Chillon and Pontaise: a question of well-being

What if the Chillon castle and the Pontaise stadium were part of the obligatory well-being of the Vaudois and the people of Lausanne?

If several works on heritage have highlighted, over the past decade, the interaction between heritage and individual and community well-being, until March 21, 2024, none had quantified this relationship. The research “Heritage Capital and Wellbeing: Examining the Relationship between Heritage Density and Life Satisfaction” provides evidence based on solid economic evidence that heritage makes a significant contribution to people’s quality of life.

Its impact would be 29 billion pounds per year in England. “We all value the role that green spaces play in ensuring well-being. This groundbreaking new research shows us that local heritage located in towns and villages across England plays a comparable and valuable role, the study highlights. Living near a local heritage site […] improves a person’s life satisfaction by 515 pounds per year.”*

Entering into force on October 27, 2005, the Faro Convention (Portugal) on cultural value for society had already revised the heritage paradigm. Heritage places and objects are important to the extent that a citizen approach actively associates them with the values ​​they represent for them and the way in which these can be understood and transmitted to others. The appropriation of the intangible link with heritage, beyond its materiality, improves the “quality of life” and contributes to the comfort and contentment of the population, by maintaining identity, collective memory and cultural traditions.

By focusing on the social, monetary and non-market costs of heritage, the British study argues that heritage is alive. It is no longer just a partial reflection and a nostalgic component of the past, but rather an essential part of the continuity between past, present and future. Its conservation and interpretation are also and above all the responsibility of people sharing the same environment.

In order to protect heritage places against any attack as places of life, political decision-makers and professionals must now consider heritage, not only for its intrinsic historical value, but also for its capacity to improve the well-being of residents. Only a holistic vision, based on well-being, can reflect human needs and avoid the deterioration of the psychological and even physical health of individuals.

Despite their age difference, the Chillon castle and the Pontaise stadium share the same heritage necessity.

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