Geography and Heritage: from Oxford to the Silk Road Heather Viles - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Geography and Heritage: from Oxford to the Silk Road Heather Viles 12 th 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

Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles Lulworth Cove, Dorset, England St Paul’s Cathedral , London Venice Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

Bamiyan, Afghanistan 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 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 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 ‘new’ sites

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 1870s Image credit: Unknown

Image credit: J W Thomas 1960s

Image credit: David Nicholls

Changing air pollution in Oxford: 1 90 80 70 Method� 1 60 Method� 2 50 Method� 3 40 30 20 10 0 Smoke and particulate concentrations μ g/m 3 , 1959-2007

Changing air pollution in Oxford: 2 120 High� Street� NO 2 100 80 St� Aldate ’ s NO 2 60 Broad� Street� NO 2 40 Urban� background� NO 2 20 Urban� background� PM 10 St� Aldate ’ s SO 2 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 NO 2 , SO 2 and PM 10 trends at roadside and urban background sites in Oxford, 1995-2008 in μ g/m 3

Silk Roads New collaborative project between Dunhuang Academy, Getty Conservation Institute and Oxford Geography Can nature help conserv rve Silk Road sites in NW China?

Plants and heritage conservation Biodeterioration Bioremediation Bio- -Bio- Bio- +Bio- obscuration aesthetics protection aesthetics Threats Opportunities

Si Silk Road Heritage is is BIG Buddha and me, Bingling Grottoes, Gansu Province

Image credit: Qinglin Guo Silk Road Heritage faces many threats North Grotto Temple, Gansu province

Silk Road sites near Dunhuang, NW China

Suoyang ancient city: deteriorating earthen walls

Using cellular automata modeling to aid conservation of f Suoyang Image credits: Jerome Mayaud and Jenny Richards

Geographers researching heritage