Looking into the ‘black box’ of heritage protection: analysis of conservation area disputes in London through the eyes of planning inspectors

The paper analyses conflicts associated with policies to protect the built heritage. Such conflicts relate to a host of tensions between private and public concerns and specifically between pro-development and pro-conservation approaches. To examine these cleavages, the paper operationalises private and public concerns over heritage by asking if there is a recognisable set of justifications that policy-makers use for supporting a pro-conservation or alternatively a pro-development approach? To do this, the paper looks at appeals decided by Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectors in London. The findings show that although they are not dichotomous, public and private interests in heritage development can be factually recognised in the setting of appeals. Moreover, the paper finds that Planning Inspectors often channel conflicts through the prism of certain public interests, namely, protecting architectural and physical attributes of the building and its surroundings. Although inspectors are instructed to actively weigh in other (potentially overriding) considerations in heritage appeals, such as socio-economic and proprietary issues, these considerations do not appear to have the same standing within the decision-making process.     

The two opposing impacts of heritage making on local communities: residents’ perceptions: a Portuguese case

This article examines the impact associated with the making of heritage and tourism at a destination. Special attention is paid to the residents’ perceptions of the impact. The examination is focused on the rural village of Sortelha, in Portugal, where, in recent decades, a state-led programme was implemented in order to renovate the historic buildings and built fabric and to generate benefits for the local community. Based on ethnographic materials collected in 2003, 2009 and 2013, the study demonstrates that the making of heritage may give rise to two opposing impacts simultaneously – increased social cohesion and place pride, on the one hand, and envy and competition (and, hence, social atomisation), on the other hand – and that residents are entirely cognisant of the tension between the two. The study has the potential to contribute to both the theoretical and the applied literature on heritage making.     

Community and conservation land ownership in highland Scotland: A common focus in a changing context

Legislation on the topic of land reform will enter statute during the lifetime of the first administration of the Scottish Parliament. It is thus timely to review types of land ownership that have evolved in Scotland in the recent past. This paper briefly reviews the context of the current land reform debate. It considers the characteristics of community and conservation ownership, exemplified in case studies of the North Assynt Estate (owned and run by the Assynt Crofters Trust) and the Sandwood Estate (owned by the John Muir Trust). Positive and negative aspects of these two management structures are illustrated and a convergence in management approaches, towards a focus on community interest and involvement, is demonstrated. The emergence of a social sector in land ownership is considered.     

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS IN SCANDINAVIA

The authors quantitatively analyze the effect of railroad construction on agricultural land values in the often overlooked, agriculturally oriented, trans-Mississippi West. This region is unique in American history in that, at the end of the nineteenth century, the railroad itself preceded widespread settlement. Using a hedonic model, they show that railroad transport increased agricultural land values in this region by more than 20 percent, which had a larger impact than recent studies have found for other regions. Moreover, the authors found that the addition of a railroad to a county significantly increased its growth in land values. This finding is contrary to that of existing studies. Finally, the authors show statistically that the railroad and land values were not endogenously determined, lending credibility to the causality of the results presented in their hedonic and growth models. These results indicate a valuable alternative approach to use in the historical analysis of transportation infrastructure and its impact on land prices.     

The dry summer on the Upper Nile

EUROPE

Scottish Farming in the Eighteenth Century. By James E. Handley. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp.314. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1953. 25s.

The Scottish Islands. By George Scott‐Moncrieff. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 208. 98 illustrations. 4 sketch maps. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1952. 21s.

Skye: The Island and its Legends. By Otta F. Swire. Foreword by Sir William Tarn. 7 1/2 × 5. Pp. xii+244. Sketch map. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1952. 15s.

The Central Highlands. Edited by H. Macrobert. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. viii+145. 15 figs. 49 photographs. End‐paper sketch map. [The Scottish Mountaineering Club Guides.] Edinburgh: The Scottish Mountaineering Club. Second edition, 1952. 15s.

Granite City: A Plan for Aberdeen. By W. Dobson Chapman, M.A., P.P.T.P.I., L.R.I.B.A., F.I.L.A., and Charles F. Riley, Dip.Arch., Dip.T.P., A.R.I.B.A., M.T.P.I. Foreword by The Hon. Thomas Johnston, P.C., LL.d., F.E.I.S. 13 × 9 3/4. Pp. xx+168. 22 figs. 73 plates. City Development Plan (4 1/4 in. to 1 mile). [Published on behalf of the Corporation of the City and Royal Burgh of Aberdeen.] London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1952. 42s.

Round and about Spain. By A. F. Tschiffely. 8 3/4 × 5 5/8. Pp.317. Decorations and sketch maps by the Author. End‐paper map by A. Spark. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1952. 20s.

ASIA

The Orphaned Realm: Journeys in Cyprus. By Patrick Balfour (Lord Kinross). 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 221. 17 illustrations. Decorative end‐paper sketch map. London: Percival Marshall and Co. Ltd, 1951. 18s.

