The SAH Glasgow Seminar is part of the 70th Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, which takes place in Glasgow June 7-11. The Seminar is open to the public and will bring together speakers, conference delegates, and local residents in conversation about the ways in which advocacy for heritage and sustainability can work in concert with one another. The Seminar will reflect on these terms broadly, exploring heritage as a public engagement with architectural, cultural, and civic history, and considering sustainability in its economic, community, and environmental perspectives. Speakers will discuss: How best can Glasgow (and by extension other post-industrial cities) balance heritage and sustainability for the future? How might these two drivers of the urban form—rather than being perceived as opposing forces—interrelate in support of the community, the environment, and good design?
Pairs of speakers will give brief talks focusing on three case studies in Glasgow, each having a rich local history as well as being at the heart of discussions about the city’s future: 1) Glasgow as a city of innovative housing; 2) a city of parks, gardens, and other open spaces; and 3) a riverside city, taking its livelihood and identity from its use and imagining of the River Clyde. The Seminar will present a screening of the short film (Re)Imagining Glasgow, by local artist Chris Leslie. The Seminar will conclude with a panel discussion building on the case studies to address the broad themes through such questions as how preservation and conservation interests can be aligned with development pressures; how local identity can be cultivated around the city’s built heritage and how this might enhance future civic planning; and how Glasgow might benefit from a culture economy that looks to both the past and the future for inspiration.
Glasgow residents are invited to help shape the seminar agenda through a crowd-sourced image bank; in the weeks and days leading up to the Seminar, both local residents and visiting delegates are invited to submit via social media photographs of the city that they feel capture the key themes of heritage, sustainability, or ideally the conjunction between these two. Please post photos on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtags #sah2017seminar and #heritagesustainability.
Speakers:
The SAH Glasgow Seminar is generously sponsored by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and Historic Environment Scotland.
