Postgraduate Course: Heritage Practice and Global Challenges (EFIE11445)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | *Programme Core Course: Cultural Heritage Futures (MSc)*
Please Note:
This course is only available to students enrolled on the Cultural Heritage Futures (MSc) degree programme.
This course combines approaches and experiences from heritage studies, archaeology, sociology, and politics to examine how heritage can help us to address social, economic, and environmental challenges at local to global scale. The course is designed to be hybrid, flexible and responsive; dialogue and direct interaction between participants will be encouraged. |
| Course description |
This course explores the multiple ways in which heritage can contribute to responding to today's major global challenges by linking international sustainable development agendas with local realities and needs. It introduces the evolution of debates connecting culture - including heritage - to sustainable development, positioning heritage as a key enabler for improved livelihoods, social well-being, and environmental sustainability. The course engages with current International Agreed Development Goals, including the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the United Nations Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development, and examines the strategies developed at international, national, and local levels to mobilise natural and cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, as part of development processes.
Students are introduced to the diverse strategies adopted by a wide range of stakeholders, including those embedded within UNESCO Conventions, preparedness and response frameworks, and sector-specific development strategies, aimed at making heritage part of the solution to global challenges. Throughout the course, evidence-based case studies drawn from applied research projects are used to demonstrate how heritage preservation and governance can contribute to economic, social, and environmental sustainability across different regions and contexts.
The course explores the relationship between cultural heritage and sustainable development by combining conceptual discussions, policy analysis, and applied case studies. Lectures introduce key debates on how heritage has been positioned within development thinking, examining international policy frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and UNESCO strategies, and analysing how heritage is mobilised within global governance agendas. The course also addresses the social dimensions of heritage-led development, including issues of community participation, power dynamics, and ethical considerations in decision-making processes. Environmental sustainability forms another core component, with particular attention to marine and coastal heritage, climate change, ocean governance, and the Blue Economy within the broader context of the UN Ocean Decade. Through lectures and collaborative group work, students engage with real-world examples and policy scenarios, developing critical perspectives on how heritage knowledge can inform professional practice, policy development, and advocacy in response to contemporary global challenges.
Through the combination of lectures, critical discussion, and progressive group-based analysis, the course equips students with both conceptual understanding and applied skills relevant to contemporary heritage practice. Guest researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of heritage and sustainable development contribute practical insights and professional perspectives, offering students valuable opportunities for networking and career development. Overall, the course aims to prepare students to critically engage with heritage as an active agent within global development debates, and to operate as reflective practitioners capable of navigating complex policy, ethical, and sustainability challenges in diverse professional contexts.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute delivers many of its courses in hybrid mode. This means that you may have some online students joining sessions for this course. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: in some cases, students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- All presentations, and whole class discussions will be recorded (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details).
- You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessments are seen as means of scaffolding and facilitating learning throughout the course.
In line with this ethos, the assessments are designed as follows:
1) Group Presentation (20%)
10-minutes group presentation on how Heritage contributes to Global Challenges.
Guidance will be provided in advance as well as informal presentations encouraged.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 5
2) Position Paper (80%)
3,000 word position paper. Requires students to reflect critically on whether and how heritage can contribute to sustainable development in the chosen areas, proposing innovative ways and recommendations based on the knowledge acquired during the course.
Students will reflect on how the identified heritage assets are impacted by current challenges, and whether and how they could be part of the solution rather than obstacles to sustainable development.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Students will receive formative feedback on their coursework orally during the classes as well as part of the discussions following lectures, and during the discussion boards on Learn.
Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to discuss issues and ask questions during the Course Organiser's office hours. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate critical understanding of the contribution of cultural heritage in the development of strategies addressing global challenges, notably in the framework of Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs).
- Implement culturally sensitive approaches to assess the different cases in which heritage can be an asset for economic, social, and environmental sustainable development.
- Critically analyse the challenges and potentials of data innovation in heritage practices aimed at sustainable development, identifying knowledge needs and gaps.
