Search Results (14)

This article compares urban planning affecting historic buildings in Berlin and Stockholm. It examines some cases of preservation, demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings: the Hansa Quarter and the Palace of the Republic in Berlin, and Sergels torg with the House of Culture and Vällingby in Stockholm. Today, while Berlin has opted for reconstruction in several cases, Stockholm is preserving the status quo achieved by the large-scale demolitions during the 1950s and 1960s. Different historic approaches in urban planning are subsumed under the categories “architecture as wellbeing” and “the automotive city.” The policy cycle serves as a framework for a qualitative content analysis of debates on urban planning in both city councils. The article tests the hypothesis whether war destructions present in Berlin, but not in Stockholm, can explain the lack of plans for reconstruction of historic buildings in Stockholm. The examination of historic developments and current legislation on German and Swedish cultural policy and the case studies of the above-named buildings yield the result that the hypothesis is proven wrong. Instead, possible explanations for the lack of will to reconstruct in Stockholm are Swedish legal tradition since the 19th century, which provides little and weak protection to historic buildings, and the “people’s home” ideology shaping the Swedish self-perception as a modern nation. International legislation on monument protection such as the ICOMOS-ICCROM Guidance on Post-Disaster and Post-Conflict Recovery and Reconstruction (2023), which becomes ever more encompassing, will perhaps introduce a future policy change. Full article

The increasing availability of digital documentation in cultural heritage has amplified the need for interoperable systems capable of integrating heterogeneous data and supporting risk-informed conservation strategies. In the field of Disaster Risk Management (DRM), the application of structured methodologies—such as the ICCROM-CCI ABC Method—is often hindered by fragmented data sources, inconsistent terminology, and limited interoperability across institutions. This study presents a semantic workflow for the harmonization, enrichment, and integration of cultural heritage risk assessment data within a CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC-CRM)-compliant environment. The proposed system is structured as an Extract–Transform–Load (ETL) pipeline that converts heterogeneous assessment records into interoperable semantic knowledge graphs. The workflow combines controlled vocabularies, project-specific thesauri for risk agents and heritage typologies, and formal ontology mapping implemented through the Mapping Memory Manager (3M) and executed with the X3ML engine. The resulting data are deployed within a ResearchSpace environment, enabling semantic querying, cross-dataset exploration, and integration with external knowledge infrastructures. The workflow was applied to a dataset comprising 295 cultural heritage sites in the municipality of Ravenna (Italy). The transformation process generated a CIDOC-CRM-compliant knowledge graph containing 134,611 RDF triples and 18,954 entities, integrating information on cultural assets, risk scenarios, actors, documentary resources, and quantitative risk assessments. Through the adoption of persistent identifiers and semantic mappings, the workflow also supports interoperability with external cultural heritage resources, including ArCo and GeoNames, facilitating the contextualization and enrichment of local risk assessment data. By transforming fragmented assessment records into structured and interoperable knowledge, the proposed workflow contributes to bridging semantic and information gaps in cultural heritage risk management. The study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating risk assessment data within an ontology-based semantic infrastructure and highlights its potential to support data integration, semantic interoperability, knowledge reuse, and future decision-support applications for preventive conservation and territorial risk management. Full article

(1) Background: This study develops a hybrid assessment matrix for the early identification of material-related risks in adaptive reuse projects, with a particular focus on material conservation. The Material Conservation for Adaptive Reuse Risk Evaluation Matrix (M-CARE) integrates UNESCO Tools, the ICCROM ABC Method and its agents of deterioration, and the material damage classifications of the MDCS Damage Atlas. (2) Methods: The framework was tested through a case study of Issız Han, an Early Ottoman caravanserai. Risk mechanisms identified through M-CARE were compared with deterioration patterns documented after 18 years of post-reuse operation. The comparison focused on the degree of correspondence between predicted deterioration mechanisms and observed deterioration patterns. (3) Results: The findings indicate a high degree of correspondence between the deterioration mechanisms identified through M-CARE and the deterioration patterns documented during field surveys. In particular, moisture-related deterioration patterns showed substantial correspondence with the risks identified during the assessment stage. The results also highlight the influence of cumulative microclimatic factors and the value of complementary analytical approaches for evaluating long-term deterioration processes. (4) Conclusions: M-CARE provides a practical and rapidly applicable decision-support framework for the early identification and classification of material-related risks in adaptive reuse projects, supporting more informed conservation planning and proactive heritage management. Full article

