Community-based Heritage Management: a case study and agenda for research

Heritage sites regarded as important are safely managed by the state, voluntary or private sectors but the majority of sites, despite statutory protection, remain unrecognised and without a role in their host communities. New schemes such as the Local Heritage Initiative in the UK aim to encourage communities to recognise their heritage assets and in managing them effectively to contribute to their preservation. With reference to the case of Nether Poppleton near York (UK), the present study explores the factors and conditions for effective community management displayed in one locality by groups who are successfully conserving and managing a diverse set of local heritage sites. Interviews and joint tasks enabled an analysis of the complex range of factors and conditions that can lead to a successful community-based initiative. Future research will determine the extent to which these factors, if applied to other sites, might produce the same results. The importance of this agenda is underscored by the increasing reliance on community-based heritage management in the UK and elsewhere.     

Improving heritage impact assessment: an analytical critique of the ICOMOS guidelines

ABSTRACT

In 2011, ICOMOS published its Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessment for Cultural World Heritage Properties. By 2016, over 100 Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) had been requested by UNESCO. This paper provides an analytical critique of the HIA Guidelines focusing on their implicit assumptions. We argue that the assumptions in the HIA Guidelines derive from the ‘preservation’ discourse in heritage management, rather than from the ‘conservation’ or ‘heritage planning’ discourses. This is important because the discourse affects the way impacts and their severity are assessed within HIAs, thereby potentially affecting the conclusions reached. We also argue that this framing results in miscommunication and misunderstanding amongst the different stakeholders, about: (1) their perceptions of the nature of heritage value; (2) the perceived purpose of HIA; (3) the way impacts are assessed; and (4) the differing agendas of stakeholders. We recommend that HIA practitioners acknowledge the existence of the various discourses. This could make HIA a more effective heritage management tool. We also consider that for HIAs to be more robust that they be conducted by a multidisciplinary group and with a peer-review mechanism.     

Narratives of World Heritage in Travel Guidebooks

World Heritage Sites are among the most popular tourist destinations in the world and are, by UNESCO definition, exceptional heritage places. New visions of World Heritage encourage ideas of intercultural exchange and dialogues in the creation of these places. Thus it might be expected that cultural World Heritage Sites would be presented in ways that signal their ‘universal’ status. The article examines the portrayal of these sites in travel guidebooks, which are an acknowledged source of important influence on travellers. A study of travel guidebooks for various European nations showed that surprisingly few places are labelled as World Heritage even in the most comprehensive books. There is a gap between the ideals and what happens on the ground. While practical problems and lack of awareness may be one explanation for this, the inherent difficulties of conceiving and presenting narratives of world heritage as opposed to national, regional or local heritage may be more significant.     

非物质文化遗产的传承特点

世代传承是非物质文化遗产最重要的本质属性。非物质文化遗产的传承具有五个方面特点:口传心授的传承方式、生动鲜活的传承形态、文化独特的传承土壤、藏量丰厚的传承领域、与时俱进的传承变异。探究这些特点,可以加深人们对非物质文化遗产及其传承、保护的理解。     

THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2012: INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AT RISK

Abstract

This article describes the 2011 English Heritage ‘Industrial Heritage at Risk’ project. Having examined the findings of a public attitudes survey on the industrial heritage, it looks at the key risks and conservation solutions facing industrial sites, and the role the lead organisations play in their rescue. The entries on the Heritage at Risk Register are examined and the top ten industrial heritage at risk sites in England identified. A range of outputs are described together with the media coverage that accompanied the launch of the project.

Progress since 2011 is considered including the separation in April 2015 of English Heritage into two organisations — Historic England and the English Heritage Trust. The important role that volunteers and local groups play in the conservation and management of England's industrial heritage is acknowledged throughout, and a possible new role for the Association for Industrial Archaeology suggested as part of Heritage 2020.     

