Watch now! There’s a new animation to explain the heritage futures work of @UnescoChairLNU This short animation explains the need for futures thinking among cultural heritage professionals. Cultural heritage reminds us of the past and has present values and uses, but how will future generations benefit from it? The concept of “Heritage Futures” is about the responsibilities that living generations have for the wellbeing of future generations – how decisions made today affect what happens in the future.

We’d love to hear what you think!

Background: UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures

What cultural heritage do we leave behind and to what benefit for people in the future? Established in 2017, the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures provides tools for creative and critical futures thinking.

  • Which future or futures do we preserve the heritage for?
  • Which heritage will help future generations solve important challenges?
  • How can we develop futures thinking (and futures literacy) among heritage professionals worldwide?

The book “Cultural Heritage and the Future” (edited together with Anders Högberg and published in 2021 by Routledge) is one outcome of the Chair’s work. More information about the Chair on the website of Linnaeus University, or follow the project on Twitter.

Documents

Education and Training
Why Cultural Heritage Needs Foresight
2022 | Cornelius Holtorf | Pages: 4
Comment
Cornelius Holtorf, Anders Högberg (2022) Why Cultural Heritage Needs Foresight. ABSTRACT: In this text, we argue that the cultural heritage sector, including Heritage Science, needs to address an inherent lack of capability in futures thinking by enhancing foresight and ‘futures literacy’. The sector ought to take seriously the consequences of the insight that the uses and values of cultural heritage in future societies will be different from those in the present and in the past. Foresight and futures literacy will allow the cultural heritage sector to respond to climate change and other global developments, risks and challenges anticipated by futurists.