Slow Mobilities and Heritage Landscapes

The role of mobilities in the study of heritage landscapes is complex and far from straightforward. This special issue's introductory article offers four different perspectives through which to interpret this connection. The four perspectives presented serve as categories for organising the papers included in the special issue, but they are also intertwined throughout the works as they are not mutually exclusive. Firstly, slow mobilities can be regarded and analysed to discover heritage landscapes, thereby establishing a connection between people and the landscape. Secondly, mobilities can be interpreted as agents in the creation of heritage landscapes. In this category, the traces, ancient routes and mobile patterns of the past have created the heritage landscape that is the focus of conservation and promotion in the present day. Thirdly, slow mobilities themselves constitute heritage landscapes. When landscape is framed as a practice, the mobile experience becomes inextricably linked to the perception and production of the landscape. Finally, slow mobilities can be conceptualised as challenging established views of heritage landscapes. In this instance, the process of slowing down or mobilising the landscape engenders novel and alternative interpretations of the processes involved in the creation of heritage.