Abstract
There are five unique historic burial grounds within the proximity of Edinburgh’s city centre. Cross-sector consultations with police, heritage and council officials decry the decline of these spaces. Each is at risk; erosion, limited resources, and perceived anti-social behaviour obscure their value as social spaces apt to explore, share and process grief. The potential of these historic sites has been limited to imagining convivial and heritage-aligned uses of graveyards. This case study explores their potential as unique spaces to publicly discuss bereavement, mortality and grief through design workshops. It argues that designing provides an appropriate process to scaffold these conversations in situ and in so doing, can generate novel ways of engaging with grief. The authors identify the potential of Edinburgh’s historic burial grounds as spaces of grief dialogue through design, contributing to a transdisciplinary and participative approach to facilitating a constructive dialogue into how and where we grieve.
Keywords
Edinburgh, historic burial grounds, grief, bereavement, design, workshop
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2232
Citation
Thompson, R., Willis, D., and Jamieson, K. (2026) Appropriating Edinburgh’s dead: Exploring the potential of Edinburgh’s historic burial grounds as sites for designerly conversations about grief and loss, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2232
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Appropriating Edinburgh’s dead: Exploring the potential of Edinburgh’s historic burial grounds as sites for designerly conversations about grief and loss
There are five unique historic burial grounds within the proximity of Edinburgh’s city centre. Cross-sector consultations with police, heritage and council officials decry the decline of these spaces. Each is at risk; erosion, limited resources, and perceived anti-social behaviour obscure their value as social spaces apt to explore, share and process grief. The potential of these historic sites has been limited to imagining convivial and heritage-aligned uses of graveyards. This case study explores their potential as unique spaces to publicly discuss bereavement, mortality and grief through design workshops. It argues that designing provides an appropriate process to scaffold these conversations in situ and in so doing, can generate novel ways of engaging with grief. The authors identify the potential of Edinburgh’s historic burial grounds as spaces of grief dialogue through design, contributing to a transdisciplinary and participative approach to facilitating a constructive dialogue into how and where we grieve.