methods to local conditions may affect the generalizability of the findings. Further research should include longitudinal studies, larger and more diverse participant groups and comparative analyses across different cultural contexts. The implications suggest that while serious gaming can enhance values-based design and citizen engagement, its effectiveness depends on careful adaptation to local needs and ongoing evaluation of its impact on heritage planning processes.
Practical implications
The integration of serious gaming into heritage fieldwork offers practical tools for educators, municipalities and heritage professionals to foster citizen engagement and collaborative decision-making. The methods developed can be adapted for use in other cities and educational settings, supporting participatory urban and heritage planning. Local governments can leverage these approaches to better understand community values, inform policy and improve the sustainability of built environments. The study provides a replicable framework for training future architects in values-based design, equipping them with skills to facilitate inclusive workshops and mediate between diverse stakeholder interests in real-world heritage conservation projects.
Social implications
By involving citizens of all ages in the redesign of their built environment, this approach strengthens community agency and trust in heritage planning. Serious gaming methods help bridge generational and cultural gaps, making participation accessible and enjoyable for groups often excluded from traditional engagement processes. The study demonstrates that such participatory practices can foster empathy among future architects and increase public awareness of heritage values. Ultimately, this contributes to more inclusive, democratic and sustainable urban development, empowering communities to shape their environments in ways that reflect their collective values and identities.
Originality/value
This study introduces an innovative approach by integrating serious gaming into the values-based redesign of buildings and neighborhoods. It bridges the gap between public and professional perspectives, offering a novel approach for engaging citizens in heritage planning. The research contributes to the limited body of work on values-based approaches by demonstrating their applicability and effectiveness in real-world settings. By involving diverse community groups and employing interactive serious gaming tools, the study provides a unique framework for understanding and preserving heritage values in architecture and urban environments, promoting more inclusive and sustainable design practices.
An increase in ambient air temperature due to climate change can adversely affect indoor thermal conditions, particularly in heritage-listed dwellings, as renovation efforts may be limited by preservation constraints, potentially leading to indoor overheating for occupants. Incorporating heritage-listed dwellings into the climate change adaptation strategies is essential. Heritage-listed dwellings exhibit varying preservation constraints, with character-defining elements differing across cases. A literature review indicates a deficiency in research regarding climate change adaptation for lilong houses, which are two- to three-storey terrace houses featuring timber-brick structures, predominantly constructed in late 19th and early 20th century Shanghai, and recognised as significant urban heritage of the city. Through building energy simulations, this article examines the climate change adaptation of heritage-listed apartment-style lilong houses in Shanghai. Overheating hours and degree hours are utilised to assess indoor overheating conditions. Three scenarios for the preservation of the building envelope are proposed: (1) preservation of walls, (2) preservation of windows, (3) preservation of the roof. There are five categories of climate change adaptation measures. The findings indicate that substantial reductions can be attained by implementing a single preservation scenario customised to the character-defining elements and preservation constraints of heritage-listed dwellings. The most significant decrease in the number of overheating hours is observed in the wall preservation scenario, with a reduction of 69%, followed by a 53% reduction in the roof preservation scenario and a 31% reduction in the window preservation scenario. The proposed preservation scenarios enable the improvement in building indoor thermal conditions without compromising heritage preservation.
...
An increase in ambient air temperature due to climate change can adversely affect indoor thermal conditions, particularly in heritage-listed dwellings, as renovation efforts may be limited by preservation constraints, potentially leading to indoor overheating for occupants. Incorporating heritage-listed dwellings into the climate change adaptation strategies is essential. Heritage-listed dwellings exhibit varying preservation constraints, with character-defining elements differing across cases. A literature review indicates a deficiency in research regarding climate change adaptation for lilong houses, which are two- to three-storey terrace houses featuring timber-brick structures, predominantly constructed in late 19th and early 20th century Shanghai, and recognised as significant urban heritage of the city. Through building energy simulations, this article examines the climate change adaptation of heritage-listed apartment-style lilong houses in Shanghai. Overheating hours and degree hours are utilised to assess indoor overheating conditions. Three scenarios for the preservation of the building envelope are proposed: (1) preservation of walls, (2) preservation of windows, (3) preservation of the roof. There are five categories of climate change adaptation measures. The findings indicate that substantial reductions can be attained by implementing a single preservation scenario customised to the character-defining elements and preservation constraints of heritage-listed dwellings. The most significant decrease in the number of overheating hours is observed in the wall preservation scenario, with a reduction of 69%, followed by a 53% reduction in the roof preservation scenario and a 31% reduction in the window preservation scenario. The proposed preservation scenarios enable the improvement in building indoor thermal conditions without compromising heritage preservation.
Diasporic communities and their heritage are vital in shaping cultural diversity in urban planning and management. However, diasporic heritage management overlooked cross-geographical networks that constitute cultural significance. This study develops a workflow to explore diasporic heritage’s spatial and semantic networks. Global social media data about Chinatowns on Flickr is collected and analysed through Named Entity Recognition, and Spatial and Semantic Network Analysis. Findings reveal the diasporic flows based on places frequently recognised as origin and destination of Chinese diasporic heritage, and the distribution of places, zooming in from worldwide to the Netherlands. Semantic networks in different Dutch cities are compared.
...
