Our Place, Our Future: People-centred heritage management for Climate Risk Assessment in Scotland

There is a global need for rapid climate change adaptation informed by sound risk assessment. However, risk assessments to date have ignored the drivers such as culture and community value. Understanding community values for cultural heritage management strategies remain a significant gap for adaptation. There are limited approaches that acknowledge and engage communities within climate risk assessment in general, let alone for cultural heritage sites. Yet by building capacity through community ownership we may identify innovative solutions that bring together adaptation measures, cultural heritage management and community values through place-based solutions.

This collaborative project between Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and researchers at the School of GeoSciences will examine community derived cultural heritage values for the delivery of an applied adaptation framework. This will be achieved through an integrated and people centred action planning approach that assists in HES's future conservation and management practices. By working in select locations, the candidate will work with communities to address attachment to place, community values, adaptations, and risk to heritage sites.