Heritage under Threat. Endangered Monuments and Heritage Sites

Dear Colleagues,

Monuments and heritage sites worldwide are constantly being affected by environmental and other types of factors that bring about the deterioration of materials, structures and landscapes; these processes are accepted as part of the natural cycle of these buildings and sites. Other acute threats are considered more impactful and require immediate action, including floods and fire, hurricanes and cyclones, earthquakes and landslides.

In addition to the continued action of the above, climate change is today considered to be the main driving force accelerating previously existing threats, as well as introducing new ones. Gradual changes in temperature, precipitation, atmospheric moisture, and wind intensity, as well as sea level rise and changes in the occurrence of extreme events, are already affecting cultural heritage sites. In addition, sea level rise, desertification, and the interaction between climatic changes and air pollution have also been identified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as threats to the tangible cultural heritage.

Many studies and reviews over the years, starting from the early 1990s, have explored the effects of climate change on built heritage (Viles 2002, Brimblecombe 2003, Cassar and Pender 2005, Fatorić and Seekamp 2015, Sesana et al. 2021); the effects on archaeological sites and their contexts (landscapes) have also been studied (Rowland 1992, Daly 2013). Adaptation (and mitigation) measures are now also the subject of research (Haugen and Mattsson 2011, Cassar J. 2016, Sesana et al. 2018, 2020).

However, there are also anthropological threats, ranging from urban sprawl to neglect, from irresponsible interventions to downright vandalism and mere ignorance. In addition, we need to acknowledge the collateral and sometimes deliberate destruction of heritage during war.

The aim of this Special Issue is therefore to put a spotlight on the numerous risks and threats that our built heritage is being faced with. Whilst there is a clear emphasis on climate changes and its effects, other long-standing threats are also included. This Special Issue also wishes to highlight possible adaptation and mitigation measures to deal with these threats, as well as indirect consequences to the intangible, including livelihoods and wellbeing.

This Special Issue will therefore include papers from these diverse topics:

• Heritage Buildings, Archaeological Sites and Landscapes under threat from:
  • Earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes and other forces of nature;
  • Climate change and its consequences;
  • Pollution (urban and non-urban);
  • Anthropological pressures;
  • War and terrorism.

• Adaptation and mitigation measures related to the above:
  • Indigenous;
  • Modern;
  • Innovative.

• Review papers on legislation, guidelines and recommendations:
  • International;
  • National;
  • Regional;
  • Local.

• Overviews on the effects of tangible threats to buildings and sites on the intangible:
  • Traditions and customs;
  • Ways of life;
  • Effects on tourism;
  • Loss of landscape.

Prof. Dr. JoAnn Cassar
Dr. John J. Hughes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• built heritage, archaeological sites and landscapes
• threats and risk
• forces of nature
• climate and pollution
• anthropological effects
• war and terrorism
• tangible affecting the intangible
• adaptation and mitigation

Title: The Cultural Landscape in Palestine between the Hammer of Urbanization and Nostalgia for a Vanishing Landscape
Authors: Shadi Sami Ghadban
Affiliation: Birzeit University, Palestine
Abstract: This paper discusses the current reality of the cultural landscape in Palestine and the reasons that pushed and are still pushing towards successive transformations that threaten this scene with destruction. The landscape in Palestine is considered an essential component of the local environment, and it has always been the one that constitutes the urban landscape, regardless of the geographical characteristics in an area depicted by the presence of four climatic zones adjacent to each other in a relatively narrow and small area. Therefore, the utilitarian, as well as the defensive approach, in the planning and growth of urban sites was the dominant factor in most cases. This paper will attempt to shed light on the current practices in dealing with this cultural landscape, which is eroding at an accelerating pace, and to discuss the compatibility or contradiction of this approach with the world practices and trends in dealing with the cultural landscape.

