IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section B

Abstract

This paper presents findings from Now Hear Then (NHT), a longitudinal comparative study using geolocated audio to investigate the effect of landscape heritage upon place attachment (PA). PA predicts likelihood of caring for and visiting places, thus has potential to support habitat custodianship, communal life and thoughtful tourism. NHT expanded on prior research which found that people form stronger bonds with places that they understand to have heritage value and which are visibly old. The prior studies were limited to cohorts with pre-existing interest in heritage, and to conserved historic environments with established reputations for aesthetic heritage value. In NHT, the effect of formally recognised heritage sites in Edgeley (UK) was therefore compared with informal unrecognised place heritage derived by interviewing Edgeley’s community. Two geolocated sound arrays (AXRs) were designed as interventions that were activated, on location and remotely, by listeners who completed a quantitative place attachment scale before and after activation. AXR1 comprised community members introducing locations with informal heritage value; AXR2 added formally recognised heritage sites within Edgeley alongside the community’s sites. A control group with no AXR also completed the scale. Listeners’ interest in heritage varied, and their familiarity with Edgeley ranged from inhabitant to totally unfamiliar. Multilevel modelling looked for interactions between heritage type, listeners’ attitudes to Edgeley, and demographic factors (such as education level) where this information was volunteered. Now Hear Then was funded by The Leverhulme Trust and based at Manchester Metropolitan University.