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This paper explores the ways in which heritage as a practice and concept has been used and diverse meanings and values ascribed to heritage by different claimants, using the medieval site of Ani in eastern Turkey as a case study. On one hand, the site marks a point of conflict between Turks and Armenians, with the heritage and the past of the site playing an important role for identity making and construction of national narratives, as well as developing what might be seen as the authorised heritage discourses for both sides. On other hand, the local community around the site has developed a different relationship to the site Ani because of their daily relationship with its landscape and built environment. This has revealed meaning and values embodied in the site that are beyond the national and political level. This paper considers to what extent the built environment in particular, can play a role in identity making and add to the political tension. It also examines how the value and meaning of ...

The paper discusses notions and experiences of authenticity of place in relation to intangible cultural heritage. Drawing on qualitative informant interviews with representatives of traditional and new businesses in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham (UK), it analyses authenticity of place with regard to three key dimensions: the experience of origins, the experience of continuity and the experience of potentiality and actuality. Findings suggest that intangible cultural heritage activates and facilitates experiences of authenticity, often related to people’s individual identity constructs and associated benefits or detriments. Some heritage concepts have evolved from their narrowly defined historic context and inform experiences of authenticity in the present.

The paper analyses a group of photographs of the old city of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The photograph is used as a medium to elicit the ways different social agents experience and relate to Old Porto as a heritage place. The photographs were collected as part of a wider research project on the way sense of place of Porto’s old city was differentially constructed by local inhabitants, tourists and the City Council. Illustrated postcards were also analysed. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of this particular form of image-based ethnographic research in understanding the forms in relation to a heritage lived-in place.

There is no clear approach to defining the authenticity of the ‘spirit and feeling’ of a place or how it could inform heritage conservation. I argue that the notion of spirit of place may be defined in a manner that directly links it with the concept of cultural significance of historic places, how it is understood by a community and with heritage conservation goals and development needs of that place. Residents in the World Heritage Town of Bhaktapur, Nepal, were interviewed to explore their shared understanding of its spirit of place. The residents identify the spirit of place of Bhaktapur in terms of four interrelated place dimensions; that is, the ‘sense of sacrality’, the ‘sense of community’, the ‘sense of historicity’ and the ‘sense of serenity’.

Two dominant themes in architectural conservation doctrine are to (1) avoid the fabrication of ‘false’ histories through the clear differentiation of ‘new’ from ‘old’ building fabric; and (2) the deprecation of subjective ways in which the perception of building fabric engenders sense of place. This study explores the cultural values of a group of citizens engaged in revitalising their historic downtown through the ‘Main Street’ program in Anderson, South Carolina, United States. This ‘revitalisation culture’ values and promotes treatments to its historic environment that emphasise the conjectural fabrication of ‘historic’ elements to existing buildings and the use of historicised design for new, infill construction. Whilst these values go against the grain of conservation doctrine, the revitalisation culture is preserving a kind of authenticity that stems from socially and culturally constructed values in an effort to maintain the ability of the historic environment to engender ‘spontaneous fantasies’, w...

If we are to explore the real possibilities and limits of new media as it stands in relation to cultural heritage and the sense of place then it is important to be clear on the conceptual ground on which any such exploration must stand. This essay aims to map out some of the ground that may be relevant here, and to clarify some of the concepts that are at issue. In so doing, it also opens up an examination of the connection between place and heritage, and the possible threats and opportunities that new media seems to offer in regard to this connection.

This paper argues that designers of virtual environments must not only design the context of their worlds (as architects do) but also assume at least partial responsibility for designing the content (as filmmakers do). The design of a virtual environment is, therefore, a unique task that combines the traits of both architects and filmmakers, a fact that has often been overlooked by designers of virtual environments. Only by taking responsibility for both context and content, and being cognisant of the affordances and limitations of the medium used, can virtual environment designers create a sense of place, which will be comparable, if different, to the sense of place engendered by physical environments.

