Session: #707

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
Archaeology and the future of cities and urban landscapes
Session format:
Discussion session: round table

Title & Content

Title:
Archaeology, Parks and Public Spaces: Arenas for Social Integration and the Pursuit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Content:
Drawing on examples from across Europe, this session will explore the potential for archaeologists to take a leading role in helping establish a new purpose for urban public parks and other public spaces, thereby contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Just and sustainable development requires the adoption of problem-focused, people-centred and place-based approaches. To achieve this, the meaningful involvement of people “affected or likely to be affected by . . . decision-making” is crucial, but fragile urban communities, including migrants, are especially often divorced from yet prey to impacts from development decisions. Those communities need to be actively and meaningfully involved in determining these decisions.

Many of our historic public spaces are under serious and imminent threat from the economic crisis and dwindling civil authority resources. These public spaces also often represent microcosms of the layers of the past of the places in which they are situated, many preserving vestiges of the deep and more recent past in the form of archaeological monuments and historic structures. These “lungs of the city” have the potential be reimagined and reinvigorated to help tackle the challenges facing urban Europe today, serving as arenas in which to foster social integration through direct involvement in setting agendas and develop practical responses to several of the sustainable development goals.

Archaeologists can have a key role to play in this process, by using their knowledge and insights to help co-develop activity to build capacity while simultaneously addressing the conservation and management needs of these precious urban resources.
Keywords:
public space, parks, sustainable development
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no

Organisers

Main organiser:
Dr. Alan Leslie (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Ms Lily Mordechai (Greece) 2
Ms Aphrodite Sorotou (United Kingdom) 1
Affiliations:
1. Institute for Heritage & Sustainable Human Development
2. Med-INA (Mediterranean Institute for Nature & Anthropos)