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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Method1

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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