Refusing the monumentalist approach to heritage conservation: towards an adaptive approach in the context of climate crisis

Despite the fact that climate change is a certain threat to the present and future of heritage, the historical relationship between the environment and human settlements reflects creative and adaptive processes from which we can learn in our current context. Thus, the practice of conservation demands an adaptive approach through a careful management of change. This definitively implies refusing the monumentalist approach to heritage, oriented merely towards the static conservation of monuments, which has dominated conservation theory and practice since the 19th century. The concept of adaptive heritage expressly recognizes changing conditions and diverse allocations that arise from social value, considering the need to understand heritage areas as parts of a larger landscape and recognizing that planners and decision-makers, in the face of the challenges imposed by the 21st century, need to respond more effectively.