Urban Heritage

Abstract

Urban heritage is a social construction, a selection of resources in urban contexts which communities hold in common and deem valuable and, therefore, are willing to conserve. Urban heritage can be designated under varied legal status, such as municipal, national, and world heritage. Urban heritage can refer to a variety of urban resources, such as tangible, intangible, movable, immovable, natural, cultural, digital, and analogue. Urban heritage is the product of a traditional model of resource consumption and production, whereby urban resources can be destroyed or forgotten, unless deemed valuable and/or listed as heritage. The exception is to conserve and reuse urban resources. Urban heritage is a notion at risk of extinction during the twenty‐first century with its expanding definition and the further enhancement and adoption of more sustainable models of resource consumption and production.

Factors Linking Perceptions of Built Heritage Conservation and Subjective Wellbeing

“…Built heritage is a broad term for a built environment with any cultural significance and may often be referenced as a tangible/immovable form of cultural heritage (Tweed and Sutherland 2007;Sjölm 2016). However, built heritage includes both tangible and intangible attributes as well as values systems that underpin the experiences and interpretations of the built environment, by which they influence the human wellbeing (Darvill 1994;Pereira Roders 2007;Vakhitova 2015;Pereira Roders 2019;Taçon and Baker 2019). The conservation of built heritage has become a dynamic process that involves community participation and understanding for associated meanings and traditions, by shifting the focus to perception and valuation (Matero 2001).…”

Beyond good intentions

“…The evolution of the concepts of "heritage" and "sustainability" shows that they are related both in their common scope -focusing on the ecosystem inherited from the past -and in their aims -to preserve this ecosystem for future generations . The "100% heritage" approach (Pottgiesser, 2019;Roders, 2019;Roders & Pottgiesser, 2020), "where resources are, by rule, to be conserved as part of a broader ecosystem" (Roders, 2018) demands clearer definitions of what matters (attributes) and why it should be preserved (values). Having such clearer definitions requires effective significance assessments that are able to provide information on a broader scope of values and attributes than the traditional historic and aesthetic values (Veldpaus, 2015).…”

Selection of Core Indicators for the Sustainable Conservation of Built Heritage

“…The evolution of the concepts of "heritage" and "sustainability" shows that they are related both in their common scope -focusing on the ecosystem inherited from the past -and in their aims -to preserve this ecosystem for future generations (Gonçalves et al in press). The "100% heritage" approach (Pottgiesser 2019;Roders 2019;Roders and Pottgiesser 2020), "where resources are, by rule, to be conserved as part of a broader ecosystem" (Roders 2018) demands clearer definitions of what matters (attributes) and why it should be preserved (values). Having such clearer definitions requires effective significance assessments that are able to provide information on a broader scope of values and attributes than the traditional historic and aesthetic values (Veldpaus 2015).…”