Diasporic communities and their heritage are vital in shaping cultural diversity in urban planning and management. However, diasporic heritage management overlooked cross-geographical networks that constitute cultural significance. This study develops a workflow to explore diasporic heritage’s spatial and semantic networks. Global social media data about Chinatowns on Flickr is collected and analysed through Named Entity Recognition, and Spatial and Semantic Network Analysis. Findings reveal the diasporic flows based on places frequently recognised as origin and destination of Chinese diasporic heritage, and the distribution of places, zooming in from worldwide to the Netherlands. Semantic networks in different Dutch cities are compared.
Unveiling Climate-Adaptive World Heritage Management Strategies
The Netherlands as a Case Study
The Netherlands has established climate-adaptive strategies shaped by its long history of water-related climate events, such as the floods in 1421 and 1953. UNESCO World Heritage (WH) properties in The Netherlands reflect centuries of human intervention and natural processes to adapt and mitigate climate challenges, including spatial design and hydraulic engineering. The Dutch Climate Research Initiative also highlights cultural heritage as an integral component in preparing for the 2026 National Climate Adaptation Strategy. This article aims to unveil climate-adaptive World Heritage management strategies (CAWHMSs), using WH properties in The Netherlands as a case study. It collects textual data from Statements of Outstanding Universal Value, State of Conservation Reports by the State Parties and management plans. Through qualitative coding and keywords aggregation of the documents, the visualised results of a Sankey diagram and two semantic networks confirmed two CAWHMSs: conservation and developing WH properties as collaborative knowledge hubs. Conservation supports regulating urban climate and sustainable water management. As collaborative knowledge hubs, multidisciplinary sectors explore opportunities to align WH properties with broader sustainable development initiatives. They also deepen younger generations’ awareness of cultural and natural significance relevant to mitigating climate threats. The results emphasise WH as a contributor to climate adaptation. Cross-sectoral stakeholders can advance holistic climate adaptation efforts using CAWHMSs.
...
The Netherlands has established climate-adaptive strategies shaped by its long history of water-related climate events, such as the floods in 1421 and 1953. UNESCO World Heritage (WH) properties in The Netherlands reflect centuries of human intervention and natural processes to adapt and mitigate climate challenges, including spatial design and hydraulic engineering. The Dutch Climate Research Initiative also highlights cultural heritage as an integral component in preparing for the 2026 National Climate Adaptation Strategy. This article aims to unveil climate-adaptive World Heritage management strategies (CAWHMSs), using WH properties in The Netherlands as a case study. It collects textual data from Statements of Outstanding Universal Value, State of Conservation Reports by the State Parties and management plans. Through qualitative coding and keywords aggregation of the documents, the visualised results of a Sankey diagram and two semantic networks confirmed two CAWHMSs: conservation and developing WH properties as collaborative knowledge hubs. Conservation supports regulating urban climate and sustainable water management. As collaborative knowledge hubs, multidisciplinary sectors explore opportunities to align WH properties with broader sustainable development initiatives. They also deepen younger generations’ awareness of cultural and natural significance relevant to mitigating climate threats. The results emphasise WH as a contributor to climate adaptation. Cross-sectoral stakeholders can advance holistic climate adaptation efforts using CAWHMSs.
Community participation in heritage management is increasing. Actively participating communities, groups, and individuals can help identify and protect values and attributes that convey these values and guide sustainable management. However, how can diasporic communities participate in built heritage management? In addition to existing studies on community participation in built heritage management, this systematic literature review draws from 106 scholarly articles and distils how diasporic communities participate in built heritage management. The results categorise four relationships between diasporic communities and built heritage, from the conservation of built heritage, the reconstruction and design of diasporic spaces and places, and the use of built environments as venues, to the representation and interpretation of built environments. The five categories of research trends summarised in this study represent multidisciplinary research interests, including the analysis of well-implemented heritage management strategies, reflections on challenges in managing participatory heritage practices, studies on creating community-centred heritage, the design of participatory methods and tools, and surveys on future-oriented heritage preferences. Strategies and challenges related to twenty factors of participation are identified through SWOT analysis, revealing strengths (heritage initiatives, participation, and sense of identity), weaknesses (regulation, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), opportunities (participation, sense of identity, and resources), and threats (stakeholders’ interests/relationships, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), followed by a discussion of cross-domain factors and interconnectedness. The findings can be considered, referenced, and adapted for future participatory built heritage management that engages diasporic communities. This study also discusses current research limitations and recommendations.
...
Community participation in heritage management is increasing. Actively participating communities, groups, and individuals can help identify and protect values and attributes that convey these values and guide sustainable management. However, how can diasporic communities participate in built heritage management? In addition to existing studies on community participation in built heritage management, this systematic literature review draws from 106 scholarly articles and distils how diasporic communities participate in built heritage management. The results categorise four relationships between diasporic communities and built heritage, from the conservation of built heritage, the reconstruction and design of diasporic spaces and places, and the use of built environments as venues, to the representation and interpretation of built environments. The five categories of research trends summarised in this study represent multidisciplinary research interests, including the analysis of well-implemented heritage management strategies, reflections on challenges in managing participatory heritage practices, studies on creating community-centred heritage, the design of participatory methods and tools, and surveys on future-oriented heritage preferences. Strategies and challenges related to twenty factors of participation are identified through SWOT analysis, revealing strengths (heritage initiatives, participation, and sense of identity), weaknesses (regulation, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), opportunities (participation, sense of identity, and resources), and threats (stakeholders’ interests/relationships, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), followed by a discussion of cross-domain factors and interconnectedness. The findings can be considered, referenced, and adapted for future participatory built heritage management that engages diasporic communities. This study also discusses current research limitations and recommendations.
