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，但人们对其历史和考古知之甚少，许多最重要的遗产都隐藏在地下，没有人认识--包括讲述这座城市盎格鲁-撒克逊人、维京人和中世纪起源的重大考古发掘。它还拥有870多个现存或有记录的砂岩洞穴的独特遗产，这些洞穴是该市不断演变的建筑遗产的重要组成部分，仍被用于各种商业、社区和私人功能。有几组洞穴对公众开放，但对它们的历史和考古仍然知之甚少，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”以博德马什为例，这是一个充满活力的海滨地区，曾经是中世纪城镇的中心，但在20世纪70年代为建造布罗德马什购物中心而被冲走，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)，其他一些已经消失或现在无法进入。该市南区的一个重大重建项目，包括布罗德马什购物中心的翻新，由于新冠肺炎疫情的影响突然停止，导致关键承租人和网站开发商Intu Properties崩溃进入破产管理程序(2020年6月)，并迫使他们将租约交还给市议会。布罗德马什是一片被拆除了一半的荒地，正在摧残市中心，但这一意想不到的失败给市议会带来了一个独特的挑战和机会，即重新开发位于历史核心中心约12.5英亩的棕地。市议会有自由塑造一个提供休闲、商业、零售和文化体验的新城市，并最大限度地利用一个难得的机会来彻底改变城市的地方感。布罗德马什是英国第一个消失的购物中心，但不太可能是最后一个，这次重建将成为其他城市从零售转向体验的典范，成为21世纪城市经济的驱动力。为支持这一机遇，英国政府成立了一个远大沼泽咨询委员会，该委员会由2012年伦敦奥运会和残奥会前品牌、营销和文化总监格雷格·纽金特担任主席。2015年，市议会发布了其15年遗产战略，制定了以遗产为主导的复兴雄心，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。在实施这一战略时，最新也是最雄心勃勃的项目是诺丁汉城堡的成功转型(2021年6月重新开放)，这是由诺丁汉大学的研究动员支持的一笔重大的遗产彩票拨款推动的。关于布罗德马什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，为遗址的文化和游客体验提供高质量的遗产和场所营造议程。该项目将汇集不同学科的学者和主要的外部利益相关者，绘制关于远大沼泽地区及其相关洞穴的考古和历史资源的现有知识地图，与当地社区联系，了解他们的记忆和参与远大沼泽的发掘，并利用这些知识开发基于研究的解释性叙事，将“隐藏遗产”的历史、文化和经济潜力揭示出来，让市民和游客对诺丁汉作为一个历史地方有一个令人兴奋和充满活力的体验。

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.