Living in an Old City: Practice and theory in urban heritage

Summary

Half of the world’s population now lives in cities. But the heritage of the city can be seen as redundant: a problem to be solved through the right planning mechanism.

Urban heritage practice has barely changed for 25 years. It privileges buildings and public realm, tourism, economics. It presumes preservation of fabric. Familiar orthodoxies dominate: ‘urban grain’; ‘the right materials’. It’s western centric. Taste is policed: there is a homogeneity to ‘heritage’.

But this has not been how we think about cities for some time. It is not how heritage is thought about. Heritage is never about a static past.

What would a different perspective practically entail? We propose looking at the city through different lenses: movements/theories/discussions that to some extent have been ‘dealt with’ in heritage discourse, but have not made an impact in the field. We imagine heritage in urban placemaking if practice and theory were to meet. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• Historical and Contemporary Archaeologies of the City: Opportunities and Challenges

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 904