Framing resilience: The role of cultural heritage in community responses to multi-hazard risks

There is a growing awareness that cultural heritage plays a role in influencing community resilience to natural hazards at various levels. Nevertheless, the dynamics of interaction between cultural heritage and community resilience are still often unclear, due to the heterogeneity of these topics and linked approaches. This study, conducted under the RETURN partnership (multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changiNg climate), explores the nexus between hazard, risk, and resilience within socio-economic contexts centered on cultural heritage, particularly art cities and cultural landscapes. Based on an initial literature review of 264 papers, further skimmed down to 24 papers, this study explores the proposed themes through qualitative and quantitative analysis of pre-existing studies. Upon understanding the existing approaches towards building community resilience to risks through heritage, the analysis mapped the different conceptualizations of cultural heritage and resilience identified in the selected studies. Additionally, the heterogeneity of layers of knowledge, values, and functions reflected in the different types of heritage have been investigated in relation to the concept of community multi-risk resilience. Results reveal disciplinary biases hindering the integration of heritage studies into community resilience to natural hazards. Emerging considerations provide recommendations for an optimized approach on communities and stakeholders. Additionally, a conceptual framework is developed to facilitate comprehensions and operationalization of the nexus between cultural heritage and hazard-risk-resilience.