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C O N T E X T 1 5 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8 11 E U R O P E A N P E R S P E C T I V E S We are all in this together At a time when the UK’s relationship with Europe is uncertain, and may be for the next 20 years or so, Context is in no position to say anything definitive about how international circumstances may affect building conservation. Instead we have invited a number of thoughtful people to present their own European perspectives. Jukka Jokilehto sets the scene by discussing how our views of heritage are changing. World heritage listing was first concerned with exceptional human achievements and natural marvels, he writes. Today, even this list accepts industrial landscapes and areas not just for their intrinsic quality, but for their specific associations with the development of society in various periods. And there is a new connection between culture and nature. Heritage is no more a matter for elites, but a requirement for the life and survival of society. We need to adjust to that. John Pendlebury and Loes Veldpaus consider heritage before and after Brexit. If we hold a liberal vision of heritage, they suggest, we need to come to terms with differing interpretations of it. Ingval Maxwell wonders, in the light of the pending Brexit, exactly where the UK sits in determining and making available funding for its future research programme into its cultural heritage-related needs. That, like much else, remains uncertain. Michael Asselmeyer’s consideration of conservation in Germany leads him to a certainty about one thing at least: that it is possible to be, at the same time, Saxon, German, European and passionate about heritage, in the same way that it is possible to be, at the same time, English, British, European and passionate about heritage. Tanja Vahtikari discusses what the world heritage list reveals about the changing conception of Nordic heritage, and how local perspectives and national identity relate to one another. Darren Barker describes a programme in which the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust engages in training partnerships through a range of organisations in Europe and Asia. Astrid Swenson notes that European Heritage Year 2018 invites us to reflect on the links between heritage conservation and a sense of Europeanness from a historic perspective. She sees opportunities for conservation to help in situations where there is a need for reconciliation: telling stories about what has been achieved may be a start. One such story may be the one that Elene Negussie tells of how a historic urban landscape approach to heritage conservation has been applied to Visby, a small world heritage town on the island of Gotland, Sweden. Come to think of it, what better place to escape from the torments of Brexit Britain? (opposite) Learning building skills at a workshop in the village of Karpachevo on the Devetaki Plateau, Bulgaria (see page 24)