Publication of the ICOMOS India Scientific Symposium 2021 on Cultural Landscapes

ICOMOS India is happy to share the news of the release of the ICOMOS India Scientific Symposium 2021 proceedings on ‘Cultural Landscapes & Transformations’. A proud moment of collaboration between ICOMOS India and FoAP AKTU, opening new directions for heritage and conservation.

A cultural landscape can be understood as a spatial fabric spread over a geographic region, reflecting human adaptation and use of natural resources, and is often expressed in the way land is organized and divided, patterns of settlement, land use, systems of circulation, and the types of structures that are built. The process of experiencing this cultural landscape is affected not only by what is seen and sensed, but also by what is experienced emotionally or imagined through social knowledge or collective memory, making it larger than a sensory perception. Therefore, cultures that are entwined by these landscapes are often dynamic in nature. Cultural landscapes evolve over time, the rate and direction of which depends on multiple contingencies of human-environment relationships. Such landscapes transformed by human actions would involve drivers of human-induced processes and activities. These drivers thus form a complex system of dependencies and interactions that operate at several temporal and spatial levels. 

To explore the transformations of and the emerging ideas around cultural landscapes the ICOMOS India National Scientific Symposium 2021 was organized by the Central Zone ICOMOS India in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow (FoAP, AKTU) and ICOMOS India Emerging Professional Working Group, during 19-20th November 2021. The event was organized in a hybrid mode (both online and in person presentations & discourses) and was hosted at the campus of FoAP, AKTU in Lucknow. This hybrid mode of the event allowed many notable speakers and participants to join and share their invaluable knowledge with the wider membership. 

The scientific symposium delved into the idea of ‘cultural landscapes’, their evolution, present day manifestations, reinforcing the idea of dynamism of cultural landscape, and its future pathways through case studies from India and around the world. A special focus of the symposium was an exploration of this theme in the Indian context, highlighting archaeological, anthropological, ecological, spiritual, mythological and cultural dimensions. In terms of contemporary relevance, the philosophy, practice and management of cultural landscapes were assessed in terms of performance in relation to the impact of climate change, sustainability and development.

Read the entire publication here: https://www.icomosindia.com/upload/library/ICOMOS%20India%20Scientific%20Symposium%202021.pdf.