Don't walk that way: why heritage sites need psychogeography

By their nature, heritage sites often require constraints and controls on pedestrian access. Yet the freedoms of walking – and the attendant pleasures of pausing, ruminating, peering, questioning, imagining and narrating – are vital to the public experience of these sites.

In this paper I will discuss how psychogeographical approaches, particularly those embraced by practitioners of counter tourism (Joel Henry, Phil Smith, Wrights&Sites), can be used to ameliorate issues of access and develop imaginative responses to physical and less tangible heritage.

Since 2015 I have been developing the use of creative and attentive walking practices at heritage sites from the perspective of a psychogeographer and curious visitor, rather than a member of the archaeological community. This includes work with English Heritage at sites in East Kent, an HLF-funded project ‘Walking Heritage’ (2016), and ‘O what we ben! And what we come to!’, an interactive walking project mapping post-apocalyptic literary landscapes onto medieval and Roman sites in Canterbury (Being Human Festival 2017).

Drawing on these case studies, I will discuss how walking with psychogeographical attitude can be encouraged, creating playful experiences and an enriched engagement with heritage places and spaces.