Towards more inclusive,vital models of heritage: An Australian perspective

Abstract

This paper's review of relevant Australian writing critical of theory and practice concludes that official protection of the nation's heritage is a prejudicial, narrowly conceived system in the sense that it is not readily embraced by the public at large, and does not relate well to vigorous public concerns for the environment. Heritage remains too securely tied to the historic artefact. Much broader, vital concepts are needed. A ‘social and environmental relations’ model is proposed. Ideas related to such a concept are explored, including examples where heritage is integrated with aspects of community development. Practice in some communities is argued to be blazing paths well in advance of some of the heritage professionals. In support of such initiatives, research directions for historically‐based disciplines that are in accord with the proposed model are outlined.     

Eco-sites,Song Traditions and Cultural Heritage in the Lower Yangzi Delta

This study explores the struggle to preserve both the cultural heritage and the eco-sites associated with heritage in one of the most affluent and economically developed regions in China. In the twenty-first century, the introduction of global norms deriving from UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and World Heritage Sites has led to a series of measures at the local level to preserve items of cultural heritage that are likely to vanish due to the accelerated pace of development in the lower Yangzi delta. This study focuses particularly on Wu Songs, the traditional songs of delta populations, now entered into the national register for Intangible Cultural Heritage. Wu Songs were associated with labour in the rice paddies and travel along the waterways. The rice paddies and waterways were both essential elements of the traditional ecosystem, but are now imperilled in various ways by the impact of modernisation and globalisation. Issues of heritage value arise in different forms in the more affluent regions of China. As argued here, contention between ethnographers, land developers and municipal authorities, as well as commercial land use imperatives, dominate the conservation of eco-sites and Intangible Cultural Heritage in the delta region.     

Heritage designation and scale: a World Heritage case study of the Ningaloo Coast

As heritage research has engaged with a greater plurality of heritage practices, scale has emerged as an important concept in Heritage Studies, albeit relatively narrowly defined as hierarchical levels (household, local, national, etcetera). This paper argues for a definition of scale in heritage research that incorporates size (geographical scale), level (vertical scale) and relation (an understanding that scale is constituted through dynamic relationships in specific contexts). The paper utilises this definition of scale to analyse heritage designation first through consideration of changing World Heritage processes, and then through a case study of the world heritage designation of the Ningaloo Coast region in Western Australia. Three key findings are: both scale and heritage gain appeal because they are abstractions, and gain definition through the spatial politics of interrelationships within specific situations; the spatial politics of heritage designation comes into focus through attention to those configurations of size, level and relation that are invoked and enabled in heritage processes; and researchers choice to analyse or ignore particular scales and scalar politics are political decisions. Utilising scale as size, level and relation enables analyses that move beyond heritage to the spatial politics through which all heritage is constituted.     

The Heritagescape: Looking at Landscapes of the Past

Heritage sites are one of the most visible, accessible and tangible manifestations of heritage and are also some of the essential building blocks of heritage. Yet we are still without a sense of how they operate over time and in relation to each other. This paper will introduce the notion of the ‘heritagescape’ as a means of interpreting and analysing heritage sites as unique social spaces that offer an experience of the past. In contrast to previous attempts to investigate these places, the heritagescape offers the means to focus both on the underlying similarities and also on the relationships of different sites to each other. As such, heritagescape offers a coherent and overarching methodology by which to identify the universal processes and elements that characterise heritage sites and will allow us to take our examination of heritage as a cultural phenomenon into the future.     

A Framework for Sustainable Heritage Management: A Study of UK Industrial Heritage Sites

In 2002, the World Heritage Committee declared heritage to be ‘an instrument for the sustainable development of all societies’. The term ‘sustainable development’, however, is inscribed with a complex economic, environmental and social agenda that challenges contemporary World Heritage management practice. This paper draws on a content analysis of six industrial UK World Heritage Site management plans. The analysis focuses on the extent that each plan integrates four key sustainability dimensions. Findings indicate that the planning frameworks and collaboration processes in operation at each site ensure conservation of the historical physical fabric but limit the development of a sustainable local cultural economy. A sustainable heritage management framework is presented based on the adoption of a long‐term strategic orientation and extensive local community participation in decision making. The framework is relevant to other complex heritage sites such as historic towns and cultural landscapes.     