UNESCO World Heritage (WH) properties are increasingly vulnerable to challenges caused by climate change, which requires them to balance the needs of heritage management with sustainable urban growth and climate change adaptation (CCA). CCA strategies are being developed by stakeholders at all levels. It is, however, not customary to generalise strategies developed in one property to another, since they are assumed to be highly localised. This paper takes the WH properties in the Netherlands as an example and showcases that topics relevant to CCA, such as climate change challenges and water management strategies, are being shared among properties in their heritage management plans, aiming to safeguard their Outstanding Universal Value. Sentence embeddings computed with cutting-edge Natural Language Processing models are used to retrieve similar topics among the properties and evaluate their associations. Common challenges (such as low groundwater level) and strategies (such as coastal dunes and dykes) are found to be mentioned in different properties. The methodological framework proposed in this paper, bridging CCA with WH management, can be repeated in other countries, and eventually at the global level, providing a generalisable integrated knowledge system beneficial and easily applicable in heritage properties from broad geographical and cultural contexts.
...
UNESCO World Heritage (WH) properties are increasingly vulnerable to challenges caused by climate change, which requires them to balance the needs of heritage management with sustainable urban growth and climate change adaptation (CCA). CCA strategies are being developed by stakeholders at all levels. It is, however, not customary to generalise strategies developed in one property to another, since they are assumed to be highly localised. This paper takes the WH properties in the Netherlands as an example and showcases that topics relevant to CCA, such as climate change challenges and water management strategies, are being shared among properties in their heritage management plans, aiming to safeguard their Outstanding Universal Value. Sentence embeddings computed with cutting-edge Natural Language Processing models are used to retrieve similar topics among the properties and evaluate their associations. Common challenges (such as low groundwater level) and strategies (such as coastal dunes and dykes) are found to be mentioned in different properties. The methodological framework proposed in this paper, bridging CCA with WH management, can be repeated in other countries, and eventually at the global level, providing a generalisable integrated knowledge system beneficial and easily applicable in heritage properties from broad geographical and cultural contexts.
Heritage planning is changing, in both theory and practice. There is greater attention to the cultural significance (values and attributes) conveyed to a heritage property, rather than focusing on the property alone. Identifying and revealing this cultural significance has become a critical step in heritage planning. Moreover, international guidelines increasingly encourage public participation in defining the cultural significance of heritage sites. However, effectively involving diverse stakeholders and capturing the cultural significance they attribute to heritage remains a challenge, particularly when dealing with extensive datasets and multiple stakeholders. Although automated methods have shown potential in fields like digital humanities, their application in heritage planning is still limited. This article explores the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly text classification analysis, to analyze unstructured textual data (e.g., policy documents, literature, and social media) to uncover the cultural significance of built heritage. Focusing on Yazd, Iran, and specifically on windcatchers—a key cultural attribute recognized for its “outstanding universal value” by UNESCO—this study integrates AI to enhance both urban and socio-cultural planning. This article, as the concluding piece of a broader research project, synthesizes the project’s findings to highlight AI’s potential for inclusive heritage planning, referencing related publications of the same project to provide context while remaining concise. The research is structured in three phases: first, a literature review on AI applications in participatory heritage planning and value-based heritage planning; second, the methodology for data collection and analysis, including coding and comparing values and attributes of windcatchers conveyed by different stakeholders; and third, findings on the values and attributes, and their interrelationships as revealed through the data. The results confirm that while there are both conflicts and alignments in the cultural significance attributed to windcatchers in Yazd among various stakeholders, the theoretical framework presented here offers a valuable tool for heritage planning. By decoding and measuring cultural significance from diverse perspectives, this framework aids in identifying conflicts and alignments and in better aligning stakeholder perspectives. This model can be adapted to other key attributes in Yazd and other case studies, offering broader applications in heritage planning. Additionally, the findings underscore the potential of AI to evaluate the legislative framework’s effectiveness in enhancing public engagement.
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Heritage planning is changing, in both theory and practice. There is greater attention to the cultural significance (values and attributes) conveyed to a heritage property, rather than focusing on the property alone. Identifying and revealing this cultural significance has become a critical step in heritage planning. Moreover, international guidelines increasingly encourage public participation in defining the cultural significance of heritage sites. However, effectively involving diverse stakeholders and capturing the cultural significance they attribute to heritage remains a challenge, particularly when dealing with extensive datasets and multiple stakeholders. Although automated methods have shown potential in fields like digital humanities, their application in heritage planning is still limited. This article explores the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly text classification analysis, to analyze unstructured textual data (e.g., policy documents, literature, and social media) to uncover the cultural significance of built heritage. Focusing on Yazd, Iran, and specifically on windcatchers—a key cultural attribute recognized for its “outstanding universal value” by UNESCO—this study integrates AI to enhance both urban and socio-cultural planning. This article, as the concluding piece of a broader research project, synthesizes the project’s findings to highlight AI’s potential for inclusive heritage planning, referencing related publications of the same project to provide context while remaining concise. The research is structured in three phases: first, a literature review on AI applications in participatory heritage planning and value-based heritage planning; second, the methodology for data collection and analysis, including coding and comparing values and attributes of windcatchers conveyed by different stakeholders; and third, findings on the values and attributes, and their interrelationships as revealed through the data. The results confirm that while there are both conflicts and alignments in the cultural significance attributed to windcatchers in Yazd among various stakeholders, the theoretical framework presented here offers a valuable tool for heritage planning. By decoding and measuring cultural significance from diverse perspectives, this framework aids in identifying conflicts and alignments and in better aligning stakeholder perspectives. This model can be adapted to other key attributes in Yazd and other case studies, offering broader applications in heritage planning. Additionally, the findings underscore the potential of AI to evaluate the legislative framework’s effectiveness in enhancing public engagement.
