THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF HERITAGE AND CREATIVE PRACTICE (HB 2026)

The Routledge Handbook of Heritage and Creative Practice explores the role of creativity as a tool for critical engagement with heritage. It provides a comprehensive study of ways in which heritage and creative practice intersect, in research, in practice and in a transnational context.

This book introduces researchers, students, creative and heritage practitioners to contemporary practices from a breadth of perspectives. The transnational nature of its scope is key to the exploration of how ‘heritage’ and ‘creativity’ are ever evolving, conceived of differently in different contexts, and intersect in interesting ways through the work of creative practitioners. The volume argues that heritage itself is a creative practice, such that the ‘creative’ work that occurs in these examples is not singular and distinct; rather the symbiotic reciprocity between heritage and creativity is intersectional and embedded. The international array of authors and differing approaches from around the world, including case studies from Africa, Bahrain, Brazil, Caribbean, Columbia, China, Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates provide a global approach to the subject, while the diverse range of topics covered, including urban renewal, the coronavirus pandemic, memorial culture, public art and colonial heritage, allows readers to gain insight into the richness of practices across a diversity of disciplines and contexts.

This volume offers a significant and new contribution to heritage studies that will be of interest to scholars and students in heritage and museum studies, as well those in the fields of art, architecture, anthropology, design, digital and curatorial studies. It also provides a valuable resource for artists, arts professionals, architects and museums and heritage practitioners.

Nick Cass is Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. His research focuses on the relationship between heritage and contemporary art practice. This interest brings together his background as an artist and his experience working in museums.

Anna Powell is Senior Lecturer in Art and Design at the University of Huddersfield. She has an MA in Museum Studies and PhD in History of Art from the University of Leeds. Her research and teaching spans history, theory and practice in contemporary art, graphic design, museums and heritage studies.

Sarina Wakefield is Lecturer in Museum Studies and Dean of Internationalisation at the University of Leicester. Her research focuses on the politics of transnational museology. She has over 20 years of experience working on the cultural heritage and museology of the Arabian Peninsula.