A scoping review of thematic narratives linking heritage and climate change in urban transformation

The role of urban heritage in climate-responsive transformation has traditionally been framed through preservation practices that aim to retain heritage in its historical state. Recent scholarship has shifted toward understanding heritage as dynamic and closely tied to sustainability and climate goals. This paper synthesises how urban heritage has been conceptualised within climate-related urban transformations by reviewing 48 peer-reviewed articles published between 2019 and 2025. The results show that historic urban landscapes dominate the empirical corpus, yet climate narratives remain broad and often unspecified, with a considerable number of studies presenting climate change as a general future condition rather than identifying concrete climatic drivers or risks. Transformation terminology varies significantly, but regeneration emerges as the most clearly defined and widely applied theme, often functioning as an umbrella term that brings together ecological, social and heritage-based dimensions. Although most studies adopt non-static approaches such as adaptive reuse, nature-based interventions and structural or technological modifications to inform future uses of heritage, transformation is presented as a way to preserve heritage. Synthesising thematic patterns across the corpus, this review identifies three regenerative roles through which heritage contributes to climate-responsive urban transformation: heritage as an enabler, heritage as enabled and integrated regeneration.