City of caves - regenerating the heart of Nottingham through 'hidden heritage'

诺丁汉是英格兰主要的历史城市中心之一，但相对而言，人们对它的历史和考古知之甚少，它的许多最重要的遗产资产都隐藏在地下，不为人知——包括重要的考古发掘，讲述了这座城市的盎格鲁-撒克逊人、维京人和中世纪起源的故事。它还拥有超过870个现存或有记录的砂岩洞穴的独特遗产，这些洞穴是城市不断发展的建筑遗产的重要组成部分，仍然用于各种商业，社区和私人功能。有几组洞穴向公众开放，但对它们的历史和考古知之甚少，这阻碍了它们作为游客和遗产资源的发展。诺丁汉的“隐藏遗产”以布罗德马什为例，这是一个充满活力的海滨地区，曾经是中世纪城镇景观的中心，但在20世纪70年代因建造布罗德马什购物中心而受到争议，掩埋了密集的中世纪街道和洞穴网络，其中一些幸存下来并向公众开放（由国家司法博物馆管理），其他的已经丢失或目前无法进入。该市南区的一项重大重建项目，包括布罗德马什购物中心的翻新，因新冠肺炎大流行的影响而突然停止，并促使主要承租人和场地开发商Intu Properties破产（2020年6月），并被迫将租约交还给市议会。Broadmarsh是一个毁坏了一半的荒地，破坏了市中心，但是从这个意想不到的失败中产生了一个独特的挑战和机遇，市议会在历史核心中心重新开发了12.5英亩的棕地。市议会可以自由塑造一个提供休闲、商业、零售和文化体验的新城市，并最大限度地利用难得的机会彻底改变城市的地方感。Broadmarsh是英国第一个消失的购物中心，但不太可能是最后一个。作为21世纪城市经济的驱动力，其他城市正在谈判从零售向体验的转变，布罗德马什的重建项目将成为一个典范。为了支持这一机会，博德达信成立了一个咨询委员会，制定了一个场所规划议程，由2012年伦敦奥运会和残奥会前品牌、营销和文化总监格雷格·纽金特（Greg Nugent）担任主席。2015年，市议会发布了为期15年的遗产战略，提出了以遗产为主导的再生目标，以吸引大量外来投资进入城市的开放空间、历史建筑和当地社区。在实施这一战略的过程中，最新和最雄心勃勃的项目是诺丁汉城堡的成功改造（2021年6月重新开放），该项目得到了诺丁汉大学研究动员的支持，并得到了遗产彩票的主要资助。关于Broadmarsh遗址未来的公众咨询将遗产确定为关键优先事项。因此，该项目旨在响应这一独特的机会，将艺术和人文研究置于重建计划的核心，并动员学术研究和专业知识，为该遗址的文化和游客体验提供高质量的遗产和场所制作议程。该项目将汇集多个学科的学者和关键的外部利益相关者，绘制布罗德沼泽地区及其相关洞穴的考古和历史资源的现有知识，与当地社区联系，了解他们对布罗德沼泽挖掘的记忆和参与，并利用这些知识开发基于研究的解释性叙述，将历史，“隐藏遗产”的文化和经济潜力吸引市民和游客，让他们体验到诺丁汉作为一个历史悠久的地方令人兴奋和充满活力。

Nottingham is one of England's major historic urban centres, but relatively little is known about its history and archaeology and many of its most important heritage assets are hidden, subterranean and unrecognised - including significant archaeological excavations telling the story of the city's Anglo-Saxon, Viking and medieval origins. It also has a unique legacy of over 870 extant or recorded sandstone caves, which are a vital part of the city's constantly evolving built heritage and are still used for a variety of commercial, community and private functions. Several groups of caves are open to the public but much remains unknown about their history and archaeology and this inhibits their development as a visitor and heritage resource.Nottingham's 'hidden heritage' is exemplified by the Broad Marsh, a dynamic waterfront area once at the heart of the medieval townscape but controversially swept away in the 1970s for the construction of the Broadmarsh shopping centre, burying a dense cluster of medieval streets and cave networks, some of which survive and are open to the public (managed by the National Justice Museum), others of which were lost or are currently inaccessible. A major redevelopment of the city's southern quarter, including refurbishment of the Broadmarsh shopping centre, was abruptly halted by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and precipitated the key leaseholder and site developer - Intu Properties - to collapse into administration (June 2020) and forced the surrender of their lease back to the City Council. Broadmarsh is a half-demolished wasteland blighting the city centre, but from this unexpected failure arises a unique challenge and opportunity for the City Council to redevelop c.12.5 acres of brownfield land at the centre of the historic core. The City Council have the freedom to shape a new city offering of leisure, commercial, retail and cultural experiences and maximise a rare opportunity to completely transform the city's sense of place. Broadmarsh is the first shopping centre to disappear in the UK but is unlikely to be the last, and this redevelopment will be an exemplar for other cities negotiating the shift from retail to experience as the driver of the 21st-century urban economy. A Broad Marsh Advisory Board with a place-making agenda has been established to support this opportunity, chaired by Greg Nugent, former Director of Brand, Marketing and Culture for the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.The City Council published its 15-year Heritage Strategy in 2015 setting out an ambition for heritage-led regeneration to attract substantial inward investment into the city's open spaces, historic buildings and local communities. In implementing this strategy the latest and most ambitious project has been the successful transformation of Nottingham Castle (re-opened June 2021) catalysed by a major Heritage Lottery grant, underpinned by research mobilisation from the University of Nottingham. The public consultation on the future of the Broadmarsh site identified heritage as a key priority. This project is therefore designed to respond to this unique opportunity to put Arts and Humanities research at the heart of the redevelopment programme and to mobilise academic research and expertise to inform a high-quality heritage and place-making agenda in the site's cultural and visitor experience offer. The project will bring together academics across multiple disciplines and key external stakeholders to map existing knowledge of archaeological and historical resources for the Broad Marsh area and its associated caves, liaise with local communities about their memories and involvement in the Broad Marsh excavations, and use this knowledge to develop research-informed interpretive narratives that bring to the surface the historical, cultural and economic potential of 'hidden heritage' to engage citizens and visitors with an exciting and dynamic experience of Nottingham as an historic place.