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EU GREEN - WP3 Research

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Cluster 4Heritages and Tourism

The preservation and transformation of heritage, be it natural, material, documentary, intangible, or digital, has become a critical concern across cultural, social, economic, environmental, and geopolitical dimensions. It entails safeguarding collective memory and cultural identities in all their diversity while also adapting heritage to contemporary transformations: growing urbanisation, climate change, armed conflict, migration, and accelerating globalisation. In this context, heritage is not only a legacy to be protected, but also a resource to be activated, as a driver of sustainable development, territorial attractiveness, and social cohesion. 

 

Cluster 4 adopts a multidisciplinary and critical approach to heritage, structured around four main areas of inquiry: 

 

  1. Creation and (Re)Discovery of Heritage and Cultures 

  2. Preservation and Circulation of Heritage 

  3. Historical Trajectories and Dynamics of Transformation 

  4. Heritage Valorisation and Tourism 

 

Transversal issues such as inclusion (addressing gender, disability, and local communities), multilingualism, and the diversity of knowledge systems (scientific, professional, vernacular, amateur), and datafication, run through each of these axes. The themes listed below are indicative and non-exhaustive. 

 

1. Creation and (Re)Discovery of Heritage and Cultures 

 

This first axis focuses on the processes through which heritage is constructed, recognised, and renewed. It investigates creative cultural practices, artistic and literary expression, collective imaginaries, documentary practices and identity formation through diverse perspectives: aesthetics of landscape and environment, arts in all forms, critical debate, intercultural communication, and cultural relationships. In this perspective, it includes the recognition of natural heritage and biodiversity: the (re)discovery of ecosystems, species, and landscapes emerges as an essential dimension of heritage-making, intertwining cultural values and ecological significance. 

 

Particular attention is paid to identity-making processes, including the histories of childhood, gender, and the body, as well as the role of digital cultures and archives. In this context, understanding how legal frameworks and evolving rights of minority groups influence cultural creation and identity-building will be of interest. The emergence of digital heritage is a key area of interest, whether in terms of preservation, access, or its symbolic and societal meanings. Biocultural diversity and natural heritage also generate new challenges and opportunities, enhancing landscapes, revitalising ecological knowledge, and embedding living environments within the shared values and practices of communities. This makes it necessary to consider new sensitive approaches to natural and cultural environments and lived landscapes, beyond inherited or unthought-of oppositions between legitimate heritage on the one hand and delegitimised heritage on the other. 

 

This axis also explores how innovation, technological, social, economic, intersects with culture, raising key questions about sustainable development. These issues are especially relevant in sectors such as the performing arts and events industries, but also in conservation institutions, where creative practices, preservation imperatives and cultural promotion must increasingly engage with ecological constraints. 

 

 

 

2. Preservation and Circulation of Heritage 

 

The second axis explores the practices, strategies, and policies aimed at safeguarding and transmitting heritage. It addresses architectural regeneration, landscape planning, and sustainable urban and rural development, considering how these intersect with local economic and social dynamics. It also comprises research activities related to the roles of public authorities and local governance in heritage protection, including recent legal developments. In this context, heritage preservation increasingly encompasses environmental struggles and ecological awareness: safeguarding natural habitats, species, and landscapes, as well as the preservation of water resources, have become an integral part of heritage policies, reflecting broader societal concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable stewardship. 

 

Case studies (Angers, Évora, Extremadura, Oradea, Parma) offer insights into how heritage can support territorial resilience in the face of crises, climate change, pandemics, or economic shocks, and how tourism and mobility are reshaping heritage conservation practices, sometimes by being a source of ecological threat or destruction for natural and cultural landscapes excluded from traditional definition of heritage. They also demonstrate how ecological concerns increasingly intersect with cultural and natural heritage challenges, highlighting the need for integrated approaches. The diversity of actors includes   public and private organisations, associations, academics, and local communities. This further reveals the tensions between valuing natural heritage as a common good or as a local resource, and underscores the complex task of reconciling conservation with cultural, social, economic, and environmental objectives. 

 

The axis also includes archaeological and scientific heritage, with a focus on the management of sites, naturalist data/collections and museums, the use of new technologies for storytelling and visitor engagement, and the integration of research into heritage development. Archival science plays a central role, both as a repository of memory and as a means of fostering knowledge accessibility and circulation. 

