Heritage and wellbeing. The impact of historic places and assets on community wellbeing: a scoping review
Author(s)
PENNINGTON Andy, et al
Publisher(s):
What Works Centre for Wellbeing
Publication year:
2019
A scoping review of evidence on the impact of heritage places, interventions, and assets – things like historic objects, monuments or buildings – to discover how they impact individual and community wellbeing. The primary focus of the review was on impacts of historic places and assets set within the ‘living environment’ of communities, but it also considers evidence from projects that used historic objects/artefacts, for example, in the care of people with dementia in care homes and other healthcare settings. The review looked at 75 papers and reports. It found higher and lower quality evidence that historic places, assets and associated activities and interventions can have a wide range of beneficial impacts on the physical, mental and social wellbeing of individuals and communities. These include increased life satisfaction and social connectivity for individuals and positive effects on community wellbeing such as social relationships, sense of belonging, pride of place, ownership and collective empowerment. It also identifies important gaps in the research, and highlights potential negative wellbeing impacts of participating in heritage-based interventions, or living in historic areas. Potential negative impacts of interventions appear to be related to how well the design and delivery of interventions considered the needs of specific individuals and groups. (Edited publisher abstract)
