Museums, Sustainability and Growth
Life Worth Living
8th – 9th July 2010
Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
A conference examining the unique contribution museums and heritage organisations can make to the development of sustainable communities
"The most powerful role that museums can play in the sustainability agenda is that they can show us how we can learn from the past in order to live with the future." Lord Smith of Finsbury (Christopher), Museums Sustainability and Growth Conference, 2008.
Museums are instrumental in creating ‘somewheres’ not ‘anywheres’. The communities of the 21st century are facing many challenges and museums can provide support to meet these changing needs and to embrace new opportunities. Museums and heritage organisations are actively contributing to the environmental, economic and social sustainability agendas through innovative partnerships.
Through a range of inspirational keynote addresses and practical case studies the 2010 conference examined the unique role for museums and heritage organisations within the wider sustainability agenda.
The conference was opened by Professor Mike Hulme from the School of Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia who asked: Can we afford to disagree about climate change? In his talk he stressed the importance of dialogue about climate change, in order to move forward and make decisions about how to deal with its future impacts.
Sue Clifford the Director of Common Ground delivered a speech about the dynamic role of Local Distinctiveness within communities and the importance of heritage and history in providing a sense of place, something which museums are ideally situated to do.
Other speakers from, the National Trust, English Heritage, Greener Museums and Groundwork Derby explored the ways in which museums can become more environmentally sustainable and communicate ideas about sustainability to their audiences.
The delegates ranged from planners and councillors to museum professionals who took part in productive discussions about these issues, particularly about how to react in the face of the current economic climate.
You can read both the keynote and case study presentations below. If you'd like to know more about the Sustainability project in the East of England please contact:
Hannah Jackson, Sustainability Project Officer
Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
01362 869262
hannah.jackson@norfolk.gov.uk
Keynote Presentations:
East Midlands Green Museums, Julien Bastid, Groundwork Derby and Derbyshire and John Beardmore, T4 Sustainability [PDF 18MB]
Museums, Sustainability and Growth , Sam Bestwick, MLA [PDF 303KB]
Greening the National Trust, Sarah Staniforth, The National Trust [PDF 11MB]
Case Study Presentations:
Coastal Communities: A sustainable future or just a history?, Bill Parker, Suffolk Coast Futures [PDF 6MB]
A Small Museum on the Road to Sustainability, Corinna Bower, Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey [PDF 16MB]
Culture of the Countryside, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts [PDF 10MB]
The Gaywood Valley SURF Project, Gemma Cousins, Norfolk County Council [PDF 4MB]
Growing Communities: Museums and place shaping, Laura Cole Matthews, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service [PDF 2.6MB]
Sustainable to the Core: An integrated approach at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Hannah Jackson, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service [PDF 5.2MB]
Heritage Led Regeneration, Mike Loveday, HEART [PDF 1.2MB]
Living Places East of England [PDF 240KB]
Building Sustainability, Mark Hammond, Purcell Miller Tritton LLP [PDF 3.9MB]
Sustaining Growth, Jo Dmitri, MLA [PDF 153KB]
Building Resilience at the Museum of East Anglian Life, Tony Butler, MEAL [PDF 14.9MB]
Perception Peterborough: Reflections on the visioning process [PDF 981KB]
Living with a Green Build, Phillipa Laurie, Stockwood Discovery Centre [PDF 2.3MB]
Rackheath: Past & Future, Susan Fleck, Broadland District Council [PDF 3.9MB]
Sustainability: A wider view, Sue Hughes, MLA [PDF 543KB]