Increasing recognition is being accorded to the important role of digital media in the management of heritage. Although little explored, there is significant potential for virtual communities to contribute to the interpretation of heritage and engender a sense of place. By way of a case study, the authors examine the theoretical and practical aspects of engaging members of the public in the collection and interpretation of cultural heritage in Hong Kong.

Like other forms of heritage, landscape provides a vital repository of cultural meaning in relation to identity, belonging and sense of place. Despite this, the process of heritage management tends to obscure these links between landscapes and communities, and is thus neglectful of the experiences, perspectives and recollections that both individuals and groups bring to their engagement with heritage. This paper draws on the Hareshaw Linn community project to illustrate the diverse ways in which communities construct relationships with landscape. This case study serves as a reminder that the heritage management process cannot usefully be reduced to the technical and scientific practice it is often assumed to be, as it is often both emotional and conflict ridden. In light of this, it is essential to question why landscape is underplayed in legislation and public policy, and this necessarily entails the exploration of issues such as ownership, power, knowledge and ‘public’ heritage.

This article is concerned with the currently common deployment, under the rubric of cultural planning, of place‐making and local cultural heritage awareness projects. Such exercises sometimes seek to accommodate the impacts of de‐industrialisation and urban transformation by identifying and marking places of contemporary and historical significance, and interpreting them and their broader connections to people and to place. The article critically reflects upon a project conducted by the authors that developed two interpretive heritage walks in a large, working‐class suburb in Australia. This interpretive exercise afforded a valuable opportunity to investigate the contours of the place‐making process and its determinants. By tracing the development of the walks and their accompanying interpretive brochures, the article identifies and discusses a number of emergent key issues relating to social class, gender and ethnicity. In particular, it considers the interpretive opportunities and constraints presented ...

edited by John Schofield and Rosy Szymanski, Farnham, Ashgate, 2011, 230 pp., 53 images/figures, £50.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7546-7829-8. It is rare that a book so effectively captures a moment a...

The publication of Frank McCourt's autobiographical novel, Angela's Ashes in 1996 has sharply focused attention upon a sense of place and heritage identity of the Irish town of Limerick. It has both bolstered a local civic self‐conscious identity and spawned ‘McCourt tourism’. On the other hand it has provoked local controversy by revealing the existence of a number of hitherto largely concealed heritage dissonances. The historical vision of the interwar period that it vividly portrays is a working‐class experience of poverty, poor housing, and absence of facilities compounded by an indifference of the local contemporary political and clerical establishment. There is a geography of McCourt's Limerick, much of which is still extant, composed of row housing, docks, gas works, public houses, Victorian churches and the like that is a different Limerick to the medieval conserved monuments of English Town or the stately residences of the Georgian Newtown (as portrayed in the earlier novels of Kate O'Br...

The way in which interpretation has been evaluated in the past is examined. A diverse range of studies is identified and reviewed. These studies are organised and discussed within a framework derived from a landscape perception classification system originally developed by Zube, Sell and Taylor. Discussion considers the main contributions and omissions of previous evaluation work and suggests an alternative approach to evaluation informed by theories of place. Place is argued to be a critical theoretical dimension in the evaluation of interpretation because it captures, in an holistic way, the inter‐relationships, complexities and variabilities between visitors, their experience and the site that is being interpreted. The paper reviews theories of place and makes explicit the connections between people, place and interpretation. The case is made for a more theory‐driven approach to the evaluation of interpretation.1

One of the principal functions of heritage interpretation is to enhance the visitor's sense of place and place identity. If this is to occur, the interpretation should be planned and designed with that outcome in mind. The research reported in this paper was an empirical study which, drawing on social identity theory, attempted to assess the effectiveness of a museum in contributing to visitors’ sense of place and awareness of a town's heritage. The results show that Guildford Museum was successful in this respect. However, only certain aspects of the museum displays were responsible for this effect, in particular those displays concentrating on the people and activities of the town, rather than the built heritage. The case is made for a more theory‐driven approach to research in heritage interpretation, which can suggest prescriptive roles and functions for museums and heritage sites. Heritage has been cast in the role of both saviour and sinner – saviour for spearheading the introduction of reg...