- Communicate the processes and outcomes of the critical analysis of how heritage can harness economic, social and environmental sustainable development to a wider audience.
- Collaborate as part of multicultural and diverse teams to develop recommendations for improving the ways in which heritage is leveraged to respond to the world's main challenges and sustainable development agendas.
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Reading List
Essential Reading:
Cross, Charlotte, and John Giblin. 2022. Critical Approaches to Heritage for Development. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003107361
Henderson, Jon. 2019. 'Oceans without History? Marine Cultural Heritage and the Sustainable Development Agenda.' Sustainability (Switzerland) 11 (18). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11185080.
Labadi, S. 2022. Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development. UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv280b66f
Petti, Luigi, Claudia Trillo, and Busisiwe Ncube Makore. 2020. 'Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Targets: A Possible Harmonisation? Insights from the European Perspective.' Sustainability 2020, Vol. 12, Page 926 12 (3): 926. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12030926.
Wiktor-Mach, Dobrostawa. 2018. 'What Role for Culture in the Age of Sustainable Development? UNESCO's Advocacy in the 2030 Agenda Negotiations.' 26 (3): 312-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2018.1534841.
Recommended Reading:
Bandarin, Francesco, Jyoti Hosagrahar, and Frances Sailer Albernaz. 2011. 'Why Development Needs Culture.' Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development 1 (1): 15-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/20441261111129906
Di Giovine, Michael. 2017. 'UNESCO's World Heritage Program: The Challenges and Ethics of Community Participation.' Between Imagined Communities of Practice 2015: 83-108. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.gup.213.
Giliberto, Francesca, and Sophia Labadi. 2021. 'Harnessing Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development: An Analysis of Three Internationally Funded Projects in MENA Countries.' https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2021.1950026.
Henderson, Jon, Colin Breen, Luciana Esteves, Annamaria La Chimia, Paul Lane, Solange Macamo, Garry Marvin, and Stephanie Wynne-Jones. 2021. 'Rising from the Depths Network: A Challenge-Led Research Agenda for Marine Heritage and Sustainable Development in Eastern Africa.' Heritage 2021, Vol. 4, Pages 1026-1048 4 (3): 1026-48. https://doi.org/10.3390/HERITAGE4030057.
Jelincic, Daniela Angelina, and Sanja Tisma. 2021. 'Ensuring Sustainability of Cultural Heritage through Effective Public Policies.' Urbani Izziv 31 (2): 78-87. https://doi.org/10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2020-31-02-002.
Labadi, Sophia. 2018. 'Historical, Theoretical and International Considerations on Culture, Heritage and (Sustainable) Development.' World Heritage and Sustainable Development: New Directions in World Heritage Management, July, 37-49. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315108049-4/
Nocca, Francesca. 2017. 'The Role of Cultural Heritage in Sustainable Development: Multidimensional Indicators as Decision-Making Tool.' Sustainability 2017, Vol. 9, Page 1882 9 (10): 1882. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU9101882
Rey da Silva, Arturo. 2020. 'Sailing the Waters of Sustainability. Reflections on the Future of Maritime Cultural Heritage Protection in the Global Sea of Development.' European Post-Classical Archaeologies 10: 345-72.
Varmer, Ole, Mark J. Spalding, and Alexandra Refosco. 2020. 'Integrating Underwater Cultural Heritage into the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.' In ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings 2020., edited by V. Mastone and C. Mires, 5-13. Colombus, OH.: ACUA.
Recommended Digital Resources:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/culture2030indicators/
https://en.unesco.org/culture-development/transversal-approaches/culture-and-sustainable-development
https://en.unesco.org/https%3A//www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/culture
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Heritage,Sustainability,Global Challenges,Development,UNESCO |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Arturo Rey Da Silva
Tel:
Email: arturo.rey@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Zoe Hogg
Tel:
Email: Zoe.Hogg@ed.ac.uk |
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