EAA2021: Abstract

Walter Benjamin’s three types, the flâneur, the collector and the gambler were proposed as observers or players in his Arcades Project for 1920s Paris. They were engaged in a kind of “tourism” that enjoyed the luxury shopping corridors in the iron-girded structures of the “modern” Paris landscape of that era. It was a transformative time in European history, as is this 2020’s decade just beginning. World Heritage is at the center of how we view landscapes and places. Are these just spaces for strolling to view the exotic and the unique, or are they holistic landscapes with real communities and histories, and do we celebrate their spiritual as well as community and aesthetic character? The Pandemic of 2020 may be a powerful moment, a pause, for us to allow communities to re-occupy their places and landscapes while we are locked-down from the fin de siècle rush of global travel and tourism. As we come off the pause we can perhaps adapt to a world changing from climate impacts and find appropriate ways to appreciate our World Heritage, from homestays, trekking, pilgrimages, and other in-depth encounters. The course of preservation may require us to be more reflective and less invasive. What will be the perspective from AD 2030 as we look back on this decade one hundred years after the Arcades?

archaeological heritage, tourism, climate change, pandemic

 Abstract (PDF)

John Allen Peterson^1,2