Mind the diversity
Defining intervention concepts of built heritage in international doctrinal documents
Purpose
Interventions are essential for the management of built heritage because they extend the lifespan of buildings and enable them to be enjoyed by multiple generations. International organisations and institutions, such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, have adopted doctrinal documents over time, stimulating best practices in built heritage management worldwide. Although these documents are often referenced in academic work, they are seldom systematically researched. Which interventions are referenced or omitted? Are they defined? What trends are noted in the understanding of best practices as interventions?
Design/methodology/approach
This research consists of a systematic content analysis of nine international doctrinal documents, which were selected from nearly seventy international doctrinal documents—mainly adopted by UNESCO and ICOMOS. The main aim is to reveal and compare the concepts used for reference interventions and further use the definitions to reveal and discuss the relationships between them. The trends of these interventions being used were determined based on the frequency of mentions per intervention term in the selected documents.
Findings
Regarding the definition of the intervention concepts, there are three main findings. First, instead of being treated as a single concept, ‘conservation’ has been presented as an umbrella concept for other interventions and thus has been the most popular concept since the first version (1992) of the New Zealand Charter was implemented. In contrast, ‘preservation’ remains a single concept, among the highest scales, to maintain the integrity of built heritage, including use. Second, ‘repair’ was found to play a paradoxical role between ‘restoration’ and ‘reconstruction’, which created divergent opinions in the documents. Third, since the notions of ‘use’ have expanded from the functions of monuments (International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites: The Venice Charter, 1964) to the ‘associations of places’ (The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, with associated Guidelines and Code on the Ethics of Co-existence, 1999; The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, 2013), which include activities, traditional habits, accessibility, etc., the complexity of mentioning different forms of ‘use’ has led to some (re)interventions, such as ‘adaptation’, ‘adaptive reuse’, and ‘rehabilitation’, being put into grey areas and used interchangeably.
Originality
This research advances the current understanding of intervention concepts and their relationships, as well as differences and similarities in definitions. ...
Interventions are essential for the management of built heritage because they extend the lifespan of buildings and enable them to be enjoyed by multiple generations. International organisations and institutions, such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, have adopted doctrinal documents over time, stimulating best practices in built heritage management worldwide. Although these documents are often referenced in academic work, they are seldom systematically researched. Which interventions are referenced or omitted? Are they defined? What trends are noted in the understanding of best practices as interventions?
Design/methodology/approach
This research consists of a systematic content analysis of nine international doctrinal documents, which were selected from nearly seventy international doctrinal documents—mainly adopted by UNESCO and ICOMOS. The main aim is to reveal and compare the concepts used for reference interventions and further use the definitions to reveal and discuss the relationships between them. The trends of these interventions being used were determined based on the frequency of mentions per intervention term in the selected documents.
Findings
Regarding the definition of the intervention concepts, there are three main findings. First, instead of being treated as a single concept, ‘conservation’ has been presented as an umbrella concept for other interventions and thus has been the most popular concept since the first version (1992) of the New Zealand Charter was implemented. In contrast, ‘preservation’ remains a single concept, among the highest scales, to maintain the integrity of built heritage, including use. Second, ‘repair’ was found to play a paradoxical role between ‘restoration’ and ‘reconstruction’, which created divergent opinions in the documents. Third, since the notions of ‘use’ have expanded from the functions of monuments (International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites: The Venice Charter, 1964) to the ‘associations of places’ (The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, with associated Guidelines and Code on the Ethics of Co-existence, 1999; The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, 2013), which include activities, traditional habits, accessibility, etc., the complexity of mentioning different forms of ‘use’ has led to some (re)interventions, such as ‘adaptation’, ‘adaptive reuse’, and ‘rehabilitation’, being put into grey areas and used interchangeably.
Originality
This research advances the current understanding of intervention concepts and their relationships, as well as differences and similarities in definitions. ...
Purpose
Interventions are essential for the management of built heritage because they extend the lifespan of buildings and enable them to be enjoyed by multiple generations. International organisations and institutions, such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, have adopted doctrinal documents over time, stimulating best practices in built heritage management worldwide. Although these documents are often referenced in academic work, they are seldom systematically researched. Which interventions are referenced or omitted? Are they defined? What trends are noted in the understanding of best practices as interventions?
