The definition of pilgrimage has shifted throughout the development of the field of pilgrimage studies in the last fifty years. A commonly cited anthropological definition describes pilgrimage as a “journey resulting from religious causes, externally to a holy site, and internally for spiritual purposes.” More recent definitions expand this framework to include modern secular journies, reflecting the long-held debates over the placement of pilgrimage along the spectrum of the sacred to the profane, in an effort to break down the binary of pilgrimage and tourism. Still more recent interpretations emphasize the significance of pilgrimage as a form of population mobility whose impact is only growing in an increasingly globalized world. Once framed as a extra-ordinary phenomenon, unique because of its residence outside of contemporary culture, pilgrimage is beginning to be recognized for its cultural, institutional, and geopolitical importance. 

Today, many of the world’s major pilgrimage routes are directly threatened by climate change. Pilgrims on the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia wither in the heat; in 2024, more than 1,300 pilgrims died as a result of dehydration and heat stroke. The Hindu Kedarnath trail, a winding multi-modal network through the Himalayas, warps as the mountains deglaciate, sending floods and landslides into the pilgrimage routes. The Camino is no exception; increasing heat strains the already strenuous Meseta portion of the way, and increasingly frequent fires endanger the Northern Spanish route. In these sacred and scarred landscapes, the shifting climate is altering the physical forms of these pilgrimages and thus the practices of pilgrimage and religion itself. Mounting usage of these routes, increased climactic pressures, shifts in religious demographics and the mechanics of globalization intersect in a crisis of conserving the heritage and preserving the future of these landscapes of religious pilgrimage. Attempts to plan the future or wrangle the present of these incredibly complex cultural vectors provoke tensions and conflicts regarding concepts and dynamics/questions of authenticity, commodity, and spirituality. This project seeks to investigate how landscape architects can and should participate in the evolution of these heritage landscapes in the present and future dynamism propelled by climate change.