Introduction to Heritage and Sustainability

The course provides an introduction to conservation (kulturvård) as a field, with particular emphasis on the relationship between heritage and sustainability. The course addresses the changing relationships between past, present and future, and links these to the sustainability challenges facing the world. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage are resources from the past that are recovered and reused in a caring way, but also a source of conflict. The course addresses the social, economic and environmental ethical trade-offs and conflicting goals that arise when, for example, museum objects, historic buildings and cultural environments are preserved, used, developed and decommissioned.