Natural and Cultural Heritage as an Archive of Memory and Resistance

From urban botanical gardens to museums that serve as climate shelters, the following voices invite us to reflect on how the concept of heritage can be transformed into an ally in response to the socio-ecological crisis, and into a tool to strengthen collective resilience. 

The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly evident. Phenomena such as heatwaves, droughts, floods and forest fires are intensifying, and their effects are emerging on multiple scales, affecting not only various forms of life, but also biocultural knowledge, traditional crafts, and the affective ties that are rooted in each territory. As the crisis escalates, cultural and natural heritage emerges as fragile, yet crucial, ground on which to envision new forms of resilience. 

Despite its vulnerability, heritage can also offer ways of addressing the socio-ecological crisis. Traditional knowledge provides inspiration; cultural sites promote sustainable actions; heritage cities explore low-impact ecological models; and natural areas function as carbon sinks and observatories for changes in ecosystems.¹ In light of the many changes we are currently facing, it is important to consider cultural heritage as a living, rather than static, archive that demonstrates how human societies have adapted to their environments and changing climate conditions, collecting lessons, successes, and mistakes. All of these are essential to understanding current challenges and guiding future decisions.²

Against this backdrop, cultural and natural spaces become active agents of climate adaptation. Artists, educators, scientists and communities are driving initiatives that open up new ways of conserving, reinterpreting, and inhabiting various territories through resilience, art and creativity. One example is the Natural History Museum of Valparaíso (MHNV, per the name in Spanish, Museo de Historia Natural de Valparaíso), which has recently sought to be an urban climate refuge, providing a safe space for the community during heat waves or heavy rain. Similarly, the Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM) offers sensory and educational experiences that encourage visitors to explore urban nature with curiosity and empathy, promoting its conservation and appreciation. Meanwhile, visual artist and researcher Sebastián Riffo Valdebenito—who is also co-director of Desartes, the Art and Disasters Unit of CIGIDEN (Centro de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada del Riesgo de Desastres, or, in English, the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management)—examines memories and emotions after socio-natural disasters through an artistic language. 

The interior of the MHNV has shown a temperature difference of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius compared to the outside.

An urban climate refuge in dialogue with natural history

In 2020, the Natural History Museum of Valparaíso (MHNV) created an environmental management area to reinforce its commitment to environmental stewardship. Since then, it has launched various initiatives, notably earning certifications for measuring its carbon footprint (and becoming the country’s first museum to receive this recognition), establishing a community recycling station, creating an indoor garden with native plant species, and offering internal training sessions on topics such as biodiversity and climate refuges. 

In 2024, as part of its “Museum + Sciences” program, it began to collaborate with the Fondecyt project entitled “Urban Climate in Coastal Conurbations of Chile”³, led by an interdisciplinary team of geographers, that attempts to reveal how urban segregation affects inequality in thermal comfort—that is, how people perceive and experience heat, cold and and dryness—in Chilean coastal towns. As part of this joint work, an open-access, real-time weather station was installed in the museum. This tool has made it possible to generate relevant information on climate conditions both inside and outside the building, recording temperature differences that can sometimes exceed 5 or 6 degrees Celsius. 

MHNV Weather Station

According to Cinthia Mora Troncoso—the museum’s head of environmental management—this initiative provides information that is especially important for Valparaíso, which has been identified as one of the country’s most vulnerable cities to socio-natural disasters related to the climate crisis. Mora explains that phenomena such as the increase in storm surges not only places coastal infrastructure at risk, but also affects traditions such as artisanal fishing: “The climate crisis doesn’t just affect flora and fauna—it also transforms culture, local customs, traditional crafts and materials. All of this shapes the sense of belonging to a territory.” 

In this sense, Mora highlights the museum’s role as a valuable space that connects scientific knowledge and everyday life through meaningful educational processes: “The museum is a bridge between science and daily life; between specialized knowledge and the realities of various communities. Today, this work is more necessary than ever.” She also emphasizes its value as a living archive for understanding current transformations from a historical perspective: “Our biological collections allow us to study how species have evolved or adapted in response to the effects of climate change. Comparing specimens collected a hundred years ago to current ones reveals transformations and offers concrete evidence of the impact of climate on wildlife.” 

A living urban space in transformation

Boldo, quillay and algarrobo are some of the over 6,000 native plants and trees that began growing in late 2022 in the Adriana Hoffmann Forest—a space of over 50,000 m² located in the green areas of Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM). This garden—named after the renowned botanist and advocate of Chile’s native forests—has become a place of learning, contemplation, and refuge for flora, fauna, and people, where the value of biodiversity is promoted through a sensory, educational and sustainable experience. 

The garden recreates landscapes from central and north-central Chile, including native flora and an open-air “living space.” Carolina Saavedra, head of MIM’s Natural Culture Program, explains that the purpose was always to “reflect the diversity that might have existed in this place if it hadn’t been altered by urbanization. It is a space that grows, transforms, and allows us to observe how different species adapt to changing climate conditions.” 

This natural laboratory not only demonstrates how these species live and grow in extreme climate conditions in the Metropolitan region—such as droughts, heavy rainfall, and temperature variations—but also serves as a point of reference for other spaces. “This living system allows us to observe how these species might adapt in different environments, offering valuable lessons for other urban areas that are incorporating native flora as a strategy to create climate refuges and foster biodiversity,” says Saavedra. 

