Cultural Heritage, Architecture, and Community (CHAC)

The research group, Cultural Heritage, Architecture and Communities (CHAC), brings together researchers engaged with and sharing interests in, the dynamic inter-relationships between cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), architecture and communities.

The aim of the group is to encourage research that explores such issues as:

• The intersection between architectural heritage and community identities;
• Involvement of local communities in the co-production of heritage, its conservation and interpretation;
• The application of digital technologies in the preservation of the historic environment and the safeguarding of living traditions;
• Adaptive re-use of heritage buildings and monuments for protection and economic local economic development;
• Design concepts for the enhancement of sustainable heritage conservation;
• Cultural heritage management for global challenges.

Architecture and design have important roles to play, not in only in the conservation of cultural heritage, but also in the communication of the past, collective memory and in the creation of the heritage of future.  CHAC seeks to work with researchers from all disciplines to better understand the complexities and shifting realities of how communities respond to various categories and types of heritages ranging from UNESCO World Heritage to locally valued heritage structures, spaces and landscapes.

In the context of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the challenges of protecting, conserving and communicating cultural heritage are international. So too are the issues of financial sustainability, global tourism and inter-cultural dialogue. CHAC encourages an international approach to research and seeks to explore the opportunities for international collaboration and exchange.

• Mike Robinson
• Benachir Medjdoub
• Moulay Chalal
• Nacer Bezai
• Majdi Faleh
• Marisela Mendoza
• Ana Souto
• Yangang Xing
• Jim Sallis
• Amin Al-Habaibeh
• Anthony Pidduck
• Holly Mills
• Jonathan Gration

• SOUTO GALVAN, A., BRIND, S. and HAROLD, J., 2019. Exploring liminality in Cyprus: spaces, voices, and means of expression. Ruukku: taiteellisen tutkimuksen kausijulkaisu (12).
• SOUTO, A., 2018. Experiencing memory museums in Berlin. The Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind Museum and the Jewish Museum Berlin. Museum & Society, 16 (1), pp. 1- 27.
• MENDOZA, M., 2015. Felix Candela’s first European Project: The John Lewis Warehouse, Stevenage New Town. Architectural Research Quarterly, 19 (2), pp. 149-160.
• OLIVA SALINAS, J.G., MENDOZA, M. and GONZÁLEZ MEZA, E., 2018. Reflections on Frei Otto as a promoter of sustainable architecture and his collaboration with Kenzo Tange and Over Arup in 1969. Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, 59 (195), pp. 87-100.

Jim Sallis is currently working on a number of projects:

• In consultation with a number of Maltese industry contacts and a research contact to collaborate on a number of aerial drone surveys of archaeological sites and historic buildings.
• Currently working with Nottinghamshire County Council on a collaborative project with volunteers and representatives of the HER team.
• Currently working with the Peak District National Park Authority and volunteers looking at recording the landscape and scheduled monuments. This is part of the ‘People of the Peak’ project.

David Green

Research title: Building new pathways of support for heritage educators

Abstract: This research aims to understand the manner that, within the organisational, policy and curriculum environment for History and Heritage education in England, heritage organisations support secondary school History teachers in delivering the Key Stage 3 (11-14 age group) curriculum content for the Local History Study.  The research analyses the operation of networks and working partnerships between schools and organisations such as heritage organisations, museums, heritage sites and local stakeholders, and by engaging teachers and heritage learning managers through Focus Group and Survey stages of research, will offer practical solutions for how these relationships might be adapted or improved to better support teachers.

Supervisors: 

Associate Professor Ana Souto
Professor Benachir Medjdoub
Dr Nacer Bezai

Simona Cosentino

Research title: Community Uses of Tangible and Intangible Heritage Resources For Sustainable Development in India

Abstract: Cultural heritage is increasingly recognised as a crucial pathway to sustainable development, contributing to broader humanitarian goals like poverty reduction and social inequalities.

Especially in developing economies under high development pressure and complex sociocultural contexts, it can represent a significant capital to mobilise through conservation, tourism, and creative industries. The research investigates to what extent local communities use their tangible and intangible heritage as a means of sustainable development within the complexity and diversity of Indian heritage communities, and how different narratives of heritage and development are mediated. Focusing on the two case studies of the UNESCO World Heritage Historic City of Ahmedabad and the Durga Puja Festival Intangible Cultural Heritage of Kolkata, it adopted a qualitative methodology using interviews, focus groups, observations, and socio-spatial mapping.

The findings reveal key issues in using heritage for development, including difficulties in mediating the concepts of heritage, development, and community between universal and local levels, with the former promoting a homogenised understanding overlooking the specificities of attitudes, needs, and aspirations of sites and communities. It fails to yield benefits to primary stakeholders, undermining heritage significance in the everyday life of communi/es, and challenges values of human rights, equity, and sustainability—core to sustainable development.

Supervisors: 

Professor Mike Robinson
Dr Jonathan Gration

Zeus Pithawalla

Research title: Co-designing Virtual Reality Serious Games: a case of Jaigarh Fort, India

Abstract: There is a growing disconnect between young adults (aged 18–30) and their meaningful engagement with cultural heritage sites. Virtual Reality Serious Games (VRSG) present a promising opportunity to bridge this gap by offering immersive, interactive, and learner-centred interpretations of heritage that are both engaging and educational. However in designing these VRSG, there is a need for research on the role of different stakeholders in the design process, specifically around the choice of narratives, gaming mechanics, and attributes gamified. This PhD aims to develop a conceptual framework for co-designing VRSG by involving multiple stakeholders at different stages of the process. The research combines a systematic desk-based review with practical implementation through a case study at Jaigarh Fort (India), generating both theoretical and applied contributions to heritage interpretation and serious game design.

Supervisors:
Professor Benachir Medjdoub
Dr Nacer Bezai
Professor Jigna Desai (External Advisor)

Bilge Ozen

Research title: Creative approaches to the representation of crisis heritage in museum using digital means

Abstract: The project critically explores the role of museums in representing and communicating heritage in crisis. The ongoing Aral Sea Crisis in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is the focus of this study. The aim is to develop a framework that prioritize these objectives for museums in Karakalpakstan facing the challenge of representing heritage in crisis. It investigates social and political effects of the crisis, challenges for preserving memory through heritage representation and the ways museums serve local communities while constructing meaningful narratives for external audiences. For this purpose, the representational strategies such as virtual reconstructions, community engagement and storytelling are studied.

Supervisors:

Professor Mike Robinson
Dr Andrea Moneta
Dr Katharina Massing

Nourelhoda Hussein

Research title: Mosque-as-an-Exhibition: Negotiating Postcolonial Discourses in The Representation of Contemporary Mosque Aesthetics

Abstract: This research examines the genealogy of contemporary mosque aesthetics, tracing how colonial discourses of representation, established in nineteenth-century world exhibitions, persist through postcolonial representational frameworks. It argues that these discourses were institutionalised by agencies like UNESCO and the Aga Khan Award, reframing mosque aesthetics around heritage and secular modernism. The research reveals how these discourses were further internalised within the post-9/11 Western context, giving rise to the "exhibitionary mosque." By analyzing mosques in Strasbourg and Cologne, the research demonstrates how traditional craftsmanship serves as a site of resistance, collusion, or legitimation, revealing its continuous agency in negotiating the tension between Mosque aesthetic traditions and postcolonial representational burdens.

Supervisors:

Dr Majdi Faleh
Dr Moulay Chalal