College of Social Sciences

By Rebecca Madgin (Professor of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow) and Tom Mayes (Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, National Trust for Historic Preservation)

Over the last few years, evidence that captures the economic, social and increasingly the environmental value of the past has demonstrated the outcomes and outputs of investment in urban heritage. What is less understood are the inputs into this process. Why do people want to live, work and play in historic urban places? Why are historic places seen as special by a range of people? Why can we not countenance the loss of certain historic places? To address these questions this session focuses on the emotional dimensions of historic urban places. 

Rebecca and Tom will first present their own short introductions to the material based on their recent work, in Rebecca’s case the findings from her AHRC Leaders Fellowship project which examined emotional attachments to historic urban places and Tom will build on the ideas found with his 2018 publication ‘Why Old Places Matter: How Historic Places Affect Our Identity and Well-Being’. Both will argue that understanding why historic places matter emotionally to a range of different people is crucial to understanding the importance of heritage.  

Rebecca and Tom will then join the audience in conversation to discuss why and how heritage matters emotionally and the opportunities and challenges this presents for heritage theories and practices. 

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Watch a live recording of this event > Passcode: 6.teFh2d

First published: 3 March 2022