Community

Reducing loneliness and social isolation

Heritage can play a key role in reducing both loneliness and isolation. Whether visiting historic sites, engaging in local traditions, or learning about different cultures, cultural and heritage activities encourage social interaction, reducing loneliness and social isolation.

Volunteering on heritage projects builds social networks and fosters intergenerational friendships. For older adults, heritage-related volunteering is especially beneficial, and the relationship works both ways. With 64% of heritage volunteers aged 50 or over, their involvement not only enriches their own lives but supports the heritage sector and strengthens communities.

Heritage creates a sense of belonging 

Historic buildings and landmarks serve as powerful symbols of shared identity, reinforcing a community’s connection to its history, traditions and culture. Their familiar designs and aesthetics create a comforting sense of continuity, helping people feel more rooted in their surroundings.

Heritage is also essential in a globalised world, where many people move to new places seeking work, study, or a fresh start. Engaging with local history helps newcomers understand and connect with their new home.

By preserving and celebrating our heritage, we create spaces where everyone – whether lifelong residents or recent arrivals – can feel a part of something bigger.

How heritage contributes to community identity

Communities with a strong collective identity often experience higher life satisfaction, better mental and physical health, and greater resilience in times of crisis.

Heritage plays a key role in shaping community identity, bringing people together through a shared history and sense of belonging. This is especially important for minority and marginalised groups, for whom heritage can provide a vital sense of connection and representation.

Historic sites and landmarks hold deep symbolic meaning. Whether through their architecture, original purpose, or significant events, they become touchpoints for collective memory. For example, certain buildings are seen as symbols of democracy, resilience, or cultural pride.

Visiting historic places can also shape how people see their own communities. Exploring local heritage helps individuals reaffirm, challenge, or expand their understanding of their region’s identity, strengthening the shared cultural narrative.

Heritage supports social networks

Heritage brings people together, offering spaces to meet and opportunities to connect through shared activities.

Historic places, museums, and galleries provide social hubs where people can gather, fostering positive relationships and a sense of community.

Heritage activities help people form bonds and build confidence with people they might not otherwise meet, including across different generations, backgrounds and cultures.

Heritage fosters community cohesion

Heritage plays a key role in bringing people together and building social bonds.

Visiting museums and heritage sites can promote greater tolerance through sharing and understanding history and different cultures and ideas.

Cultural activities linked to heritage bring people from different backgrounds together, strengthening community ties. Heritage sites also provide meaningful places for reunions and community gatherings, helping people reconnect and feel part of something bigger.

Asking about loneliness and social isolation helps you understand how your organisation supports people’s wellbeing by creating meaningful social connections.

You could ask questions that explore whether your volunteering opportunities, events, or exhibitions help people feel more included and less isolated. For example, you can ask:

• How often people feel a sense of connection during volunteering
• Whether people have made new friends or felt comfortable and engaged at your events
• If your organisation has helped them connect with others in the community
• Whether your work helps reduce isolation and encourages social contact

This insight shows that your organisation doesn’t just engage people with heritage—it plays a vital role in bringing people together, reducing loneliness, and strengthening social ties across your community.

Asking about belonging helps you understand how your organisation contributes to people feeling more connected to where they live.

You could ask questions that explore how different aspects of local life, such as landscape, heritage, traditions, and shared experiences, shape people’s sense of belonging. For example:

• How much things like local heritage, dialect, cultural traditions, and shared values influence people’s connection to place
• Whether your organisation has helped visitors feel more part of their community
• If arts and culture events help strengthen that sense of belonging

This kind of feedback shows that your organisation is not just about history or culture. It is helping people feel at home, recognised, and rooted in their local area. That is a powerful part of your social impact.

Asking about community identity is important. It helps you understand the deeper impact your site is having on the local community as a whole, not just on visitors.

You are not just running events or preserving buildings. You are helping people feel proud of where they live, more connected to their neighbours, and more aware of their shared history and culture. Your questions could help you find out:

• Whether volunteering or taking part in activities at your site makes people feel more connected to their community
• If your work is building a sense of local pride and belonging
• How much your site is helping people appreciate their heritage and culture

By asking this, you get a better picture of your site’s social impact, not just how many people come through the door. It shows whether you are making a real difference in how people feel about their community.

Asking about social networks helps you understand how your organisation supports people in building new connections through heritage.

You could ask questions that explore whether volunteering or taking part in your activities helps people feel more socially connected. For example:

• Whether volunteers have met new people or made meaningful friendships
• If people feel comfortable and engaged even if they didn’t form new connections
• Whether volunteering has increased the number of people they know, both in their own neighbourhood and beyond.

This kind of feedback helps you see the role your organisation plays in reducing isolation, encouraging friendships, and strengthening ties within and between communities.

Asking questions about community cohesion helps you understand how your organisation contributes to a stronger, more connected local community.

You could ask questions that explore whether your work helps foster unity, shared purpose, and mutual support among local people. For example, they ask:

• Whether volunteering helps build a sense of togetherness
• If your organisation encourages positive social interactions
• Whether people feel more hopeful about the community’s ability to support one another
• If your work brings people closer and strengthens community bonds

This insight helps you demonstrate how your organisation goes beyond preserving heritage, and that it actively helps build a more cohesive, resilient community.