Heritage,Tourism and Museums: the case of the North Atlantic islands of Skye,Scotland and Prince Edward Island,Canada

Heritage tourism, and the products and experiences related to it, represent a growing attraction in international tourism and the museum is a potential partner in the development of heritage activities for tourists. This paper explores the relationship between tourism and museums and analyses their roles in relation to heritage. It recognises that the shared characteristics of tourism and museums provide a basis for the two to work together in the development of heritage tourism. This exploration is illustrated by the comparison of case studies of legislated museum provision and their relation to tourism on two North Atlantic islands. In conclusion, the paper argues that while in some cases museums may be seen as somewhat reluctant partners in the process of heritage tourism they are in fact constrained by traditional roles and responsibilities and influenced by both differing jurisdictional contexts and views as to their functions.     

遗产学视角下的“遗产”讨论

遗产学或遗产旅游学的"遗产"名称来源于一般生活常规的"遗产"名称,实物形态为财产,两者之间既有相同及重迭的部分,又有不同的特征。遗产学或遗产旅游学并不仅仅着眼于其权属、经济价值和使用价值,而是着眼于遗产的历史、艺术、科学和审美等文化价值,关注遗产的保护和传承,从不同的视角和标准可对遗产作不同的分级和分类。遗产学专家的长期论证表明,"遗产"一词较为贴近遗产学或遗产旅游学学科的特点和研究的对象。     

World Heritage hot spots: a global model identifies the 16 natural heritage properties on the World Heritage List most at risk from climate change

UNESCO’s 207 natural heritage World Heritage Properties are at risk from climate change, but risk varies widely among properties. I offer a global model based on multi-model general circulation model (GCM) ensembles, vulnerability and Human Influence (HII), producing the World Heritage Vulnerability Index (WHVI), a measure of relative risk among properties. Nineteen properties are most at risk (i.e. WHVI > mean + 1 SD). Those include islands (i.e. Vallée de Mai, Aldabra, East Rennell, Teide, Laurisilva of Maderia, Isole Eloie, Pitons Management Area, Morne Trois Pitons and Galapagos Islands), coastal properties (i.e. Everglades, Desembarco del Granma, High Coast and Kvarken Archipelago, Doñana, Brazilian Atlantic Islands, Ichkeul and the Sunderbans) and mountainous properties (i.e. the Pyrenees Mont Pérdu, Nanda Devi and the Valley of Flowers, and Mount Kinabalu). Three properties (i.e. Teide, Isole Eloie and the Pitons Management Area) are geologic, apparently relatively resistant to short-term climactic changes. The remaining 16 are likely to respond to climactic changes in the next 40 years; those changes may threaten their World Heritage status. Those properties are where society could most effectively invest in adaptation. I identify adaptive strategies and next steps for proactive climate change adaptation in the 16 natural heritage properties on the World Heritage List most at risk.     

Community,Connection and Conservation: Intangible Cultural Values in Natural Heritage—the Case of Shirakami‐sanchi World Heritage Area

Intangible cultural heritage, according to a UNESCO definition, is ‘the practices, representations, expressions as well as the knowledge and skills that communities, groups and in some cases individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage’. Using a case study of Shirakami‐sanchi World Heritage Area, this paper illustrates how the local community's conservation commitment was formed through their long‐term everyday interactions with nature. Such connectivity is vital to maintaining the authentic integrity of a place that does not exclude humans. An examination of the formation of the community's conservation commitment for Shirakami reveals that it is the community's spiritual connection and place‐based identity that have supported conservation, leading to the World Heritage nomination, and it is argued that the recognition of such intangible cultural heritage is vital in conservation. The challenge, then, is how to communicate such spiritual heritage today. Forms of community involvement are discussed in an attempt to answer this question.     

