The project focuses on European territories experiencing demographic decline and population change, processes that contribute to the loss of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the deterioration of historic environments and cultural landscapes, and affect communities seeking to make sense of their lives in depopulating and rapidly changing places. The main objective of the project is to investigate how local communities respond to the consequences of these transformations, how changing communities make sense of new realities and power structures related to legal regulations and economic resources, and how these processes influence changes in the cultural fabric of places. The Kaunas case study differs from the typical context of a depopulating peripheral region. Instead, it focuses on a rapidly developing city characterized by an exceptional legacy of modernist architecture. Nevertheless, significant changes in the social fabric have been observed and continue to take place in this area. Commercial activities are increasingly displacing permanent residents from the central part of the city, contributing to the emergence of a layer of “temporary residents” (tenants), whose relationship with historic buildings and cultural heritage tends to be more transient and less deeply rooted. The research examined how cultural heritage influences urban identity, urban development, and residents’ relationship with the historic environment. Within the project, studies were conducted on the visibility, accessibility, and intelligibility of the urban environment, as well as on place identity and emotional geography.
Project funding:
EU Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change
Period of project implementation: 2023-04-01 - 2026-03-31
Project coordinator: Charles University in Prague
Project partners: UNIVERSITY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS (UHI)