Design/methodology/approach
This research consists of a systematic content analysis of nine international doctrinal documents, which were selected from nearly seventy international doctrinal documents—mainly adopted by UNESCO and ICOMOS. The main aim is to reveal and compare the concepts used for reference interventions and further use the definitions to reveal and discuss the relationships between them. The trends of these interventions being used were determined based on the frequency of mentions per intervention term in the selected documents.
Findings
Regarding the definition of the intervention concepts, there are three main findings. First, instead of being treated as a single concept, ‘conservation’ has been presented as an umbrella concept for other interventions and thus has been the most popular concept since the first version (1992) of the New Zealand Charter was implemented. In contrast, ‘preservation’ remains a single concept, among the highest scales, to maintain the integrity of built heritage, including use. Second, ‘repair’ was found to play a paradoxical role between ‘restoration’ and ‘reconstruction’, which created divergent opinions in the documents. Third, since the notions of ‘use’ have expanded from the functions of monuments (International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites: The Venice Charter, 1964) to the ‘associations of places’ (The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, with associated Guidelines and Code on the Ethics of Co-existence, 1999; The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, 2013), which include activities, traditional habits, accessibility, etc., the complexity of mentioning different forms of ‘use’ has led to some (re)interventions, such as ‘adaptation’, ‘adaptive reuse’, and ‘rehabilitation’, being put into grey areas and used interchangeably.
Originality
This research advances the current understanding of intervention concepts and their relationships, as well as differences and similarities in definitions.
Interventions are essential for the management of built heritage because they extend the lifespan of buildings and enable them to be enjoyed by multiple generations. International organisations and institutions, such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, have adopted doctrinal documents over time, stimulating best practices in built heritage management worldwide. Although these documents are often referenced in academic work, they are seldom systematically researched. Which interventions are referenced or omitted? Are they defined? What trends are noted in the understanding of best practices as interventions?
Design/methodology/approach
This research consists of a systematic content analysis of nine international doctrinal documents, which were selected from nearly seventy international doctrinal documents—mainly adopted by UNESCO and ICOMOS. The main aim is to reveal and compare the concepts used for reference interventions and further use the definitions to reveal and discuss the relationships between them. The trends of these interventions being used were determined based on the frequency of mentions per intervention term in the selected documents.
Findings
Regarding the definition of the intervention concepts, there are three main findings. First, instead of being treated as a single concept, ‘conservation’ has been presented as an umbrella concept for other interventions and thus has been the most popular concept since the first version (1992) of the New Zealand Charter was implemented. In contrast, ‘preservation’ remains a single concept, among the highest scales, to maintain the integrity of built heritage, including use. Second, ‘repair’ was found to play a paradoxical role between ‘restoration’ and ‘reconstruction’, which created divergent opinions in the documents. Third, since the notions of ‘use’ have expanded from the functions of monuments (International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites: The Venice Charter, 1964) to the ‘associations of places’ (The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, with associated Guidelines and Code on the Ethics of Co-existence, 1999; The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, 2013), which include activities, traditional habits, accessibility, etc., the complexity of mentioning different forms of ‘use’ has led to some (re)interventions, such as ‘adaptation’, ‘adaptive reuse’, and ‘rehabilitation’, being put into grey areas and used interchangeably.
Originality
This research advances the current understanding of intervention concepts and their relationships, as well as differences and similarities in definitions.
Exhibition
(2024)
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Kuangyi Xing, L.G.K. Spoormans, D.K. Czischke, A. Pereira Roders, W. de Jonge, A. Soro
The dataset, underlying the paper “Do I See What You See?” was selected for the project Nexum: Data 4 Art, organised by 4TU. The art pieces by Kuangyi Xing were exhibited in June 2024 in WORM and in the Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven.
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The dataset, underlying the paper “Do I See What You See?” was selected for the project Nexum: Data 4 Art, organised by 4TU. The art pieces by Kuangyi Xing were exhibited in June 2024 in WORM and in the Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven.
Much of the building stock subjected to the upcoming European Renovation Wave is neither listed as heritage nor considered valuable architecture. This also applies to Dutch housing built between 1965 and 1985, more than 30% of the Dutch housing stock, for which there is no consensus on their cultural significance. Their successful renovation process requires broad support. What attributes do citizens consider significant in their neighbourhood? How do we include a multitude of stakeholders? And can digital methods help collect and process responses? This article reveals significant attributes of residential neighbourhoods from 1965 to 1985, assessed by various stakeholders with a digital tool based on case studies in Amsterdam and Almere. A mobile application allowed individuals to identify significant attributes at various scales while visiting the neighbourhood. By qualitative data analysis of survey and interview results, groups of tangible and intangible attributes were deduced. Results show that identifying attributes by current stakeholders broadens existing expert-led assessments on 1965–1985 neighbourhoods by including, for example, generic attributes not originally intended by the designers. Asking open-ended questions is considered essential to identify undiscovered attributes by alternative stakeholders, although dealing with large numbers of responses is recognised as a challenge to cluster and classify. Lastly, the mobile application appears to be a useful digital tool, but integrating scientific consistency and usability is recommended for further development. Engaging multiple stakeholders with such mobile applications allows for collecting opinions, anticipating conflicts, or shared interests between stakeholders and integration into renovation designs. It can empower citizens to preserve the neighbourhood attributes that are most significant to them.
...
