Places of Joy

The Cambridge Heritage Research Centre (CHRC) collaborated with University of Southampton and Historic England to carrying out a study on whether visits to heritage sites contributed to feelings of wellbeing in the period after lockdown.

The project sought to find out:

  • What motivates people to visit heritage sites after lockdown
  • The impact of these visits on wellbeing
  • Whether lockdown has an effect on attitudes to visiting heritage sites

The project was lead by Prof. Joanna Sofaer (Southampton) and Prof. Marie Louise Stig Sørensen (Cambridge).

Places of Joy: The Role of Heritage After Lockdown

As lockdown is gradually released, people are using heritage locations as places of reunion, sociality and escape, but also potentially to satisfy deeper psychological and socio-cultural needs. A collaboration between researchers at University of Southampton, University of Cambridge and University of Surrey, and supported by Historic England and The Heritage Alliance, Places of Joy: The Role of Heritage After Lockdown investigates whether and why heritage appears as a joyful space at a time of national crisis, and thus to understand the specific characteristics of heritage sites that contribute to wellbeing and resilience.

The research uses this unique period following the release of lockdown, when access to heritage is regained after a period of deprivation, to explore the potentials of heritage by examining:

  • What motivates people to visit heritage spaces after lockdown? What needs do access to heritage spaces satisfy?
  • The role of heritage in wellbeing and how heritage might be used to develop future resilience? If heritage is fulfilling needs developed during lockdown, what are the qualities of heritage spaces that may enhance wellbeing and what could be the role of heritage in wellbeing going forward, including developing resilience should there be further spikes in COVID-19?
  • Whether visits to heritage locations at a time of heightened emotion are creating new forms of emotional resonance and perceptions of heritage. What impacts have these visits had on people and how does this affect their attitudes and visits to heritage sites going forward?

The research has been co-designed with the heritage sector in England and is being carried out at a series of different kinds of heritage sites, including both free and pay-to-enter. It takes a longitudinal approach, tracing responses to heritage from June–October 2020.