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Conservation of Historic Building Materials

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2019) | Viewed by 45616

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Sustainable Building Design, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
Interests: historic building materials; heritage science; aged biopolymers; X-ray diffraction; electron microscopy; X-ray fluorescence; spectroscopy; conservation philosophy; parchment; industrial heritage

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Built heritage plays a large part in shaping our lives, encompassing a wide range of settings from iconic international monuments to cityscapes and rural dwellings. The materials used to construct historic buildings have changed and evolved over time, and vary based on geography, local materials and craft tradition.

In order to protect and preserve built heritage for future generations, evidence-led conservation of historic building materials must be carried out. Making the correct conservation decisions today can protect built heritage for decades to come, whereas poor decisions can greatly accelerate the decay and deterioration of the buildings we are trying to protect. The sustainability of built heritage is dependent of best conservation practice.

This Special Issue focuses on the conservation of historic building materials. Topics of relevance include scientific evaluation of historic materials, the interaction between conservators and scientists, sourcing of materials for repair or replacement, and the application of conservation principles and ethics to the current challenges facing the heritage community. Of further interest is the renovation and upgrading of historic buildings to meet global carbon reduction targets.

The geographical scope of this issue is global, including high status iconic buildings to the preservation of dwellings in urban and rural contexts. Case studies will be considered as well as theoretical and methodological approaches.

Dr. Craig J. Kennedy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Built Heritage
  • Historic Building Materials
  • Heritage Science
  • Sustainability
  • Conservation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 8983 KiB  
Article
The Research on Temporal–Spatial Distribution and Morphological Characteristics of Ancient Settlements in the Songhua River Basin
by Meng Zhu, Jianfei Dong and Yingzhi Gao
Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 932; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11030932 - 12 Feb 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6906
Abstract
Settlements have a high cultural and historical value in regions as indicators of human habitation and culture. The Songhua River Basin is on the edge of a traditional cultural center, which has scattered ecological elements, a special culture, and historical faults. Because of [...] Read more.
Settlements have a high cultural and historical value in regions as indicators of human habitation and culture. The Songhua River Basin is on the edge of a traditional cultural center, which has scattered ecological elements, a special culture, and historical faults. Because of the superposition of traces of different ethnic activities in different periods, the Songhua River has a special and diversified cultural foundation and heritage, which is of high research value. However, the ancient settlements in this region have not been given sufficient attention and as a result it is difficult to achieve a complete and systematic study. In order to promote the cultural value of this historical region and the development of a regional and cultural industry, this paper seeks to study the ancient settlements of Songhua River Basin. With the help of GIS technology, archeological excavations, and the concept of ethnic pedigree in ethnology, this study analyzes the temporal–spatial distribution and morphological characteristics of ancient settlements in the Songhua River Basin, in order to determine how the heritage value of these settlements can be sustainably protected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Historic Building Materials)
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19 pages, 1510 KiB  
Article
Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism on Residents of World Cultural Heritage Sites in China
by Xiaoping Zhuang, Yong Yao and Jun (Justin) Li
Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 840; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11030840 - 06 Feb 2019
Cited by 105 | Viewed by 30539
Abstract
The development of tourism induces changes in the social character of a destination. Tourism is a globalized business activity and thus presents growing challenges in terms of traditional social culture. With the continuous development of the tourism industry, traditional social culture has changed [...] Read more.
The development of tourism induces changes in the social character of a destination. Tourism is a globalized business activity and thus presents growing challenges in terms of traditional social culture. With the continuous development of the tourism industry, traditional social culture has changed dramatically at many World Heritage sites (WHSs). Additionally, the growing dependence of many regions’ economies on the tourism industry has brought about an inexorable shift in the perception of many rural residents. These transformations include the impact of tourism development and its economic efficiency on inhabitants’ traditional values, lifestyles, and interpersonal relationship in ancient villages serving as WHSs. A qualitative analysis including participatory in-depth interviews was conducted to compare changes in the social culture induced by tourism development at the WHS comprising three ancient villages in China. Furthermore, a qualitative content analysis was chosen to examine the impact of tourism development on residents’ perceptions of changes in moral values. The results demonstrate that tourism development is the major catalyst for change in local residents’ moral values. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Historic Building Materials)
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20 pages, 3956 KiB  
Article
Reconciling Energy and Heritage: Retrofit of Heritage Buildings in Contexts of Energy Vulnerability
by María Beatriz Piderit, Susan Agurto and Laura Marín-Restrepo
Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 823; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11030823 - 05 Feb 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3745
Abstract
Chile is a resilient country which has been struck by a series of natural disasters, affecting heritage areas whose inhabitants live under a great economic and energy vulnerability. Although there are some advances that have been made in the country to recover its [...] Read more.
Chile is a resilient country which has been struck by a series of natural disasters, affecting heritage areas whose inhabitants live under a great economic and energy vulnerability. Although there are some advances that have been made in the country to recover its heritage, these do not include energy efficiency parameters. In this context, intervention in heritage properties requires a specific, complementary treatment above and beyond what is currently applied. Consequently, this research aims to develop a methodology that balances heritage and energy in energy vulnerability contexts. The proposed methodology analyzes heritage and energy aspects separately through attribute matrices, as well as the building pathologies, to later integrate the results in a final matrix which allows defining an energy-heritage intervention plan. In this way, it includes the systematic identification of elements that require intervention because of pathological issues, as well as the type of intervention that would be acceptable given its heritage significance and whether they mean a possibility to optimize the energy performance. The methodology, for its validation, was applied in a heritage residential building inhabited by low-income occupants. The case study presents physical damages and is located in the city of Lota, an area with an outstanding cultural heritage from the mining era. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Historic Building Materials)
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21 pages, 1565 KiB  
Article
Finding Common Ground between United Kingdom Based and Chinese Approaches to Earthen Heritage Conservation
by Jenny Richards, Yinghong Wang, Scott A. Orr and Heather Viles
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3086; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10093086 - 30 Aug 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3718
Abstract
Earthen heritage is one of the oldest and universal forms of heritage but its conservation poses many challenges. Establishing international collaborations could provide an efficient, sustainable mechanism to increase knowledge exchange, aiding the development of earthen heritage conservation strategies around the world. However, [...] Read more.
Earthen heritage is one of the oldest and universal forms of heritage but its conservation poses many challenges. Establishing international collaborations could provide an efficient, sustainable mechanism to increase knowledge exchange, aiding the development of earthen heritage conservation strategies around the world. However, perceived differences in how Eastern and Western countries value earthen heritage and develop conservation strategies can pose challenges for establishing collaborations. To understand these perceived differences and whether they hinder collaborations, this paper compares British and Chinese heritage conservation policy and practice and then reports the results from an innovative workshop examining the approaches of 13 Chinese and 13 UK based heritage experts and researchers towards earthen heritage conservation. Workshop participants undertook bilingual discussions and completed a co-created questionnaire available in English and Mandarin. Both groups identified historic value as the most important value and maintenance of authenticity and integrity, need for scientific research and site scale conservation as vital considerations for conservation strategies. This study found that to understand the potential for collaboration, individual perspectives need consideration as well as policies and practices. This innovative bilingual, discussion-based approach has potential to aid collaborations for diverse international issues from wildlife conservation to cross-boundary pollution and climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Historic Building Materials)
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