Much of the building stock subjected to the upcoming European Renovation Wave is neither listed as heritage nor considered valuable architecture. This also applies to Dutch housing built between 1965 and 1985, more than 30% of the Dutch housing stock, for which there is no consensus on their cultural significance. Their successful renovation process requires broad support. What attributes do citizens consider significant in their neighbourhood? How do we include a multitude of stakeholders? And can digital methods help collect and process responses? This article reveals significant attributes of residential neighbourhoods from 1965 to 1985, assessed by various stakeholders with a digital tool based on case studies in Amsterdam and Almere. A mobile application allowed individuals to identify significant attributes at various scales while visiting the neighbourhood. By qualitative data analysis of survey and interview results, groups of tangible and intangible attributes were deduced. Results show that identifying attributes by current stakeholders broadens existing expert-led assessments on 1965–1985 neighbourhoods by including, for example, generic attributes not originally intended by the designers. Asking open-ended questions is considered essential to identify undiscovered attributes by alternative stakeholders, although dealing with large numbers of responses is recognised as a challenge to cluster and classify. Lastly, the mobile application appears to be a useful digital tool, but integrating scientific consistency and usability is recommended for further development. Engaging multiple stakeholders with such mobile applications allows for collecting opinions, anticipating conflicts, or shared interests between stakeholders and integration into renovation designs. It can empower citizens to preserve the neighbourhood attributes that are most significant to them.
No Report, No Densification?
A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Densification and Reporting Practices in World Heritage Properties
Journal article
(2024)
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Moses Katontoka, Francesca Noardo, Daniela Palacios-Lopez, Thomas Esch, Pirouz Nourian, Fulong Chen, Ana Pereira Roders
As urbanization accelerates, World Heritage properties, critical conservation areas, face a growing threat of urban densification, jeopardizing their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). States Parties, the countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention, are responsible for submitting periodic reports on the state-of-conservation of their World Heritage properties. These reports should explicitly address any instances of urban densification that may be occurring. But do they? This research investigates the relationship between urban densification and reporting practices in World Heritage properties over time and space. Through a spatiotemporal analysis, by analyzing changes in the built-up area within the core zones of cultural World Heritage properties from 1985 to 2015. We found that urban development, including housing, infrastructure, and tourism facilities, has significantly impacted World Heritage properties and an increase in built-up area can be observed especially in properties not reporting on urban threats.
...
As urbanization accelerates, World Heritage properties, critical conservation areas, face a growing threat of urban densification, jeopardizing their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). States Parties, the countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention, are responsible for submitting periodic reports on the state-of-conservation of their World Heritage properties. These reports should explicitly address any instances of urban densification that may be occurring. But do they? This research investigates the relationship between urban densification and reporting practices in World Heritage properties over time and space. Through a spatiotemporal analysis, by analyzing changes in the built-up area within the core zones of cultural World Heritage properties from 1985 to 2015. We found that urban development, including housing, infrastructure, and tourism facilities, has significantly impacted World Heritage properties and an increase in built-up area can be observed especially in properties not reporting on urban threats.
Capturing experts’ knowledge in heritage planning enhanced by AI
A case study of windcatchers in Yazd, Iran
Experts have always played an important role in heritage planning, practice, and theory. There is a wealth of literature published every year regarding heritage and its cultural significance. Experts also contribute to heritage planning and developing policy documents. Still, literature is rarely used as a source of primary research to systematically reveal and compare experts’ opinions on the cultural significance of built heritage. Analyzing them as a whole is costly and time-consuming, especially on built heritage, when much has been written about. While the automation of methods has proven to mitigate such restrictions in other fields, as digital humanities, their application in heritage planning, practice, and theory is still scarce. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the potentials of AI models (e.g., multi label text classification) in analyzing scientific documents, revealing the cultural significance of built heritage, values and attributes. This was done to better understand the similarities and differences between the experts’ opinions. Yazd, Iran, is taken a case study, with a particular focus on windcatchers, a key attribute conveying cultural significance, of outstanding universal value, due to its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This paper has three subsequent phases: 1) state of the art on the application of AI in heritage planning; 2) methodology of data collection and data analysis related to coding values and attributes of windcatchers, addressed in relevant documents; 3) preliminary findings on the experts’ opinions over values and attributes of windcatchers. Results contribute to the scientific discussion, revealing the cultural significance of windcatchers of Yazd from experts’ point of view. Besides, the potential of AI for heritage planning is revealed in terms of (de)coding and measuring the cultural significance of built heritage from the available documents, showing the opinions of experts with various backgrounds. This model can be applied to other key attributes in Yazd and other case studies and scales to support heritage planning, practice, and theory.
...
Experts have always played an important role in heritage planning, practice, and theory. There is a wealth of literature published every year regarding heritage and its cultural significance. Experts also contribute to heritage planning and developing policy documents. Still, literature is rarely used as a source of primary research to systematically reveal and compare experts’ opinions on the cultural significance of built heritage. Analyzing them as a whole is costly and time-consuming, especially on built heritage, when much has been written about. While the automation of methods has proven to mitigate such restrictions in other fields, as digital humanities, their application in heritage planning, practice, and theory is still scarce. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the potentials of AI models (e.g., multi label text classification) in analyzing scientific documents, revealing the cultural significance of built heritage, values and attributes. This was done to better understand the similarities and differences between the experts’ opinions. Yazd, Iran, is taken a case study, with a particular focus on windcatchers, a key attribute conveying cultural significance, of outstanding universal value, due to its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This paper has three subsequent phases: 1) state of the art on the application of AI in heritage planning; 2) methodology of data collection and data analysis related to coding values and attributes of windcatchers, addressed in relevant documents; 3) preliminary findings on the experts’ opinions over values and attributes of windcatchers. Results contribute to the scientific discussion, revealing the cultural significance of windcatchers of Yazd from experts’ point of view. Besides, the potential of AI for heritage planning is revealed in terms of (de)coding and measuring the cultural significance of built heritage from the available documents, showing the opinions of experts with various backgrounds. This model can be applied to other key attributes in Yazd and other case studies and scales to support heritage planning, practice, and theory.
