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The Importance of Geosites and Heritage Stones in Cities—a Review

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Abstract

Geology, as a scientific discipline, is often viewed as most applicable in high mountains or in deserts or coastal areas—or more generally in ‘natural areas’ where rock exposures are most conspicuous—and, therefore, not to be experienced by most visitors and tourists. In contrast, most geoscientists are convinced that geology can be practised on an everyday basis, as it is part of our daily life as a facet of the natural environment that humans have used for 100 s of thousands of years. Even in places where the natural world seems far from its original condition, one can still experience geology. This consideration is of increasing importance, as today, more than half the world’s population lives in towns and cities. In this context, we can still present geology to an interested public through establishing leisure walks, either guiding or using leaflets, easily carried booklets and even web ‘apps’. The style chosen aims to be accessible to a broader public, but crucially, in an urban context, there should always be an aim to demonstrate the relationship between geology and society, as well as architecture and history. Indeed, the realisation of many participants in such activities that building stones can belong to, and provide evidence of, both a natural and a built heritage can be a revelation.

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Acknowledgements

Two anonymous reviewers helped improve a previous version of the manuscript. We thank Alexandre Lethiers for his work on illustrations and to Maryse Aymes. This work was supported by ASM Patrimoine géologique, of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris). D. Pereira thanks F. Tourneur for the introduction to underground geology in Brussels. This report is a joint contribution by members of the IUGS Geoheritage Task Group and Heritage Stone Task Group. The authors gratefully acknowledge the continuing support of IUGS towards both working groups and their transition to, respectively, the Heritage Sites and Collections (HSCS) and Heritage Stones (HSS) subcommissions of the International Commission on Geoheritage (IGC) of the IUGS in 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Muséum National Histoire Naturelle, Géologie, 43 Rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

    Patrick De Wever, Annie Cornée & Grégoire Egoroff

  2. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC - Univ. Paris 06, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    François Baudin

  3. Department of Geology, Universidad de Salamanca, Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008, Salamanca, Spain

    Dolores Pereira

  4. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

    Kevin Page

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  1. Patrick De Wever
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  2. François Baudin
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  3. Dolores Pereira
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  4. Annie Cornée
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  5. Grégoire Egoroff
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  6. Kevin Page
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Correspondence to Patrick De Wever.

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De Wever, P., Baudin, F., Pereira, D. et al. The Importance of Geosites and Heritage Stones in Cities—a Review. Geoheritage 9, 561–575 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-016-0210-3

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