EUTOPIA Week Venice
CCHS Deputy Director Annelie Sjölander-Lindqvist participated in the EUTOPIA Week Venice – Research Days, 4-5 December.
Water Heritage, Sustainability and Communities
She was part of the panel Water Heritage, Sustainability and Communities, where she introduced CCHS and proposed focusing on the re-imagining of rivers as multi-valued commons. Rivers encompasses both tangible heritage—such as dams, mills, and reservoirs—and intangible heritage, including local narratives, memories, and practices.
During the Research Days it was highlighted how water heritage remains highly unresearched in heritage research field. Water holds deep cultural, historical, identity-forming, political and economic significance for European societies. For example, in 2024, hydropower accounted for about 29.9% of all electricity generated from renewable sources in the EU, which translates to roughly 11% of the EU’s total gross electricity generation. Understanding the lived experiences, historical attachments, and moral economies that shape how communities relate to water — provide insights essential for equitable, democratic, and place-sensitive water management across diverse regions around the world.