Disaster Risk Management (DRM) for cultural heritage is increasingly recognized as a global priority, yet methodological harmonization and conceptual inconsistencies continue to hinder its effective implementation. This study develops and tests an integrated framework for Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA) applied to the Arian Baptistery of Ravenna—part of the UNESCO World Heritage property Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna since 1996. By combining elements from the ICCROM ABC Method, the IPCC/UNDRR conceptual models, and the QuiskScan model associated with the Nara Grid for value assessment, the research identifies the essential data, definitions, and conditions required to prepare a coherent risk knowledge base. The workflow includes five main steps: context analysis, stakeholder mapping, value assessment, terminological alignment, and risk components systematization. Results demonstrate that effective DRA depends not only on technical assessment of hazards but also on the integration of social, institutional, and governance factors that shape vulnerability. The study also proposes a hybrid hazard framework combining ICCROM’s Ten Agents of Deterioration with the UNDRR 2025 List of Hazards, expanding the concept of “dissociation” to include governance failures and socio-political risks. The Arian Baptistery thus serves as both a case study and a methodological laboratory, offering a replicable model for organizing knowledge, harmonizing terminology, and bridging disciplinary divides in cultural heritage risk management. Full article

The accelerating impacts of climate change present critical challenges to cultural heritage, particularly in the Mediterranean region where hydroclimatic extremes are intensifying. Future estimates for the Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, suggest more intense precipitation patterns, increased rainfall intensity and water-induced material degradation. This study aims to identify current and projected climate-related threats to the site and to inform adaptive strategies that safeguard both its physical integrity and its associated heritage values through a value-based approach. Opting for a heritage value-based risk assessment, the study employs a mixed-methods technical approach grounded in the Conceptual Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction of UNISDR and ICCROM’s “ABC Method” for the risk assessment of climatic threats that combines GIS-based hydrological modelling (HAND), field observations and existing material assessments with NARA Grids to link exposure, vulnerability and value loss. Results reveal intensified surface water runoff and localised water inundation threatening key monuments, particularly the Roman Odeion and the central part of the site’s ensemble, while frost-related risks are projected to decline towards 2100. The findings suggest the development of site-specific climate change adaptation that prioritises drainage enhancement, preventive conservation and continuous monitoring to preserve its Outstanding Universal Values under changing climatic conditions. Full article

Futures Literacy, as defined and promoted by UNESCO, is the capability to imagine, question, and use the future as a resource for better understanding the present and acting with intention. When applied to Cultural Heritage Education, it reframes heritage from a static object of preservation into a dynamic anticipatory system that evolves through dialogue between past, present, and future. This integrative approach enables learners and communities to strengthen what can be called cultural adaptive capacity, understood as the ability to ensure continuity of identity and traditions, to promote responsive innovation in the face of change, and to transmit heritage knowledge across generations. This entry situates Futures Literacy within a wider theoretical framework that includes complexity theory, anticipatory systems, and sustainability education. It emphasizes that heritage education must increasingly address uncertainty, diversity of perspectives, and interconnected challenges such as globalization, climate change, and cultural transformations. UNESCO Futures Literacy Laboratories conducted in different regions of the world, as well as ICCROM’s foresight initiatives, provide concrete examples of how anticipatory competences can be fostered in varied cultural contexts, demonstrating both universal patterns and context-specific adaptations. By embedding Futures Literacy into heritage education, cultural heritage becomes a living resource for nurturing resilience, global citizenship, and creativity. It allows communities not only to preserve their legacy but also to reimagine it as a driver of innovation and inclusion. Ultimately, this perspective highlights the potential of education to enhance cultural sustainability, foster intergenerational solidarity, and cultivate temporal justice, preparing societies to face the uncertainties of the future with confidence and responsibility. Full article