Die Türkei. By Karl Krüger. 8 1/2 × 5 1/4. Pp. 392. 13 figs. 68 plates. Berlin: Safari‐Verlag, 1951.

Tirich Mir: The Norwegian Himalaya Expedition. Translated by Sölvi and Richard Bateson. Foreword by Professor Georg Morgenstierne. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 192. 57 illustrations. 3 sketch maps. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1952. 21s.

The Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, 1951. By Eric Shipton. 10 1/2 × 8 1/2. Pp. 128. Photogravure illustrations. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1952. 25s.

AFRICA

The Zambesi Journal of James Stewart, 1862–1863, with a Selection from his Correspondence. Edited by J. P. F. Wallis. 10 × 6 1/2. Pp. xxvi+276. Portrait. Map of the Shiré River (1867). [Central African Archives: Oppenheimer Series, No. 6.] London: Chatto and Windus, 1952. 35s.

AMERICA

Suwannee River: Strange Green Land. By Cecile Hulse Matschat. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 256. Illustrated by Alexander Key. [Rivers of America.] Edinburgh, Glasgow, London: William Hodge and Co. Ltd, 1951. 15s.

The Rural Land Classification Program of Puerto Rico. Preface by Malcolm J. Proudfoot. 11 × 8 1/2. Pp. vii+261. Illustrated. (Lithoprinted). [Northwestern University Studies in Geography, No. 1.] Evanston, Illinois: Department of Geography, Northwestern University, 1952.

Uruguay: South America's first Welfare State. By George Pendle. 8 × 5 1/4. Pp. viii+100. 2 sketch maps. London and New York: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1952. 11s 6d.

POLAR REGIONS

The Antarctic To‐day: A Mid‐Century Survey by the New Zealand Antarctic Society. Edited by Frank A. Simpson, M.A., Dip.Jour. 9 3/4 × 7 1/4. Pp. 389. 50 figs. 46 plates. Folding map. Wellington: A. H. and A. W. Reed, in conjunction with the New Zealand Antarctic Society, 1952. 47s 6d.

BIOGEOGRAPHY

Geography of Living Things. By M. S. Anderson, M.A. General Introduction by Frank Debenham. 7 1/4 × 4 3/4. Pp. xiv+202. 5 illustrations. [Teach Yourself Geography.] London: The English Universities Press Ltd, 1951. 8s 6d.

The Origin and History of the British Fauna. By Bryan P. Beirne, M.A., M.Sc, Ph.D., M.R.I.A., F.R.E.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. x+164. 60 figs. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd, 1952. 18s.

EDUCATIONAL

Practical and Experimental Geography. By W. G. V. Balchin, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.G.S., F.R.Met.S., and A. W. Richards, M.A., B.Sc., F.R.Met.S. 8 1/2 × 6 1/2. Pp. viii+136. Frontispiece. 73 figs. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd, 1952. 12s 6d.

Geomorphologie. By Fritz Machatschek. 9 × 6 1/4. Pp. 203. 89 figs. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft. Fifth edition, 1952. DM 9.60.

Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Edited by E. D. Laborde, Ph.D., F.R.G.S. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+268. 48 figs. 8 plates. London: William Heinemann Ltd. Second edition, 1952. 12s 6d.     

Land and languor: ethical imaginations of work and forest in northeast Madagascar

Since the early twentieth century, the practice of slash‐and‐burn agriculture by Betsimisaraka subsistence farmers of eastern Madagascar, and their reluctance to engage in wage labor processes, have been interpreted by French and other Malagasy people as symptoms Betsimisaraka laziness. Colonial officials’ idea of remedying Betsimisaraka laziness justified the imposition of wage work and forest conservation. The paper argues that colonial settlers, by conflating their vision of lazy labor and a victimized landscape, did not apprehend the co‐existence of an alternative work ethic which entailed a different time‐space orientation and social relationship to land. While scholars have analyzed the “laziness” of colonial subjects as a form of subaltern resistance to colonial domination, resistance alone does not account for the fact that under certain conditions Betsimisaraka people have also willingly partaken in wage labor. This article reveals how the labor and land ethics of Betsimisaraka farmers have actively contributed to the social and natural environments of capitalism.     

Teardowns,popups, and renovations: How does housing supply change?

Cities grow in layers over time. As population and land values increase, older, smaller buildings are replaced with higher density, higher value structures. However, direct costs of redevelopment and institutional barriers such as zoning may constrain replacement of older structures, leading to alternate forms of supply adjustment. In this paper, I use data on building permits in Washington DC to examine three different forms of residential investment: new construction, expansion of existing structures, and renovation. Results suggest that new construction accounts for a relatively small part of residential investment and is highly concentrated in a few neighborhoods. Expansions and alterations of existing structures are more frequent and more evenly dispersed across space. Recent increases in housing values are correlated with more new construction, but only among neighborhoods with relatively more permissive zoning. Additions and alterations are more prevalent in neighborhoods with high property values, older housing, and more restrictive zoning.     

UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lenggong Valley,Malaysia: A Review of its Contemporary Heritage Management

This article reviews contemporary heritage management through a systematically coded content analysis at one of Malaysia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (AHLV). It evaluates the competency of the preliminary Conservation Management Plan (CMP) of AHLV by looking at the accuracy of five distinctive dimensions of the CMP in conveying the information about the sites and management objectives: the legislation related to the heritage conservation and management; the action and implementation of the management strategies; the level of stakeholder’s participation; and, finally, how the CMP integrates local values and ideas into management planning. The results show that contemporary heritage management planning at Lenggong Valley tends to prioritize the conservation of the archaeological values of the sites over other values (i.e. social, historical, and aesthetic values), and that planning has largely been in the hands of governmental agencies with limited involvement from local communities in the decision-making process.     

Governing urban regeneration in the UK: a case of ‘variegated neoliberalism’ in action?

The article focuses on the redevelopment of previously developed land by public-private sector partnerships in three cities/towns in South-West England, two of which can be described as medium-sized places with little previous experience of such developments. In each case we situated the redevelopment process in its wider multi-level and horizontal relationships using Social Network Analysis to produce network and centrality maps to reveal the complex network of relationships the process was embedded within and shaped by. These developments took place in what is termed the ‘roll-out’ phase of neoliberalism and we illustrate how the overarching planning and regulatory regimes (including contracts), along with wider economic conditions, shaped the development process, with the proviso that in each case these factors were mediated and themselves shaped by the assortment and interaction of local organizational, political, economic and civic forces. These included local planning committees and their interpretation of planning regulations and the developers involved, but also opposition to the developments from local sources. Much, however, depended on the ‘capacity to act’ of the relevant partnerships, in the sense of mobilizing and deploying available resources to realize the proposed developments.     

旅游资源开发与保护中的制衡机制失衡与政府规制优化

旅游资源开发与保护中发生的种种矛盾,归根到底是相关利益者之间利益的冲突,为此政府必须建立平衡各方利益的制衡机制。我国制衡机制的失衡,突出表现为：企业的制衡力过于强大,原居民、社会组织、从业人员的制衡力过于微弱。制衡机制失衡必然导致利益分配失衡,强势方获得超额利润。建议从三方面优化规制：重构政府的旅游资源管理体系与制度,严格执行旅游资源开发项目的“审批权”;健全旅游资源开发与保护的法规,编制并严格执行旅游规划,提高依法规制的合法性、科学性与严肃性;推进相关利益者制衡机制建设,对旅游资源实行全民监督管理。     

Using PP GIS interviews to understand residents’ perspective of European ecological network Natura 2000

ABSTRACT

Sustainable nature-based tourism was brought to the public's attention as a solution to the problem of economic diversification in Central and Eastern European (CEE) communities included in European Ecological Network – N2000. However, Natura 2000 tourism development has not yet proven to be an effective way to boost local economies and the notion of sustainable tourism based on Natura 2000 resources has been challenged by residents of the CEE communities. The study goal was to explore issues concerning Natura 2000 tourism from the perspective of local residents within three municipalities of Ma?opolska in Poland to determine if Natura 2000 is perceived by local residents as a valuable tourism asset. We employed a mix-mode methodology: an in-depth interview and public participation GIS mapping task. The study results highlight several areas of concern regarding resident perspectives of Natura 2000-based tourism: first, the misconception that residents need and want nature-based tourism when other economic activities provide sufficient income; second, the misconception that Natura 2000 is considered a valuable asset when other tourism attractions in a municipality attract more visitors; third, the residents misconception of nature-based tourism itself; and last but not least the importance of engaging with residents when assessing the potential for Natura 2000 tourism. These findings can assist policy-makers and tourism managers with prioritizing avenues for further action.     

Post-colonial heritage conservation in Africa: perspectives from drystone wall restorations at Khami World Heritage site,Zimbabwe

Abstract

Before colonialism, heritage sites such as Khami were considered resting places for ancestors, valued more for the spirit of place than their monumentality. In this context, local custodians hardly intervened with the fabric of the site. With the introduction of modern conservation principles, which persist to this day, vegetation control and wall restorations became part of routine conservation measures. This paper discusses drystone wall restorations carried out at Khami between 2000 and 2015 focusing on the disjuncture between indigenous and local concepts of heritage, concerned with access and preserving the spirit of ancestors, and ‘western’ principles of restoration. It argues that while ignoring the structural disintegration of Khami would have resulted in possible delisting from the World Heritage List, the ‘neglect’ which Khami experienced was in tandem with its local social context; being a resting place for ancestors. While the reconstructions interfered with an acceptable physical context of local beliefs, restorations maintained the integrity of the site as a tourist destination with positive local economic benefits. Although compromises are by their nature unsatisfactory, modern heritage conservation in Africa must adapt and improvise to achieve a mix of local and international practices to reflect changed and changing realities.