World Heritage listing and changes of political values: a case study in West Lake Cultural Landscape in Hongzhou,China

World Heritage themes and frameworks, as well as the criteria for assessing the ‘outstanding universal values’ (OUV) of World Heritage sites, have been extensively criticised for being Eurocentric. Asia is a region of extraordinary levels of cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, which often comes into conflict with UNESCO understandings of heritage. Due to the influence of UNESCO, and the persuasiveness of the heritage discourses it authorises, Asian nations tend to utilise assessments and management ideologies that derive from a European viewpoint. This paper explores the changes in the political role of heritage during the process of World Heritage listing of a Chinese cultural heritage site, West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou. The study is based on three and a half months of fieldwork in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Firstly, I examine how the government officials and experts formulated the nomination dossier, and explore their purposes in seeking World Heritage listing and their understanding of heritage. In addition, tensions between governments’ understanding of the values of the site and those of UNESCO and ICOMOS will be mapped. Secondly, I examine how the Chinese government used the World Heritage ‘brand’ and policies to construct national and local narratives during and after the World Heritage listing. In this paper, I argue that both national and local governments are quite cynical about the listing process, in that they not only recognise they are playing a game, but that the game is ‘played’ under Eurocentric rules and terms. They know some Chinese values do not fit into UNESCO’s conception of ‘outstanding universal value’ (OUV), and they have ‘edited out’ those Chinese values, which could not be explained to Western experts, and utilised the discourses of international policy and expertise. Ultimately, these values and ‘rules’ frame the management of the sites to some extent, as the Chinese government must not, in order to maintain the WH listing, deviate too much from the rules of the game.     

The rise of cultural landscapes

The new interest in cultural landscapes is forcing a reappraisal of concepts of countryside heritage. First the traditional split between cultural and natural values is challenged. Second, modern landscape studies emphasise the subjectivity of landscape assessment, and this is subverting the former tendency to aspire to objectivity in evaluation. The acceptance of ‘associative’ value in landscape is an indicator of this. Modern landscape studies also emphasise the interrelationships between processes and aspects of value, and this is encouraging specialists to communicate across disciplinary frontiers. The desire by ecologists in the mid‐1980s to have cultural landscapes inscribed on the World Heritage list caused a re‐assessment of the World Heritage Criteria, and an initiative by ICOMOS brought this process to a conclusion in 1992. However the reappraisal of concepts of countryside value imply that there are many other philosophical and practical matters still to be resolved.     

Seoul,Korea: its concept of culture and nature in heritage planning

This paper explores the concept of heritage as part of sustainable development planning. Heritage is taken to include both the cultural and natural spheres to incorporate people, activities, landscapes, monuments, landmarks, artefacts, and nature. Heritage planning then involves the sustainable development of the cultural and natural environment to prepare for its stewardship, research, and communication for the benefit of society. This perspective leads to broader questions on approaches to heritage planning where the cultural environment is considered specifically within sustainable development planning just as the natural environment is studied separately in specialised disciplines. The paper proposes that in developing resource‐management plans the effects of cultural resources on natural resources, and vice versa, must be integrated and addressed. Seoul, Korea, an historic metropolitan city that has gone through radical political and economic changes, is examined as a case study. It identifies how the city is integrating sustainability of the contextual association of the cultural and natural environment with promotion of economic growth.     

我国世界遗产地的旅游研究进展及展望

"遗产旅游"作为一种世界观现象已经成为人类求取与外部世界高度和谐的有效形式之一,成为高质量回归自然、回归历史的必然性的社会生活组成部分。文章综述了我国世界遗产地旅游研究的现状,提出在以后的研究中应加强我国世界遗产地的旅游发展理论、旅游价值分析与开发模式、旅游发展中的利益相关者、旅游营销、利用信息技术保护遗产资源、旅游研究的定量系统动力学模型等方面的研究。     

Expertise and the making of World Heritage policy

This paper contributes to two emergent areas of scholarship: first, the role of expertise within the domain of cultural heritage practice; and second, international heritage institutions and their processes of governance. It does so by exploring expertise within the context of World Heritage Committee meetings. These forums of international heritage policy formulation have undergone significant changes in recent years, with larger geopolitical forces increasingly shaping process and decisions. This paper foregrounds the idea of these annual meetings as ‘locales’ in order to explore the inflows of expertise that help constitute authoritative decision-making, how expert knowledge is crafted for and by bureaucratic structure, and how the interplay between technical knowledge and politics via an ‘aesthetics of expertise’ bears upon future directions. In offering such an analysis, the paper seeks to add nuance and conceptual depth to our understanding of international conservation policy and the regulatory, governmental practices of organisations such as UNESCO.