 

3. Historical Trajectories and Dynamics of Transformation 

 

This axis examines the historical evolution of heritage, analysing its transformation over time through cultural, political, environmental, and epistemological lenses. It addresses how climate change, conflict, and shifting geopolitical landscapes affect heritage and cultural practices. It also considers the historical trajectories of natural heritage and biodiversity, exploring how human activity, environmental change, and conservation efforts have shaped ecosystems, species, and landscapes over time. This axis also aims to integrate a critical perspective on justice, equity, and the impact of political decision-making and conflict on heritage. 

 

Themes include representations of reality, models of identity and otherness, and vulnerabilities within the heritage and tourism sectors. The role of institutions in recognising and empowering minority, giving a place to migrants, youth and marginalised population, and a recognition for marginalised heritage is also central, as are questions of justice, inclusion, and equity. 

 

In parallel, the axis examines how ecological knowledge, traditional practices, and environmental activism have historically influenced the recognition and preservation of natural heritage, revealing the intertwined evolution of culture and nature. 

 

This axis explores the histories of specific forms of heritage, religious, botanical, scientific, maritime, literary, medical, artistic, archival, through the history of ideas and the development of scientific thought. It also considers the heritage of conflict and coexistence, colonial histories, and cross-cultural exchanges, with a focus on how these shape contemporary heritage discourses and power relations. 

 

4. Heritage Valorisation in a Changing World 

 

The final axis focuses on how heritage is valued and mobilised in the context of global change, particularly through tourism. It considers how heritage-based tourism contributes to territorial development, while also engaging with the challenges of sustainability and innovation. 

 

Topics include tourism governance and public policy (with local authorities), the emergence of new forms of tourism (slow tourism, ecotourism, agrotourism, sports tourism), and the environmental and social impacts of tourism practices. Case studies (Angers, ATU, Évora, Oradea, Parma) offer comparative perspectives on innovation and resilience in tourism development. 

 

 

The axis also explores digital archaeology, immersive technologies, and heritage communication through digital tools, as well as strategies to mitigate the negative effects of tourism through better environmental management and education. In this context, natural heritage and biodiversity serve as key resources for educational initiatives, awareness-raising, and community engagement, reinforcing the link between cultural and ecological sustainability. It also tackles the effects of these valorisation practices on the receiving territories, their inhabitants, the service offer, the workers. In that, developing regulatory innovation, sustainable tourism policies, and participatory approaches constitutes a key step for heritage management. 

 

Finally, it investigates the co-constitution of tourism and heritage: how heritage is reshaped through tourism, how knowledge is transmitted between experts and non-experts, and how the circulation of cultural knowledge can foster inclusive, creative, and sustainable territorial development, particularly in rural areas most affected by globalisation. By integrating natural and ecological heritage, this axis underscores how culture and nature are mutually constitutive, and how heritage valorisation can promote both societal and environmental resilience in a rapidly changing world and a context of global ecological crisis. 

 

The Role of Philosophy, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in Addressing Environmental and Sustainability-Related Issues - (PHASSES)

Contact : Simona BERTOLINI (University of Parma) simona.bertolini @ unipr.it; Jorge Croce Rivera (University of Evora)  rivera @ uevora.pt 

Since the Brundtland Report (1987) and the adoption of the SDGs in the UN 2030 Agenda (2015), the critical role of social factors in environmental challenges has been increasingly recognized. For instance, the Brundtland Report highlighted how poverty and unsustainable consumption in industrialized countries negatively affect the environment, and how social inequalities exacerbate environmental problems in the developing world, thereby stressing the interconnectedness of social, environmental, and economic dimensions. The Report thus implicitly acknowledges that balancing the value and significance of each of the three pillars of sustainability (People, Planet, and Profit) also means recognizing the intrinsic presence of the social pillar within both the ecological and economic dimensions, and its centrality in their interconnection. It follows that there is a need for a development model that prioritizes the well-being of people and communities, ensuring equity and promoting social justice as integral components of a sustainable future. As is widely known, the 2030 Agenda goes in this direction.

The Report’s definition of sustainable development emphasizes the importance of meeting the needs of the present and current generations (including social aspects such as access to healthcare, education, and decent work), without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This underscores the importance of ensuring that future generations have this chance, which requires addressing social inequalities and promoting equitable access to resources and opportunities.

