Pedagogy and Engagement in At-Risk World Heritage Initiatives

Abstract

Cultural heritage constitutes humanity’s identity, marking the civilization and progress of peoples in time all over our world. Protection of cultural heritage and its diversity has been parallelized to the protection of biodiversity. Yet, cultural heritage is constantly at risk, either by natural causes or by human intervention. The Centre for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability at UCSD has undertaken research and public outreach programs worldwide concerning at-risk cultural heritage. Specifically, for such initiatives in Greece it formed a stable collaboration with the University of the Aegean and the Athena Research Centre. Recognizing that the informed citizens, and more specifically the informed students, are key factors towards an effective preservation of World Heritage, this chapter represents an account of those initiatives from the perspective of the pedagogy and engagement. In addition, this chapter introduces to the World Heritage and the threats that it faces all over the world and presents a selection of significant initiatives taken by major worldwide organizations such as UNESCO.