This paper reviews the apparent impact of how changes in nitrate, sulphate activities, and moisture affect the surface pH of rock art paintings at Cueva del Ratón, in the Sierra de San Francisco in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The data was collected after atypical weather events caused rain and mist in this normally arid area. The rock art paintings had been previously examined over several years and observed the unexpected formation of silica skins over some surfaces; such coatings are not often experienced in arid environments. The local geology of the cave and the availability of moisture can dramatically alter the microbiological activity on faecal material and development of surface acidity from such reactions which interacts with both the host rock and the pigments. Through a series of surface pH measurements and localised measurements on chloride, sulphate and nitrate it appears that both nitrate and sulphate concentrations have a significant impact on the surface pH, which is controlled by a diffusion-based movement of moisture from the closed to the open end of the shelter. The exfoliation of the rock surface and formation of the silica skins involves chemical reactions as contrasted with diffusion-controlled reactions which distribute the metabolites of the yeasts, moulds and bacteria, which are dominated by the availability of water through drip lines. The results are particularly relevant due to changing weather patterns in the last decade, caused by climate change, with an increase in hurricanes directly affecting the Baja California peninsula. The use of disposable test strips for semi-quantitative assessment of how these major anions impact on the decay mechanisms was a novel response to budget constraints and the remoteness of the location. Full article

This study presents a comprehensive approach to risk management and planned preventative maintenance (PPM) for cultural heritage, focusing on the hypogeum archaeological site beneath the Chamber of Commerce in Rimini, Italy. Hypogeal environments pose unique conservation challenges due to their microclimates, biological threats, and structural vulnerabilities. Applying the ABC Method—developed by ICCROM and CCI—this research systematically identifies, analyzes, and prioritizes risks associated with agents of risks. The methodology was complemented by the Nara Grid to assess the site’s authenticity and cultural value, aiding in the delineation of risk areas and informing strategic conservation priorities. The study identifies efflorescence formation, flooding risks, and lack of management guidelines as extreme threats, proposing tailored treatments and practical interventions across multiple layers of control. Through environmental monitoring, empirical analysis, and a multidisciplinary framework, the research offers a replicable model for sustainable conservation and preventive heritage management in similar subterranean contexts. Full article

The research is grounded in the perspective of urban historical landscape (HUL), exploring the connections between cultural heritage and a broader urban context, as well as the general public and communities. It also focuses on small cultural heritage sites (SCHSs) in urban areas that have been overlooked in previous studies. By integrating various types of data, an assessment framework and methodology comprising six dimensions and 24 indicators were established and applied to the empirical research of 30 SCHSs in the Beijing section of the Grand Canal. The empirical research demonstrated the operability, effectiveness, and flexibility of the HUL assessment for SCHSs. The research findings are as follows. (1) The method provides differentiated recommendations for the formulation of tailored policies and planning management schemes based on heritage types, conservation levels, and the urban districts in which they are located. (2) The comprehensive quality of the open spaces where SCHSs are situated is critical for the cognition of the general public and community residents. (3) The overall conservation of the community areas containing SCHSs is highly significant, and the linkage between social development levels and cultural resources enhances public cognition of the SCHSs. (4) Cluster analysis offers guidance for the refined improvement of different SCHSs. The research aims to establish an action-oriented assessment framework, with a dimensional framework responding to the requirements of HULs and allowing for indicator flexibility. This study is significant for supporting the conservation and utilization of SCHSs in urban areas and for promoting their sustainable development. Full article

Cultural heritage preservation increasingly relies on data-driven technologies, yet most existing systems lack the cognitive and temporal depth required to support meaningful, transparent, and policy-informed decision-making. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for memory-enabled, semantically grounded AI agents in the cultural domain, showing how the integration of the ICCROM/CCI ABC method for risk assessment into the Panoptes ontology enables the structured encoding of risk cognition over time. This structured risk memory becomes the foundation for agentic reasoning, supporting prioritization, justification, and long-term preservation planning. It is argued that this approach constitutes a principled step toward the development of Cultural Agentic AI: autonomous systems that remember, reason, and act in alignment with cultural values. Proof-of-concept simulations illustrate how memory-enabled agents can trace evolving risk patterns, trigger policy responses, and evaluate mitigation outcomes through structured, explainable reasoning. Full article