EquiCity game
A mathematical serious game for participatory design of spatial configurations
Journal article
(2024)
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Pirouz Nourian, Shervin Azadi, Nan Bai, Bruno de Andrade, Nour Abu Zaid, Samaneh Rezvani, A. Pereira Roders
We propose a mathematical framework for developing social-choice games that are designed to mediate decision-making processes for city planning, urban area redevelopment, and architectural configuration of urban housing complexes. The proposed framework features a digital serious gaming approach for participatory design to support transparency and inclusion in the process of decision-making and ensure an equitable balance of sustainable development goals in spatial design outcomes. The mathematical process consists of a Markovian design machine for balancing the design decisions of actors, a massing configurator equipped with fuzzy logic and multi-criteria decision analysis, algebraic graph-theoretical accessibility evaluators, and automated solar-climatic evaluators using geospatial computational geometry. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework by implementing a multi-player online game that facilitates a participatory decision-making workshop for forming multi-functional building complexes by providing a generative configurator equipped with automated appraisal/scoring mechanisms for revealing the aggregate impact of alternatives. The EquiCity game empowers a group of decision-makers to reach a fair consensual spatial design by mathematically simulating many rounds of reasonable trade-offs between their decisions, with different levels of interest or control over various types of investments. The novelty of the framework is in its capability to encompass decision-making about the most idiosyncratic aspects of a site related to its heritage status and cultural significance to the most generic aspects such as balancing access to sunlight for the site while respecting ‘the right to sunlight’ of the neighbours of the site, ensuring coherence of the entire configuration with regards to a network of desired closeness ratings, the satisfaction of a programme of requirements, and intricately balancing individual development goals in conjunction with communal goals and environmental design codes.
...
We propose a mathematical framework for developing social-choice games that are designed to mediate decision-making processes for city planning, urban area redevelopment, and architectural configuration of urban housing complexes. The proposed framework features a digital serious gaming approach for participatory design to support transparency and inclusion in the process of decision-making and ensure an equitable balance of sustainable development goals in spatial design outcomes. The mathematical process consists of a Markovian design machine for balancing the design decisions of actors, a massing configurator equipped with fuzzy logic and multi-criteria decision analysis, algebraic graph-theoretical accessibility evaluators, and automated solar-climatic evaluators using geospatial computational geometry. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework by implementing a multi-player online game that facilitates a participatory decision-making workshop for forming multi-functional building complexes by providing a generative configurator equipped with automated appraisal/scoring mechanisms for revealing the aggregate impact of alternatives. The EquiCity game empowers a group of decision-makers to reach a fair consensual spatial design by mathematically simulating many rounds of reasonable trade-offs between their decisions, with different levels of interest or control over various types of investments. The novelty of the framework is in its capability to encompass decision-making about the most idiosyncratic aspects of a site related to its heritage status and cultural significance to the most generic aspects such as balancing access to sunlight for the site while respecting ‘the right to sunlight’ of the neighbours of the site, ensuring coherence of the entire configuration with regards to a network of desired closeness ratings, the satisfaction of a programme of requirements, and intricately balancing individual development goals in conjunction with communal goals and environmental design codes.
Cultural heritage, especially those inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is meant to be valued by mankind and protected for future generations. Triggered by radical and sometimes disastrous Heritage-Related Events (HREs), communities around the world are actively involved on social media to share their opinions and emotional attachments. This paper presents exploratory data analyses on a dataset collected from Twitter concerning HREs in World Heritage that triggered global concerns, with cases of the Notre Dame Paris fire and the Venice flood, both in 2019. The spatiotemporal patterns of tweeting behaviours of online communities before, during, and after the event demonstrate a clear distinction of activation levels caused by the HREs. The dominant emotions and topics of people during the online debate are detected and visualized with pre-trained deep-learning models and unsupervised clustering algorithms. Clear spatiotemporal dynamics can be observed from the data collected in both case studies, while each case also demonstrated its specific characteristics due to the different severity. The methodological framework proposed and the analytical outcomes obtained in this paper could be used both in urban studies to mine the public opinions about HREs and other urban events for reducing risks, and by the Geo-AI community to test spatiotemporal clustering algorithms.