This process of natural observation and learning can also inspire eco-social regeneration: “A biodiverse ecosystem is more resilient. In the same way, communities that have a diversity of visions, practices, thoughts, and ways of life are better prepared to face the challenges of climate change. This idea is at the heart of what we hope to convey with this garden.” 

Touching a leaf or looking at a tree bark can open up a new world, says Saavedra. The wonder in the eyes of a child when they recognize a plant species such as the quillay, or discover insects among the leaves demonstrates the value of a hands-on experience as a gateway into a transformative environmental education. “I like to tell them to look for a ‘jewel bee,’⁴ a small, emerald-colored native species that lives in certain bushes. When they do so, their attention shifts and they connect profoundly to the place.”

The MIM is one of the green lungs of the southern area of the capital.

This type of experience drives learning that goes beyond knowledge: “It awakens a more attentive and sensitive awareness of everyday flora and fauna, of the type that is present in gardens, parks and streets, but which we don’t normally pay attention to. This space encourages that connection, expanding our perception to look with fresh eyes and remind us that nature is still around us.” 

In this context, access to nature is essential to creating a genuine connection. “It is vital for children and young people in urban areas—especially in more vulnerable contexts, where green areas are scarce—to access spaces such as parks. In many educational establishments, organizing a trip to a natural park involves high costs; whereas going to the MIM is a more accessible alternative, allowing them to have a meaningful experience,” she concludes. 

Collective reconstruction through art

Heritage can also be manifested through symbolic practices and creative processes that help express what happens in times of crisis. In this sense, the arts and humanities open up spaces to imagine different futures and understand the social transformations that are needed to move toward a socio-ecological transition.⁵ At this intersection of art and memory, the work of visual artist and researcher Sebastián Riffo offers a critical and sensitive perspective on how we inhabit territories that are shaped by extreme events. He proposes new ways of narrating pain, reframing disaster, and collectively rebuilding through emotional connections. 

“Art allows us to approach phenomena associated with climate change through sensitivity and emotion, beyond the technical. It also brings us closer to this phenomenon—which operates on deep, almost unfathomable timescales—from a more human and sensitive experience,” explains Riffo, emphasizing that, through artistic experience, one can “translate scientific evidence into experiences that call forth thought, questioning and hope.” 

In his work, poetics does not seek closed answers, but new ways of seeing, feeling and narrating contemporary crises. This perspective becomes especially relevant when intersecting with the concept of resilience, which in Riffo’s opinion has often been distorted. “Resilience is a multidimensional concept, but it has also been used as a way of shifting the responsibility for disaster onto communities, obscuring the role that institutions should play,” he says. 

«Irrupciones intempestivas», Sebastián Riffo, 2013.

His experience after the 2010 earthquake marked a turning point that led him to study socio-natural disasters and how they affect people and their environments. From that moment on, and in collaboration with the researcher Ignacio Gutiérrez Crocco, he created Desartes, a unit of the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN, Centro de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada del Riesgo de Desastres, in Spanish), focused on the relationship between art and disasters. Together, they developed the exhibition “Post-resilience,” which sought to challenge the definitions of this concept and imagine other forms of collective response to disaster. 

From this interest in the identity imaginaries that emerge from disasters, he began to intertwine with the seismic phenomenon and delve into a telluric identity, woven from collective memories of earthquakes. This was the starting point of Riffo’s curiosity about the role that art can play in what is now known as integrated disaster risk management. 

His work is therefore a commitment to rebuilding through affect, creating shared memories and transforming pain into narrative—not as a way of sealing off the disaster, but of collectively reframing it and opening paths toward other ways of inhabiting the world. In this sense, he maintains that art becomes a vital tool in reconstruction processes. Resilience, he insists, is not just material, but also emotional, embodied, and symbolic. That is where art can play an irreplaceable role: “To heal trauma, we must be able to speak; and to speak, we must be able to pick up the debris and make sense of it. Art is one of the most powerful ways of doing so,” he concludes. 

Considering heritage as living and dynamic entities

From installing meteorological stations, to the creation of green spaces for sensory learning, and an artistic approach for dealing with socio-natural disasters, the notion of heritage today has taken on new meanings and responsibilities. It has been revealed as an entity in transformation, in tune with the changes we are facing as a society. In this context, it is essential to broaden perspectives and approach new challenges from multiple perspectives: environmental, ecological, social, artistic and humanistic. 

Reference:

¹UNESCO, Climate Change and World Heritage. https://whc.unesco.org/en/climatechange/

² López-Romero, E., Asins, S., Díez, A., & Sastre, I. (Coords.). Patrimonio cultural en riesgo. Retos de adaptación al cambio climático. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 2024.https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/376027/3/08_S4P_2024_PATRIMONIO_DIGITAL.pdf 

³ “Urban Climate in Coastal Conurbations of Chile: A Proposal for Socio-environmental Justice through Climate-sensitive Planning,” a research project funded by Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development (ANID, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo), and led by Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Tarapacá, and Universidad Mayor.

⁴ Corynura (Callistochlora) chloris.

⁵ Tyszczuk, R., Smith, J., Enright, B., & Butler, R. (2018). Culture and climate change: scenarios. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 31, 56–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.007