Cultural heritage and the planning of european landscapes
European countries have a long and successful history of conserving their rich heritage and landscape assets in town and country, and of capitalising on them culturally and economically. Throughout the 20th century, great progress was made in creating structures and promulgating principles to guide heritage and landscape conservation, but as the 21st century proceeds, society is challenged by new far-reaching changes. These include various forms of migration, greater digital connection, environmental degradation and climate change, shifts in the public/private balance in society at large, and a renewed pressure for growth. Confronted with such a fast-changing context, heritage management needs new ideas, tools and training to ensure that interdisciplinary, research-based heritage, landscape management and spatial planning are positively integrated with business activity, development and democratic decision making. Through HERILAND, a consortium of 7 key academic and non-academic organizations, with 21 partners in civil society and business,  aims to empower a new generation of academics, policy makers, practitioners, professionals and entrepreneurs. Our research design positions heritage in the frame of five transformation processes which we identify as key challenges to the heritage management of the 21st century: The Spatial Turn, Democratisation, Digital Transformations, Shifting Demographies and Contested Identities, and Changing Environments. Using this framework, 15 PhD researchers will be provided with advanced training combining theoretical and instrumental knowledge in a series of research seminars, living labs and secondments with our public and private partners. By doing this, HERILAND will establish a new pan-European, trans-national, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and training standard, which will be codified in a HERILAND Handbook for Heritage Planning  and instrumentalised through an ongoing HERILAND College for Heritage Planning.