TY - CHAP A1 - Siegmund, Alexander A1 - Prodan, Anca Claudia ED - Albert, Marie-Theres ED - Bernecker, Roland ED - Cave, Claire ED - Prodan, Anca Claudia ED - Ripp, Matthias T1 - Technological Change – Risk or Opportunity for UNESCO World Heritage? T2 - 50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility – Conflict & Reconciliation N2 - This chapter provides reflections on the consequences of technological change in relation to World Heritage properties. While technological change is a core means of human adaptation and survival, it becomes a risk if the pace is too fast. This has increasingly affected societies worldwide since the industrial revolution, resulting in many negative consequences for people and the environment. Technological change is also associated with positive developments, such as those brought about by digital technology. Insights into both risks and opportunities are given in this chapter, and they are illustrated with examples, such as mining and digital geomedia. Technological change appears as a double-edged sword, but there is currently no methodology for assessing its consequences for World Heritage properties. Therefore, the chapter turns to lessons learnt from the Historic Urban Landscape approach, the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme, and from impact assessment methods. While these provide useful inspiration and a basis for further reflection, the chapter concludes by emphasizing the necessity of a methodology for assessing the impacts of technological change on World Heritage properties against the background of the Sustainable Development Goals. KW - Geotechnology, sustainable development, technological innovation, impact assessment Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-031-05660-4 SN - 978-3-031-05662-8 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05660-4_23 SP - 295 EP - 307 PB - Springer CY - Cham ET - 1. Auflage ER -