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Cultural heritage, especially those inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is meant to be valued by mankind and protected for future generations. Triggered by radical and sometimes disastrous Heritage-Related Events (HREs), communities around the world are actively involved on social media to share their opinions and emotional attachments. This paper presents exploratory data analyses on a dataset collected from Twitter concerning HREs in World Heritage that triggered global concerns, with cases of the Notre Dame Paris fire and the Venice flood, both in 2019. The spatiotemporal patterns of tweeting behaviours of online communities before, during, and after the event demonstrate a clear distinction of activation levels caused by the HREs. The dominant emotions and topics of people during the online debate are detected and visualized with pre-trained deep-learning models and unsupervised clustering algorithms. Clear spatiotemporal dynamics can be observed from the data collected in both case studies, while each case also demonstrated its specific characteristics due to the different severity. The methodological framework proposed and the analytical outcomes obtained in this paper could be used both in urban studies to mine the public opinions about HREs and other urban events for reducing risks, and by the Geo-AI community to test spatiotemporal clustering algorithms.
The Historic Urban Landscape Approach and the Governance of World Heritage in Urban Contexts
Reflections from Three European Cities
Journal article
(2023)
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Teresa Cunha Ferreira, Julia Rey-Pérez, A. Pereira Roders, Ana Tarrafa Silva, Isabel Coimbra, Isabel Breda Vazquez
Governance, and specifically local management and institutional systems, is among the key factors affecting the management of World Heritage (WH) properties in urban contexts. The adoption of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL approach) promotes a governance reform towards more inclusive and integrated management. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the HUL approach may help to solve the key governance challenges affecting WH in urban contexts. The governance of WH in three European cities is compared. Edinburgh, Porto, and Florence were chosen for their familiarity with the HUL approach and willingness to provide guidance and review policies and review their policies as management plans. The methodology includes a policy analysis of the management plans followed by a comparative analysis based on the six key governance challenges addressed in the recent literature. The results show that the HUL approach is supporting the governance of WH in urban contexts, and that more inclusive and integrated management has helped address the challenges affecting heritage management.
...
Governance, and specifically local management and institutional systems, is among the key factors affecting the management of World Heritage (WH) properties in urban contexts. The adoption of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL approach) promotes a governance reform towards more inclusive and integrated management. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the HUL approach may help to solve the key governance challenges affecting WH in urban contexts. The governance of WH in three European cities is compared. Edinburgh, Porto, and Florence were chosen for their familiarity with the HUL approach and willingness to provide guidance and review policies and review their policies as management plans. The methodology includes a policy analysis of the management plans followed by a comparative analysis based on the six key governance challenges addressed in the recent literature. The results show that the HUL approach is supporting the governance of WH in urban contexts, and that more inclusive and integrated management has helped address the challenges affecting heritage management.
Public participation and consensus-building in urban planning from the lens of heritage planning
A systematic literature review
Public participation has been growing in both theory and practice of urban planning, including heritage planning. The reasoning is to facilitate the involvement of a broader group of stakeholders, beyond experts. More specifically, for heritage planning, participation could enable consensus-building on defining the significance of heritage, namely attributes (the resources that should be listed as heritage), and values (the reasons that attributes are important). However, there is not yet a holistic understanding of the influencing factors behind consensus-building in the participatory planning processes for cultural heritage. To evaluate existing research from this angle, a systematic literature review was conducted on peer-reviewed articles using the Scopus database. As most of the studies focuse on urban planning, this research examines the factors influencing consensus-building in the participatory planning process applied to urban and heritage planning and reflects on the applicability of these factors in heritage planning. The main factors were identified inductively and grouped into two categories: 1) public participation: actors, methods, and levels of public participation, and 2) consensus: approaches, and conflicts. The relations between these factors and their frequencies are investigated using statistical analysis methods, namely frequency analysis, independent-samples t-test, and Spearman correlation. The literature confirms that urban planning has applied more diverse methods and tools for public participation compared to studies in the field of heritage planning, and could inspire heritage planning. Conflict is recognized as an intertwined concept with consensus which is considered either as a challenge or as a necessity for an inclusive decision-making. By proposing a framework integrating these factors and sub-factors and illustrating their relationships, this research could also be useful for decision-makers and practitioners to better tailor the public participation process and means to implement it, considering the relevant factors involved.
...
Public participation has been growing in both theory and practice of urban planning, including heritage planning. The reasoning is to facilitate the involvement of a broader group of stakeholders, beyond experts. More specifically, for heritage planning, participation could enable consensus-building on defining the significance of heritage, namely attributes (the resources that should be listed as heritage), and values (the reasons that attributes are important). However, there is not yet a holistic understanding of the influencing factors behind consensus-building in the participatory planning processes for cultural heritage. To evaluate existing research from this angle, a systematic literature review was conducted on peer-reviewed articles using the Scopus database. As most of the studies focuse on urban planning, this research examines the factors influencing consensus-building in the participatory planning process applied to urban and heritage planning and reflects on the applicability of these factors in heritage planning. The main factors were identified inductively and grouped into two categories: 1) public participation: actors, methods, and levels of public participation, and 2) consensus: approaches, and conflicts. The relations between these factors and their frequencies are investigated using statistical analysis methods, namely frequency analysis, independent-samples t-test, and Spearman correlation. The literature confirms that urban planning has applied more diverse methods and tools for public participation compared to studies in the field of heritage planning, and could inspire heritage planning. Conflict is recognized as an intertwined concept with consensus which is considered either as a challenge or as a necessity for an inclusive decision-making. By proposing a framework integrating these factors and sub-factors and illustrating their relationships, this research could also be useful for decision-makers and practitioners to better tailor the public participation process and means to implement it, considering the relevant factors involved.