However, from a philosophical and ethical perspective, these two temporal dimensions ‒ present and future ‒ remain incomplete without a consideration of the past, not meant as a forgotten past, but as one preserved in memory, habits, traditions, achievements and failures, and even trauma. The comprehension of social structures and relationships requires not only a deep understanding of the bonds between individuals, groups, communities, and institutions ‒ as well as their relationship with nature ‒ but also an exploration of the cultural foundations upon which they are built. In this respect, grasping, interpreting, and explaining the dimension of the past requires integrating perspectives from disciplines that attend to its quality, to the complexity of human historicity and temporality (both social and individual), and to the historicity and temporalities of the ecological and economic realms, insofar as these are interwoven with and dependent upon the social realm lato sensu.

That is why the contribution and collaboration of philosophy, the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts are essential for addressing both the concept and the practical realization of sustainability: from the lively experiences expressed in literary works to the ethical values explored in philosophy and rooted in both religion and education; from anthropological worldviews to sociological and psychological perspectives; from the opportunities offered by theatrical practices to the holistic synthesis of landscape architecture; from adaptive technologies to aesthetic innovations. All these disciplines are grounded in mental attitudes and creative practices ‒ that is, in theoretical reflection, hermeneutic methods, and a diversity of interpretive and project-based approaches ‒ which enable us to investigate the complex field of sustainability in light of all its temporal dimensions, including the opportunity to engage in synchronic conversations with diverse non-Western traditions.

The sciences that underpin the ecological and economic pillars cannot ignore the fact that the very critical attitudes and dispositions mentioned above are inherently present within their own epistemological frameworks. Whether explicitly or implicitly, such disciplines engage in interpretive and reflective practices that must remain in active dialogue with the full complexity of human experience, its historical depth, cultural dynamics, and the entangled relationship between human and non-human worlds. In this regard, the concept of environment stands out as an emblematic testing ground, as it is a scientific concept whose inherent complexity cuts across the entirety of the human world (both at the individual and collective levels), forcing contemporary humanity to rethink its relationship with the planet and its own historical self-understanding.

Based on these premises, we propose to establish a working group that takes seriously the role of theoretical inquiry, the hermeneutic competence central to scientific approaches, and the challenges posed by project-based arts in addressing environmental and sustainability issues. The group will be open to colleagues from various disciplines who wish to explore and deepen these epistemological commitments and virtues. Its formal title will be: “The Role of Philosophy, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in Addressing Environmental and Sustainability-Related Issues” (PHASSES).

As the title suggests, the group aims to expand opportunities for research and collaboration within the EU GREEN Alliance by creating an international network that brings together philosophy, the humanities, the human and social sciences, and the arts. The goal is to coordinate the potential of these disciplines in addressing the implications and challenges of the environmental crisis and sustainability-related issues, thereby providing additional support to both Cluster 4 (Sustainable tourism for cultural and natural heritage) and Cluster 5 (Education sciences for sustainable development) of Work Package 3. Indeed, it is clear that the aforementioned disciplines contribute to both defining the notion of “natural and cultural heritage” and reflecting on the foundations, meaning, and context of effective educational practices. Of course, contributions from other disciplines and thematic fields are not excluded, but they are very much welcome.

Since its inception, a driving question behind this under-cluster has been: What kind of transformation in intelligibility, awareness, behavior, and action is required in order to take sustainability seriously and ethically in the face of today’s social, ecological, and economic challenges? Drawing on the distinction made by Carlo Michelstaedter in Persuasion and Rhetoric (1913), we ask: How can the practice of sustainability be pursued in a truly persuasive ‒ and not merely rhetorical ‒ way? And how can our understanding and our proposals remain critically aware of the three inseparable dimensions ‒ environmental, communal, and individual ‒ as recognized by thinkers such as Félix Guattari (The Three Ecologies, 1989) and Pope Francis (Laudato Si’, 2015)?

By thoughtfully engaging with our intellectual and cultural traditions (including their errors and illusions), we aim to foster a transformation in consciousness and attitudes toward today’s complex realities, simultaneously understanding this challenge as a cultural opportunity and a call for research concerning human experience. From this core question, we hope to develop, collaboratively or in small working groups, meaningful lines of research, methodological processes, innovative teaching practices, and strategies for dissemination of results.

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