Progress report: UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures : Period: 09/2018 – 08/2019

Over its first two years, the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University has been engaging in an extensive programme of national and international collaboration in research and training. We presented our work and agenda on many occasions in Sweden and around the world. We established contacts to various programmes and activities in UNESCO, to the Swedish Delegation to UNESCO, the Swedish UNESCO Commission, and began collaboration with other UNESCO Chairs in Sweden and internationally. Over the past year we co-organized two large events in Stockholm and in Amsterdam. In this report, we document the progress made by the entire team over our second year of activities. Background Heritage futures are concerned with the roles of heritage in managing the relations between present and future societies, e.g. through anticipation and planning. Our work is dedicated to developing professional strategies that can enhance how heritage shapes the future. We ask questions such as: Which future do we preserve the heritage for? Which heritage will benefit future generations most? How can we build capacity in future thinking (futures literacy) among heritage professionals worldwide? The UNESCO Chair Programme addresses pressing challenges in society. The chairs serve as think-tanks and bridge-builders between human communities, civil society, academia, and policy-making, generating innovation through research, informing policy decisions and establishing new teaching initiatives. The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University is one of eight UNESCO Chairs in Sweden and the only one in the area of culture.UNESCO Chair on Heritage Future