Bridging Earth Heritage, Participatory Cultural Practice and Wellbeing: A Community-Based Approach to Sustainable Development

Presentation abstract

Abstract

The growing recognition of culture as an essential dimension of sustainable development has prompted interest in participatory approaches that connect communities with their local heritage. While discussions of culture and sustainable development have largely centred on cultural heritage and museums, comparatively little attention has been given to earth heritage, despite its potential to shape people’s relationships with place, identity and wellbeing.

This research explores the potential of participatory cultural practice with earth heritage as capable of fostering community wellbeing and contributing to sustainable development, through an interdisciplinary project situated on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, a landscape where international significant geology, industrial heritage and community identity are deeply intertwined. The study adopts a qualitative, Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) design, combining stakeholder interviews with the co-development and evaluation of a participatory earth heritage intervention involving young adults (18-29). Through collaborative creative practices, including land art, storytelling and place-based activities, participants are invited to engage with Portland’s geological and cultural landscapes while reflecting on their relationships with place, heritage and community. Data will be analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, informed by realist evaluative reasoning and COM-B behavioural framework to explore how participatory engagement generates different outcomes across varying social and environmental contexts.

Rather than treating earth heritage solely as an object of conservation or interpretation, this research reconceptualises it as a living cultural capital through which communities negotiate identity, belonging and wellbeing. In doing so, the project seeks to bring together perspectives from geoscience, heritage studies, participatory arts and public health to advance broader debates on culture as and for sustainable development. By positioning participatory earth heritage as a form of cultural practice, the study proposes a conceptual perspective for understanding how locally grounded, creative engagement with geological landscapes can inform more inclusive and sustainable approaches to heritage management and community development.