Heritage and identity: co-production and wellbeing in heritage projects

Souto, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0110-0137, Ullathorne, A and Dunham, L, 2025. Heritage and identity: co-production and wellbeing in heritage projects. In: Hönig, S, ed., Heritage and democracy. Art-Books . Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, pp. 38-47. (Forthcoming)

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Abstract

This paper reports on Building on History, a project developed through Historic England (HE) and Historic Environment Scotland (HES), the main public bodies looking after the historic environment of England and Scotland. The project formed part of the umbrella programme Outreach to Ownership Pilot, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (England and Scotland). Building on History (delivered in two phases during 2021–2023) was a partnership project that supported community-led research, aiming to explore the value of the arts and humanities for minoritised communities, and promoted more inclusive forms of engagement with culture and heritage. The main stakeholders were Heritage Lincolnshire (HL), who secured the funding, and managed and led the project; community leaders and their groups, with whom the format was co-designed and the content of the workshops co-created; and academics and students from Nottingham Trent University (NTU), who facilitated the co-design and delivery of community workshops and project outputs such as questionnaires and websites.

Through the delivery of funded projects, HL and NTU have honed more democratic approaches to community participation in heritage, encouraging the promotion of cultural pride and identity and resulting in better wellbeing outcomes. In this paper, members of HL and NTU share their approaches to co-production and engagement on the Building on History project, within the Outreach to Ownership Pilot Programme – ranging from the development of heritage engagement strategies (outreach) to the co-creation of accessible digital tools that enabled the recognition of diverse heritage(s) (ownership). These methodologies are adaptable, flexible, and inclusive and enable communities to shape their places and recognise, as they did during the workshops, what they value – in other words, their heritage.

Item Type:	Chapter in book
Creators:	Souto, A., Ullathorne, A. and Dunham, L.
Publisher:	arthistoricum.net
Place of Publication:	Heidelberg
Date:	2025
Identifiers:	Number Type 2457991 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	25 Sep 2025 08:31
Last Modified:	25 Sep 2025 08:31
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54423

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