Over the last century, architectural heritage conservation has evolved and transformed immensely. This study focuses on the origin of contemporary conservation theory from the 19th century and the Authorized Heritage Discourse: the doctrinal texts issued by ICOMOS, UNESCO, and ICCROM. Conservation philosophies from 5 theorists and 23 charters and documents are analyzed from a qualitative perspective. It is structured on three interwoven and complementary theses: first, a study of the 19th and 20th centuries is presented as the backbone of conservation theories; second, a detailed analysis of the Venice Charter is given; and third, an investigation into the authorized conservation policies after the establishment of the Venice Charter. The aim is to understand the evolution of architectural heritage conservation in the dynamics of the time and space of the last century, in theory and practice. The results demonstrate that architectural conservation began with a strong privilege of objectivity in practice to create a real, tangible, and static object that was concerned only with individual monuments or sites vulnerable to the trace of time, stylistic restoration, and armed conflicts. However, recent socio-economic and environmental demands and challenges have transformed this understanding to make conservation a subjective, dynamic, value-linked, and contextual-based approach. Such shifts result from realizing the additional potential of heritage buildings that can enhance viability and livability in communities; as existing resources with high material residual values, embodied material, and energy, their continuous renovation and rehabilitation contribute to urban environment resilience and decarbonization; and as a source of past experience rooted in all aspects of societies that can be used to educate and raise awareness about the crisis of climate change. Accordingly, four chapters in architectural heritage conservation have been identified: 1. It originated to preserve the authenticity and integrity of the material past by experts; 2. then, it moved to the protection of associated values, still with a strong tendency toward conservation of the authentic state of heritage buildings by experts and with local consultation; 3. the significant socio-economic role of heritage for the community made its conservation a democratic exercise by local people with the help of experts and governments; 4. realizing the environmental benefit of reusing existing resources, nowadays, conservation intermeshes with the sustainable development of communities through multi-stakeholder engagement in all decision-making processes. Full article

The preservation of heritage is crucial to successfully accomplish the Sustaining Development Goals (SDGs) because it leads to social unity; therefore, evaluating the decay mechanisms of stone-built heritage sites is critical to understanding the role of atmospheric conditions towards their conservation and to developing effective policies in the preservation of heritage and hence, community strength. In this paper, the differences of material decay between Italy’s and Mexico’s atmospheres and the perspectives to implement a more active role of the atmospheric sciences in the conservation of built heritage are presented. The risk assessment methodology proposed by the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is used to present the reviewed published research because it is one of the few methodologies suggested for amply analyzing cultural property. Currently, in Europe, most research is aimed either to estimate the future decay of built property or to assess the main threats to a single site, on sites for which building materials have been studied previously and on sites for which forecast models have been developed, and the results are useful towards a preventive conservation approach, although the damage functions were developed considering a single climate and might not perform well under different conditions. Built property, however, is present worldwide and the conditions of those studies are not met in most developing countries, as the variation in materials and atmospheric conditions has not been researched yet. This article intends to reduce this gap by comparing both approaches, acknowledging possible common courses of action, and highlighting the role of built heritage in SDGs. Full article

Collections-based organizations (CBOs) can play a crucial role in addressing sustainable development (SD), but their aspiration to become more sustainable, as seen in policies and guidelines, is confronted with several challenges in practice. To facilitate a sustainability transition, this process of change needs to be managed and adequate tools adopted and implemented. Many tools exist to support this transition; however, a scarcity of centralized resources available to CBOs might negatively affect the integration of sustainability practices in their work. With the aim to address this gap, ICCROM launched the project “Our Collections Matter” (OCM) and developed an online toolkit (OCMT) to centralize resources and help CBOs align their work to the UN Agenda 2030. Recently, a workshop was organized with professionals in the field to discuss shared challenges and aspirations and to test the OCMT. This study reflects on how such centralization of resources can contribute to overcoming existing challenges and support the sustainability aspirations of CBOs, fostering change in the field. To do that, the workshop outcomes are analyzed and discussed from a change management perspective, looking at the impact that the OCM project and its activities can have on fostering change, and the role that ICCROM can play in facilitating the sustainability transition of the field. Full article

Scientific research is sometimes subjected to go through field study in places that are difficult to access. Where man has not managed to reach through traditional techniques, work at height systems offer new possibilities, provide safety in exploration and represent an excellent tool that allows a new insight of spaces object of scientific research. For more than 20 years, the Ukhupacha team has been studying, analyzing and selecting the teams, techniques and rope progression systems that best adapt to archaeological works in vertical environments. The projects studied are developed in Pre-Columbian cultures of the Andean mountain range, the high Amazon jungle and its surroundings. As a result, a new working methodology called Vertical Archaeology has been developed. It prioritizes user’s safety by means of ropes when accessing archaeological research areas. The recommended and safest systems, techniques and personal protective equipment (PPE) are presented for each of the phases in which it is proposed to divide archaeological investigations: exploration, training and expedition. Using rope access techniques has allowed the safe study of new artistic and heritage aspects in ancient civilizations, as well as the approach of the scientific community to places that until now had remained hidden. Full article