The concept of heritage raises the question of what a society should preserve, not only to study and make known, but also to protect and pass on to future generations. This field of knowledge has undergone unprecedented expansion since the last decades of the 20th century. The progress of scientific knowledge and its specialization on the one hand, and on the other hand the sociological changes that have led to the current attempts to democratize culture, have led to a multiplication of “heritage objects” recognized as such. The UNESCO conventions of 1972, 2002 and 2007 have acknowledged this expansion of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as natural heritage. In addition to the overabundance of cultural heritage, there is an urgent need to preserve the natural heritage on which the functional and evolutionary response capacities of living organisms to the global changes that mark the Anthropocene are based. The notion of mobility is revealing of societies, not only in their dynamism across space but also in the identification of the questions that shape their structures. The humanities in a very broad and multidisciplinary sense cover the study of civilizations, literary imaginations and traditions, and linguistic uses through which societies express, embody and remember themselves.
The Mediterranean area is a privileged and perennial field of investigation for the UPVD's laboratories of Human and Social Sciences, Biology and Environmental Sciences because of the numerous cultural remains and the great diversity of traditions and environments that it shelters. These different perspectives on a shared space are essential because the socio-environmental dynamics are intrinsically determined by the joint actions of its specific climatic conditions and human mobility, both historical and touristic, the contemporary evolution of which is particularly significant.
This theme is divided into 6 sub-themes:
- Natural and cultural environments
- Tangible cultural heritage
- Intangible cultural heritage and performances
- Mediation
- Heritage management and tourism
- Preservation of biological heritage
Updated : March 21, 2025