In Edinburgh, we talk a lot about ‘mainstreaming heritage’ – breaking the barriers between heritage and sustainability to ensure we can impact both shared challenges. The AtlaS.WH project – full name ‘Heritage in the Atlantic Area: Sustainability of the Urban World Heritage Sites’ – addresses these challenges front and centre.

Porto. Via Flickr

Funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme through the European Regional Development Fund, the project has been working on developing sustainable management plans for each World Heritage Site by addressing common problems faced by each partner city. This includes issues such as gentrification, over-tourism, and the climate emergency.

Florence. Via Flickr

Edinburgh World Heritage has participated in the AtlaS.WH project for over three years and we have made important and lasting relationships with each of project partners:

• Municipality of Porto, Portugal (project lead)
• Municipality of Florence, Italy
• Bordeaux Metropole, France
• Edinburgh World Heritage, United Kingdom
• Consortium for the City of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

WATCH: Wish you were here!: a film put together by Porto in celebration of their Week of World Heritage Sites (22-26 March 2021) showcasing each of the five partner cities

The AtlaS.WH project has benefited Edinburgh greatly by sharing the latest in sustainable heritage management research, providing frameworks and forums for discussion on how to shape our next management plan for our World Heritage Site. It has allowed Edinburgh World Heritage to engage widely with local schools through craft activities, creatively asking some really difficult questions such as, what is our heritage and how can we look after it for people in the future? The project has also engaged with professionals, in the Council and within the heritage sector and beyond, by providing a brand new online CPD course titled ‘Managing heritage in a changing world’.

Santiago de Compostela

Importantly, however, the AtlaS.WH project has reminded us what we are most proud of about our World Heritage Site. We are a living and breathing piece of outstanding universal value, recognised the world over – but we are not a museum exhibit. We are a city with a castle, ancient wynds and Georgian terraces, rubbish collection, cycle lanes and farmers markets, and normally each year our population swells in August when we host the largest international arts festival in the world. Ultimately, the project celebrates our World Heritage Site for how it is actively used by locals and visitors alike – how people come together to maintain their buildings and invest in the historic environment. Learn more about this in our online exhibition, ‘Placing People at the Heart of Heritage.‘

Bordeaux. Via Flickr

For the latest developments on the project, please see our blog.