Post on 03-Sep-2020
Geography and Heritage: from Oxford to the Silk Road
Heather Viles 12th June 2017
‘Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.’ World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/about/
Lake District
Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa
Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
Venice
Lulworth Cove, Dorset, England St Paul’s Cathedral, London
World Heritage
‘What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory in which they are located.’
whc.unesco.org/en/about
Bamiyan, Afghanistan
As of June 2017, 1052 world heritage sites are listed in 165 states (814 cultural, 35 mixed, 203 natural)
World Heritage Sites
Animation credit: Alice Goudie
World Heritage sites in danger
Animation credit: Alice Goudie
What can geographers contribute?
Creating heritage:
Discovering ‘new’ sites
Evans, D. 2016 Airborne laser scanning as a method for exploring long-term socio-ecological dynamics in Cambodia, Journal of Archaeological Science, 74, 164-175
What can geographers contribute?
Creating heritage: quantifying values
Earth
Surface Processes and Landforms
What can geographers contribute?
Conserving heritage: evaluating threats and
designing solutions
Mol, L et al., 2017. The benefit of a tough skin: bullet holes, weathering and the preservation of heritage. Royal Society Open Science, 4(2), p.160335.
What can geographers contribute?
Critiquing heritage
Contested heritage: Saharan rock art
Changing air quality and Oxford’s heritage
Image credit: Unknown 1870s
Image credit: J W Thomas 1960s
Image credit: David Nicholls
Changing air pollution in Oxford: 1
Smoke and particulate concentrations μg/m3, 1959-2007
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10
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Method1
Method2
Method3
Changing air pollution in Oxford: 2
NO2, SO2 and PM10 trends at roadside and urban background sites in Oxford, 1995-2008 in μg/m3
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1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
HighStreetNO2
StAldate’s NO2
BroadStreetNO2UrbanbackgroundNO2
UrbanbackgroundPM10 StAldate’s SO2
Can nature help conserve Silk Road sites in NW China?
Silk Roads
New collaborative project between Dunhuang Academy, Getty Conservation Institute and Oxford Geography
Plants and heritage conservation
Bioremediation
Bio-protection
+Bio-aesthetics
Biodeterioration
Bio-obscuration
-Bio-aesthetics
Threats Opportunities
Silk Road Heritage is BIG Buddha and me, Bingling Grottoes, Gansu Province
Silk Road Heritage faces many threats North Grotto Temple, Gansu province
Image credit: Qinglin Guo
Silk Road sites near Dunhuang, NW China
Suoyang ancient city: deteriorating earthen walls
Using cellular automata modeling to aid conservation of Suoyang
Image credits: Jerome Mayaud and Jenny Richards
Geographers researching heritage