Title: Pastoral Landscapes under Threat: Contestation and Preservation on the Maltese Archipelago
Authors: Gianmarco Alberti; Reuben Grima; Nicholas Vella; Kurt Xerri; David Zammit
Affiliation: University of Malta, Malta
Abstract: Landscapes have been shaped and reshaped by humans to meet the changing needs of shifting subsistence strategies and demographic patterns. In the Mediterranean region, a widespread subsistence strategy that has left a major imprint is pastoralism, often tied with transhumance. Pastoralism may leave an imprint in legal rights in addition to its archaeological imprint on the landscape. The rapid transformations of subsistence strategies witnessed in the twentieth century has given rise to a number of threats to pastoral landscapes, ranging from abandonment following demographic decline in some regions, to displacement by other activities in regions with growing populations. This paper explores how the values and management of such landscapes require holistic assessment, taking into account the intangible practices and embedded legal rights and obligations that maintained these systems, as well as their physical imprint on the ground. The Mediterranean archipelago of Malta presents an interesting case where pastoralism has practically disappeared, while its physical imprint persists in the form of a network of droveways that are a durable feature of the cultural landscape. This network may also represent a forgotten system of what was once a carefully regulated form of commons. Burgeoning demographic growth has meanwhile resulted in immense pressures on the landscape, as new uses are erasing large tracts of the historic environment. Against this backdrop of contestation, this paper draws on legal as well as archaeological approaches, to examine if and how historic and traditional rights may still be relevant today in the preservation of a landscape that is severely threatened, and whether it may contribute to its sustainable enjoyment.

Title: Cultural Heritage under Risk: A Need of Integrated Approach
Authors: Paula Jimena Matiz-López
Affiliation: Cultural Heritage Faculty, Externado de Colombia University
Abstract: In several respects, the changing environment and its affectation over cultural heritage is no longer a prospective estimation rather than a current reality. In addition, a large literature has established a persistent association between climate change and its likelihood of altering daily life of communities. Considering the strong link between communities and their own cultural heritage, the study of impacts of climate change poses a challenging requirement: an integrated approach to reflect multiple variables. This paper has two main aims: first, to stress the interdependency between environmental and social variables. Second, it examines the need of holistic perspectives. In particular, the paper explores the prospects for systematic and integrated methodologies for the risk identification, analysis, and assessment. To conclude, the work argues about the effectiveness of adaptation and prevention measures when the integration of variables is considered.

Title: Assessing the long-COVID impact on heritage organisations
Authors: Colin Seymour; Ari Volanakis; Kalliopi Fouseki
Affiliation: University College London
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to understand the long-COVID impact on cultural heritage organisations, and future research needed. COVID-19 was disruptive to cultural heritage socio-economic activities across the world during 2020 and 2021. Whilst government intervention and changes from physical to digital engagement generally prevailed, the long-COVID impact on cultural heritage organisations, their people and users, buildings, and collections remains unknown. The extent, also, to which financing, curating, visiting, and volunteering patterns have changed is uncertain. Following the pandemic closures and associated support, cultural heritage organisations are facing continuing economic, social, political, environmental, technological, and organisational culture pressures. This research examines the existing academic literature, sector publications, annual reports, and sector professional views, to understand whether cultural heritage organisations have long-COVID, whether they can survive another pandemic, and what further research is needed to be better prepared. The impact themes are showing us change did not result to a new normal but to the need for a new space, consisting of blended space (physical and digital), mixed space (indoors and outdoors), and community of practice space (isolated or cross-sector networking space). The literature highlights the significance of the sector coming together during the pandemic to share knowledge and support through its networks. It also highlights how important it is for such unity not to be lost but to be harnessed to support ongoing organisational sustainability and better preparedness for future crises. Finally, future research suggestions are proposed grouped in social, digital, financial, and operational research themes.

Title: A Survey of Overheating in Historic Buildings in the UK
Authors: Benjamin Wright; Pakhee Kumar
Affiliation: UCL
Abstract: A study reviewing overheating in Historic Buildings in the context of extant climate change. Due to global warming, more research is required when considering summertime thermal comfort in the UK, which is a more significant topic of conversation due to the heatwave in 2022. With a large demographic of the UK population residing in dwellings with historic value, this paper aimed to contribute findings that review their specific traits in respect of overheating. This was achieved by monitoring and analysing internal (and external environmental data) in three case studies in the South-East. Upon examination of the literature, many buildings in the UK are consistently subject to temperatures that exceed overheating. It was found that many properties of historic buildings lend themselves to summertime cooling such as higher thermal mass, better ventilation (without the use of mechanical or active systems) and less insulation. This, however, could come at the cost of winter thermal comfort. All three case studies the surveyed buildings passed the CIBRE criteria, but users still commented on being ‘too hot’. The high recorded RH levels in all properties coupled with the inadequate overheating criterion were deemed the cause. There are new regulations in place to minimize overheating in new buildings, but no support for those that are already existing.