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The energy retrofitting of residential stock is not always straightforward where heritage protected housing is concerned. In southern Europe, many examples built under the Modern Movement codes are now obsolete in terms of energy efficiency. The aim of this paper is to assess the potential for improvement of comfort conditions and energy efficiency in Mediterranean heritage residential buildings, through the incorporation of passive strategies in keeping with preserving heritage values. Long-term monitoring and field tests in representative flats of the case-study building were carried out and, focusing on a single example, adaptive comfort equations were used to assess results. The passive strategies considered are the thermal isolation of the air cavities of walls, changing window frames, optimizing window glazing, and setting up regular mechanical ventilation rates for indoor air changes. Although simulation results generally predict a better energy performance after testing retrofit strategies, the potential decrease in energy demand is more noticeable than the potential improvement in comfort conditions. • The improvement of comfort and energy efficiency in a heritage building is assessed. • Long-term monitoring and field tests were carried out in representative flats. • Passive strategies in keeping with preserving heritage values were examined. • Adaptive comfort equations were used to assess results focusing on one flat. • Energy efficiency improvements are more noticeable than those of comfort conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of globalised trends changing the rural environment is often thought to require environmental and ecology-focused policies and actions. But many of the problems have human (societal) causes, and solutions need also to be primarily culturally based. This essay, drawing on the 'CHeriScape' network in western Europe, explores the advantage of seeking a more comprehensive, integrative response to rural change using the twinned concepts of landscape and heritage. It discusses recent developments in conceptualising landscape and heritage, and how these could support effective culturally based approaches that are participatively democratic and also take account of human behaviour. After brief summaries of evolving paradigms for landscape and heritage, and of global challenges, the paper suggests that a landscape–heritage nexus, familiar to the lay public but capable of nuanced and fluid application, offers an effective way ahead. It concludes by identifying some obstacles that hinder the effective implementation of such an approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage tourism commonly involves displays designed to represent and commemorate a valued cultural past. Our particular focus in this paper is mining heritage, and how it has been developed in Wales and Cornwall to reflect their rather different, but culturally and nationally defining, industrial histories. From some historical and critical perspectives, heritage is still a controversial concept involving simulation and commercialisation, which is often perceived as inauthentic. Yet heritage sites like Geevor in Cornwall and Big Pit in Wales, our two empirical foci, are promoted largely in terms of their authentic value. Visitors can 'experience the past', e.g. by going underground, being guided by 'real miners' and engaging with material artefacts of mining, not merely observe it. We draw on recent critical perspectives that move beyond essentialising conceptions of (in)authenticity, to analyse the competing claims to authenticity that we see in the promotional and interpretive discourses of mining heritage. We argue that, at the two sites, such discourses are organised within four frames, which we refer to as material, cultural, performative and recreational. Each frame defines a social dimension in which authenticity can be experienced. Together, the four frames provide a productive means of discursively managing the competing priorities that lie at the heart of heritage tourism. Mewn twristiaeth treftadaeth defnyddir yn fynych arddangosion a luniwyd i gynrychioli a choffáu gorffennol diwylliannol a drysorir. Ar dreftadaeth mwyngloddio yr ydym yn canolbwyntio'n benodol yn y papur hwn, a'r modd y datblygodd yng Nghymru ac yng Nghernyw i adlewyrchu hanes diwydiannol y ddwy ardal, hanesion eithaf annhebyg, ond rhai sy'n diffinio diwylliant a chenedligrwydd y ddwy ardal. O rai safbwyntiau hanesyddol a beirniadol, mae treftadaeth yn parhau'n gysyniad dadleuol, un sy'n ymwneud ag efelychu a masnacheiddio a ystyrir yn fynych yn anawthentig. Ac eto, caiff safleoedd treftadaeth fel Geevor yng Nghernyw a'r Pwll Mawr yng Nghymru, ein dau ffocws empirig, eu hyrwyddo i raddau helaeth o safbwynt eu gwerth awthentig. Gall ymwelwyr 'fyw'r gorffennol', e.e. drwy fynd o dan y ddaear, cael eu harwain gan 'fwyngloddwyr go iawn' a thrin a thrafod arteffactau materol mwyngloddio, nid dim ond edrych arnyn nhw. Rydym yn tynnu ar safbwyntiau beirniadol diweddar sy'n mynd y tu hwnt i gysyniadau sy'n hanfodoli (an)awthentigrwydd, i ddadansoddi'r gwahanol enghreifftiau o hawlio awthentigrwydd a welwn mewn disgyrsiau hyrwyddo a dehongli yn nhreftadaeth mwyngloddio. Rydym yn dadlau y caiff disgyrsiau o'r fath, ar y ddau safle, eu trefnu yn ôl pedair ffrâm, sef beth a alwn yn ffrâm faterol, ffrâm ddiwylliannol, ffrâm berfformiadol a ffrâm hamdden. Mae pob ffrâm yn diffinio dimensiwn cymdeithasol lle gellir cael profiad o awthentigrwydd. Gyda'i gilydd, mae'r pedair ffrâm yn ffordd ddefnyddiol o drin, drwy ddisgwrs, yr amryw flaenoriaethau sydd wrth wraidd twristiaeth treftadaeth [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italian dry-stone wall terracing represents one of the most iconic features of agricultural landscapes across Europe, with sites listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites and FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). The analysis of microclimate modifications induced by alterations of hillslope and by dry-stone walls is of particular interest for the valuation of benefits and drawbacks of terraces cultivation, a global land management technique. The aim of this paper is to perform a thermal characterization of a dry-stone wall terraced vineyard in the Chianti area (Tuscany, Italy), to detect possible microclimate dynamics induced by dry-stone terracing. The aerial surveys were carried out by using two sensors, in the Visible (VIS) and Thermal InfraRed (TIR) spectral range, mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), with two different flights. Our results reveal that, in the morning, vineyard rows close to dry-stone walls have statistically lower temperatures with respect to the external ones. In the afternoon, due to solar insulation, temperatures raised to the same value for each row. The results of this early study, jointly with the latest developments in UAV and sensor technologies, justify and encourage further analyses on local climatic modifications in terraced landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]