Research into People and Places
This month we had a visit from Martina Tenzer who is doing some research for her PHD with Uni of York Dept of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management on “People and Places: Social Landscape Characterisation for more inclusive and sustainable heritage management..”
Martina was particularly interested in why we’d carried out the restoration of the old signs at Harland Works. The exciting bit about Harland Works featuring in her her research is that she may have some time to use her professional research skills to dig up some more info about the history of the building and the company that built it. That would be great as I have never managed to find that much when I’ve looked.
Her research visit included an interview with me about why we chose to restore it in the way we did, and a tour to take pictures of some of the curious bits we have in the building that date from its former use as a works.
I asked her to send some info to share about her work and she said:
“My research aims to explore social values in everyday landscapes; in other words: what matters most to people in their places of work, living, leisure, and education. I want to find out what connects us to places and why, gives us a sense of belonging and identity, and how much influence has the 'genius loci' or spirit of place to our perception.
Harland Works is one of the places that is not officially recognised as heritage and, therefore, not funded by specific schemes aimed to aid the preservation of such places. However, it is the history manifested in brick and glass, the atmosphere of a historically important part of Sheffield's past, and the love and passion that goes into the preservation of such buildings and places that is important for the understanding of everyday heritage.
The contribution and opinion of people running places like Harland Works are important to make the authorities and policymakers aware of the trends in society. 'Reconnecting to the past' and 'reconnecting to our place' are buzzwords that have become more important in recent debates around climate change and environmental protection. I hope my research can influence change in thinking in the upper echelons of planning and decision making”.
Some of the other places she’s looking at sound fascinating too and I’m looking forward to being able to reach more when she finishes and write up her thesis. She’s hoping this will be next Spring … although I know these can be movable dates so we’ll have to see.