VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages
Abstract
Movement, displacement, and separation of people seem to be prominent features of human existence. As populations and cultures disperse across many regions and societies, previously solid notions must be reconsidered from a transnational and global perspective. This is no less true for the question of heritage from the past and present, as it is an integral part of contemporary struggles over identity and belonging. While migrants contribute substantially to western countries’ economic and cultural development, they leave little imprint on their own heritages. This study aims to identify the influential factors in building a sense of belongingness and attachment among migrants to the urban landscape. To achieve this aim, the landscape perception of migrants will be examined through the Walking along methodology. Since 2011, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom, as the case study of this research, has been designed by the UK government as one of the primary cities to settle migrants. The results of the study depict that there is a relation between the landscape perception of migrants and the sense of attachment and belongingness. Both landscape perception and the sense of belongingness are affected by memories, traditions, a sense of ownership, and resemblances with the urban landscapes of the home cities of migrants.
Farnaz Faraji is working as an Early Stage Researcher in the Pan-European H2020 Marie Curie International Training Network ‘Heriland’, Based at Newcastle University, the UK. She is also a Ph.D. Student at Vrije Amsterdam University. Her research is focused on the study of the “Iranian Migrants’ Landscape Perception and the Historic Landscape Characterisation of the Greater Manchester region”. She completed her M.sc in Conservation of Urban Heritage from the University of Tehran in 2019. Her research interests are Cultural Landscapes, HUL, and application of innovative methods in the heritage.