The seventh year of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures
A new report covers the seventh year of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University. Among the highlights of the year were several global occasions at which our Chair could contribute with perspectives on 'Heritage Futures'.
This included the ICOMOS General Assembly 2023 held in Sydney, Australia, the Dubai Future Forum in Dubai, UAE, and UNESCO World Futures Day 2023 in December at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris where Cornelius Holtorf was running a topical plenary panel (photo in the head of the page).
On various occasions throughout the year, the team members had the chance to meet and connect with UNESCO Chairholders from different corners of the world, working on culture, heritage, the future, and other questions. Such meetings and exchanges of views are always stimulating and important, not the least as it contributes to strengthening global trust and joint multilateral engagements for a better world.
Heritage in Transformation
In spring, Cornelius Holtorf spent three months as a Conservation Guest Scholar at the Getty in Los Angeles, USA. His project was entitled “Heritage in Transformation” and explored how, in a world where the future is not what it used to be, we can conceptualize the past and practice cultural heritage in correspondingly new ways.
This report is published shortly after the 2024 UN Summit of the Future has been held in New York. The Summit agreed on a global Pact for the Future and a Declaration on Future Generations, both of which referring to culture and cultural heritage. It will be exciting to follow how this will strengthen the case for heritage futures in Sweden and the other UN member states across the years to come.
Please get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions!
Photo: Helena Rydén, UNESCO World Futures Day 2023 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (from left Pedro De Senna, Cornelius Holtorf and Laura Watts)
About the Chair
The UNESCO Chair Programme addresses pressing challenges in society. The Chairs serve as think tanks and bridge-builders between the academic world, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making, generating innovation through research, informing policy decisions, and establishing new teaching initiatives. The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University is one of eight UNESCO Chairs in Sweden and the only one in Sweden in the area of culture.
The concept of 'Heritage Futures' stands at the intersection of past legacies and tomorrow's possibilities. How can our present-day conservation practices shape the world of tomorrow? It's not just about safeguarding relics of the past, but about making them resonate in an evolving world full of challenges. How can futures literacy and foresight help us design the heritage of tomorrow? We develop strategies that can enhance how heritage shapes the future and build global capacity for futures thinking among heritage professionals.