Building Climate Resilience through Community, Landscapes and Cultural Heritage
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Geography and Planning
Abstract
Landscapes, communities and individuals have historically and continue to cope and adapt to climate change, some through incremental changes (potentially unnoticed), whilst others make rapid adjustments, reflecting abrupt changes in their environment, through landscape loss and gain. However, the impact of these activities and the effectiveness of adaptations leaves traces in our modern landscape. Understanding how communities have interacted with their environments and adapted to changing circumstances provides a basis for examining how future changes may be managed and communicated through a variety of mechanisms, building resilience at a range of spatial and temporal scales across landscapes. Information on past adaptations is often recorded, but poorly integrated into discourses around community resilience. As a result communities can be ill equipped to make informed and appropriate adaptations for building climate resilient futures. This co-created project addresses this information and process gap.
Geographical contexts and circumstances influence how people and communities experience the world and interact with their landscapes. Local knowledge, practices and experiences emerge in place and reflect their specific environment. These knowledge's, practices and experiences become embedded in materialistic and adaptation responses and behaviours, and technological developments. In doing so they make a distinctive contribution to community trajectories of vulnerability, adaptation and resilience over time. This work will afford important insights into how societies in the past have been affected by, coped with and conceptualized environmental changes. It will also explore the nature of the individual, community, institutional, regional and national responses and adaptations following these changes. These insights can help inform future climate resilience provision. Understanding and capturing local environmental knowledge is key to the successful development of community adaptation systems that embed uncertainties associated with climate change and assist communities to interact with their landscapes and environments sustainably.
The project, co-developed with existing and new partners (Historic England; Fjordr; Staffordshire Record Office and Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean Siar - Museums and Archives of the Outer Hebrides) will investigate how communities have lived with and are living with and adapting to climate change to build climate resilient communities. Through the development of a toolkit we will support and facilitate decision making in respect to current landscapes and environments. The toolkit will develop a multifaceted approach of cataloguing features (historic, material and archival), supplemented with contemporary oral histories within a Geographical Information System (GIS), using an co-creation approach that engages with communities throughout the process.
The project will help all of the partner institutions better appreciate the cultural and socio-economic implications of extreme weather and climate in the regions and communities within which they operate, and the ways in which they might anticipate future impacts in their work. This research addresses the current need of agencies and authorities (e.g. Historic England) for tools that facilitate understanding and value of cultural heritage and the ways in which it can underpin informed decisions about sustainable futures, which supports community communication and engagement in future decision making, which is fundamental in building resilient communities.
There is clear potential for the toolkit to become an embedded aspect of future CCRA4 and of immediate value to environmental organisations and local/regional community groups (e.g. flood forums and local historical groups) and shape future policy debates (e.g. FCERM strategy) across the UK.
Geographical contexts and circumstances influence how people and communities experience the world and interact with their landscapes. Local knowledge, practices and experiences emerge in place and reflect their specific environment. These knowledge's, practices and experiences become embedded in materialistic and adaptation responses and behaviours, and technological developments. In doing so they make a distinctive contribution to community trajectories of vulnerability, adaptation and resilience over time. This work will afford important insights into how societies in the past have been affected by, coped with and conceptualized environmental changes. It will also explore the nature of the individual, community, institutional, regional and national responses and adaptations following these changes. These insights can help inform future climate resilience provision. Understanding and capturing local environmental knowledge is key to the successful development of community adaptation systems that embed uncertainties associated with climate change and assist communities to interact with their landscapes and environments sustainably.
The project, co-developed with existing and new partners (Historic England; Fjordr; Staffordshire Record Office and Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean Siar - Museums and Archives of the Outer Hebrides) will investigate how communities have lived with and are living with and adapting to climate change to build climate resilient communities. Through the development of a toolkit we will support and facilitate decision making in respect to current landscapes and environments. The toolkit will develop a multifaceted approach of cataloguing features (historic, material and archival), supplemented with contemporary oral histories within a Geographical Information System (GIS), using an co-creation approach that engages with communities throughout the process.
The project will help all of the partner institutions better appreciate the cultural and socio-economic implications of extreme weather and climate in the regions and communities within which they operate, and the ways in which they might anticipate future impacts in their work. This research addresses the current need of agencies and authorities (e.g. Historic England) for tools that facilitate understanding and value of cultural heritage and the ways in which it can underpin informed decisions about sustainable futures, which supports community communication and engagement in future decision making, which is fundamental in building resilient communities.
There is clear potential for the toolkit to become an embedded aspect of future CCRA4 and of immediate value to environmental organisations and local/regional community groups (e.g. flood forums and local historical groups) and shape future policy debates (e.g. FCERM strategy) across the UK.
Planned Impact
NA - No longer required as stated on call documentation.
Publications
Brookes E
(2023)
Quantifying climate risk and building resilience in the UK
Garry F.K.
(2023)
Quantifying climate risk and building resilience in the UK
Golding N.,
(2023)
Quantifying climate risk and building resilience in the UK
Macdonald N
(2023)
Understanding weather futures based on the past: a case of Stornoway, Outer Hebrides
in Scottish Geographical Journal
Naylor S
(2022)
Extreme weather, school logbooks and social vulnerability: The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
in Journal of Historical Geography
Papagiannaki K
(2022)
Developing a large-scale dataset of flood fatalities for territories in the Euro-Mediterranean region, FFEM-DB.
in Scientific data
Wardle Woodend M.
(2022)
Flood and Drought Poetry: Experiences of Weather Extremes in Staffordshire.
Description | Exhibitions have been held in Staffordshire - with a tourer visiting numerous small libraries and record offices across the county over the 12months 2022-2023. This has engaged with large numbers, estimated seen by >5000 people and several events held around the county in conjunction with this. Exhibition and materials presented in the Outer Hebrides have similarly resulted in wider community engagement. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | BBC Podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 6th November 2021, Climate Change and Landscapes BBC podcast Green Thinking |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.ukri.org/our-work/responding-to-climate-change/ukri-towards-cop26/green-thinking-podcast... |
Description | COP26 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 9th November 2021, COP26 Resilience Hub, Blue Zone, Launch of video on Climate Change and Historic Buildings, produced by CLandage and Historic England. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26pENgv2omk |
Description | Climate Resilience Webinar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Webinar attended by ~40 scientists, policy makers and practitioners working with climate resilience - series of follow up contacts |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://www.ukclimateresilience.org/news-events/building-uk-climate-resilience-through-bridging-the-q... |
Description | Conference presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Community Archives and Heritage Group Annual Conference 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://youtu.be/_fBrZjxv_Xs |
Description | Keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote (Simon Naylor) CAHG (Community Archive Heritage Group) Scotland #Cop26 Conference, Glasgow 10/11/21 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Newsletter |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Historic England Research - Newsletter distributed and available online via Historic England website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/research/building-climate-resilience-through-community-land... |
Description | Panel member |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 27th October 2021 panel member at the Climate Resilience Heritage Summit |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.cultureatcop.com/events/climate-resilience-heritage-summit-2021 |
Description | Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 26th November 2021 British Library post-COP event Changing Climate, Changing Landscape, panel member |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/changing-climate-changing-landscapes |
Description | Presentation - AHF |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Presentation at the final event of the Climate Resilience programme. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | RGS Session 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Organised a session at the RGS at which the three AHRC aligned projects funded through the Climate Resilience programme were funded |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |